Holocaust Books, Videos, Audio Cassettes and DVDs
Gypsies:
Executed for Their Race
Jehovah
Witnesses
Stood Firm
No
Need for
the Disabled
Pink Triangles
for Homosexuals
Mandatory
Sterilization
for Black Youth
List of over 700 Names of Polish men, women and children killed while helping Jews.
Resources for Holocaust Teachers:
Some
of the letters received since this site was created in 1997 are
published on this page to show the variety of visitors and the passionate
feelings they felt after seeing this site. If you would like to add your
feelings or thoughts, please send e-mail to:
Terese
Pencak Schwartz
Sat, 24 Feb 2007 Hi
Terese - thank you for giving awareness to the "other" holocaust victims.
My great-uncle was aNorwegian political prisoner at Dachau. Not many people
or organizations give credit to the others who had courage to fight the
Nazi's at that time. My uncle after many years wrote a diary of his experiences
going from labor to labor camp outside of Bergen, Norway to finally being
transported to Dachau. I still get emotional everytime I read it. If people
just understood how events like this are still possible in our society
today! Perhaps there is a way that his diary and legacy could be on the
web so that other can realize what happened to the other millions of people
who were victimized and persecuted for there beliefs and convictions of
doing what they thought was right. Thanks again.
Karilinn Sommers
Dear Mrs. Pencak Schwartz:
I was born shortly after W.W.II in the US I hold advanced degrees in medicine
and I had considered myself an educated man with a particular interest
in the War. I have been to Poland, visited Auschwitz, and I came away
humbled and shaken, but still I was not aware of the magnitude of the
tragedy suffered by the Polish people in W.W.II until now. I wish there
was a way to apologize for tolerating such ignorance for so long.
J.W. Seeds
Thank you for this site. My father, Jan, spent five years in forced slave
labour in Germany during W.W.II - from the age of 14 to 19. It was an
unimaginable and horrific period that he tried to block out. But, it stayed
with him for life. He died 18 months ago and never told us fully about
his experiences during the war. The stories in this site provide us with
some greater understanding. Thank you. Jim Piotrowski
Australia
Terese,
I've read your web page and it left me thinking very much about how miserable
the human being can act. I consider your site is as a space to meditate
about all those people, who die without a cause, their only crime was
had been to belong to a different race. Many of this people had dreams
and had families, a life to live. Of course, my comment is: WONDERFUL
SITE, IT DESERVES A PLACE HEAVEN! !
Thank you
No Name
Ms.
Schwartz,
Thank you for your information on non-Jewish Holocaust victims.
I am a teacher and I have been searching for the information that you have shared.
My students will now know about ALL of the groups effected by the Nazis.
Dyanna Boone
To the creator of
this site,
I would like to say that your web site is wonderful, and very educational.
I am a 16-year-old boy from a small town but I want to make a difference.
As many say I cant, and people just walk away... but I don't want to walk
away I wanted to know if there are any organizations that I could be apart
of to make a difference. I know there are some but none for Catholic's
that I know of. One of my relatives died at Auschwitz and was a non-Jew,
who I believe, came from Poland. I must again comment on how well you
portrayed and how you remembered the ones who were non-Jewish but were
still victims of this horrible time. If there is any way I can help please
inform or contact me. Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
Andrew Buttermilch
Thank
you so much!
Since I visited the Holocaust museum when I was in 8th grade,
I have been enraged by the fact that we are constantly reminded of the "six million
Jews" who were murdered in Nazi concentration camps, but no one gives a thought
to the five million homosexuals, political dissidents, Gypsies, Poles, "hereditarily
ill" (that is, physically or mentally disabled), and any other non-Aryans. Thank
you for dedicating space on the web to the "Five Million Forgotten." I wish there
were more people like you.
Diana
Hi:
Thank you for remembering and starting this Web site. There is a voice
for the others who were conveniently "forgotten".
Lou Andzik
Hello:
I went to your site about the Poles of the Holocaust because I run a web
page about a Jewish Survivor. My site is: http://members.home.net/captainhall/david.html
A girl sent me an email about her school project on the Holocaust, and she asked
me who the other victims of the Holocaust were. I did a search on Ask Jeeves and
found your site (actually on About.Com) I read your page and was quite moved.
Thank you for sharing. If you don't mind, I would like to add a link to your site
from mine. Keep up the good work.
Although
I was born a Jew, I feel as you do that religion has nothing to do with the disgrace
of the Holocaust. The horrors suffered by non-Jews are no less important. And
while we are at it, the slaughter of American Indians, the nuclear bombs dropped
on Japan, Black slavery, etc.. are examples of how the Holocaust can happen anywhere
there is hate, extremists, fundamentalists, and those who simple don't concern
themselves with "others".
Thanks,
Rick Hall
Web Master of
David's Story
Dear Terese,
I have read your account about the Five Million Forgotten a number of
times, and am appalled each time I read it. We are not Jewish, but my
husband is of Polish descent. His parents immigrated to this country some
years before Germany occupied Poland, but they left their families in
Poland. To our knowledge, none of his family members were routed up by
the Nazis. When the Soviets took over the area where they lived in Sokolov,
Poland (which is in the southeastern part of Poland), they lost their
property. Only wish we knew more of what went on after 1939. My husband
and I are the only ones of his family to visit Poland, and we did so when
he retired in 1990. We actually met 5 members of my husband's mother's
family, and 1 uncle and aunt on his father's side. This was made possible
with the dear help of the Catholic Pastor of the local church in Sokolov.
This was the highlight of our 3 months tour of Europe. We were so happy
to meet them and vice-versa that we all cried when we left.
Getting
to the point of my writing to you, have you ever thought about trying to get
a movie director or movie for TV director to make a movie of the Five Million
Forgotten? It's a great title for a movie. This is something that should be
done for everyone to know. We just hear about the Jews being killed (which was
horrendous), but nothing about the other five million non-Jews, who were also
murdered. Everyone should be included in the truth. It's like going back to Roman
days when the Christians were thrown to the lions, etc. I would not know where
to even begin with my idea, but maybe you would be able to get somewhere. I sincerely
hope you can. This is some wonderful research you have done, and thank you for
enlightening us.
Sincerely Yours,
Dorothy Smotrys
Dear Terese:
My father was the Polish home army (A.K.). I had the privilege to return to Warsaw
for the Uprising ceremonies. His pseudonym was Konrad and he was a team
leader in the battalion "Kilenski". With tears in his eyes he spoke of the old
town fighters. "They were the best", he said. We met with some of these war heroes
and I will forever know my soul, as someone of Polish heritage, will be forever
proud. My brothers and sister think I'm crazy, but they just don't know. Strange,
but we don't hear about the horror stories that the Poles experienced as a country.
The street corner memorials throughout Warsaw that year (1994) left one to think.
P. Grzywacz