Major Crimes and True Crime

After surviving nearly two years in a concentration camp and a grueling death march, all Eva Ostwalt could think about was being reunited with her daughter.  Eva's daughter, Heide, avoided deportation because she was living with her non-Jewish father in Dresden at the time. Eva was finally liberated in May 1945.  "When the trains were running again, I wanted to go to Dresden where my daughter stayed." However, their reunion never happened. "I didn't have any idea about the air raid of Dresden, which happened almost at the end of the war." Eva arrived in Dresden and learned that most of the city had been destroyed. In mid-February 1945, the Allies bombed Dresden, killing Heide along with 25,000 other Germans. Eva was devastated by Heide's death and years later still struggled to speak of that time.  Pictured are Eva and Heide in 1932. Photo: USHMM, gift of Eva Guttsmann Ostwalt #Holocaust #History #OnThisDay #OTD less

 Joël Nommick never got the chance to meet his father, who was arrested and deported in 1942. Only later would he piece together the story of his father’s imprisonment at Auschwitz and numerous other camps and prisons.  This Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, hear Joël share how he, his mother, and his two brothers, with the help of their neighbors, managed to stay alive in France while in constant danger of discovery.   Photos: Courtesy of Joël Nommick #Holocaust #History #HolocaustSurvivor less

 "I don't want to have lived in vain like most people," Anne Frank wrote in her diary. "I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!" Annelies Marie Frank, one of the best-known victims of the Holocaust, died of typhus at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 80 years ago—in February or March 1945, shortly before the camp's liberation.  Anne's father, Otto, was the only surviving member of their immediate family. After the war, he preserved Anne's legacy by publishing her diary. Anne was one of more than 1.5 million children who were murdered during the Holocaust. She has come to symbolize all of its victims' lost promise and dreams cut short. What might have become of this girl who was already such a gifted writer? Photo: Anne Frank House #AnneFrank #Holocaust #History #WWII less

Nothing could have prepared 20-year-old Leon Bass for the horrors he witnessed at the Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945, just two years after he enlisted in the segregated US Army.  "I saw human beings ... that had been beaten, they’d been starved, they’d been tortured. They’d been denied everything, everything that would make anyone’s life livable.” Leon would never forget what he saw. Watch his story by clicking the link in our bio. Photo 1: Leon is pictured fourth from the left; USHMM, courtesy of William Alexander Scott III Photos 2 & 3: USHMM, courtesy of Leon Bass #Holocaust #BlackHistoryMonth less

 “Christian relatives demonstrated outside for days. … Just total unity,” said Gad Beck, expressing his gratitude for those who participated in the Rosenstrasse protest, which took place #OnThisDay in 1943. Gad, pictured above, was born in Vienna in 1923 to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother. Since he fell into the category the Nazis deemed “mixed race,” he was initially exempt from Jewish roundups in Berlin. But this did not last long.  On February 17, 1943, Gad was ordered to report to the former Jewish community building on a street known as Rosenstrasse. He was held there with 2,000 others—mostly sons with one Jewish parent and the Jewish husbands of non-Jewish German women. Upon hearing that the men were being held at Rosenstrasse, 200 German women—mostly non-Jewish wives and other female relatives—demonstrated on Rosenstrasse. These family members of those incarcerated believed the Nazis would send their loved ones to German-occupied Poland, based on recent deportat...

Polish pharmacist Thadeusz Pankiewicz saved countless lives by running the only pharmacy within the Krakow ghetto. When the ghetto was established #OnThisDay in 1941, the Nazis offered to relocate Pankiewicz, as his pharmacy happened to be within the ghetto walls. He refused, choosing to stay in the ghetto until its destruction in March 1943. Pankiewicz’s pharmacy aided Jews in multiple ways, such as by distributing hair dye to make the elderly look younger. This was helpful because Jews deemed unfit for labor—such as the elderly and the very young—were often the first deported “to the East,” the Nazi euphemism for killing centers in German-occupied Poland. Pankiewicz and his assistants also gave parents tranquilizers to quiet babies when being hidden or smuggled out of the ghetto. The pharmacy handed out bandages and medications, and Pankiewicz served as a liaison between Jews living in the ghetto and those outside its walls.  Due to its location, the pharmacy was often the last s...

