History
WEEK 4 THE HOLOCAUST (SHOAH) This is a very sensitive topic that cannot be fully taught at home, the purpose of including it here is to introduce you to some of the people affected by the Holocaust through the stories of individuals. From reading their stories, you will learn a lot about how the Nazis persecuted different groups. Story 1 - as you read through the story of Iby Knill, highlight: Why she was persecuted • How she was persecuted • How he was helped by ordinary people This photograph shows Iby Knill in 1938. She was 15 years old and had just become ‘Miss Bratislava’. Bratislava was her home city and the capital of Slovakia. Soon after this photograph was taken, life became very difficult for Iby and her family. Bratislava had a thriving Jewish population with Jewish people owning many businesses, working as doctors, lawyers, engineers and lecturers. But Slovakia came under the influence of the Nazis who were fiercely anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish). Iby was made to leave school, her family lost their business and they were forced to leave their home. All Jews in Slovakia were made to wear a yellow star (the Star of David) in public. In 1942, Iby’s mum sent her into hiding after learning that Nazis were rounding up Jewish girls in the local area. She was dressed up as a peasant girl and put on a train to her grandparents’ village with her cousin. She was then able to escape to Hungary where she hid with another cousin for several weeks. It was very stressful as they had to stay totally silent during the day so that the neighbours didn’t realise she was there. In 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary and quickly began deporting Jews. One evening, Iby was at a friend’s house when an air raid meant that she couldn’t return home. At 5am, the police raided the flat she was staying in and took everyone away. They were deported by cattle train to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp in Poland, the journey took 3 days. On arrival at Auschwitz, Iby was ‘selected’ for forced labour. She was shaved, showered and given a prisoner uniform. She was relatively lucky in that she entered the camp late in the war and was able to speak German so she could talk to the guards which sometimes meant she got better rations. Iby spent around six weeks in Auschwitz before she and some friends volunteered to accompany prisoners to another camp as nurses. At the camp they were forced to make armaments for the German war effort. Where possible Iby and her friends would sabotage the work. In the final days of the war, the camp was evacuated by the Germans and the prisoners forced on a death march. Anyone who couldn’t keep up was shot. Iby was struggling to walk due to an infection in her hip, but her friends supported and carried her. The women were found by the American army on Easter Sunday 1945.
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YOU R S U MMER BO O KL ET
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