Nazi and American Ideology on the Mentally and Physically Disabled

"It's hard to express myself at that time because I was nervous. Look at yourself. You're a bright human being. You are. You're very intelligent. And it was frustrating because it was like a living hell. There was no privacy. It was like living in a concentration camp. I've been beat up so many times when I lived at Willowbrook. I got beaten with sticks, key chains, keys. They'd kick my head through the wall. Only you name it, I had it. I'm not going to die in the institution because none of my family came to see me that often. They called them every five, ten years. The saddest thing is on Sundays when parents would come visit their kids. And I'd look out the window to see who would come and see me. When the clock struck 3:00 in the afternoon it was disappointing because nobody came to visit me or brought me cookies, ice cream, or toys, and stuff like that. "   Testimony of Bernard Carebello on his treatment during his forced stay at Willowbrook State School

 The conditions at Willowbrook (and in various other institutions) were so deteriorated that Hepatitis A was rampant throughout the facility. Just as Ravensbrück doctors, Rolf Rosenthal, Herta Oberheuser and Gerhard Schiedlausky or Auschwitz doctor, Joseph Mengele performed painful and inhumane experiments on their concentration and extermination camp victims, Willowbrook's doctors, Saul Krugman and Robert W. McCollum performed callous Hepatitis A experiments on the children of Willowbrook. It was noted by Paul A. Offit that, "In an effort to control outbreaks of hepatitis, the medical staff at Willowbrook consulted Saul Krugman....Krugman found that Hepatitis developed in 90 percent of children admitted to Willowbrook soon after their arrival. Although it was known that Hepatitis was caused by a virus, it wasn't known how hepatitis virus spread, whether it could be prevented, or how many types of viruses caused the disease. Krugman used the children at Willowbrook to answer those questions.  One of his studies involved feeding live hepatitis virus to sixty healthy children. Krugman watched as their skin and eyes turned yellow and their livers got bigger.  He watched them vomit and refuse to eat.  All the children fed the hepatitis virus became ill, some severely. Krugman reasoned that it was justifiable to inoculate retarded children at Willowbrook with hepatitis virus because most of them would get hepatitis virus anyway.  But by purposefully giving the children hepatitis, Krugman increased that chance by 100 percent." Nazi doctors showed the same lack of empathy. In November 1944, Georges Andre Kohn and several other children used for Nazi medical experimentation at Auschwitz, were injected with tuberculosis cultures in Neuengamme concentration camp which resulted in the children becoming severely ill. The justification being that the victims were seen as sub-human.

Eugenics is the belief that you can improve the human population through controlled breeding. The Nazis believed in racial purity and one of their prime targets was the mentally and physically disabled. In 1933, the laws "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" and "Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals" were passed which allowed for the forced sterilization of thousands of mentally and physically disabled individuals throughout Germany. In 1927, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which sought to the rise of forced sterilization in the mentally and physically disabled community and the prevention of interracial marriages. By 1930, a majority of U.S. states (30) had passed laws that regarded eugenics. Dr. Joseph S. Dejarnette who was the superintendent of Western State Hospital lobbied for the passing of the sterilization act. Along with writing poetry about eugenics, Dejarnette often complained about how the forced sterilization of the mentally and physically disabled needed to be seen as compulsory.

Bernard Carebello was diagnosed as "mentally retarded" at the age of 3 and abandoned at Willowbrook State School by his mother. Carebello was not allowed to leave until he turned 21, when it was revealed that he had been misdiagnosed and instead it was found that he had Cerebral Palsy. While at Willowbrook, Carebello was not attending any school whatsoever, was abused, and denied hygienic conditions.

 "You can't treat humans like a dog in a kennel. There is no place where you can mass produced care, compassion, and concern for people. It is impossible. It is fundamentally unsound. The assembly line works for add-in does not work for people. 

People need humanity." - Geraldo Rivera, Unforgotten: 25 Years After Willowbrook

Carrie Buck was a victim of Dr. Joseph Dejarnette's advocacy for compulsory sterilization of the mentally and physically disabled. After being raped, Buck was help captive at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded for feeblmindedness, promiscuity and incorrigible behavior. After advocating for herself in Buck v. Bell, the United States Supreme Court supported the sterilization procedure in finding that it did not violate the constitution.

