Latest news with #Auschwitz-BirkenauMemorialandMuseum
Metro
08-05-2025
- General
- Metro
This VE Day, I want you to remember these faces
I've been colourising photos professionally since 2015. From Lenin to Winston Churchill; from the Titanic leaving port in 1912 to the Battle of Verdun. I have covered hundreds of years and added colour to iconic photos and to those in which the subjects will forever remain anonymous. But it was colourising the photo of Czeslawa Kwoka in 2016 that had the biggest impact. Czeslawa (pictured above) was a 14-year-old girl who was killed in Auschwitz. She was a Polish Roman Catholic and was murdered one month after the death of her mother. The photo went viral in a matter of minutes. The reaction was absolutely incredible and shocking. I was contacted by TV channels, newspapers, and magazines from all over the world wanting to know more about the photo and about Czeslawa. More importantly though, I received messages from teachers asking if they could use the photo in their classes and a 12-year-old girl wrote a poem inspired by the photograph and sent it to me. That's when I realised how much people still had to learn about the Holocaust and the potential of something so simple as a colourised photo in helping to educate. Today, on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), this is more important than ever. It's important to share individuals' stories and photos because it's very easy to get lost in the sheer scale of the Holocaust. Six million Jewish lives and more than 3million non-Jewish people's lives were taken and that is a huge number. But when we break down this number and transform it into an individual – pairing a picture of their face when we can – people can begin to understand the impact that the Holocaust had, and still has. They had everything taken away from them due to pure bigotry and hate. In the same week as the photo went viral, I asked the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum permission to colourise more photographs. They gave me access to their archives, where almost 40,000 concentration camp registration photos are stored. The photographs were taken between February 1941 and January 1945. The preserved photos – 31,969 of men and 6,947 of women – constitute only a fraction of a vast Nazi archive destroyed during the camp evacuation in January 1945. The ones that remained were safe thanks to the heroic efforts of Wilhelm Brasse, the photographer, who was also a prisoner, and his colleagues. They were ordered to burn the entire photo collection during the evacuation of Auschwitz, but instead they covered the furnace with wet photographic paper before adding a great number of photos and negatives. This prevented the smoke from escaping and made the fire go out quickly. When the SS guard who was supervising left the laboratory, Brasse and his colleagues retrieved the undestroyed photographs from the furnace. You can find out more about Faces of Auschwitz here, and Marina's work here. After getting permission from the museum to colourise the photos that Brasse saved, I put together a team of volunteers who helped me create Faces of Auschwitz, a platform where we not only colourise these photos, but tell the stories of those in them. I know that when I am colourising them that this is probably the last photograph ever taken of this person. Staring at each face for two to three hours is hard, especially since I need to read their death certificates before I start to colourise. I spend the process wondering what was going through their minds while they were being photographed. It is emotionally draining work but it is important because I cannot forget what they represent and what happened to them. This is something that really sunk in after I visited Auschwitz and the room in which the photos were taken. More Trending This VE Day, I want people to remember the faces of individuals like Czeslawa Kwoka. It's 80 years since one of the worst atrocities in modern history and it's important for their stories to continue to be told. When families of those we have colourised approach us to share the photos of their relatives, it adds to the huge responsibility of our undertaking, but also proves that we are on the right path. Ultimately, I hope that our project and documentary reaches a broader audience and we can continue to share the stories and faces of those who so tragically had their lives taken away by hatred. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: Royals arrive at VE Day 2025 service at Westminster Abbey MORE: EastEnders' special VE Day episode has very poignant ending MORE: I ate like a WWII Land Girl for a week to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day
Saudi Gazette
28-02-2025
- General
- Saudi Gazette
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor, has died at age 113
NEW YORK — Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor who endured both German and Japanese oppression but lived for eight decades beyond the end of World War II, has died at age 113. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Reha Bennicasa. She was the oldest known living Holocaust survivor according to the New York-based Claims Conference, which administers compensation from Germany to victims of the Nazis. Bennicasa, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said Girone died at a nursing home in Bellmore, New York, on Monday. Girone, whose name at birth was Rosa Raubvogel, was born in 1912 into a Jewish family in southeastern Poland, then part of Russia. As a child, she moved to Hamburg, Germany. In 1937, she married a German Jew named Julius Mannheim. When she was nine months pregnant, her husband was deported to Buchenwald in central Germany, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, she said in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, which collects survivor testimonies. She said that one of the Nazi soldiers who came to their house to deport her husband also wanted to arrest her, but another dissuaded him by saying, 'No, she's pregnant – leave her alone.' Soon after, Girone's daughter, Reha, was born in 1938. 