Historians estimate that of the nearly 6 million Holocaust victims, over 1.5 million were children under the age of 15.
Driven from their homes, suffering from hunger, cold and disease, they died together with their parents who could not save them, or died alone because their loved ones were murdered earlier.
We will never know what they thought and felt in the last moments of their lives. They have no graves. We do not know what their names were. They did not have time to grow up, have children and grandchildren who will remember them.
In their name, after decades of silence, those who managed to survive the Holocaust have spoken — the Children of the Holocaust.
The record of the memories of the surviving children has been placed in this digital archive, which we are constantly updating with newly discovered testimonies.
The archive was named after
Professor
Jakub Gutenbaum
— the first chairman of the Association of “Children of the Holocaust” in Poland.
Historians estimate that of the nearly 6 million Holocaust victims, over 1.5 million were children under the age of 15.
Driven from their homes, suffering from hunger, cold and disease, they died together with their parents who could not save them, or died alone because their loved ones were murdered earlier.
We will never know what they thought and felt in the last moments of their lives. They have no graves. We do not know what their names were. They did not have time to grow up, have children and grandchildren who will remember them.
In their name, after decades of silence, those who managed to survive the Holocaust have spoken — the Children of the Holocaust.
The record of the memories of the surviving children has been placed in this digital archive, which we are constantly updating with newly discovered testimonies.
The archive was named after
Professor
Jakub Gutenbaum
— the first chairman of the Association of “Children of the Holocaust” in Poland.
You can select memories from the drop-down list after clicking the “MEMORY” or “VIDEO” menu. You can also enter your name or surname in the empty field (three letters are enough).
Many text reports also contain photos, video recordings or links (references) to other websites; you can also listen to several dozen memories – the texts are read by actors.
This is how many English-language memories the Archive of the Record of Memory has today. It began with accounts written by members of the Association of “Children of the Holocaust” in Poland at the request of the first chairman, Prof. Jakub Gutenbaum. More memories are available in Polish (click “PL” in the top right corner of the page).
To date, the exhibition has been viewed by nearly 60,000 people in over 60 cities, including: Augsburg, Bad Freienwalde, Barcelona, Barczewo, Berlin, Chełmno, Chęciny, Chmielnik, Halberstadt, Halle, Kielce, Kiryat Motzkin, Krakow, Krosno, Lidzbark Warmiński, Linz, Lublin, Łódź, Magdeburg, Markowa, Nuremberg, Olsztyn, Ostróda, Oświęcim, Potsdam, Płońsk, Salzburg, Senftenberg, Szamotuły, Tykocin, Warsaw, Vienna, Wieluń, Wrocław, Zamość…
Has the exhibition been to your city yet?
The stories of the rescue of Jewish children can be told in many ways. One of them is the animation “My Jewish Parents, My Polish Parents”, created to complement the board exhibition at the POLIN Museum. While the boards focus on the portraits of the rescued children, the animation places greater emphasis on the Jewish and Polish parents.
The quotes and photos are accompanied by music by contemporary Israeli composers and recorded statements by the Survivors. The animation can be used free of charge as educational material.