This is a fictional depiction of Nazi eugenics. The miniseries, Holocaust, followed the Weiss family throughout the war. The first few minutes detail the terrible fate of Anna. Raped by Nazi officers, Anna went into a psychosis. A doctor sent her to a Sanatorium where upon arrival, her and the other patients were gassed. 

This is Geraldo Rivera's expose, "Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace" from 1972 in it's entirety. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article! Please share and comment about what you think!

Links for further research:
1. http://disabilityjustice.org/the-closing-of-willowbrook

2. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/archives/FindingAids/fa0017.htm

3. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007057

4. http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/eugenics/4-influence/

Ravensbrück Rabbits

On July 22nd 1942, seventy-five women were called to the Ravensbrück Appellplatz. These women had just arrived from Lublin, all young and fit. The women were inspected by Ravenbrück doctors, Rolf Rosenthal, Gerhard Schiedlausky and Herta Oberheuser, along with Karl Gerbhardt (Himmler's top surgeon) and his assistant, Fritz Fischer. Ernst Grawitz, head of the German Red Cross and an SS physician was also present for parts of the experiments.

Four days later, the group of seventy-five Lublin women were called to the Revier. They were once again inspected by the same group of doctors, eventually selecting only ten for further inspection. From the group of ten, only six were selected for the first round of experiments.

About four days later, the six women who were selected were prepared for experimentation. They were bathed, shaven, given beds and put under anesthetic. In the following hours, the women woke up with hallucinations. Their legs were wrapped in plaster and labelled.

In the following days, the six women were locked into the Revier while their legs swelled and the plaster cut into the wound. Flies were swarming around the rotting flesh while the women drifted in and out of consciousness.  Only three weeks later was the plaster and their bed sheets changed. At the same time, nine new Rabbits were selected and given surgery . By this point, the first round of experiments had proved inconclusive.

In the second round of experiments, it was believed that the tests turned up inconclusive because not enough was done to mimic a battle wound. Therefore, wooden splinters and glass were inserted into the Rabbit's wounds. Larger amounts of bacteria were also used so the infection could spread further. Each new wound was treated with a series of different drugs, sulphonamide drugs or nothing at all.

Although this round of tests proved to also be inconclusive, Ernst Grawitz thought that the injuries of the patients and the drugs used weren't enough. Grawitz was advocating for the next group of women to be shot in the leg.

On September 20th, several other Lublin women were called to the Revier. These women were not shot in the leg, however, they were injected with larger amounts of bacteria and more foreign objects (ex: glass, wood). After several days of leaving the current wounds rotting and undressed, the Rabbits were taken to the operating theater. Over the coarse of the following five days, each Rabbit was injected with several more rounds of various types of bacteria. By that point, the remaining Rabbits experienced excruciating pain in their legs and a terrible thirst.

After the final round of injections, the Ravenbrück Rabbits began to heal or die.

Alfreda Prus, a former student at the University of Zamość was given the label K1. Many suspected Alfreda had gangrene. For days she hiccuped and swore she was going to die. On her final day of life, a new incision was made in her leg. When she returned to her bed, she bled profusely.  She was taken away on a stretcher, only to be heard screaming moments later.

Weronika Kraska was believed to be injected with tetanus. Complaining of a stiff neck, she was forced to drink water due to a locked jaw. While speaking of her two children, Weronika gave out a scream. As her condition worsened, Gerda Quernheim (a prisoner who worked alongside the camp doctors) injects her with a needle.

By the time the first four groups were healing from their wounds, another new group of women were called up to the Revier. On October 7th, 1942, the new group of Rabbits were bathed, inspected by a group of doctors  and injected with various types of bacteria and foreign objects. The women awoke, several days later, with hallucinations, hiccups and stiff necks. A couple days after their injections,  nine out of the original twelve were left.

Alfreda and Kazimiera Kurowska died from an extensive gangrene infection. The bacteria quantities were so large that their bodies couldn't put up a defense. Kazimiera's right leg was completely destroyed. Once the infection began to spread to the right side of her body, she was given a massive dose of morphine. Another Rabbit, Weronika Kraska was injected with tetanus, which killed her.

After the sulphonamide experiments, the surviving Rabbits were left to fend for themselves. The women were left in beds that were grey and sticky, while flies and maggots fed on the puss oozing from their wounds.

