Holocaust

Marian Turski (1926–2025), Holocaust survivor and historian

Marian Turski was a Holocaust survivor who became an historian devoted to ensuring the world’s collective memory of the genocide does not fade.

Yehuda Bauer (1926–2024), Holocaust scholar

Yehuda Bauer was a historian and scholar whose work as an authority on the Holocaust is widely seen as some of the most important in the world. 

Lily Ebert (1923–2024), Holocaust survivor and author

Lily Ebert was a Holocaust survivor and author who became a social media sensation when she took her quest to find the soldier who rescued her from a concentration camp to TikTok.

Martin Greenfield (1928–2024), tailor to the stars 

Martin Greenfield was a Holocaust survivor who became a prominent tailor specializing in dressing the elite, including six U.S. Presidents and such celebrities as , Shaquille O’Neal, , and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ben Stern (1921–2024), Holocaust survivor who clashed with Neo-Nazis 

Ben Stern was a Holocaust Survivor who moved to the United States and opposed Neo-Nazis well into his 90s. 

Guy Stern (1922–2023), Holocaust refugee and WWII intel operative

Guy Stern was a German refugee who fled the Nazis in the 1930s and became a military intelligence operative for the U.S. during World War II as part of the elite group known as the Ritchie Boys.

í‰va Fahidi (1925–2023), author and Holocaust survivor

í‰va Fahidi was a Hungarian author and Holocaust survivor who, after seeing her family killed in Auschwitz and surviving forced labor at Buchenwald, wrote the memoir, “The Soul of Things.”  

Nechama Tec (1931–2023), Holocaust survivor, historian, and scholar

Nechama Tec was a Holocaust survivor, scholar, and author of the book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,” which inspired the 2008 film of the same name.

Thomas Buergenthal (1934–2023), prominent human rights advocate

Thomas Buergenthal was a Holocaust survivor who went on to become an attorney, judge, and scholar, and an influential advocate for human rights.

Ben Ferencz (1920–2023), convicted Nazis at Nuremburg trials

Ben Ferencz was the last living prosecutor who convicted Nazis in the Nuremburg trials for their war crimes. 

Keith Reid (1946–2023), founding member of Procol Harum 

Best known for penning the lyrics to “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Keith Reid was a founding member of the English rock band Procol Harum and its sole lyricist through 2003. Reid’s position was an unusual one: he did not play or perform with them on stage or in the studio. Rather, he was an observer duringrecording sessions and performances, writing all of Procol Harum’s song lyrics with the exception ofthe 2017 album, Novum. Reidalso wrote for other musicians, including John Farnham’s 1986 hit, “You’re the Voice.”

Adolfo Kaminsky (1925–2023), forger who saved lives in the Holocaust

Adolfo Kaminsky was a forger who helped save thousands of lives in the Holocaust by falsifying documents for Jewish people.

Andrée Geulen-Herscovici (1921–2022), Holocaust hero who saved children

Andrée Geulen-Herscovici was a Belgian teacher who hid hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust, saving them from concentration camps.

Mel Mermelstein (1926–2022), Holocaust survivor who challenged deniers

Mel Mermelstein was a Holocaust survivor who successfully sued a group of Holocaust deniers and prompted a judge to declare that the many deaths were fact.

Justus Rosenberg (1921–2021), Holocaust hero

Justus Rosenberg was a Holocaust survivor who worked with the French Resistance to help refugees escape the Nazi regime.

Roman Kent (1929–2021), Holocaust survivor who fought for reparations

Roman Kent was a Polish Holocaust survivor who led a movement seeking reparations from the German government.

Ruth Kluger (1931–2020), Holocaust survivor who wrote “Still Alive” memoir

Ruth Kluger was a Holocaust survivor known for her memoir, “Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered.”

Joseph Feingold (1923–2020), Holocaust survivor profiled in Oscar-nominated “Joe’s Violin”

Joseph Feingold was a Holocaust survivor who became known after his act of kindness was commemorated in the Oscar-nominated short documentary, “Joe’s Violin.”

Gertrud Steinl (1922–2020), Holocaust hero

GertrudSteinl was thelast surviving German honored for saving Jewishlives during the Holocaust.Shewas a supervisor at a company in Poland when a co-worker confided to her that she was Jewish.Stenlwas able to send the woman to live with her parents, saving her life.In 1979, she was recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations,the countrye28099s highest honor to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Stephan Ross (1931–2020), New England Holocaust Memorial founder

StephanRoss survived 10 Nazi concentration camps as a boy and was the founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial.Ross was bornSzmulekRozentalin Lodz, Poland. As a boy, he was sent to concentration camps after the Nazie28099s invaded Poland. He spent time in 10 different camps,surviving beatings, illness, and starvation, and escaped twiceafterbeing chosen for death at the camps. One time,he ranfrom the death lineunder a train andgrabbedon to theaxle when the train started to move. He held on and when the train stopped, he was at another camp.

Holocaust Survivors Tell Their Stories

This International Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, 2020, marks 75 years since those held prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp were liberated. The , who emerged from a nightmare and managed to put together the pieces of a new life, have grown to old age in the 21st century. Those with the most vivid memories, who were adults during World War II, are mostly gone, and those few who are left are in the last years of their lives. Many, as they leave this life, take one last chance to tell their stories — via their obituaries.

