Instagram Story Save

Miriam Ahrend was more than just a statistic. Born in 1928, she was a beloved daughter and friend who was robbed of the chance to graduate high school. She was murdered in the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943.

By drawing from Yad Vashem’s extensive Pages of Testimony, our new series restores the individual identities of those who perished by uncovering their personal stories.

Today, we remember Miriam Ahrend from Frankfurt, Germany.

Federal President Steinmeier and President Herzog warmly welcome the important decision by @YadVashem to establish its first educational center outside of Israel in Germany, in the cities of Munich and Leipzig, a choice that is an expression of mutual trust.

Both Presidents support this endeavor, which comes at a time of rising antisemitism, xenophobia, and hatred around the world.

This new Holocaust Education Center will be a vital extension of Yad Vashem's sacred work in documenting the atrocities of the Holocaust, preserving the memory of all those who were murdered, and strengthening humanity.

Photo: Yad Vashem

The ghettos ultimately served as a short-term solution for the isolation of Jewish communities before their liquidation.

Beginning in the spring of 1942, the Nazi regime began systematically emptying the ghettos and deporting their inhabitants to extermination camps like Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau. While most Eastern European ghettos were destroyed by 1944, the process in Hungary was even more abrupt: most ghettos there were established as temporary holding areas, often existing for only weeks before residents were deported to Auschwitz.

By the end of the war, the centuries-old vibrant Jewish life had been almost entirely erased.

Watch the full reel to hear about the harrowing final days of the ghettos.

How did the Holocaust become a continent-wide operation? The answer lies in the deportations.
Beginning in late 1941, the Nazi regime transitioned from mobile killing squads to stationary death camps.

This required the systematic roundup and deportation of millions of Jews from Central and Western Europe. From the first trains to Chelmno to the massive operations following the Wannsee Conference, deportation was the crucial link in the chain of genocide.

Watch the full reel on deportations to explore the harrowing logistics behind the Final Solution.

The last reel we posted touched on the Holocaust in Soviet territory. One of this chapter’s most infamous atrocities was the Babi Yar Massacre, on September 29th-30th 1941. Within these two days, which began on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, around 34,000 Jews from Kiev, Ukraine, were murdered.

While the massacre was perpetrated by Nazi forces and local collaboration, the silence was broken by Dina Pronicheva, one of the few survivors of Babi Yar. After jumping into the pit to escape the bullets, she crawled out from the bodies to return to her family, and ultimately, to tell the world the truth. Her testimony helped to turn a site of systematic murder into a site of eternal remembrance.

Holocaust survivor Ruthie Butnik during a Shavuot holiday celebration at Kibbutz Shamir, Israel, 1952.

Ruthie Butnik (nee Schuler) was born in 1940 in Chernivtsi, Romania (today’s Ukraine) to Baruch Schuler, a lawyer, and his wife Aurelia, a doctor of linguistics (photos 2 and 3).

In June 1942, Ruthie, Baruch, Aurelia and her mother Regina Berl, were deported to the Chernivtsi ghetto. Using their prewar connections, the Schulers were able to smuggle little Ruthie from the ghetto to a non-Jewish woman, who agreed to travel with her to Baruch's family in Baku, Azerbaijan. This woman received a payment for the trip and brought Ruthie safely to her uncles and grandparents in Baku.

Ruthie’s parents and grandmother were deported from the Chernivtsi ghetto and murdered in Transnistria in 1942.

In January 1952, Ruthie immigrated to Israel with her grandparents who wanted to reunite with their two sons, Haim and Izo, who had immigrated to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) in the 1930s. They settled in Kibbutz Shamir. Ruthie served in the IDF and later became a nurse. Ruthie and Emanuel Butnik have three sons.

Holocaust survivor Ruthie Butnik during a Shavuot holiday celebration at Kibbutz Shamir, Israel, 1952.

Ruthie Butnik (nee Schuler) was born in 1940 in Chernivtsi, Romania (today’s Ukraine) to Baruch Schuler, a lawyer, and his wife Aurelia, a doctor of linguistics (photos 2 and 3).

In June 1942, Ruthie, Baruch, Aurelia and her mother Regina Berl, were deported to the Chernivtsi ghetto. Using their prewar connections, the Schulers were able to smuggle little Ruthie from the ghetto to a non-Jewish woman, who agreed to travel with her to Baruch's family in Baku, Azerbaijan. This woman received a payment for the trip and brought Ruthie safely to her uncles and grandparents in Baku.