In the end, each round of the sulphonamide experiments proved to be inconclusive. Heinrich Himmler, by the end of October, had moved on to new interests.

Himmler believed that Karl Gerbhardt and Ludwig Stumpfegger (Adolf Hitler's future personal surgeon) should investigate the mending of broken bones. On November 2nd, a new group of Rabbits were called to the Revier. The incoming women were subjected to various types of operations: bone grafts, bone splinters, bone breaking and operations on muscles.

In the name of curiousity, dozens of Polish women and eventually women of various other nationalities were mutilated and abandoned. In 1946, four of the Ravensbrück Rabbits were able to give evidence at the Nuremburg Doctor's Trial.

 

Maria Kusmierczuk showing her mutilated leg. On October 7th, 1942, Maria was infected with tetanus bacteria as a part of the Ravensbrück sulfanilamide experiments. Her wound did not heal, leaving the bone exposed and her unable to walk. 

Bogumila Babinska survived two operations on the muscles of her thigh. The operations were performed in November and December of 1942. In 1943, another operation was performed on her shin bone. Bogumila was one of the Ravensbrück Rabbits to write secret messages in urine.  She passed in 1980. 

Barbara Pietrzyk survived bone operations on each leg at the age of 16. Unfortunately, Barbara passed in 1949 at the age of 21. A factor in the cause of her death being the operations she forcibly underwent  at Ravensbrück. 

Jadwiga Dzido. 

 

 

Wladislava Karolewska

Links for further research: 

1. Information about Maria Kusmierczuk:

 https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156938

2. Information pertaining to Bogumila Babinska: 

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156940

3. Further information about Barbara Pietrzyk: 

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156939

 

4. Further reading about Jadwiga Dzido:

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1055329

 

5. More information about Wladislava Karolewska:

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa10043

Livia Bitton-Jackson

Livia Bitton-Jackson (formerly Elli L. Friedmann) is a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia and the author of the Holocaust memoir, "I Have Lived a Thousand Years". Jackson was born in Chamorin, Czechoslovakia (formerly Samorin, Slovakia) in 1931. She lived the normal life of a thirteen year old up until the Nazi invasion of Hungary on March 19th, 1944. She was imprisoned in the Nagymagyar ghetto, Auschwitz, Plaszow, and Augsburg. At the end of the war, she was eventually liberated from the Death Train.

In 1951, Livia Bitton-Jackson immigrated to the United States with her mother and surviving brothers.  The memoir, "I Have Lived a Thousand Years" is a great text for adolescents. It provides a teenager's insight into the Holocaust. She is also the author of two other memoirs, "My Bridges of Hope" and " Hello, America" which provide insight into her life after liberation and the struggles of establishing a new life in New York City.

Links for further research: 

1. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn511231

Polina Gelman

Back in September of 2013, I wrote an article about the Nachthexen. A group of Russian female military aviators who flew harassment bombings against the German military. The group of aviator women also flew precision bombing missions. Their flight missions began in 1942 and continued until the end of the war.

One of the notable members of the "Night Witches" was Polina Gelman. I recently ran across her story and decided to share.

Polina was born in Berdichev, Ukraine in 1919. As an adolescent, she took flight lessons. When the German troops were nearing closer to Moscow, in October of 1941, Polina volunteered for the Red Army. She believed it was not only her duty as a Soviet citizen but as a Jewish woman to volunteer and stand up to Adolf Hitler.

On May 27th, 1942, she became a navigator. Her job was extremely important because she led the way for her fellow aviator pilots. The following pilots would bomb fuel and ammunition depots along with targeting bridges and German vehicles. Polina's crew brought supplies to the Red Army while also knocking out German searchlights that searched for Soviet Planes.

After several other notable roles in her regiment and a career as a military officer, Polina passed in November of 2005.

Here is a link for further research: 

1. http://www.yadvashem.org/research/research-projects/soldiers/polina-gelman

Note: Thank you to Yad Vashem for helping provide content for this article. 

Heinrich Himmler and His Obsession with Medical Experimentation

Heinrich Himmler was the Reichsführer of the Nazi Party's SS. Being the second most powerful within  Nazi Germany, Himmler was the Nazi official who conceived and implemented the Final Solution.