"Our zoo was full of life," wrote Antonina Żabińska.  After being orphaned at a young age, Antonina found comfort in the company of animals. It was this shared affection for animals that brought her and her husband, Jan, together. At the time of the German invasion of Poland, Jan served as the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and the couple lived on its grounds. The war was devastating for the zoo. German bombings killed many animals and destroyed structures during the siege of Warsaw. But in the wake of this destruction, Jan and Antonina found a new purpose for their zoo. In 1940, they began risking their lives to help Jews imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto. Later, they helped smuggle Jews out of the ghetto, hiding them in their home and on the zoo grounds.  Antonina described their new guests as “people stripped of everything but their lives.” More than shelter, Antonina provided a sense of peace to the guests. "They desperately needed hope that a safe haven even existed, tha...

A sign on the shoe factory bulletin board prompted Harry Harrison and his wife, Dot, a Christian couple, to take in a little Jewish girl fleeing Nazi Germany.   When Esther Starobin arrived by boat in England, she was just two years old. Her desperate parents had agreed to send their youngest child to live with strangers in the hopes of saving her. What began as a good deed blossomed into bonds that lasted a lifetime. Over eight years, Esther came to see the Harrisons and their son, Alan, as a second family. “That was really the happiest time of my childhood," she remembered. Esther later learned that her parents had been murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. Alan and Esther are still close today. Photos: Esther, Esther's family, Esther's foster family Credit: USHMM, Esther Rosenfeld Starobin #Holocaust #History #Survivor #NationalFosterCareMonth less

You may have seen these photos, but do you know their story? These images show the dehumanizing process Jews faced as they arrived at Auschwitz: getting out of overcrowded trains, being sorted into lines, and waiting to be sent to their death. The photos were taken by the Nazis in May 1944, at the start of the Hungarian deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After liberation, Holocaust survivor Lili Jacob discovered an album containing these photographs in an abandoned SS barrack. As she flipped through the album, Lili discovered a photo of herself, along with many of her neighbors and relatives. She was shocked. To this day, we do not know why the album was created or who the original owner was. Some think it was created by the SS to document the efficiency of Auschwitz. It may also have belonged to Richard Baer, the last commandant of Auschwitz and the commander of Dora-Mittelbau, the camp where Lili discovered it. Photos: Yad Vashem #OnThisDay #Auschwitz #Holocaust less

István Domonkos looked up to his older brother, Péter. "He was a much better student than I was," István admitted. "He was an excellent mathematician."  But Péter graduated high school just as Hungary passed the first of three major anti-Jewish laws in May 1938. As a result of these laws, tens of thousands of Jews lost their jobs, businesses, or livelihoods. “In that world with the anti-Jewish laws one couldn’t get a decent job,” recalled István.  During World War II, the Hungarian government required Péter to perform forced labor because he was Jewish. His forced labor unit was sent to the warfront in summer 1942.  Less than a year later, Péter’s father received a note that read, “We inform you that Péter Domonkos, forced laborer, who was born in 1919 in Budapest, mother’s name Gabriella Rózsa, died in January 1943 at Marki and was buried on the site.” Both István and his father survived the Holocaust. Photo: USHMM, Centropa Collection #Holocaust #History less

“In the end they brought us to Mauthausen,” remembered Yona Dickmann. More than 80 years have passed since Yona first walked through the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp with her aunt Hela.  “My aunt was very weak," recalled Yona. "She said, ‘Leave me here.' So I started to cry. I said, ‘No, you have to go. We have to walk.’” For several days, Yona and Hela lived with little food and water in dangerously overcrowded conditions. Both women were liberated by the US Army #OnThisDay in 1945. They were two of the 197,464 prisoners to pass through Mauthausen. At least 95,000 prisoners died in the camp.  Photo: USHMM, courtesy of Yona Dickmann #OTD #Holocaust #History less