Ruthie’s parents and grandmother were deported from the Chernivtsi ghetto and murdered in Transnistria in 1942.

In January 1952, Ruthie immigrated to Israel with her grandparents who wanted to reunite with their two sons, Haim and Izo, who had immigrated to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) in the 1930s. They settled in Kibbutz Shamir. Ruthie served in the IDF and later became a nurse. Ruthie and Emanuel Butnik have three sons.

Holocaust survivor Ruthie Butnik during a Shavuot holiday celebration at Kibbutz Shamir, Israel, 1952.

Ruthie Butnik (nee Schuler) was born in 1940 in Chernivtsi, Romania (today’s Ukraine) to Baruch Schuler, a lawyer, and his wife Aurelia, a doctor of linguistics (photos 2 and 3).

In June 1942, Ruthie, Baruch, Aurelia and her mother Regina Berl, were deported to the Chernivtsi ghetto. Using their prewar connections, the Schulers were able to smuggle little Ruthie from the ghetto to a non-Jewish woman, who agreed to travel with her to Baruch's family in Baku, Azerbaijan. This woman received a payment for the trip and brought Ruthie safely to her uncles and grandparents in Baku.

Ruthie’s parents and grandmother were deported from the Chernivtsi ghetto and murdered in Transnistria in 1942.

In January 1952, Ruthie immigrated to Israel with her grandparents who wanted to reunite with their two sons, Haim and Izo, who had immigrated to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) in the 1930s. They settled in Kibbutz Shamir. Ruthie served in the IDF and later became a nurse. Ruthie and Emanuel Butnik have three sons.

How did Jews in the camps know when the high holidays were?

The Nazis controlled everything, even time. So Jews wrote their own calendars by hand, in secret and on whatever scrap paper they could find, just to know when the holidays were.

This Shavuot, don’t take being able to celebrate in freedom for granted. And if you can, visit the incredible exhibition about the festivals during the Holocaust @yadvashem

Chag Sameach

When one thinks of the Holocaust, one likely imagines cattle cars and barbed wire. But for more than 2 million Jewish victims, there were no camps.

Following the German invasion of the USSR in 1941, entire communities were liquidated in broad daylight. From the Baltics to Ukraine, men, women, and children were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen, German Police, various German SS units, the German armed forces, and local collaborators in the forests and ravines right outside their own hometowns.

Watch this reel to learn about the first stage of the “Final Solution,” the systemic extermination of European Jewry.

Abram Rotbaum was more than just a statistic. Born in 1902, he emigrated from Poland to Paris in search of a better life. In 1942 he was murdered in Auschwitz. Today marks his birthday.

By drawing from Yad Vashem’s extensive Pages of Testimony, our new series restores the individual identities of those who perished by uncovering their personal stories.

Today, we remember Abram Rotbaum originally from Michow, Poland.

A white armband. A yellow star. A sentence of death for non-compliance.

Starting in 1939, the Nazi regime used distinctive badges to publicly isolate Jewish communities, turning a religious symbol into a mark of persecution. By 1941, this decree reached every corner of the German Reich, mandating that every Jewish child as young as six wear the star prominently.

Watch the full reel to understand how the Jewish badge became a precursor to further atrocities.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

Between November 1938 and May 1940, the Kindertransport (German for "children’s transport") served as a rare lifeline for Jewish parents in Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. At a time when most free countries had closed their doors to Jewish refugees, a network of NGOs successfully lobbied the United Kingdom to admit approximately 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17.

It was far from simple. Many parents were forced to send one sibling of age over another. From these strict age limits to the psychological weight of "survivor guilt," the story of these 10,000 children is one of both rescue and deep personal loss.

Watch the reels in this post to explore the history of the Children’s Transport, including the personal testimony of Kindertransport survivor Henry Foner.

We’ve compiled a guide to the essential concepts and events every person needs to know to build a foundation in Holocaust literacy.

The first concept we explain here is the “Final Solution”, the Nazi codename for the state-sponsored, systematic eradication of European Jewry. It evolved from mass shootings in 1941 to an industrial-scale operation in extermination camps that ultimately murdered approximately six million Jews.

Watch the full reel to hear our complete explanation, and follow along as we unpack further crucial fundamentals in Holocaust history.