Heinrich Himmler also had a reputation for ardent beliefs in "racial consciousness," however, Himmler was also a man obsessed by medical experiments which he believed could reverse the damage of warfare injuries and for multiple other "justifiable" reasons.  Quite a few of these experiments involved the women prisoners of Ravensbrück.

1. The Preservation of Slave Labour

In the Spring of 1942, Heinrich Himmler implemented new harsh directives at Ravensbrück. He wished to extend the use of concentration camp slave labour by increasing the hours of work, making a deal with Siemens (German electrical company) to exploit Ravensbrück women. However, it did not stop there and Ravensbrück women were further exploited through the establishment of brothels in male camps such as Dachau, Mauthausen, Buchenwald and Flossenbürg where the women were to be used as prostitutes.

The use of Ravensbrück women in brothels established in male camps was connected to an idea Himmler had for "reinvigorating" male slave labourers after a visit to Mauthausen where he witnessed emaciated prisoners dying. Therefore, through sex, male prisoners would be encouraged to work better with coupons to visit the brothels.

2. Sulphonamide Experiments

May 27th, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, the SS-Obergruppenführer and proclaimed protector of Bohemia and Moravia, was assassinated by Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, members of the Czech resistance. While the security police where on a blood hunt, particularly against the village of Lidice, Karl Gebhardt (Himmler's top surgeon and the surgeon who attempted to heal Heydrich) was receiving pressure from Adolf Hitler.

For months, German forces were experiencing casualties due to infection of warfare injuries. Most common, being gas gangrene, when shrapnel and debris pierced wounds. This was similar to Hydrich's wound when Jan Kubis threw the bomb that caused shrapnel, glass, upholstery fibres and wire into his spleen. The race to find a "miracle drug" was raging on, especially since the Allies were diminishing casualties with a formulated type of penicillin, and Himmler stepped in, offering healthy concentration camp prisoners.

The first group chosen for human experimentation were male prisoners from Sachsenhausen. The male prisoner's legs were cut open, and different quantities of bacteria were inserted into their legs. A variation of sulphonamide was given to each prisoner, however, the results proved inconclusive.

                                                               
                                                                  Maria Kusmierczuk
                                                                   
                                                               
                                                                 
                                                                      Jadwiga Dzido

Vladislava Karolewska

Ravenbrück women, also known as "Rabbits," who survived. If you look at their legs, you can see the mutilation that was caused due to Himmler's experiments. 

3. "Human Warmth" Experiments

By October 1942, Himmler had grown bored with his sulphonamide experiments. Now, he was infatuated with the idea that sailors and airmen who were exposed to freezing seas were revived by human warmth. He urged Sigmund Rascher to use Ravensbrück prostitutes, having been given four, for his experimental use.

Eight male prisoners were submerged in near-freezing water inside a large tank and left inside until found unconscious. The men were then placed in a bed between two naked Ravensbrück women. The women were to nestle as close as possible under the cover of a blanket.

The men quickly revived, however this experiment wasn't anymore effective than any other form of re-warming. One of the male prisoners subjected to experimentation had a cerebral haemorrhage and died.

4. The Breaking of Bones

Ludwig Stumpfegger, in November, 1942, proposed the experiment of breaking bones to see if they would grow back together. The first new guinea pig was Basia Pietryzyk, a sixteen-year-old Polish dancer. Stumpfegger chiselled bone out of her right and left tibias. Over the course of a few weeks, three different types of operations occurred: bone grafts, bone splinters and bone-breaking. Bone breaking involved the shin bones being smashed by hammers. Other times, the whole fibula or tibia was taken out.

5. Operation on Muscles

First, the muscle was exercised. With each operation, larger parts of the muscle were taken out.

6. Removal of Whole Limbs

In November 1942, bacterial experiments were still being carried out, but a new form of experimentation emerged. Women called the 'lunatics' were subjected to amputation of whole limbs. Victims were murdered on the operating table.

Himmler ordered this experiment of limbs because he wanted Stumpfegger to copy the technique of a Russian doctor who transplanted limbs.

This is part one of a group of articles about medical experiments at Ravensbrück. My next article will be about the Ravensbrück Rabbits, which is mentioned briefly above. My final article for this group will be about the role of the German Red Cross in providing aid to concentration and extermination camp prisoners.

