Interview with R. Gabriele Silten
on Nov 17, 2009 in concentration camps ghetto holocaust auschwitz death camps extermination of jews final solution genocide holokauston jewish ghetto jewish holocaust jewish immigration jews murdered nazi invasion nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Holocaust survivor Gabriele Silten through the Remember_The_Holocaust group moderated by Fred Kahn. She immediately sent me copies of her written work (see titles list below), including her autobiography Between...

Night of Nazi Terror
on Nov 9, 2009 in holocaust extermination of jews final solution genocide holokauston jewish holocaust jews murdered nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii The sound of shattering glass was the siren signaling the end for millions of Jews in Europe, but many ignored it. Too many dismissed it as a single act of terror by a bunch of German thugs and brown-shirted misfits. But Kristallnacht was a sort of...

Dachau (Konzentrationslager Dachau): An Overview
on Nov 1, 2009 in concentration camps holocaust extermination of jews final solution genocide holokauston jewish holocaust jews murdered nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii “May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men” – inscription on a memorial at Dachau Today a...

La Grande Rafle (The Great Roundup) of 1942
on Oct 27, 2009 in Maps and images holocaust auschwitz concentration camps death camps extermination of jews final solution genocide hidden children holokauston jewish holocaust jews murdered nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii In July 1942, arrests of foreign Jews in France began simultaneously in the Occupied and Unoccupied Zones (see map below). After railcars were freed up by the Wermacht in the East, convoys began departing France every other day. “The initial plan c...

Koidanov Massacre and One Survivor’s Remarkable Tale
on Oct 21, 2009 in Memorial holocaust extermination of jews final solution genocide holokauston jewish holocaust jews murdered mass graves nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii On this day 68 years ago, Alex Kurzem’s mother, sister and brother were brutally murdered by the Nazis on the outskirts of their village in Belorussia. In fact, approximately 1,600 Jews were murdered and buried in mass graves in Koidanov, outsi...

Survivor Profile: Alter Wiener
on Oct 19, 2009 in concentration camps holocaust final solution holokauston jewish holocaust the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii Alter Wiener was born 1926 in Chrzanów, Poland, to a vibrant and very religious family. He lost his mother when he just four years old. “I do not remember her face,” he says remorsefully. His father remarried and Alter recalls, “My stepmother...

Echoes From Auschwitz – A Review
on Oct 15, 2009 in Maps and images concentration camps holocaust auschwitz auschwitz album death camps extermination of jews final solution genocide holokauston jewish holocaust jews murdered nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii A beautiful little girl rose up from the ashes of the Holocaust, but she was far removed from the elderly survivor who told her story in the first person. Eva says that through more than 100 speeches and interviews she always felt like she was “loo...

The Jedwabne Massacre of 1941
on Oct 12, 2009 in Memorial holocaust extermination of jews genocide jewish holocaust jews murdered mass graves nazi invasion shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii yad vashem Until picking up a book by Robert Wistrich, I knew nothing about the Jedwabne Massacre of 1941. His account was taken from an earlier work by Polish-American author/researcher Jan T. Gross. One reviewer of Gross’ book says, “This story i...

Survivor Profile: Fred Kahn
on Oct 10, 2009 in holocaust concentration camps death camps jewish holocaust jewish immigration jews murdered nazi invasion nazi terror righteous gentiles the holocaust world war ii wwii Fred began life in December 1932, in Wiesbaden, shortly before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. “My parents left Germany to escape the Nazis shortly after my birth to seek refuge in Belgium, thinking they would return soon.

Czechoslovakia’s Jews & the Munich Conference
on Oct 7, 2009 in holocaust extermination of jews final solution genocide hitler holokauston jewish holocaust jewish immigration jews murdered nazi invasion nazi terror shoah the final solution the holocaust world war ii wwii By September 1938, Hitler had already been welcomed with open arms by the Austrian government. He wanted to seize control of Czechoslovakia, too, but was shrewd enough to know that Western European powers, namely France and Great Britain, would not...