'I could not name her what I wanted – Hitler had a list of names prepared for Jewish children and this was the only one I liked so I named her that,' she told USC Shoah Foundation. Survivors of Auschwitz and their families arrive to lay candles at the concentration camp's so-called "death wall" on the 80th anniversary of the liberation. She sent a postcard to her husband with information about the baby's birth, including her weight. While her husband was at Buchenwald, Girone learned a relative in London could help the couple obtain exit visas to Shanghai, which was one of the only ports accepting Jewish refugees. 'He knew someone who knew someone who gave out Chinese visas,' she said in the interview with the USC Shoah Foundation. Otherwise, she added, 'I don't know what would have happened to us.' Until 1940, some concentration camp inmates, including Jewish prisoners, could be released under certain conditions, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. With the visa, Girone was able to secure her husband's release from Buchenwald but they had to leave for China within six weeks, and they were told to deliver all of their jewelry, savings and valuables to a central collection location as they were forbidden to leave Germany with them. The three of them set sail for Shanghai, grateful to have escaped the Nazis' regime of terror. But Japan was waging war against China and shortly after their arrival, the Japanese occupied Chinese seaports and Jews were ordered to move into ghettos. The family moved into a tiny, cockroach-infested room under the staircase of an apartment building that had once been a bathroom. No one could leave the ghetto except with the permission of a Japanese official who called himself 'The King of the Jews,' she said in her testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation. While in China, she began knitting clothes to sell – a trade she would continue for the rest of her life and which she credited as a source of her strength. In an interview with CNN, Bennicasa, her daughter, said, 'We were lucky to get out alive from Germany and from China, but she was very resilient, my mother. She could take anything.' After the war, Girone and her family moved to the United States. She began working as a knitting instructor and lived in several spots in the New York area, eventually opening a knitting store in Queens. Her first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married Jack Girone. She told the USC Shoah Foundation that survival taught her to find something good even in tragic events. 'Nothing is so bad that something good shouldn't come out of it,' she said, adding that through her experience she became 'unafraid. I could do anything and everything.' In an interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Bennicasa echoed her mother's remarks, saying, 'I feel prepared to face anything through her example.' There are about 245,000 survivors of the Holocaust still alive, of whom around 14,000 live in New York, according to the Claims Conference. — CNN
CNN
27-02-2025
- General
- CNN
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor, has died at age 113
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor who endured both German and Japanese oppression but lived for eight decades beyond the end of World War II, has died at age 113. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Reha Bennicasa. She was the oldest known living Holocaust survivor according to the New York-based Claims Conference, which administers compensation from Germany to victims of the Nazis. Bennicasa, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said Girone died at a nursing home in Bellmore, New York, on Monday. Girone, whose name at birth was Rosa Raubvogel, was born in 1912 into a Jewish family in southeastern Poland, then part of Russia. As a child, she moved to Hamburg, Germany. In 1937, she married a German Jew named Julius Mannheim. When she was nine months pregnant, her husband was deported to Buchenwald in central Germany, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, she said in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, which collects survivor testimonies. She said that one of the Nazi soldiers who came to their house to deport her husband also wanted to arrest her, but another dissuaded him by saying, 'No, she's pregnant – leave her alone.' Soon after, Girone's daughter, Reha, was born in 1938. 'I could not name her what I wanted – Hitler had a list of names prepared for Jewish children and this was the only one I liked so I named her that,' she told USC Shoah Foundation. She sent a postcard to her husband with information about the baby's birth, including her weight. While her husband was at Buchenwald, Girone learned a relative in London could help the couple obtain exit visas to Shanghai, which was one of the only ports accepting Jewish refugees. 