People

Mordechai Anielewicz was the leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization, or ZOB (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa).  The ZOB was one of the main groups resisting in the Warsaw Ghetto. Here are some suggested activities.

I learned about Tuvia Bielski just shortly before leaving on the Holocaust Educational Seminar in Europe, July 2004. I read Nechama Tec’s book "Defiance".  I thought it was fascinating. Tuvia and his brothers watched as members of their families disappeared, and then they went into survival mode.  I could find little web related material.  I strongly recommend Tec's book "Defiance" if you wish to learn more on how the brothers managed a small community in the forest and how they conducted rescue and resistance operations.

Adam Czerniakow an engineer and Jewish community leader, was assigned by the Germans to lead the Jewish Counsel in Warsaw.

You and your students can learn all about Anne Frank. If you enter the Anne Frank House  in Amsterdam.  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also has a nice exhibit entitled Anne Frank, The Writer  - Anne Frank House offering virtual tour -

Hans Frank was one of Hitler’s top lieutenants.  He was Governor-General of occupied Poland.  He was judged to be a war criminal and was ultimately executed as punishment for his crimes.

Varian Fry, a 32 year old Harvard-educated classicist and editor from New York City, helped save thousands of endangered refugees who were caught in the Vichy French zone escape from Nazi terror during World War II.   In 1996, Varian Mackey Fry was named as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heros and Martyrs Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem -- the first American recipient of Israel's highest honor for rescuers during the Holocaust.  Learn more about Varian Fry. Lessons plans are available for 7-12 here.  

Amon Goeth was the main Nazi Commander of Plaszow. Plaszow is the camp where Oskar Schindler visited to negotiate for the number of Jews he could add to his list, and ultimately the number he could buy life for.

Odilo Globocnik chief of the SS and the Police in the district of Lublin, was made responsible for the realization of the final Solution in Poland.

Rienhard Heydrich chief of the Reich Security Main Office, met to discuss the Final Solution to the Jewish Question in Europe and came up with the “Final Solution” indeed.  

Heinrich Himmler was Reichsführer-SS (Reich SS Leader) and Chief of the German police. In this capacity, he was responsible for the implementation of the Final Solution - the extermination of the Jews - as ordered by the Führer, Adolf Hitler.  He designated Auschwitz as the central extermination and concentration camp of the Third Reich.

Adolf Hitler - You can put that name in almost any browser and come up with a lot of hits.

Janusz Korczak was a pediatrician and well-known author in his native Warsaw.   He set up an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto of Poland and when the Nazi's ordered the children to board a train that was to carry them to the Treblinka death camp, Korczak voluntarily went with them.

Joseph Mengale was a doctor in Auschwitz in 1942 who used human beings, twins, as subjects for his medical experiments. 

Roman Polanski is famous for many films including Rosemary’s Baby and the Pianist.  He escaped the Jewish Ghetto in Krakow, Poland and survived among Christian friends

Emanuel Ringelblum was a historian prominent in Jewish self aid efforts.  He was known to have, founded a clandestine organization that aimed to provide an accurate record of events taking place in the Poland throughout the Warsaw Ghetto’s existence.  This record came to be known as the “Oneg Shabbat” (In Celebration of Sabbath, also known as the Ringelblum Archive).  The archive includes hundreds of documents, testimonies and wills which documented daily life in the Warsaw Ghetto in its final months. 

Oskar Schindler will go down in history as rescuing more Jews than any one individual.  His story was memorialized when Steven Spielberg made the movie Schindler’s List.

Irena Sendler risked her life to rescue children from the Warsaw Ghetto. 

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese Diplomat honored for his rescue efforts during World War II.  His story is told in a book Visa's for Life and in the movie Conspiracy of Kindness, by PBS.  Lesson plans can be found on the movie link.

Raoul Wallenberg was involved with the survival of my friend Vera Goodkin, local Lawrence resident.  After reading about him on the different sites, I felt like the best perspective might be had by viewing more than one site.  For a full overview the Jewish Virtual Library.

New York based, Foreign Editor/Journalist Tekla Szymanski writes of him and acts as Media and Public Relations advisor  to the International Raoul Wallenberg Fourndation, NY, NY.

Participants at the Wannsee Conference

Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz survivor, author, humanitarian.  There is just so much to say about this man that I prefer encouraging you to read the Bio link. 

Simon Wiesenthal was one of the lucky few who survived the Nazi death camps of World War II. Unlike many other survivors however, Mr. Wiesenthal did not return to his pre-War profession as an architect, but instead became the world famous Nazi hunter, the conscience and voice for not only the Holocaust's 6,000,000 Jewish victims but for the millions of others who were murdered by the Nazis as well.    There is so much more to know about him so check out this site.