Thank you and I have attached links for further research:
1. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sulfaexp.html
2. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Karolewska.html
3. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/bonexp.html
4. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nazi_experiments.html

Olga Benario-Prestes

Olga Benario-Prestes was a prominent German-Brazilian communist militant. Benario-Prestes was born on February 12th, 1908 to prominent middle-class parents, however, by age 14 (1922) she chose to run away from home and join the communist cause.

After leaving Germany in 1929 to train with Stalin's elite, Olga was then sent by Stalin to Brazil to organize an overthrow against President Getulio Vargas. After being chosen for the Comintern (Communist International organization), in November 1936, Benario-Prestes was handed over to the Gestapo. Her arrest was consequence of a British intelligence tip-off.

Olga Benario-Prestes was then imprisoned at Ravensbrück until 1942 when she was sent with the first few groups of Ravensbrück prisoners to be gassed at Bernburg. While imprisoned at Ravensbrück, Olga was still a key player. For a time she was a Blockova (a female version of a Kapo, which was a prisoner functionary) where she aided those around her. 

I came across Olga's story while reading Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm, which I highly recommend. I have attached a link for further research. Thank you!

1. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/prestes-olga-benario

Hitler's War on "Asocials"

In 1938, a program called 'Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich' (Action Against the Work-shy) was launched which thus created a new stage in the Nazi purge of not only Germany's Jews, Gypsies and mentally or physically disabled individuals but of Germany's underclass.

The primary targets of this program were those "considered social outcasts, largely unnoticed by the outside world, and unreported within Germany, more than 20,000 so-called 'asocials'--'vagabonds, prostitutes, work-shy, beggars and thieves'--were rounded up and earmarked for concentration camps." (Pg #16 of Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm) 

While gathering evidence for this article, I was gobsmacked to discover that there is little to no real information about this program or it's victims. Sarah Helm's Ravensbrück is the only real source that provides any insight that I have found. 

This is partly due to this stigma attached to the "asocials" imprisonment, and therefore, fear of speaking out. Sarah Helm describes it perfectly, "Although we learn alot about what the political prisoners thought of asocials, we learn nothing of what the asocials thought of them. Unlike the political women, they left no memoirs. Speaking out after the war would mean revealing the reason for imprisonment in the first place, and incurring more shame...The German associations set up after the war to help concentration camp survivors were dominated by political prisoners. And whether they were based in the communist East or in the West, these bodies saw no reason to help 'asocial' survivors. Such prisoners had not been arrested as 'fighters' against the fascists, so whatever their suffering none of them qualified for financial or any other kind of help. Nor were the western Allies interested in their fate. Although thousands of asocials died at Ravensbrück, not a single black-or-green triangle survivor was called upon to give evidence for the Hamburg War Crimes trials, or any later trials. As a result these women simply disappeared: the red-light districts they came from had been flattened by Allied bombs, so nobody knew where they went. For many decades, Holocaust researchers also considered the asocials' stories irrelevant; they barely rate mention in camp histories. Finding survivors amongst this group was doubly hard because they formed no associations, nor veterans' groups." (pg #90 of Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm) 

My heart weeps for women, such as, Anna Solzer, Ottile Gorres, Elisabeth Fassbender, Else Krug, Agnes Petry and countless other women who perished in Ravensbrück and who's memory is dismal and faint. At the same time, I am angry that victims of the same Holocaust as Anne Frank or Gerda Weissmann Klein are stigmatized and deemed irrelevant. 

The women of Ravensbrück, regardless of their imprisonment, and all the victims of Hitler's Holocaust and of any violation of human rights are important. Let's start to look at and value human lives simply as human lives. Not by the measure of how they made a living to survive or how the world views/ viewed them. 

For more research I highly recommend you read: 
1. Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm
   I have attached a link that allows you to read up to the end of the first chapter:
https://blog.longreads.com/2015/07/14/the-missing-history-of-ravensbruck-the-nazi-concentration-camp-for-women/

The Ovici (Ovitz) family

The Ovici or Ovitz family was the largest family to remain intact and survive Auschwitz due to Dr. Joseph Mengele's interest in the family because of their dwarfism, the type being pseudoachondroplasia.  They were the subject of Menegele's medical experiments from the moment of their arrival on May 12th, 1944.

