John Baer was born to Bernhard and Marta Baer on April 26, 1917 in Breslau, Germany (today Wrocław, Poland). His father was a sales representative for fur and textile manufacturers and his mother owned a millinery store. John had an older sister, Lilly. He received his elementary and secondary education in public schools in Breslau, and also attended a Hebrew school.

Betty Berz (née Sagal) was born on June 22, 1926 in Kyiv, USSR (today, Ukraine). The family—Betty, her mother Marie, her father Boris, and her younger sister Rachel—immigrated to Paris in 1929.

Maurice Blindt was born on February 20, 1924, to Samuel and Fajga Blindt, both of whom were originally from Poland. He had a sister, Lucia, born in 1919, and abrother, Henri, born in 1926. On the eve of World War II, Lucia left Paris to live in Algiers. When Germany invaded France in May 1940, the Blindts fled Paris. In the process of fleeing, they encountered heavy gunfire and arial bombings, and Fajga had a nervous breakdown.

Lajos Cséri (name at birth Lajos Klein) was born on January 22, 1928 in Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary, in a secular Jewish family. Lajos had a brother, Gyula, and a sister, Anna. He attended a Protestant school in Sárrétudvari, where he spent most of his childhood.

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.

Simon Drucker was born in 1924 in Paris, France, in a Jewish family of Polish origin. His parents, Abraham and Thérèse, left Poland in 1921. Simon had a youngerbrother, Isidore. Engaged in the French Foreign Legion during the outbreak of the war, Abraham was arrested in June 1942 and deported first to Pithiviers, and later to Auschwitz, where he was murdered.

Paul Engel was born into a middle-class Jewish family on May 4, 1922 in Vienna, Austria. He had a younger brother, Robert. When World War I broke out in 1914, his father, Eduard, was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army. Captured as a prisoner of war, he spent six years in Siberia working in a coal mine, finally reuniting with his family in 1920. In Vienna, Eduard owned a perfume wholesale business. Before the war, Paul attended a primary school and was accepted to a Gymnasium in the 14th district of Vienna.

Bella Barouch remembers sneaking food out of the kitchen when imprisoned at Wüstegiersdorf concentration camp. She reflects that she and other female prisoners would dream about the food they would eat if they were ever liberated.

Movie theatres throughout the Midwest will screen Schindler’s List Jan. 24-30, with proceeds benefiting USC Shoah Foundation.

Vera Gissing (née Diamant) was born on July 4, 1928 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). Her father, Karel, owned a wine and spirits business inCelakovice, near Prague. Her mother, Irma, ran the business office. Vera attended a local Gymnasium and was very proud to be a Czech citizen. She had a sister, Eva,four years her senior.

Though it’s most known as the city that was home to the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Polish city of Oświęcim has a history of its own as a small industrial center with a thriving Jewish population.

Elizabeth Holtzman was born on August 11, 1941 in New York, NY, United States. Her father, Sidney, was an attorney and her mother was a college professor. Elizabeth graduated from Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School in 1958 and Radcliffe College in 1962. During the summer of 1963, after her first year of law school at Harvard, Elizabeth travelled to Albany, GA, to assist civil rights lawyer C.B. King in fighting for justice. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1965 and entered public service.

Clara Isaacman (née Heller) was born in Borsa, Romania, before WWII. Due to rampant anti-Semitism, her family left Romania and moved to Antwerp, Belgium inthe late 1920s, when Clara was a child. Clara’s father, Shalom, was in the diamond business and owned a soda factory. Clara attended a Hebrew school and a publicschool in Antwerp.

Sonia Klein (née Joskowicz) was born on June 16, 1925 in Warsaw, Poland. Her parents Itzack and Jospa Joskowicz, ran a family business selling fruit, vegetables, wood, and coal. Sonia was the oldest of three children; she had a sister and a brother. Before the war, she attended a public school and aspired to be a teacher.

