Women and the Holocaust

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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

   
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  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)
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  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

   
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  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)

   
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  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)

   
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  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