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Varian Fry
ArticleVarian Fry was an American journalist who helped anti-Nazi refugees escape from France between 1940 and 1941. Learn about his rescue efforts.
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Prisoners of the Camps
ArticleJews were the main targets of Nazi genocide. Learn about other individuals from a broad range of backgrounds who were imprisoned in the Nazi camp system.
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Truman proclaims victory in Europe
FilmWorld War II began with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and ended in Allied victory in Europe with the German surrender in May 1945. May 8 was proclaimed VE (Victory in Europe) Day. In this footage, United States president Harry S. Truman proclaims victory in Europe and promises to continue the war in the pacific until the unconditional surrender of Japan.
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Vilna
ArticleDuring the Holocaust, the creation of ghettos was a key step in the Nazi process of ultimately destroying Europe's Jews. Learn about the Vilna ghetto.
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Locating the Victims
ArticleThe Germans and their collaborators used paper records and local knowledge to identify Jews to be rounded up or killed during the Holocaust.
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The 11th Armored Division during World War II
ArticleThe 11th Armored Division participated in major WWII campaigns and is recognized for liberating Mauthausen and Gusen in 1945.
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Lvov
ArticleThe city of Lvov (L'viv) in southeastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939, under the terms of the German-Soviet Pact. There were over 200,000 Jews in Lvov in September 1939; nearly 100,000 were Jewish refugees from German-occupied Poland. The Germans subsequently occupied Lvov after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Encouraged by German forces to begin violent actions against the Jewish population in Lvov, Ukrainian nationalists massacred about 4,000 Jews in early July 1941.…
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Werner Hegemann
ArticleWerner Hegemann was a city planner and author. The Nazis opposed his views of American architecture and German historical figures. His book was burned in 1933.
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Morris Hillquit
ArticleMorris Hillquit was a prominent theoretician of the socialist movement in the United States. His work was burned in the Nazi book burnings of 1933. Learn more.
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Vladimir Lenin
ArticleVladimir Lenin was the leader of the new Soviet government after the Russian Revolution of 1917. His works were burned in Nazi Germany in 1933. Learn more.
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Hitler speaks before the Reichstag (German Parliament)
FilmHitler speaks before the Reichstag (German parliament). Amid rising international tensions, he tells the German public and the world that the outbreak of war would mean the end of European Jewry.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
ArticleFranklin D. Roosevelt was 32nd president of the US. Learn about the domestic and international challenges FDR faced as president during World War II.
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Historian Peter Black describes the potential of legal consequences
Oral HistoryIn the 1980s and 1990s, historian Peter Black worked for the US Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations, as part of a team tracking and prosecuting suspected war criminals. Black later served as the Senior Historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936
ArticleThe 1936 Olympics in Berlin under Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship were more than just a worldwide sporting event, they were also a show of Nazi propaganda.
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Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch)
ArticleOn November 8–9, 1923, Hitler and the Nazi Party led an attempt to overthrow the German government. This attempted coup came to be called the Beer Hall Putsch.
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Kurt Klein describes some of the difficulties involved in emigrating from Germany
Oral HistoryAs Nazi anti-Jewish policy intensified, Kurt's family decided to leave Germany. Kurt left for the United States in 1937, but his parents were unable to leave before the outbreak of World War II. Kurt's parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland. In 1942, Kurt joined the United States Army and was trained in military intelligence. In Europe, he interrogated prisoners of war. In May 1945, he took part in the surrender of a village in Czechoslovakia and returned the next day to…
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Culture in the Third Reich: Disseminating the Nazi Worldview
ArticleIn Nazi Germany, a chief role of culture was to disseminate the Nazi worldview. Arts and cultural organizations were to be synchronized with Nazi ideology and policy.
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John Komski describes Krakow after the outbreak of World War II
Oral HistoryJohn, who was born to a non-Jewish Polish family, graduated from an art academy. Following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, John was in Krakow. Food became scarce in Krakow, with long lines of people waiting for whatever food was available. John decided to join the resistance against the Germans. By early 1940, he and two of his friends felt that they were in danger and decided to try to escape to France. John was caught and arrested during this escape attempt. He survived imprisonment…
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The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936: Inauguration of the Olympic Torch Relay
ArticleThe 1936 Olympics were the first to employ the torch relay. Learn more about this new ritual, Nazi propaganda, and the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.
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Alfred Rosenberg: Biography
ArticleExplore a biography of Alfred Rosenberg, influential Nazi intellectual who held a number of important German state and Nazi Party posts.