“It’s one of those things that took place—no question about it,” reflected George Oiye. “And we were there.” Japanese American soldier George Oiye was a firsthand witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. In May 1945, his unit liberated a subcamp of Dachau. He is pictured here with newly freed concentration camp prisoners.  George vividly remembers discovering prisoners’ bodies in the late spring snow. Years later, he was able to process his reaction, saying, “I had a tremendous feeling of guilt. And my guilt wasn’t for me—I didn’t do that. But my guilt was for mankind … .” George and his unit fought for their country in Europe, even while the US government targeted their community back home as potential enemies. George’s sister and her husband were two of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry—including US citizens—who were forced into so-called “relocation camps.” Photo: USHMM, courtesy of Eric Saul #History #Holocaust #WWII less

Most chose to look the other way. Irene didn’t. Why? Irene Gut Opdyke grew up in a Polish Catholic household. Her family was not particularly religious—they didn’t attend church every Sunday. But Irene’s mother raised her children to care for others.  “In my family, there was no difference between religion or race,” remembered Irene. “My mother taught us to have an open heart, open ears, and open hands to help people that need help.” That's exactly what Irene did. While working for a major in the German army, Irene assisted Jewish people in the nearby ghetto however she could. When she told them that the ghetto was about to be destroyed, they begged her to help them. “But what could I do?” Irene remembered thinking. “I did not have a home. I did not have family.” She also knew that the punishment for assisting Jews in German-occupied Poland was death. “But I could not let them die,” she said.  Taking an incredible risk, Irene hid 12 Jewish people in the basement of the major’s...

No one believed Moshe’s warnings. “They take me for a madman,” he told a teenage Elie Wiesel.  Moshe told anyone who would listen what had happened to him after he was deported. He had barely escaped a mass killing in which he was forced to dig his own grave and shot at by the Nazis. But the town ignored Moshe’s pleas.  “I did not believe him myself,” wrote Elie. This cautionary tale was how Elie opened his memoir “Night.” In his other writings, Elie refers to Moshe as “the madman, the beadle, the beggar.” Moshe also played an important spiritual role in Elie’s life as a religious mentor.  In mid-May 1944, 15-year-old Elie was deported with his family to Auschwitz. His arrival at Auschwitz marked the beginning of the night that turned his life into "one long night seven times sealed.” Of the approximately 14,000 Jews deported from his town of Sighet, Elie was one of several hundred survivors. Later reflecting on Moshe’s significance in his life, Elie wrote, “He lived our ...

Nothing could convince Gudrun Himmler of her father’s crimes during the Holocaust. No amount of evidence—not a tour of Dachau concentration camp nor testimony during postwar trials—changed her mind. To her death, she defended Heinrich Himmler, one of the cruelest and most notorious Nazi leaders.  Gudrun was born in 1929, the same year that Adolf Hitler appointed her father to lead the SS, then a unit of bodyguards for the Nazi Party leader. After Hitler became chancellor, Himmler eventually rose to become one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. Himmler transformed the SS into a deadly institution that ran the concentration camp system and carried out the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. After Germany's surrender, Himmler was captured by Soviet soldiers. He was wearing a disguise, and the Soviets turned him over to the British, not realizing who he was. After confessing his identity, Himmler killed himself on this day in 1945, biting into a cyanide capsule he had concealed. After...

