Frances Zatz describes the Polish Home Army's uprising in Warsaw, Poland in August 1944, which was spurred by the belief that Soviet forces across the Vistula River would liberate them. The Soviet army did not intervene, leaving the Warsaw inhabitants to defend themselves against heavy German fire. Among Warsaw Rising fighters were Polish Jews who survived Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that took place a year earlier. Some of them were prisoners of Gesiowka Concentration Camp liberated by Polish Home Army at the very beginning of the Risin, on August 4th, 1944.

After a short stay in the city's orphanage in Warsaw, Michal Glowiński was taken to a Catholic orphanage run by nuns in Turkowice, where he was hidden along with over thirty other Jewish children. The sisters showed dedication and kindness for hiding Jewish children. This is one of the first Polish-language clips to be added to the IWitness Watch page.

After his arrest in September 1942, Stefan Kosinski was incarcerated while awaiting his trial. In this clip, he recounts the conditions in the jail and his memory of seeing his mother out the window of his jail cell keeping vigil. She is also present during his trial before the Nazi court, which sentences Stefan to five years hard labor. Foreign words in this clip:pedo (Polish): derogatory term for a gay personschwul (German): gay, homosexualZuchthaus (German): penitentiary

English translation: “As steel is forged by punches so is our personality. Punches harden and teach us to fight, to continue to fight, to meet challenges, to find new ones and overcome them.  I think that my message in this interview is that such is life. It means to overcome and to forge ahead. Punches can come from where we least expect and we must not fall down—if we do, we must get up. Not all people are bad. The Polish people were not all Antisemitic. Many were good people. And what I have to say to people is to be aware and to use reason.

Armenian Genocide Survivor Hovsana Kumjian sings the ballad Der Zor Chollerende (Desert of Der Zor). During the genocide victims sang this song in Turkish while on the forced marches into the Syrian Desert. The song is often from a child’s perspective and describes violent scenes and feelings of hopelessness. Kumjian states she sings this song in memory for the victims, every April 24, the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Kumjian is a survivor of the death march from Kilis, Turkey. English Translation of Der Zor Chollerende

Howard Cwick was born in the Bronx, New York, on August 25, 1923, to Samuel and Sarah Cwick, both Polish immigrants. Howard had an older sister, Sylvia. TheCwick family spoke both English and Yiddish, kept a kosher home, and attended synagogue three times a week. Howard went to school at P.S. 100 in the Bronx beforegoing on to Brooklyn Technical High School. When he was seven years old, Howard received his first camera and became interested in photography.