Branko Lustig (1932–2019), Auschwitz survivor and “Schindler’s List” producer

Branko Lustig was the Oscar-winning producer of movies including “Schindler’s List” and “Gladiator.”

Eva Kor (1934–2019), Holocaust survivor spoke about forgiveness

Eva Kor, holocaust survivor and educator, died Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Krakow, Poland of natural causes, while leading an educational trip to Auschwitz. She was 85.

George Brady (1928–2019), Holocaust survivor immortalized in “Hana’s Suitcase”

He was the only one of his family who lived—and he lived to the age of 90.

Simcha Rotem (1924–2018), Warsaw ghetto uprising fighter

Resistance fighter against the Nazis in the heroic 1943 uprising.

Claude Lanzmann (1925–2018), director of acclaimed Holocaust documentary “Shoah”

Claude Lanzmann, French director of the acclaimed Holocaust documentary “Shoah.”

Gena Turgel (1923 – 2018), Holocaust survivor nursed Anne Frank

Gena Turgel, a Holocaust survivor who comforted Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before the young diarist's death and the camp's liberation a month later, has died. She was 95.

Milos Forman (1932–2018), two-time Academy Award-winning director

Milos Forman, two-time Academy Award-winning director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus.”

Johan van Hulst (1911–2018), Holocaust hero

Dutch principal saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Coco Schumann (1924–2018), holocaust survivor and renowned jazz guitarist

Forced to perform at concentration camps in the “Ghetto Swingers” band.

Yisrael Kristal (1903–2017), world’s oldest man

World’s oldest man and Holocaust survivor.

Marion Pritchard (1920–2016), Dutch Holocaust hero

Dutch woman helped save the lives of many Jews during the Holocaust.

Fritz Weaver (1926 - 2016), The Twilight Zone actor

Fritz Weaver, a stage, film, and television actor whose credits include the TV miniseries "Holocaust," died Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016, in New York, New York. He was 90.

Ruth Gruber (1911–2016), photojournalist and humanitarian

Ruth Gruber, photojournalist and humanitarian who helped 1,000 Jewish refugees come to the U.S. during World War II, has died at the age of 105.

Rosalie Chris Lerman (1926 - 2016), Holocaust survivor and educator

Rosalie Chris Lerman, Holocaust survivor and educator, died May 20, 2016 of natural causes according to multiple news sources. She was 90.

Gene Gutowski (1925 - 2016), producer of The Pianist

Gene Gutowski, who produced films of the director Roman Polanski during the 1960s and later teamed with Polanski to produce the Academy Award-winning Holocaust masterpiece, "The Pianist," died May 10 of pneumonia in Warsaw, Poland, according to multiple news sources, including The Associated Press. He was 90. Gutowski, a Holocaust survivor, died of pneumonia at a hospital there. The death was announced by Gutowski's son, Adam Bardach. Gutowski produced some of the 20th century's finest films including "Repulsion" (1965), "Cul-de-Sac" (1966), and "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967).

Jules Schelvis (1921 - 2016)

Jules Schelvis, a Dutch historian who was the last insurgent of the Nazis' Sobibor World War II extermination camp, died Sunday evening in his native Netherlands, according to multiple news sources, including The Associated Press. He was 95. The death was announced by the Amsterdam-based Sobibor Foundation. The cause of death wasn’t immediately reported. In an Oct. 14, 2013, ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the uprising in the concentration camp, Schelvis was honored along with Philip Bialowitz and Thomas Blatt as the last insurgents of Sobibor. The trio received medals of merit during the observance.

These Obituaries Offer a Glimpse Into a Concentration Camp

In Holocaust survivors' obituaries, horrific places like Treblinka are mentioned alongside recollections of happy marriages and personal achievements.

Tibor Rubin (1929 - 2015), Holocaust survivor and decorated U.S. soldier

Tibor Rubin, a Holocaust survivor who went on to become a highly decorated U.S. infantry soldier decades after the Korean War, has died in California, according to multiple news sources. Rubin, who was born in Hungary, died Saturday of natural causes in Garden Grove, California, his nephew, Robert Huntly, told the Los Angeles Times. He was 86.

Laura Silver on Knish, the Jewish Soul Food

Knish is a Jewish comfort food that collects adjectives like "humble" and "homey." It's not pretty, but it's delicious and a powerful connection to family and culture.

Miep Gies, Hero of the Holocaust

For decades, schoolchildren the world over have learned about Anne Frank. The teenager who hid with her family from the Nazis, in an attempt to escape the concentration camps where she later died, has become a household name. From time to time, Frank's writing turned to the scant six visitors her family sometimes received in the annex. As we grow up, we learn less about them than we do about the Frank family, but they're as deserving of international fame as Frank was, because they were the brave friends who worked to keep the Franks hidden. Their names were Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Bep Voskuijl, Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, Jan Gies and Miep Gies.

Surviving the Holocaust

Anna Maxell Levin-Ware survived the Holocaust and lived to be almost 90, making the world a more beautiful place while she was here.

Carl Laemmle, Movie Mogul and Humanitarian

We look back on the life and legacy of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle, a man who not only helped create Hollywood, but saved hundreds of families during the Holocaust.