When World
War II began in September 1939, there
were approximately 1.6 million Jewish children
living in areas that the Germans
or their allies would occupy. When
the war in Europe ended in May 1945, more
than 1 million - perhaps as many as 1.5
million - Jewish children were dead. They were systematically targeted
as victims in the Nazi calculated
program of genocide. Liberation
from Nazi
tyranny brought no end to the
sufferings of the Jewish children
who survived - many would have to face the future without any living
family members or without knowledge of their Jewish identity.
As Warsaw ghetto historian Emanuel Ringelblum wrote in 1942, “Even in the most barbaric times, a human spark glowed in the rudest heart, and children were spared. But the Hitlerian beast is quite different. It would devour the dearest of us, those who arouse the greatest compassion—our innocent children.”
As Warsaw ghetto historian Emanuel Ringelblum wrote in 1942, “Even in the most barbaric times, a human spark glowed in the rudest heart, and children were spared. But the Hitlerian beast is quite different. It would devour the dearest of us, those who arouse the greatest compassion—our innocent children.”