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Decree against Public Enemies
ArticleThe Decree against Public Enemies was a key step in the process by which the Nazi leadership moved Germany from a democracy to a dictatorship.
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Belle Mayer Zeck describes difficult working conditions during the Nuremberg trials
Oral HistoryBelle Mayer trained as a lawyer and worked for the General Counsel of the US Treasury, Foreign Funds Control Bureau. This bureau worked to enforce the Trading With the Enemy Act passed by Congress. In this capacity, Mayer became familiar with the German I. G. Farben chemical company, a large conglomerate that used slave labor during World War II. In 1945, Mayer was sent as a Department of Treasury representative to the postwar London Conference. She was present as representatives from the Allied nations…
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The Nazi Party
ArticleThe National Socialist German Worker’s Party, also known as the Nazi Party, was the far-right racist and antisemitic political party led by Adolf Hitler. After coming to power in Germany in 1933, it controlled all a...
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Kurt Klein describes a group of death march survivors in a Czechoslovak village
Oral HistoryAs Nazi anti-Jewish policy intensified, Kurt's family decided to leave Germany. Kurt left for the United States in 1937, but his parents were unable to leave before the outbreak of World War II. Kurt's parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland. In 1942, Kurt joined the United States Army and was trained in military intelligence. In Europe, he interrogated prisoners of war. In May 1945, he took part in the surrender of a village in Czechoslovakia and returned the next day to…
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Herbert A. Friedman describes finding two child survivors after liberation
Oral HistoryHerbert graduated from Yale in 1938. He became a rabbi and worked very closely with American Jewish leader Stephen S. Wise. He became a chaplain in the US Army during World War II. In the spring of 1945, he went to Europe. When the war ended, he was recruited by David Ben-Gurion into the Aliyah Bet ("illegal" immigration) operation of the Hagana. This involved smuggling Jews from eastern Europe through Germany to Palestine. He worked with displaced persons, mainly in Berlin and the American zone of…
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United States Immigration and Refugee Law, 1921–1980
ArticleBefore World War II and the Holocaust, American law made very little...
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Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes collecting evidence
Oral HistoryBen was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…
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Assessing Guilt
ArticleAfter WWII, prosecutors faced the challenge of assessing the guilt of propagandists whose words, images, and writings had supported Nazi brutality and mass murder.
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Wilek (William) Loew describes Jewish life in prewar Lvov, including restrictions on admission to schools
Oral HistoryWilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…
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Treblinka
ArticleTreblinka was one of three killing centers in Operation Reinhard, the SS plan to murder almost two million Jews living in the German-administered territory of occupied Poland.
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John Dolibois describes attitude of captured Nazi leaders
Oral HistoryJohn Dolibois immigrated to the United States in 1931 at the age of 13. After graduating from college, Dolibois joined the 16th Armored Division of the US Army. Due to his German language skills, he became involved in military intelligence. He returned to Europe in this capacity toward the end of World War II. Dolibois interrogated German prisoners of war, including leading Nazis, in preparation for the postwar trials of war criminals. He was later appointed US ambassador to Luxembourg, his birthplace.
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Part of the Maginot Line
PhotoA view of part of the Maginot Line, a French defensive wall built after World War I. It was intended to deter a German invasion. France, ca. June 1940.
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View of the Maginot Line
PhotoA view of the Maginot Line, a French defensive wall built after World War I. It was intended to deter a German invasion. France, 1940.
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Moishe Menyuk
ID CardMoishe was born to a Jewish family in the village of Komarovo, which until 1918 was part of the Russian Empire. At 18, he was drafted into the Russian army and fought in World War I. He was captured by the Germans, and while a POW, learned German. After the war he returned to Komarovo, which by then was part of Poland. He supported his family by farming and managing an estate for a Pole from Warsaw. 1933-39: The few Jews of Komarovo got along well with the Ukrainians. Moishe even played the fiddle at…
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Susan Bluman describes leaving her family in Warsaw after the outbreak of war
Oral HistorySusan was 19 years old when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Her boyfriend, Nathan, was in Lvov when the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland. Nathan sent a guide to Warsaw to bring Susan to the Soviet zone of occupied Poland. Her parents reluctantly agreed after Susan promised to return to Warsaw within two weeks. Upon her arrival in Lvov, Susan married Nathan. The couple then fled across the Lithuanian border to Vilna, where they stayed for a year. They received a visa for transit through Japan…
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Insignia of the 2nd Infantry Division
PhotoInsignia of the 2nd Infantry Division. The nickname of the 2nd Infantry Division, "Indianhead," was derived from its World War I insignia. This insignia was developed from an emblem a truck driver in the division had painted on his truck.
