Limor Bar-Ilan

The Woman with the Big Heart

“The woman with the big heart” is how Hava Warburg was known to many people in her hometown of Hamburg. Born in 1912, she was the second of three daughters in an affluent family. Although her parents were non-practicing Jews and well-integrated in German society, they were connected to tradition and were meticulous contributors to the community. The family lived in a spacious house and also owned a vacation home outside the city. Hava’s father, Fritz, was a banker; her mother Anna was a... Read more

Interview with Dora Weinberger and Shlomo Balsam, members of Alumim

Alumim is an Israeli association of Jewish children who were hidden in France during the Holocaust. The association was established in 1993 with the goal of preserving the memory of the Holocaust of French Jewry. It collects testimonies from survivors, presents testimonies in schools and to IDF soldiers, and holds various ceremonies. Alumim also encourages the [Israeli] education system to address the history of the Jews of France during the Holocaust. This project is coordinated by Ms. Dora... Read more

Interview with Michael Goldman-Gilad, Investigative Officer for the Eichmann Trial

Introduction Michael Goldman-Gilad was born in 1925 in Katowice, Poland. After the outbreak of the war, he escaped with his parents, brother, and eight-year-old sister to Przemysl. From there, he was deported to Szebnie and later, in November, 1943, to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a month-and-a-half in the camp, he was transferred to Buna-Monowitz – Auschwitz III – where he worked in the I.G. Farben factories until the evacuation of the camp in January, 1945. He was then forced on a death... Read more

Interview with Yitzhak Livnat and Chaim Raphael, Holocaust Survivors

Conversations with Simha ("Kazik") Rotem, Survivor Who Took Part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Simha Rotem (Ratheiser), known as "Kazik," was born in 1924 in Warsaw, Poland. He was the eldest of four children in the family. When Kazik was twelve, he joined a Zionist Youth Movement called "Hanoar Hazioni". When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, Kazik lost his brother Israel and an additional five family members with the destruction of their house in German aerial bombing. Kazik himself was injured in the attack. Shortly after the Jews were imprisoned in... Read more