Women and the Holocaust

Vladka Meed

Jewish Survivor

Vladka was involved in the illegal youth organization, Zukunft, which helped to clandestinely provide literature, music and education in the Warsaw ghetto. Their contributions lifted the spirits of the ghetto inhabitants and encouraged them to believe that their current situation would eventually pass.

Gender: Female
DOB: 1/1/1922
City of birth: Warsaw
Country of birth: Poland
Ghettos: Warsaw (Poland)
Went into hiding: Yes
Other exp: displaced persons camps, identity concealment

 

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  • Vladka Meed

    Language: English

    Jewish Survivor

    Vladka was involved in the illegal youth organization, Zukunft, which helped to clandestinely provide literature, music and education in the Warsaw ghetto. Their contributions lifted the spirits of the ghetto inhabitants and encouraged them to believe that their current situation would eventually pass.

    Gender: Female
    DOB: 1/1/1922
    City of birth: Warsaw
    Country of birth: Poland
    Ghettos: Warsaw (Poland)
    Went into hiding: Yes
    Other exp: displaced persons camps, identity concealment

     

  • Julia Lentini

    Language: English

    Roma-Sinti Survivor

    Julia describes how her family’s lack of awareness of war events led to their incarceration at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

    Gender: Female
    DOB: 4/15/1926
    City of birth: Eisern
    Country of birth: GermanyCamps: Schlieben (Germany), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (Poland)

  • Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

    Language: English

    Jewish Survivor

    Anita was selected to become a member of the women’s camp orchestra as a cellist. Despite being out of practice, she felt no danger in auditioning for this role since they desperately needed a cellist. Playing in the orchestra kept her safe during the war.

    DOB: 1/1/1925
    City of birth: Breslau
    Country of birth: Germany
    Camps: Bergen-Belsen (Germany)
    Other exp: prisons, identity concealment

     

  • Agnes Kun

    Language: English

    Jewish Survivor

    Agnes describes her experience working in the camp hospital at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and her good fortune for her work assignment as a medical assistant. She attributes her survival to her cousin, a prisoner doctor, for giving her this opportunity.

    DOB: 5/3/1926
    City of birth: Satu Mare
    Country of birth: Romania
    Ghettos: Satu Mare (Romania)
    Camps: Salzwedel (Germany), Auschwitz (Poland), Braunschweig (Germany)

     

  • Anna Heilman

    Language: English

    Anna helped to smuggle gunpowder collected from the factory where her sister worked to Sonderkommando prisoners at a crematorium in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The Sonderkommando led a revolt that destroyed the crematorium, and almost all of them were killed along with Anna’s sister and three other female prisoners who helped to organize the uprising.

    DOB: 12/1/1928
    City of birth: Warsaw
    Country of birth: Poland
    Ghettos: Warsaw (Poland)
    Camps: Neustadt-Glewe (Germany), Auschwitz I (Poland), Ravensbrück (Germany), Majdanek (Poland), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (Poland)
    Other exp: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, (April 19-May 16, 1943), Sonderkommando Uprising, (Auschwitz II-Birkenau, October 7,1944)

     

  • Esther Bem

    Language: English

    Jewish Survivor

    Esther points out the people who, even in those difficult war years, inspired great acts of altruism. She recognizes the courage and compassion of those who offered help to victims of the Holocaust.

    DOB: 6/23/1930
    City of birth: Osijek
    Country of birth: Yugoslavia
    Went into hiding: Yes
    Other exp: identity concealment