Their approximate height was three feet. Due to their mother, Batia Ovici, the children had learned the skill of entertainment. They were known as the Lilliput Troupe, which performed musical routines and comedic sketches throughout Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

When the racial laws were implemented in Transylvania in 1940, the Ovicis had obtained distinctive identification documents which did not specify their religion and therefore allowed them to continue their livelihood until March 1944.  The Ovicis were thus sent to Auschwitz.

In the May of 1949, they emigrated to Israel where the troupe was revived and continued to entertain and perform until retirement in 1955.

     

The photograph below is of a dwarf prisoner sent for execution. The fact that the Ovici family had survived intact and at all was extraordinary because dwarfs were seen as individuals with a physical disability, therefore "unfit for work" and murdered through the gas chamber, pogroms or euthanasia. 

  

Here are some links for further research: 

1. Ovici Family: 

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1144369

For information on Nazi Euthanasia I recommend:

1. Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/

2. Yad Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/

3. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/

Thank you! 

The Lebensborn Project

The Lebensborn project was founded on December 12th, 1935 by Heinrich Himmler. Within the same year, the Nuremberg Laws were passed which prohibited the intermarriage, sexual relations and citizenship of all Jews and "Non-Aryans".

The purpose of the Lebensborn project was to increase Germany's declining birthrate and create a new generation that would lead the Nazi/Aryan nation by allowing "racially pure" women to secretly conceive with an SS officer and give birth to a "racially pure" child. The children born into Lebensborn nurseries were taken by the SS. Expectant mothers through the program, regardless of their marital status, were provided with a home and a safe environment for birthing the child.

Here are links for further research:
1. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Lebensborn.html
2. http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/General/LebensbornEng.html

Alice Herz Sommer

Today, February 23rd 2014, Alice Herz Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world passed at age 110. She survived the Theresienstadt concentration where she performed in over 100 concerts for prisoners and guards. She was a beloved piano player and her story continually inspires me. Although she suffered many losses and trials, she continually saw the world and all it has to offer in a unique and beautiful way.

Here are a few quotes from this amazing woman: 

"We had to play because the Red Cross came three times a year. The Germans wanted to show its representatives that the situation of the Jews in Theresienstadt was good. Whenever I knew that I had a concert, I was happy. Music is magic. We performed in the council hall before an audience of 150 old, hopeless, sick and hungry people. They lived for the music. It was like food to them. If they hadn’t come [to hear us], they would have died long before. As we would have."

"I look at the good. When you are relaxed, your body is always relaxed. When you are pessimistic, your body behaves in an unnatural way. It is up to us whether we look at the good or the bad. When you are nice to others, they are nice to you. When you give, you receive."

"I have lived through many wars and lost everything many times- my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet life is beautiful and I have so much to love and enjoy. I have no time nor space for permission and hate. I have had such a beautiful life. Life is beautiful, love is beautiful. Nature and music is beautiful. Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love."

Links for further research: 

1. https://sfi.usc.edu/profiles/alice-herz-sommer

White Rose Group: Sophie Scholl

Hey all! So, for the past few months, I have been planning this Holocaust Education and Awareness assembly with a teacher at school. Today, was one of our weekly meetings and one thing we discussed was highlighting resistance against the Nazis. I thought we should discuss the White Rose Group.

The White Rose were a group of college aged youth who gathered in secret and distributed leaflets that revealed information the Nazis didn't want leaked among the German citizens. Such examples included mass murders of Jews and a variety of other groups and the defeat at Stalingrad. Two of the most famous members were Hans and Sophie Scholl. Hans, Sophie and six other members gave their life to fight for what they believed to be true. They were each beheaded by the guillotine and there operations lasted from June 1942 until February 1943.

" Stand up for what you believe in even if your standing alone".- Sophie Scholl

White Rose Group. 

A few excerpts from pamphlets: 

“Isn't it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes– crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure– reach the light of day?”

—1st leaflet of the White Rose

“Since the conquest of Poland, 300,000 Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way… The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!”

—2nd leaflet of the White Rose.

Here are links for further research:
1.  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html
2. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007188
3. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html
4. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rosepic.html

Kashariyot

The Kashariyot were a group of women who worked for the Jewish Resistance. The went on secret missions through German-occupied territories. They are known for smuggling secret documents, weapons, underground newspapers, money, news on the Germans, medical supplies, forged identity cards, ammunition and other Jews out of ghettos. 