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Insignia of the 4th Infantry Division
PhotoInsignia of the 4th Infantry Division. The 4th Infantry Division's nickname, the "Ivy" division, is derived from the divisional insignia developed during World War I: four ivy leaves on a diamond field, symbolizing the roman numeral "IV."
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Insignia of the 26th Infantry Division
PhotoInsignia of the 26th Infantry Division. The 26th Infantry Division, the "Yankee" division, was so nicknamed to recognize the six New England states from whose National Guard units the division was raised during World War I.
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Insignia of the 82nd Airborne Division
PhotoInsignia of the 82nd Airborne Division. The nickname for the 82nd Airborne Division originated in World War I, signifying the "All American" composition of its members. The troops who formed the division came from diverse areas of the United States.
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School established by the Joint Distribution Committee
PhotoOne of the many Jewish schools established by the Joint Distribution Committee in central and eastern Europe for children who had lost their parents during World War I. Rovno, Poland, after 1920.
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Lutz Haase
ID CardLutz was one of two children born to religious Jewish parents living in Wrzesnia when it was still part of Germany. After World War I, Wrzesnia became part of Polish territory. Preferring to remain as German citizens, Lutz's family moved to Nuremberg. There, his father opened a kosher butcher shop. In 1926 the Haases relocated to Berlin and reestablished their butcher shop there. 1933-39: Like many of Berlin's Jews, Lutz was assigned by the Gestapo to a work detail in 1937. He laid electrical cable for…
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Belle Mayer Zeck describes research about IG Farben for the postwar trial
Oral HistoryBelle Mayer trained as a lawyer and worked for the General Counsel of the US Treasury, Foreign Funds Control Bureau. This bureau worked to enforce the Trading With the Enemy Act passed by Congress. In this capacity, Mayer became familiar with the German I. G. Farben chemical company, a large conglomerate that used slave labor during World War II. In 1945, Mayer was sent as a Department of Treasury representative to the postwar London Conference. She was present as representatives from the Allied nations…
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Public Humiliation
ArticleThe Nazis used public humiliation tactics to degrade their victims and to reinforce Nazi racial ideology for German citizens and populations under Nazi occupation.
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Chaim Kozienicki
ArticleChildren's diaries bear witness to some of the most heartbreaking experiences of the Holocaust. Learn about the diary and experiences of Chaim Kozienicki.
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Madeline Deutsch describes adjusting to social and educational life after the war
Oral HistoryMadeline was born into a middle class family in an area of Czechoslovakia that was annexed by Hungary in 1938-1939. Her father worked out of their home and her mother was a homemaker. Madeline attended high school. In April 1944 her family was forced into a Hungarian ghetto. The family lived in the ghetto for two weeks before being transported to Auschwitz. Madeline and her mother were separated from her father and older brother. Neither her father nor brother survived the war. A week after arriving in…
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Concentration Camp System: In Depth
ArticleThe Nazi regime's extensive camp system included concentration camps, forced-labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, transit camps, and killing centers.
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Danzig - Photographs
Media EssayFollowing World War I, the Treaty of Versailles (1918) declared Danzig to be a free city administered by Poland and the League of Nations. Germany resented the loss of this largely German city. After invading Poland in September 1939, Nazi Germany annexed Danzig.
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Danzig
Media EssayFollowing World War I, the Treaty of Versailles (1918) declared Danzig to be a free city administered by Poland and the League of Nations. Germany resented the loss of this largely German city. After invading Poland in September 1939, Nazi Germany annexed Danzig.
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Insignia of the 1st Infantry Division
PhotoInsignia of the 1st Infantry Division. The 1st Infantry Division's nickname, the "Big Red One," originated from the division's insignia, a large red number "1" on a khaki field. This nickname was adopted during World War I, when the 1st was the first American division to arrive in France.
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Insignia of the 86th Infantry Division
PhotoInsignia of the 86th Infantry Division. The 86th Infantry Division developed the blackhawk as its insignia during World War I, to honor the Native American warrior of that name who fought the US Army in Illinois and Wisconsin during the early nineteenth century. The nickname "The Blackhawks" or "Blackhawk" division is derived from the insignia.
