The Holocaust

by Martin Gilbert

  Ahasuerus: Jews to be cast once more in role of, 1

  Aicatherine: Jews hidden near, 1

  Ainsztein, Reuben: his sister an eye-witness, 1; on resistance against ‘overwhelming odds’, 2; on resistance in Bialystok, 3; on the living ‘corpses’ at Babi Yar, 4

  Ajzenman, Julian: leads a resistance group, 1

  Albania: Jews of, listed (1942), 1

  Albeck, Lucy: killed, 1

  Alderney Camp (Channel Islands): conditions in, 1; fate of Jews sent back to France from, 2 Aleppo: an emissary from Eichmann at, 3

  Alexander, Renate: deported (1940), 1

  Alexander, Vera: a witness of medical experiments at Auschwitz, 1

  Alexeyevka: Jews in combat at, 1

  Algeria: Jews of, 1; resistance in, 2

  Algiers: a war crimes trial in (March 1944), 1 n. 2

  Alkalai family: deported (1944), 1

  Allach: liberation and death at (1945), 1

  Almighty, the: Hitler cites ‘the will of’, 1; his existence denied, 2; a letter to (from an eleven-year-old girl), 3; ‘will raise us up again’, 4; his punishment alleged ‘for hiding Jews’, 5; a ‘revolt’ against (in Dachau), 6

  Almoslino, Hayim: his act of defiance, 1

  Alphabet of Judaism: its author deported, 1

  Alt Breisach: Jews deported from (1940), 1

  Alter, Meir: his father killed (1943), 1

  Alter, Mieczyslaw: deported (1943), 1

  Alterleib, Nysin: shot (1941), 1

  Altman, Tosia: dies (1943), 1

  Altus, Abraham: recalls indignities against Jews (1939), 1

  American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the ‘Joint’): 1, 2, 3, 4; director of, in Warsaw, killed (1943), 5; helps Wallenberg, 6; a representative of, killed in Warsaw (1944), 7; an appeal to, to help record ‘the dreadful Jewish catastrophe’ (1946), 8; the testimony of a representative of, 9 n. 10; report of, giving number of Jews in post-war Poland (1947), 11 n. 12

  Amsterdam: a Jew deported from (1939), 1; Jews find haven in (1939), 2; Jews rescued from (1940), 3; occupied by German forces, 4; the first deportation from (1941), 5; a second deportation from 6; an assurance in (1942), 7; a Jewess from, too weak to survive liberation (1945), 8

  Anielewicz, Mordecai: and resistance in Warsaw, 1, 2; and the Warsaw ghetto revolt, 3, 4; killed (1943), 5

  Anin: a Jewess escapes in, 1

  Ankerman (of Wlodawa): seeks to save a rabbi, 1

  Ansbacher, Mordechai: his recollections of Dachau, 1

  Antonescu, General: opposes further killings (1943), 1

  Antopol: mass murder at (1942), 1

  Apeldoorn: a deportation of mental defectives from (1943), 1

  Arabia: rumours of Jews to be settled in (1942), 1

  Archijowski, Menachem: at Chelmno, 1

  Argentine: 1, 2

  Armenians: and Jews, 1; ‘pitiful existence’ of, 2

  Armistice Day (1918): an anniversary punishment (1943), 1

  Arnswalde (Pomerania): Jews beaten up in (1934), 1

  Aron, Willi: murdered (1933), 1

  Aronowicz, Gitla Hadasa: shot (1942), 1

  Aronson, Helen: and the fate of her father, 1 n. 2

  Arretaz, Sergeant: turns Jews back from Switzerland to France (1942), 1

  ‘Aryan’: Hitler’s concept of, 1; the concept of, given legal status (1933), 2; in German-occupied Poland, 3; and Soviet prisoners-of-war, 4; and a death at Belzec, 5; children sent to, in Warsaw, 6; two Jewesses disguised as, 7; and Hitler’s ‘political testimony’ (1945), 8