"The Kashariyot were a lifeline-a "human radio" for news and information, a trusted contact for supplies, resources and a personal inspiration for hope and resilience."

Here are a few links for further research: 

1. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kashariyot-couriers-in-jewish-resistance-during-holocaust

2. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/18/couriers.asp

Mala Zimetbaum

Mala Zimetbaum was the first woman to escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was born January 26th, 1918. It is speculated that Mala was rounded up on July 22nd, 1942 during an SS effort to hunt down Jews. She was then sent on a train to Auschwitz where one of the 230 individuals that were selected out of a group of 1,048. She was given the number 19880. Mala was fluent in multiple languages and was soon assigned the position as an SS translator and runner. Then, Mala met and fell in love with Edward (Edek) Galinski.  Saturday June 24th, 1944, the lovers fled Birkenau. Edek was dressed in a SS uniform which was given to him from a compassionate SS guard and Mala dressed as a woman prisoner being led to work. 

On July 6th, the couple was captured and returned to Auschwitz where they were put in separate cells on the infamous Block 11. After interrogation and torture, neither Mala or Edek gave one another up and both were sentenced to public executions in Birkenau on September 15th, 1944. 

"Mala Zimetbaum, Symbol of Solidarity, died heroically in the Auschwitz concentration camp, September 15th, 1944."

"I Shall die a heroine, but you shall die like a dog!" - Mala's final words to a blockfuhrer. 

Here are a few links for further research: 

1. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zimetbaum-mala

2. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/MalaZimetbaum.html

Kindertransport Day- December 2nd

Hey guys :) Today is Kindertransport Day! In case you are wondering what a Kindertransport was, it was a rescue mission which took place nine months prior to World War 2. The mission aimed at placing Jewish children from German occupied territories in Great Britain temporarily. This was to provide them with safety due to the rise of violent propaganda, for example, Kristallnacht or The Night or Broken Glass. Due to the efforts of courageous men and women, such as Nicholas Winton, thousands of Jewish children's lives were saved. 

Some links for further research: 

1. http://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1933-1938/first-kindertransport-arrives

2. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005260

3. Yad Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/

4. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kinder.html

Orli Wald

Orli Wald was a member of the German Resistance in Nazi Germany until she was arrested in 1936. She was charged with high treason whereupon she served four and half years in a woman's prison and was later put under "protective custody" in Nazi concentration camps until 1945 when she escaped. Wald was a prisoner functionary within the  infirmary of Aschwitz-Birkenau where she was known for helpfulness toward Jews and other prisoners. She is given the title "Angel of Auschwitz".

 

Thank you for reading, feel free to comment or share! Here are a few links for further research:
1. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://www.ushmm.org/
2. Yad Vashem-The World Holocaust Remembrance Center: http://yadvashem.org/
3.  Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.html 

"Spots of Light: To Be a Woman in the Holocaust"

Hey all. I just discovered this interesting Holocaust exhibition called "Spots of Light: To Be a Women in the Holocaust"! I couldn't recover that much information about it besides this:
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/traveling_exhibitions/spots_of_light/index.asp

However, I thought it would be interesting if we highlighted some of the women that have been mentioned on this blog and other prominent women of not only the Holocaust but who resisted against the Nazis.



Lilian Rofle- British Spy in World War 2 and participant in French Resistance missions.



Irena Sendler- Social Worker who smuggled and found homes for Jewish children.



Anne Frank- Was in hiding from the Nazis for 2 years and a voice for the Jews in hiding before her arrest.



Gisella Perl- Infamous abortion docter of Auschwitz!

Livia Bitton-Jackson- Holocaust survivor and author of several memoirs. Jackson's Holocaust memoir, "I Have Lived a Thousand Years" provides insight into the Holocaust from a teenager's perspective and experiences.



Gerda Weissmann Klein- Holocaust survivor and author of "All But My Life". To this day, Klein is a human rights activist.



Maria Restituta- Martyred Catholic nun under the 3rd Reich. She was guillotined for holding opposite values and opinions to those of the Nazis.

