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Soldiers of the Polish Home Army Women's Auxiliary Services, taken captive by the Germans in October 1944 as a result of the Warsaw Polish uprising. After the uprising ended on October 2, the Germans took as prisoners of war more than 11,000 soldiers of the Polish Home Army.
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women in the resistance

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All Content Tagged 'women in the resistance'

Media Essay
Armed Jewish Resistance: Partisans - ID Card/Oral History
Prewar photo of Ala Gertner. Bedzin, Poland, 1930s. After being deported to Auschwitz, Ala Gertner took fate into her own hands. Upon arrival, she was assigned to forced labor at a nearby armaments factory.  After learning that they were going to be killed, Gertner, along with fellow female prisoners, began smuggling gunpowder and explosives from the factory with plans to destroy one of the crematoriums. During the uprising in October 1944, the prisoners killed three guards. They also set fire to Crematorium 4, making it inoperable.The guards crushed the revolt and killed almost all of the prisoners involved in the rebellion. The Jewish women, including Gertner, who had smuggled the explosives into the camp were publicly hanged in early January 1945.
Timeline Event
Prisoner Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau
In 1933 Barbara's family moved to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. They became friends of Anne Frank and her family. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Barbara's boyfriend, Manfred, had underground contacts and she got false papers. Her mother, sister, and father were deported to the Westerbork camp and then to Auschwitz. Barbara survived using her false papers and worked for the resistance. She helped take Jews to hiding places and also hid Jews in an apartment rented under her false name.
Oral History
Barbara Ledermann Rodbell describes false papers and moving people to hiding places
Timeline Event
Chère Odette
Exterior view of barracks at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Ravensbrueck, Germany, between May 1939 and April 1945.
Article
Corrie ten Boom
Danuta Justyna
ID Card
Danuta Justyna
Dora Rivkina
ID Card
Dora Rivkina
Esther was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Chelm, Poland. In December 1942, she was deported from a work camp to the Sobibor killing center in occupied Poland. Upon arrival at Sobibor, Esther was selected to work in a sorting shed. She sorted clothing and the possessions of the people killed at the camp. During the summer and fall of 1943, Esther was among a group of prisoners in the Sobibor camp who planned an uprising and escape. Leon Feldhendler and Aleksandr (Sasha) Pechersky were the leaders of the group. The revolt took place on October 14, 1943. German and Ukrainian guards opened fire on the prisoners, who were unable to reach the main gate and thus had to try and escape through the minefield around the camp; about 300 escaped. Over 100 of them were recaptured and shot. Esther was among those who escaped and survived.
Oral History
Esther Raab recalls the arrival of transports in Sobibor
Esther was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Chelm, Poland. In December 1942, she was deported from a work camp to the Sobibor killing center in occupied Poland. Upon arrival at Sobibor, Esther was selected to work in a sorting shed. She sorted clothing and the possessions of the people killed at the camp. During the summer and fall of 1943, Esther was among a group of prisoners in the Sobibor camp who planned an uprising and escape. Leon Feldhendler and Aleksandr (Sasha) Pechersky were the leaders of the group. The revolt took place on October 14, 1943. German and Ukrainian guards opened fire on the prisoners, who were unable to reach the main gate and thus had to try and escape through the minefield around the camp; about 300 escaped. Over 100 of them were recaptured and shot. Esther was among those who escaped and survived.
Oral History
Esther Raab describes planning for the uprising in Sobibor
Esther was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Chelm, Poland. In December 1942, she was deported from a work camp to the Sobibor killing center in occupied Poland. Upon arrival at Sobibor, Esther was selected to work in a sorting shed. She sorted clothing and the possessions of the people killed at the camp. During the summer and fall of 1943, Esther was among a group of prisoners in the Sobibor camp who planned an uprising and escape. Leon Feldhendler and Aleksandr (Sasha) Pechersky were the leaders of the group. The revolt took place on October 14, 1943. German and Ukrainian guards opened fire on the prisoners, who were unable to reach the main gate and thus had to try and escape through the minefield around the camp; about 300 escaped. Over 100 of them were recaptured and shot. Esther was among those who escaped and survived.
Oral History
Esther Raab describes the uprising in Sobibor
During World War II, people often used false identities and forged identity documents to evade Nazi authorities. False identities were essential for resistance fighters, aid workers, and Jews hoping to pass as non-Jews. Creating high-quality, convincing forgeries required dozens of people to work together clandestinely. It also required sophisticated photography and printing equipment. For Jews passing as non-Jews, acquiring forged documents could mean the difference between life and death.  During World War II, Ewa Sarnecka adopted the alias “Regina Cybulska” and used this false identity document to conduct clandestine activities. From 1942 to 1944, Ewa and her husband Tadeusz Sarnecki worked for the Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed “Żegota”). Żegota was a clandestine rescue organization of Poles and Jews that coordinated efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder. The Sarneckis served as couriers for the Zamość and Lublin branches of Żegota. They traveled to selected forced labor camps in the region, including Piotrków Trybunalski, Radom, and Starachowice. The Sarneckis secretly delivered money, documents, food, medicine, and letters to the Jews imprisoned there. On several occasions, they were even able to smuggle individuals out of the camps. Both Ewa and Tadeusz survived the war.
Document
False identity for Żegota member Ewa Sarnecka
During World War II, people often used false identities and forged identity documents to evade Nazi authorities. False identities were essential for resistance fighters, aid workers, and Jews hoping to pass as non-Jews. Creating high-quality, convincing forgeries required dozens of people to work together clandestinely. It also required sophisticated photography and printing equipment. For Jews passing as non-Jews, acquiring forged documents could mean the difference between life and death.  This identification document was used by Izabela Bieżuńska to establish her alias as "Janina Truszczyńska.” Izabela was a member of the Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed “Żegota”), an underground rescue organization of Poles and Jews in German-occupied Poland. Supported by the Polish government-in-exile, Żegota operated from December 1942 to January 1945. The organization coordinated efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder. 
Document
False identity for Żegota member Izabela Bieżuńska
Soldiers of the Polish Home Army Women's Auxiliary Services, taken captive by the Germans in October 1944 as a result of the Warsaw Polish uprising. After the uprising ended on October 2, the Germans took as prisoners of war more than 11,000 soldiers of the Polish Home Army.
Photo
Female Soldiers of the Polish Home Army
“For three months I was disguised as a man, and very successfully… I passed my mother several times … she never recognized me.” Frieda Belinfante, a half-Jewish lesbian, used this disguise to hide from Nazi authorities. In a later interview she said, “I really looked pretty good.” Her involvement in the resistance movement included planning the destruction of the Amsterdam Population Registry in March 1943, falsifying identity cards, and arranging hiding places for those who were sought by the Nazis. She was driven to hide herself, after many other members of the Netherlands-based gay resistance group were executed in 1943 by occupying Nazi authorities. In December 1943, Frieda escaped to Switzerland and later immigrated to the United States. Frieda’s contribution showed the scope of complexity and diversity of the resistance movement to aid others that many faced during the era of the Holocaust.
Photo
Frieda Belinfante
Media Essay
Hannah Szenes
Irena Elzbieta Wos
ID Card
Irena Elzbieta Wos

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