Jewish American soldier Sydney Goodman was taken prisoner by the Nazis in December 1944, just over a year after enlisting in the US Army. During his time as a POW, Sydney wrote on the back of the family photographs he kept with him. He documented his experiences and kept records of those who died in captivity. In his dated entries, Sydney described the unusually terrible conditions he experienced at the camp, including the lack of food and basic resources. Despite the extraordinary challenges of life in the camp, Sydney was determined to survive.  He wrote, “‘When I get home,’ sounds like a fairy story or dream now but soon it will be a reality.” In April 1945, Sydney and other American POWs were forced on a march south from the labor camp where they were imprisoned. US Army forces eventually intercepted their route, and Sydney was liberated. While Sydney survived the war, we remember the heroic efforts of the US servicemen who died. Sydney is pictured in the first photo on the rig...

Mara Coblic was born in Chișinău, Romania (now, Moldova) in 1936. She was Jewish, the daughter of Ithac and Braka.  When Mara was four years old, Chișinău was annexed by the USSR. The next year, after much bombing and fighting, the city was captured by the Nazis, who collaborated with Romania. On July 25, 1941, the Chișinău ghetto was established. Mara and her family were forced to live there under horrific conditions.  Most of the eleven thousand Jews in the ghetto were extremely poor. They suffered starvation, illness, and intense brutality from the Nazis that patrolled the ghetto. Sometime in 1941 or 1942, Mara died in the ghetto because of the sickening conditions. She was only around six years old. May her memory be a blessing.  REMEMBER MARA COBLIC.  #neveragain #Chișinău #shoah #holocaust #jewish #wwii #ww2 #remembering #history less

Yoachim Gerstl was born on June 27, 1936. He was Jewish, born in Veľké Kapušany, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). His parents were Elisabeth and Nathan Gerstl. The Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, and soon after Yoachim’s family fled to Uzhgorod, Hungary (now Ukraine).  They had a few happy years in Uzhgorod, but those ended on March 19, 1944, when the Nazis occupied Hungary. That May and June, all ten thousand of Uzhgorod’s Jews were deported to Auschwitz, where almost all were killed. Yoachim and his parents were killed on June 5, 1944. Yoachim was not yet seven years old. May his memory be a blessing.  REMEMBER YOACHIM GERSTL.  #holocaust #shoah #wwii #ww2 #jewish #neveragain #neverforget less

Maria Teresa Bartnik was born in Wołomin, Poland, on March 10, 1931. She was the daughter of Edmund and Irena (née Borysoglebska). She had an older brother, Jerzy. Maria was a Christian.  In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. Maria’s family was extremely patriotic and deeply opposed the Nazis. Her father was arrested in late 1939 for partisan activities. He was sent to Stutthof, where he was killed. Maria’s mother and aunt were also a part of the Polish underground. Life was difficult for them during the war, but the family maintained their resistance work.  In the spring of 1943, Maria’s mother and aunt were betrayed and arrested. The two women and their children were sent to prison and investigated. The children (Maria, Jerzy, and their five year old cousin) were released eventually. Their mothers were sent to Auschwitz and murdered. By age twelve, Maria had been orphaned by the Nazis.  In the summer of 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began. Maria and her brother both joined in ...

Ernst Simon Oppenheim was the German-Jewish son of Gustav and Flora (née Ullmann) Oppenheim. He was born in Düsseldorf on the 22nd of July 1925. He had a brother, Hans (1927). His parents were German Jews. Gustav passed away on the 2nd of November 1935. Ernst arrived as a Jewish refugee in Arnhem on the 28th of July 1933. His brother had arrived on the 24th. As of 1941, Ernst lived at the Villa Catharinahoeve, a Jewish youth farm in Gouda. Before that, he had been living in a Jewish children's home in Utrecht. Since 1940 until 1943, his brother had been living at home with the children's mother. Before that he had been living at a children’s home in Den Haag. Ernst and Hans probably never saw each other again after they arrived in the Netherlands. Ernst was deported from the Catharinahoeve to Westerbork. He was murdered in Auschwitz on the 31st of March 1944 at the age of 18. Unbeknownst to him, 15 year old Hans had been deported and already murdered on the 19th of November 194...