The term "Holocaust" often conjures images of concentration camps, gas chambers, and packed cattle cars, but what many fail to understand is that the horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazi atrocities were often perpetrated in small towns, villages, and forests across occupied Europe.
It's our mission to bring these stories of human suffering to light and to ensure that the lessons of the past are not forgotten.
Take a moment to learn from historian Dr. Andreas Kahrs about how these massacres of Jewish people were carried out and quickly forgotten.
Forest in Zbereze
Escapees from Sobibor were caught in the forest near Zbereze where they were executed by the SS.
Izbica Cemetery
When the local ghettos were liquidated, everyone who didn't' fit on the trains were executed and the cemetery at Izbica was built over the mass grave to honor the 1,000 Jews who were murdered.
Józefów
In the summer of 1942, all Jews in the town of Jozefow were brought to a shooting site in the woods outside of town. After 4 hours of shooting, all 1500 Jewish residents were murdered.
Poniatowa
In November 1943, Jewish prisoners in Poniatowa were told to dig security trenches around a factory. They were then told to lay down in the trenches where they were executed.
Wlodawa
On the eve of the second World War, there were 6,000 Jewish residents of Wlodawa. Almost all of the Jewish residents were taken by train to the gas chambers at Sobibor with only 145 surviving the war.