Random Stories Of People Who Hid From Nazis During World War II (12 items)

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  (#12) Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser Survived Because She Was Blonde

  In 1940, Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser's family was forced to move to a ghetto north of Warsaw, Poland. Sima's blond hair and fair complexion allowed her to slip out of the ghetto, past Nazi guards, to purchase and smuggle in supplies. She returned one day to find the ghetto liquidated and went on the run, never seeing her family again.

  Sima was taken in by a Polish family, but fled when Germans came snooping. She took refuge with another family in Warsaw until the end of the war, when she moved to Israel and then Brooklyn.
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  (#2) 300 People Hid From The Nazis In Warsaw Zoo

  In 1940, the Tirosh family posed as Polish travelers to get past German guards. They did so to reach a zoo run by Jan Zabinski and his wife, Antonia, who were members of the Polish resistance, and hid Jews in their establishment's underground pathways. The zoo was also used to store arms for the resistance.

  After the animals had been killed by the Nazis or shipped to German zoos, the grounds were turned it into a pig farm, so the Zabinskis could continue their operations. When Nazis came for an inspection, Antonia would play piano melodies to communicate plans of action to those in hiding. The Tirosh family survived, and the youngest son, Moshe Tirosh, eventually found his way to Israel.
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  (#3) Anne Frank's Family Hid In An Attic For Two Years

  In July 1942, when the Nazis began to send Jews in Amsterdam to concentration camps, Anne Frank's family went into hiding in a secret attic apartment. The family lived with four Dutch Jews, also in hiding, for two years. Their benefactors, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Jan Gies, and Miep Gies, maintained the hiding place and smuggled the Franks food and clothing.

  In August 1944, the Gestapo discovered the Franks, and sent them to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred to Bergen-Belson for labor. Everyone but Anne's father, Otto, died in 1945, before the camps were liberated.
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  (#6) Mirjam Geismar's Parents Hid From The Nazis Behind A Church Organ

  In 1942, Nazis made Holland an increasingly dangerous place for Jews. Mirjam Geismar's family decided to go into hiding. Mirjam was sent to live with a single mother, Tante Nel, who kept many children hidden beneath the kitchen floor in a compartment accessible by trap door. Mirjam's parents hid in a church, behind the organ. They were almost caught when the Nazis raided the church. 

  The family was reunited at the end of the war. Mirjam's parents have hated organ music ever since.
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  (#8) The Malkin Family Spent 20 Months In A Hayloft

  Just before their Polish town's ghetto was emptied of Jews to be taken to camps in 1942, the Malkin family, along with the Kindler family, went into hiding in a hayloft above a pigsty owned by Francisca Halamonajowa. Four-year-old Fay Malkin almost gave them away by crying frequently. The adults poisoned the child to save the lives of everyone else in the loft, though Fay miraculously survived. From that point forward, the child's crying was quieted with pillows. 

  The families lived in the loft for 20 months, until July 1944, when the town was liberated by the Soviets. The Malkins moved to the United States afterwards.
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  (#7) The Kowalski Family Hid Two Neighborhood Children In A Cellar

  The Kowalski family of Ciepielow, Poland, hid two local Jewish girls in a cellar built specifically for this purpose just before the start of WWII. The girls were friends of the Kowalski family and needed a place to escape the Nazis. Unfortunately, neighbors reported the Kowalski family to the SS, who raided the house and found the girls. The Nazis then took the girls and the Kowalski family to a nearby barn and burned them alive.

  Only the Kowalski's son lived, because he was away from the house during the raid. He survived the war and had a daughter and grandson.

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