  Asch, Mosche: at Chelmno, 1

  Aschersleben: Jews evacuated from (1945), 1

  Athens: occupied (1941), 1; a train from, reaches Auschwitz (1944), 2

  Atlantic: refugees on (1940), 1

  Atlas, Dr Jechiel: killed, leading Jewish partisans (1942), 1; his former deputy, murdered after liberation (1946), 2

  Atlasowicz (in Pawiak prison): his prayers and his sermon, 1

  Auerbach, Rachel: records a testimony (1942), 1

  Auschwitz (concentration camp): established (June 1940), 1; first deportation to (1940), 2; fate elsewhere of a girl born at, 3; two Jews sent to (1941), 4; poison gas experiments at (3 September 1941), 5; an extension to (1942), 6; further gassings at (1942), 7; first systematic deportations to (March–April 1942), 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; Sonderkommando at, 19; factories and labour camps in the region of, 20, 21, 22; and medical experiments, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28; and an eye-witness of the gassing at, 29; and the property of ‘evacuated’ Jews, 30; a deportation to, prevented (1943), 31; death of a Jewish underground fighter in, 32; Dr Mengele reaches (24 May 1943), 33; deportations from, 34; deportees from, in a labour camp in Warsaw, 35; brought to Plaszow, and safety from (1944), 36; final evacuations from (1945), 37; twins set out from (1945), 38; death march of survivors of, 39, 40; fate of Jews evacuated from, 41, 42; and the ‘hope’ of revenge by inmates of, 43; survivors of, murdered after liberation, 44; and ‘the denial of God’, 45

  Auschwitz (town): Jews dispersed from, 1; Jews from, resettled, 2; fate of a Jew born in, 3

  Australia: 1, 2; Jews driven to seek new homes in, 3

  Austria: Jews find refuge in, 1; annexed by Germany (1938), 2; Jews forced to return to (1938), 3; becomes a German province (1939), 4; refugees from, in Denmark, 5; refugees from, in Holland, 6; and the Patria tragedy, 7; deportees from (1941), 8; refugees from, in Yugoslavia (1941), 9; Jews from, deported to Riga (1942), 10; further deportations planned from (1942), 11; fate of Jews from, at Sobibor (1942), 12; Jews from, at a labour camp on the River Bug, 13; deportees from, sent from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, 14; refugees from, in Denmark, 15; a naval Captain from, helps Jews, 16; Jews from, rescued from Yugoslavia, 17; a death march through, 18; Jews from Budapest driven towards, 19, 20; days of liberation in (1945), 21

  Aviel, Avraham: and a massacre, 1; and a further massacre, 2

  Babi Yar (Kiev): massacre at (September 1941), 1; corpses dug up and burned at (August–September 1943), 2; a memorial gathering at (September 1944), 3; becomes a meeting place, 4; two tragic disasters at (1961), 5

  Babiacki, Schlomo: at Chelmno, 1

  Babikier, Nochum: recalls a deportation, 1

  Bachi, Armando: gassed (1943), 1

  Baden: Jews deported from (1940), 1

  Baden Baden: Kristallnacht in (1938), 1; Jews escape near (1945), 2

  Baer, Kurt: leads attack on Jews (1934), 1; kills four Jews (1934), 2

  Baja: deportation of Jews from (1944), 1

  Bakon, Yehuda: and the deceptions at Auschwitz, 1; and a death march from Monowitz, 2; and conditions in Mauthausen, 3; ‘I will tell the world’, 4

  Baldwin Fund, the (for refugees): 1

  Balfour Declaration (of 1917): deportations on anniversary of (1942), 1

  Balta: resistance near, 1

  Baltic Sea: massacre at shore of, 1

  Baltoji—Volke camp: flight, and reprisals, 1

  Bamberg: Jews deported from (1942), 1

  Bandet, Matilda: ‘My place is with my parents’, 1

  Banska Bystrica: Jews in liberation of, 1

  Baptism: no protection on the road to Chelmno, 1

  Baranowicze: and an ‘instinct’ for the ‘Jewish problem’ (1941), 1; mass murder at (1942), 2; and a train deception at Treblinka, 3; a Jew from, enters Berlin (May 1945), 4

  Barasz, Ephraim: and plans to ‘protect’ his ghetto, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; and the final deportation, 6