Simone Lagrange (nee Kadousche) was born on October 23, 1930 in Saint-Fons, France, near Lyon. Originally from Morocco, her parents Simon Kadousche andRachel came to France in the 1920s.

Moshe Shamir (name at birth Schmucker) was born in an Orthodox Jewish family on April 17, 1922 in Cernauti, Romania (today Chernivtsi, Ukraine). His father,Avraham, was a teacher in a Hebrew school. He died when Moshe was only five years old. Moshe’s mother, Rifka, raised him and his older brother, Menachem,on her own. Moshe attended a four-grade Yiddish school, was a member of the Gordonia Zionist youth movement, and sang in the Jewish Choral Temple choir. Hestarted apprenticeship in a haberdashery store at the age of twelve.

Amy Marczewski Carnes, Ph.D. completed her doctorate at UCLA in French and Francophone Studies in 2007.  During graduate studies, she taught French language, literature, film, and culture courses in both the U.S. and in France.  Her dissertation, entitled Remembering Together:  Francophone African Literature’s Re-Imagining of the Rwandan Genocide, analyzes the strategies that literature adopts for memorializing genocide and considers new models of commemoration that may cultivate reconciliation in post-conflict society.

The word journey comes to the English language from the Old French jornee, meaning a day, or, by extension, a day’s labor or travel.  This word, which we normally associate with something pleasant, takes on a different meaning when placed in conversation with the word Holocaust.  This was the challenge placed in front of me by colleagues at UNESCO, when they requested that the USC Shoah Foundation prepare an exhibition for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

Ben Sonnenschein reflects on the construction of Auschwitz concentration camp in his hometown of Oswiecim, Poland. Sonnenschein also explains he was forced by the Germans to carry lumber and complete other carpentry work during the building of the camp in the beginning of 1940.

Rena Finder survived the Holocaust by working in Oscar Schindler’s factory. Finder is a featured speaker for the Holocaust Memorial Ceremony at the United Nations on January 27, the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Bella Arnett (née Froman) voit le jour le 6 septembre 1917 à Varsovie (Empire russe, actuelle Pologne). Elle a trois frères et deux soeurs. Le père de Bella, Chaim, est un shoikhet - travaillant à l’abattage rituel des animaux selon la tradition juive. Il observe Ger Hasidism et est un membre respecté de la communauté locale. Avant la guerre, Bella fréquente une école polonaise et reçoit une éducation juive à la maison. Varsovie est envahie par les nazis en septembre 1939 ; une année plus tard, la famille

John Baer est né le 26 avril 1917, à Breslau, en Allemagne (aujourd’hui Wrocław, Pologne), de Bernhard et Marta Baer. Son père est représentant pour des usines de fourrures et de textiles et sa mère possède un magasin de chapeau. John a une soeur aînée, Lilly. Il reçoit son éducation élémentaire et secondaire dans des écoles publiques de Breslau, et fréquente également une école hébraïque.

Betty Berz (née Sagal) voit le jour le 22 juin 1926 à Kiev (URSS, aujourd’hui en Ukraine). La famille – Betty, sa mère Marie, son père Boris, et sa plus jeune soeur Rachel – émigre pour Paris en 1929. Au moment de l’invasion allemande en 1940, Betty est évacuée dans le Gers avec d’autres enfants parisiens. Elle demeure temporairement dans un pensionnat puis retourne à Paris. Elle est soumise aux mesures antijuives dont le port de l’étoile jaune.

Né le 20 février 1924 à Paris, Maurice Blindt est le fils de Samuel et de Fajga Blindt, tous deux originaires de Pologne. Il a une soeur, Lucia, née en 1919 et un frère, Henri, né en 1926.

Lajos Cséri (né sous le nom de Lajos Klein) est né le 22 janvier 1928 à Hajdúböszörmény, en Hongrie, dans une famille juive laïque. Lajos avait un frère, Gyula, et une soeur, Anna. Il fréquentait une école protestante à Sárrétudvari, où il passa la plupart de son enfance.