'He knew someone who knew someone who gave out Chinese visas,' she said in the interview with the USC Shoah Foundation. Otherwise, she added, 'I don't know what would have happened to us.' Until 1940, some concentration camp inmates, including Jewish prisoners, could be released under certain conditions, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. With the visa, Girone was able to secure her husband's release from Buchenwald but they had to leave for China within six weeks, and they were told to deliver all of their jewelry, savings and valuables to a central collection location as they were forbidden to leave Germany with them. The three of them set sail for Shanghai, grateful to have escaped the Nazis' regime of terror. But Japan was waging war against China and shortly after their arrival, the Japanese occupied Chinese seaports and Jews were ordered to move into ghettos. The family moved into a tiny, cockroach-infested room under the staircase of an apartment building that had once been a bathroom. No one could leave the ghetto except with the permission of a Japanese official who called himself 'The King of the Jews,' she said in her testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation. While in China, she began knitting clothes to sell – a trade she would continue for the rest of her life and which she credited as a source of her strength. In an interview with CNN, Bennicasa, her daughter, said, 'We were lucky to get out alive from Germany and from China, but she was very resilient, my mother. She could take anything.' After the war, Girone and her family moved to the United States. She began working as a knitting instructor and lived in several spots in the New York area, eventually opening a knitting store in Queens. Her first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married Jack Girone. She told the USC Shoah Foundation that survival taught her to find something good even in tragic events. 'Nothing is so bad that something good shouldn't come out of it,' she said, adding that through her experience she became 'unafraid. I could do anything and everything.' In an interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Bennicasa echoed her mother's remarks, saying, 'I feel prepared to face anything through her example.' There are about 245,000 survivors of the Holocaust still alive, of whom around 14,000 live in New York, according to the Claims Conference.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor, has died at age 113
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor who endured both German and Japanese oppression but lived for eight decades beyond the end of World War II, has died at age 113. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Reha Bennicasa. She was the oldest known living Holocaust survivor according to the New York-based Claims Conference, which administers compensation from Germany to victims of the Nazis. Bennicasa, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said Girone died at a nursing home in Bellmore, New York, on Monday. Girone, whose name at birth was Rosa Raubvogel, was born in 1912 into a Jewish family in southeastern Poland, then part of Russia. As a child, she moved to Hamburg, Germany. In 1937, she married a German Jew named Julius Mannheim. When she was nine months pregnant, her husband was deported to Buchenwald in central Germany, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, she said in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, which collects survivor testimonies. She said that one of the Nazi soldiers who came to their house to deport her husband also wanted to arrest her, but another dissuaded him by saying, 'No, she's pregnant – leave her alone.' Soon after, Girone's daughter, Reha, was born in 1938. 'I could not name her what I wanted – Hitler had a list of names prepared for Jewish children and this was the only one I liked so I named her that,' she told USC Shoah Foundation. She sent a postcard to her husband with information about the baby's birth, including her weight. While her husband was at Buchenwald, Girone learned a relative in London could help the couple obtain exit visas to Shanghai, which was one of the only ports accepting Jewish refugees. 'He knew someone who knew someone who gave out Chinese visas,' she said in the interview with the USC Shoah Foundation. Otherwise, she added, 'I don't know what would have happened to us.' Until 1940, some concentration camp inmates, including Jewish prisoners, could be released under certain conditions, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. With the visa, Girone was able to secure her husband's release from Buchenwald but they had to leave for China within six weeks, and they were told to deliver all of their jewelry, savings and valuables to a central collection location as they were forbidden to leave Germany with them. The three of them set sail for Shanghai, grateful to have escaped the Nazis' regime of terror. But Japan was waging war against China and shortly after their arrival, the Japanese occupied Chinese seaports and Jews were ordered to move into ghettos. The family moved into a tiny, cockroach-infested room under the staircase of an apartment building that had once been a bathroom. No one could leave the ghetto except with the permission of a Japanese official who called himself 'The King of the Jews,' she said in her testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation. While in China, she began knitting clothes to sell – a trade she would continue for the rest of her life and which she credited as a source of her strength. In an interview with CNN, Bennicasa, her daughter, said, 'We were lucky to get out alive from Germany and from China, but she was very resilient, my mother. She could take anything.' After the war, Girone and her family moved to the United States. She began working as a knitting instructor and lived in several spots in the New York area, eventually opening a knitting store in Queens. Her first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married Jack Girone. She told the USC Shoah Foundation that survival taught her to find something good even in tragic events. 'Nothing is so bad that something good shouldn't come out of it,' she said, adding that through her experience she became 'unafraid. I could do anything and everything.' In an interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Bennicasa echoed her mother's remarks, saying, 'I feel prepared to face anything through her example.' There are about 245,000 survivors of the Holocaust still alive, of whom around 14,000 live in New York, according to the Claims Conference.