  ‘Barbarossa’: launched (22 June 1941), Barenboim, Idel: hanged (1941), 1

  Barenboim, Itskhok: hanged (1941), 1

  Barenboim, Moshe: hanged (1941), 1

  Bari: Jews evacuated to (1944), 1 n. 1

  Barlas, Chaim: reports killing of Jews in Rumania (1940), 1

  Barlogi (Poland): and a deception (1941), 1

  Barry (a dog): ‘a wild beast’, 1, 2

  Bartoszewski, Wladyslaw: ‘Their names are not known’, 1

  Barzilai, Chief Rabbi Ilia (of Athens): e
scapes, 1

  Bas, Rosette: dies, after liberation (1945), 1

  Basch, Professor Victor: executed with his wife (1944), 1

  Basel: Hungarian Jews reach, from Belsen (1944), 1 n. 2

  Bau-Prussak, Dr Salomea: killed (1942), 1

  Baublis, Dr Petras: saves Jews, 1

  Bauer, Daria: deported to Auschwitz, 1

  Bauer, SS Technical Sergeant: and the ‘naive Jewess’, 1

  Baum, Herbert: shot (1942), 1

  Baum, Ignatz: killed (1942), 1

  Baum, Julia: commits suicide (1942), 1

  Baum, Marianne: shot (1942), 1

  Baumats, Eli: leads a resistance group, 1

  Baumatz, Usiel: shot, 1

  Bauminger, Leon: in Kovno, 1, 2

  Bauminger, Roza: and ‘scenes from Dante’s Inferno’, 1

  Bautzen: a death march reaches (1945), 1

  Bavaria: Jews expelled from (1923), 1; the SS in (1933), 2; Jews denied access to holiday resorts in (1935), 3; moments of liberation in (1945), 4, 5

  Bay, Dr Mojzesz: murdered (1943), 1

  Bayonne: defiant words of the Rabbi of, before being gassed (1944), 1

  Beatus, Fania: commits suicide (1943), 1

  Becker, Leib: dies (1943), 1

  Beckermann, Aron: shot (1941), 1

  Beda, Fritz: sent to Buchenwald (1938), 1; deported to Auschwitz (1942), 2

  Beddo (a dog): at Sobibor, 1

  Bedzin: Jews killed in (1939), 1; Jews resettled in (1941), 2; and Moses Merin, 3; a Jewess killed in, 4; Jews deported to Auschwitz from (1942), 5; resistance at (1943), 6 n. 7, 8; the story of a girl from, told a few moments before her death (1943), 9

  Beer, Jadzia: shot (1942), 1

  Beethoven: played in the Lodz ghetto, 1

  Behar, Maurice: killed (1942), 1

  Beilin, Dr Aharon: an eye-witness of life and death at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1, 2, 3; recalls a death march, 4; and the Jewish desire to assemble the evidence, 5

  Bein, William: his report on Jews in postwar Poland (1947), 1 n. 2

  Bejski, Moshe: an eye-witness of events at Plaszow, 1; recalls a deportation from Plaszow, and its sequel, 2

  Bekerman, leek: hanged (1943), 1

  Belaff (a van driver): at Chelmno, 1

  Belgium: 1; Jews find refuge in, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; occupied by Germany, 7; anti-Jewish laws in (1940), 8, 9, 10; and the ‘final solution’, 11; Jews deported from (1942), 12; deportations to Auschwitz from, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; Jews from, in a Warsaw labour camp, 23, 24; Jews in, active in the resistance, 25; a Jewess from, tries ‘to make it easier’ for others at Auschwitz, 26

  Belgrade: ‘You will all perish’ (1941), 1; Jewish homes looted, 2; reprisals in, 3; gas vans sent from (1942), 4; a death march through (1944), 5

  Belsen (Bergen-Belsen): Jews transferred to safety through (1943), 1, 2; Jews sent to Auschwitz through, 3; Jews sent from Auschwitz to, 4; Jews sent from labour camps to, 5, 6, 7; a death train reaches, 8; final horrors in, 9; a death march reaches region of, 10; British troops enter, 11; deaths in, after liberation, 12, 13; the ‘stench’ at, like Dachau, 14

