The Holocaust

Walter Arlen in Chicago, pictured circa 1942.

Forensic musicologists race to rescue works lost after the Holocaust

4:29pm January 27, 2023

by Tim Greiving

The Exilarte Center in Vienna is the world's leading research institution devoted to preserving the work of composers such as Walter Arlen and others, who were exiled or killed during the Holocaust.

Public officials including Israeli Knesset President Mickey Levy, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend a wreath-laying ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, revisit NPR's stories from survivors

2:24pm January 27, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The annual day of commemoration comes admist a rise in antisemitic incidents and Holocaust denialism in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

A photograph of Vladimir Munk, (center), taken in March 1938 before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. After being imprisoned in concentration camps for years, Munk returned to his hometown of Pardubice, Czechoslovakia in May 1945 (right).

National

Holocaust Survivor Returning To Auschwitz: 'It's Like Going To The Family Cemetery'

5:08am January 23, 2020

by Emily Russell

Vladimir Munk left Auschwitz 75 years ago after the concentration camp was liberated by Soviet soldiers. Now, for the first time, he's going back to a place he calls a burial ground for his family.

Pope Francis lamented that the Latin name Archivium Secretum — of the Vatican Secret Archive originally meant to convey that the archive was private — had come to connote something more sinister.

Pope Francis Decrees Name Change For Vatican Secret Archive

10:48am October 29, 2019

by Scott Neuman

The new name, Vatican Apostolic Archive, is meant to dispel the notion that the Holy See is hiding secrets in its ancient collection, the pope said.

Renia Spiegel (left) and her younger sister, now known as Elizabeth Bellak, wade in the Dniester River around 1935. The photo can be seen on the cover of the published edition of Renia's Diary.

Books
Arts

Renia Spiegel's Diary Survived The Holocaust. People Are Finally Reading It

10:24am September 30, 2019

by Lynn Neary

Renia's Diary spent decades in a safe deposit box before being published this week in the U.S. It was written by a Jewish teenager in Poland before she was murdered by the Nazis.

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Patrick Desbois began investigating Nazi crimes because of his family history. His grandfather was deported to a work camp in Ukraine during World War II but never spoke about what had happened. "So I decided to go there one day," he says, "and that's whe

After Documenting Nazi Crimes, A French Priest Exposes ISIS Attacks On Yazidis

7:00am March 18, 2018

by Eleanor Beardsley

Patrick Desbois has spent the last 15 years uncovering details of Nazi massacres in Eastern Europe and Russia. Using the same methods, the priest is now uncovering ISIS crimes against Yazidis.

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French far-right candidate Marine Le Pen's National Front party now has a new interim leader, after Jean-Francois Jalkh (right) stepped down over comments about the Holocaust. The two are seen here at the Elysee in 2014.

World News

France's New Far-Right Leader Quits Over Alleged Holocaust Denial

2:19pm April 28, 2017

by Bill Chappell

With Marine Le Pen in a tight race ahead of the May 7 election, accusations of Holocaust denial prompted a quick shakeup at the head of her party.

Marie Jalowicz Simon survived the Holocaust by hiding with friends and strangers in Berlin.

A Young Woman Goes 'Underground In Berlin' To Escape The Holocaust

3:54pm August 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

Hermann Simon's mother lived as a Jew in Berlin during World War II. Through cunning and disguise, Marie Jalowicz Simon managed to evade the Nazis right under their noses.

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