CNN
27-02-2025
- General
- CNN
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor, has died at age 113
Rose Girone, the oldest known Holocaust survivor who endured both German and Japanese oppression but lived for eight decades beyond the end of World War II, has died at age 113. The death was confirmed by her daughter, Reha Bennicasa. She was the oldest known living Holocaust survivor according to the New York-based Claims Conference, which administers compensation from Germany to victims of the Nazis. Bennicasa, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said Girone died at a nursing home in Bellmore, New York, on Monday. Girone, whose name at birth was Rosa Raubvogel, was born in 1912 into a Jewish family in southeastern Poland, then part of Russia. As a child, she moved to Hamburg, Germany. In 1937, she married a German Jew named Julius Mannheim. When she was nine months pregnant, her husband was deported to Buchenwald in central Germany, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, she said in a 1996 interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, which collects survivor testimonies. She said that one of the Nazi soldiers who came to their house to deport her husband also wanted to arrest her, but another dissuaded him by saying, 'No, she's pregnant – leave her alone.' Soon after, Girone's daughter, Reha, was born in 1938. 'I could not name her what I wanted – Hitler had a list of names prepared for Jewish children and this was the only one I liked so I named her that,' she told USC Shoah Foundation. She sent a postcard to her husband with information about the baby's birth, including her weight. While her husband was at Buchenwald, Girone learned a relative in London could help the couple obtain exit visas to Shanghai, which was one of the only ports accepting Jewish refugees. 'He knew someone who knew someone who gave out Chinese visas,' she said in the interview with the USC Shoah Foundation. Otherwise, she added, 'I don't know what would have happened to us.' Until 1940, some concentration camp inmates, including Jewish prisoners, could be released under certain conditions, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. With the visa, Girone was able to secure her husband's release from Buchenwald but they had to leave for China within six weeks, and they were told to deliver all of their jewelry, savings and valuables to a central collection location as they were forbidden to leave Germany with them. The three of them set sail for Shanghai, grateful to have escaped the Nazis' regime of terror. But Japan was waging war against China and shortly after their arrival, the Japanese occupied Chinese seaports and Jews were ordered to move into ghettos. The family moved into a tiny, cockroach-infested room under the staircase of an apartment building that had once been a bathroom. No one could leave the ghetto except with the permission of a Japanese official who called himself 'The King of the Jews,' she said in her testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation. While in China, she began knitting clothes to sell – a trade she would continue for the rest of her life and which she credited as a source of her strength. In an interview with CNN, Bennicasa, her daughter, said, 'We were lucky to get out alive from Germany and from China, but she was very resilient, my mother. She could take anything.' After the war, Girone and her family moved to the United States. She began working as a knitting instructor and lived in several spots in the New York area, eventually opening a knitting store in Queens. Her first marriage ended in divorce, and she later married Jack Girone. She told the USC Shoah Foundation that survival taught her to find something good even in tragic events. 'Nothing is so bad that something good shouldn't come out of it,' she said, adding that through her experience she became 'unafraid. I could do anything and everything.' In an interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Bennicasa echoed her mother's remarks, saying, 'I feel prepared to face anything through her example.' There are about 245,000 survivors of the Holocaust still alive, of whom around 14,000 live in New York, according to the Claims Conference.