  Belsky, Achik: defends a ‘family camp’, 1

  Belsky, Asael: escapes (1941), 1; captured, but escapes again (1942), 2; defends a ‘family camp’, 3; killed in action, 4

  Belsky, Gershon: killed (1942), 1

  Belsky, Tobias: protects Jews and attacks Germans, 1; Jews reach, 2

  Belsky, Zusl: anti-German attacks by, 1

  Belzec: forced labour near (1940), 1, 2, 3; a death camp established near (1942), 4, 5, 6; deportations to (1942), 7, 8; a ‘crime’ at, 9; its location unknown to the Jews of Lublin, 10; details of mass murder at, known in Szczebrzeszyn, 11, 12; a deportation to, from Zamosc, 13; Jews of Bilgoraj deported to, 14; Jews of Cracow deported to, 15; and ‘operation Reinhard’, 16; Jews held at Ujazdow deported to, 17; Jews from Przemysl deported to, 18; Jews of Tarnow deported to, 19; Jews of Szczebrzeszyn deported to, 20; complaints of villagers at, 21; continued deportations to, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. 30, 31, 32, 33; plans for further trains to, 34; death toll in, 35; a survivor of, murdered after liberation, 36

  Ben Shemen (Palestine): 1

  Ben Ya’acov, Zvi: executed (1944), 1

  Ben Zimra, Isaac: shot for his part in the French resistance (1944), 1 n. 5

  Ben Zvi, Gedalia: reaches Stutthof from Auschwitz, 1

  Benario (a Jewish lawyer): killed in Dachau (1933), 1

  Benedics, Michael: a Jew, whose descendant saved Jews, 1

  Benedyktowicz, Witold: saves Jews, 1 n. 2

  Beneschek (a Sudeten German): helps Jews, 1

  Benjamin, Walter: commits suicide (1940), 1

  Benoit, Father (Father Benedetti): saves Jews, 1

  Berdichev: mass murder at (1941), 1

  Beregszasz (Beregovo): recollections of a boy from, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1; on a death march to Sachsenhausen, 2; a Jewess from, too weak to survive liberation, 3

  Berendt, Haim: recalls a deportation, 1

  Berenstein, Liliane: her letter to God, 1

  Bereza Kartuska: mass murder at (1942), 1

  Berezovka: deportations to (1942), 1

  Berg (Norway): Jews interned at, 1

  Berg, Lena: deported from Warsaw, 1; at Majdanek, 2; at Auschwitz, 3; an ‘impossible dream’ recalled, 4, 5; and the fate of ‘those selected to die’, 6; recalls the camp at Neustadt-Glowen, and liberation, 7; and events after liberation, 8

  Berg, Mary: and the Jews of Warsaw, 1; and the Jews of Lodz, 2, 3, 4; returns to Warsaw, 5; and Pearl Harbor, 6; and the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto, 7, 8, 9; and the war news (1941), 10; and Jewish children frozen to death (1941), 11; and the death penalty (1942), 12; and ‘talk of mass deportation’ apparently contradicted, 13; and the killing of bakers in Warsaw, 14; and the execution of sixty Jews, 15; and the execution of ten Jewish policemen, 16; survives, 17

