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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
!["Helga Hošková. [Deported to Terezin.] Helga started writing a diary before being deported to the ghetto and she continued in Terezin. She also secretly painted everyday life in the ghetto. Helga and her mother were sent to the concentration camp Auschwitz. Unlike Helga's father, they survived the selection and were assigned work. Soon they were deported to Freiberg in an aircraft factory. From there they were deported to the concentration camp Mauthausen."](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vqGg2XvBQk6QseSIo6JlG7GIETFOBPHATi03PuLIaWLZ1Ii1G7n743lmrVQ942WbRFlrV6xrwzPiZLKNeAiAjWO8oZ2-MsZt79xp4HHPaQvBX5q0tb4j6PTN0vq7SV21yPlAqQOyhWS5oahjhGNjNpn1F1IfSlGg=s0-d)