 

Violette Szabo- British Special Operations Executive agent during the war. Also a prisoner of Ravensbrück concentration camp.



Virginia Hall- An American spy with the British Special Operations Executive.



Nancy Wake- A British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.



Odette Hallowes- Allied intelligence officer during World War 2.



Milena Jesenska- Campaigning Czech journalist who worked in the Ravensbrück Revier.



Schermann & Punjer- Jewish, lesbian women who were arrested and gassed at Ravensbrück.



Artistic depiction of a women's barrack for Jehovah's Witness' prisoners.



Helen Ernst artistic depiction of women in Ravensbrück.



Friedl Dicker-Brandeis- Woman of the Holocaust. Perished in the Terezen Gas Chambers.



Helga Hoskova- Woman of Holocaust. Wrote a diary and painting scenes depicting life in the Ghettos before being deported to Terezen.



Sophie Scholl- Famous female resistance fighter of the White Rose Group!



Orli Wald- Member of the German Resistance, woman of the Holocaust and "Angel of Auschwitz".



Women before their execution.



Zivia Lubetkin- Leading personality in the Jewish Underground.



Czeslawa Kwoka- Woman of the Holocaust, perished in Auschwitz.



Alice Herz Sommer- Survivor of the Holocaust. At 108, the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world. Here is a quote from here that I absolutely love:
"I have lived through many wars and lost everything many times- my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet life is beautiful and I have so much to love and enjoy. I have no time nor space for permission and hate. I have had such a beautiful life. Life is beautiful, love is beautiful. Nature and music is beautiful. Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love."



Mother Marie Skobtzova- Russian Orthodox bub in France who aided and assisted Jews.



A woman of the Holocaust- Prisoner #6872.



Iilse Weber- Czech singer and poet, deported to Thereseinstadt where she was willingly gassed with her young son.



Krystyna Trzesniewska- Woman of the holocaust, deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.



Corrie Ten Boom- Assisted Jews by hiding them in her family's home, eventually sent to Ravensbrück.



Survivor of Auschwitz.



Saved Jews through the Dutch Resistance.



Women survivors of Bergen-Belsen receive new clothes.



Tina Strobos- Famous member of the Dutch resistance, sheltered 100 Jews in her home.



Elise Rivet- Mother Superior at "Notre Dame de Compassion" convent where she hid refugees from the Gestapo and supplies for the resistance. Eventually sent to Ravensbrück and perished weeks before the war ended because she willingly took the place of a mother in the gas chambers.

Ester Samuel Cahn- Woman of the Holocaust.

Sara Isreali- Woman of the Holocaust.

Hannah Gofrit-  Woman of the Holocaust.

Vera Dotan- Woman of the Holocaust.

Dina Ostrover- Woman of the Holocaust.

 

Edith Drori- Woman of the Holocaust.

Artemis Miron- Woman of the Holocaust.

Stella Franco Israel- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Miriam Liptcher- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Chava Pressburger- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Chasia Vardi- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Chasia Bornstein- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Noga Davidoff- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Nata Osmo Gattegno- Woman of the Holocaust. 

Women barracks of Auschwitz. 

Tema Schneidermann- Courier in the Jewish Underground. 

Margot Cohn- Participant of resistance and assisted Jewish children by smuggling them out of France.

Tosia Altman- Leader of the Jewish underground, helped organize the Ghetto uprising. 

Sarah Ginaite- Member of the underground resistance. 

Hella Schupper- Participant of the Kashariyot. Helped with the Jewish Resistance and went on illegal missions. 

Faye Schulman- Took pictures as the life of a partisan. Fought alongside the men of the resistance. 

Roza Robota- Participant in the Jewish Resistance Movement of Birkenau. 

Ala Gartner- Participant in the Birkenau Jewish Resistance, later hung for her participation. 

Mala Zimetbaum- First Jewish woman to escape Auschwitz! However, she was eventually re-captured and burned alive. Although, her resistance started an uprising! 

Woman who perished in the Holocaust. 

Manya Kornblit- Woman of the Holocaust, she survived 5 camps including Auschwitz. 

Elizabeth Emmler- Mother with her children, later died in Auschwitz. 

This is only a taste of the Women and countless other stories during the Holocaust. This is what I love about history, having the opportunity to tell the life stories of individuals and bring to light the injustice which was not recognized.