  Bergen-Belsen: see index entry for Belsen

  Berger, Gottlob: Himmler’s letter to, 1, 2 n. 5

  Berger, Joseph: and indignities against Jewish prisoners-of-war (1939), 1

  Berger, Oscar: an escape organizer, 1

  Bergman, Dr: commits suicide (1941), 1

  Bergman, Professor: his son’s death (1943), 1

  Bergman, Serge: murdered (1944), 1

  Berkan, Hirsch: advises Jews to flee (1942), 1

  Berlin: anti-Jewish actions in (1919), 1; eight Jews killed in (1930), 2; and the Reichstag fire (1933), 3; Jews attacked in (1933), 4; and the German Deaf Association, 5; an incident in (1935), 6; anti-Jewish riots in (1935), 7; renewed anti-Jewish violence in (1938), 8, 9; Jews evicted from (1938), 10; and the ‘planned overall measures’ against Jews (1939), 11; other measures ordered from (1939), 12; Bureau IV-D-4 established in (30 January 1940), 13; first British air raids on, 14; anti-Jewish films shown in (1940), 15; news reaches, of Gurs internment camp (1940), 16; Ethnic German allies of, 17; killing squad report to, 18, 19, 20; deportations from (1941), 21, 22, 23, 24; and the possible use of poison gas (1941), 25; and the halting of an execution, 26; advice from (‘liquidate them yourselves’), 27; and the Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942), 28, 29; a second deportation Conference held in (6 March 1942), 30; Jews seized in (3 April 1942), 31; the suicide of Jews from, 32, 33, 34; and Jews from, deported from Lodz to Chelmo (1942), 35; Jewish defiance in (1942), 36; Jews arrested in, 37; an eye-witness to mass murder on a train to, 38; and a train deception, at Treblinka, 39; deportations to Auschwitz from (1943), 40, 41; a deportation to Theresienstadt from, 42; a death camp escapee reaches, on the day of victory, 43; Jews helped in, 44; skeletons sent to Anthropological Museum in (1944), 45; and a cruel delay, 46; Hitler dictates his political testimony in (1945), 47; Hitler commits suicide in (30 April 1945), 48; surrenders (2 May 1945), 49; the Jews of, at liberation, 50

  Berliner, Jacob: killed (1941), 1

  Berliner, Meir: his act of defiance, 1

  Berman, Adolf: and the ‘tragic race’ in the Warsaw ghetto (1942), 1; and
the deportation of children, 2, 3; and the site of Treblinka after liberation, 4

  Bernadotte, Count Folke: negotiates release of Jews (1945), 1

  Bernburg: Jews gassed at (1941), 1

  Bernheim, Franz: his petition, 1

  Bernholz, Joseph: denounced, and killed (1944), 1

  Bernholz, Towa: killed in an air raid (1939), 1

  Bernshtein, Zalman: leads a resistance group, 1

  Bernstein (a Jew from Berlin): given a hundred lashes (1933), 1

  Bessarabia: deportations (1941), 1; death marches (1941), 2; deportation to death camps from (1942), 3

  Besser, Aliza: recalls a death train to Belsen (1945), 1

  Biala Poldlaska: a death march to (1940), 1, 2; a deportation from (1941), 3; a further deportation from (1942), 4; a survivor returns to (1944), 5; two Jews murdered in, after liberation (1946), 6

  Bialer, Toshia: witnesses establishment of Warsaw ghetto, 1

  Bialka: Poles shot for helping Jews, 1

  Bialas, Wanda: recalls fate of children at Majdanek, 1

  Bialystok: occupied by Soviet troops (1339), 1; and the first days of the German occupation (1941), 2, 3; killings continue in, 4, 5; Jews hope for a haven in, 6; Jews in region of (1942), 7; visitors to, 8; and the survival of the ghetto, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; the Jewish Fighting Organization in (by the end of 1942), 14 n. 15; and a train deception at Treblinka, 16; and a deportation to Auschwitz (1943), 17; an act of defiance in, 18; a further deportation to Auschwitz (1943), 19; a decision to resist in, 20; a final deportation from, and revolt in (August 1943), 21; fate of children from, 22; resistance in the region of (March 1944), 23; the final defiance in (July 1944), 24; fate of a survivor from (1945), 25

  Bibedgal, Schmuel: at Chelmno, 1, 2

  Biblis (near Worms): 1, 2

  Biebow, Hans: strikes Chaim Rumkowski, 1; gives Jews assurances, 2, 3

  Bielefeld: Jews deported from, 1, 2 n. 3

  Bielsk Podlaski: liberation of a Jew from, at Ebensee, 1

  Bierman, John: records the fate of a deportee and his family, 1, 2

  ‘Big Whip’: at Chelmno, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Bikernieker forest (Riga): mass murder at (1942), 1

  Bilgoraj: deportations from (1942), 1

  Bilhaus, SS Second Lieutenant: his sadism (1942), 1

  Bilski, Dr Richard: and a ‘cruel hoax’, 1

  Bin, Szymon: shot (1942), 1