Halina Zimm is a survivor of the Holocaust who lives in Richmond, Virginia. Halina was born on December 4th, 1927, in Lódz, Poland. She lived in Lódz with her parents, Solomon and Regina, and sisters, Helen and Nana. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Jewish people were forced to wear yellow stars and Jewish children were banned from attending school. Within a year of the invasion, Halina’s father evacuated the family to Zarnów, where Halina’s grandparents lived. Around 1942, rumors that the Nazis planned to deport Jews in Zarnów began to circulate. Halina’s father obtained fake birth certificates for Halina and Helen, which allowed Halina to escape to Warsaw just two weeks before the deportations started. In Warsaw, Halina found a job as a housekeeper while concealing her Jewish identity. Halina’s parents didn’t survive. Over the following years, Halina witnessed both the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising. Halina lived close to the ghetto, and witnessed the fighting and destruction first-hand. In the summer of 1944, Halina participated in the Warsaw Uprising, a revolt led by Polish resistance forces. After the Nazi suppression of the uprising, Halina, along with many others, was deported by train to Germany to work as a forced laborer. However, Halina escaped and remained in Poland. Eventually, she was liberated by the Soviet Army and met her future husband, Alan Zimm, in 1945. The two immigrated to the United States where Halina and Alan raised their family.

Pinchas Gutter is a survivor of six German Nazi concentration camps who now lives in Toronto, Canada. Pinchas was born in Łódź, Poland and was 8 years old when the war started. He, along with his twin sister and entire family fled to Warsaw, where they were confined in the Warsaw Ghetto for two and a half years. They were captured in April 1943 and deported to Majdanek's death camp. When the family arrived at the camp, Pinchas' father, mother, and sister were murdered by the Nazis. After Majdanek, Pinchas was sent to Skarzysko-Kamienna, Czestochowa, Buchenwald, Colditz, and Theresienstadt. He was liberated in Theresienstadt by the Soviet Army on May 8, 1945. After the war, Pinchas was taken to an orphanage in England that was run by UNRRA. In 1948 when he was living in London, a cousin in Paris discovered he was alive and invited him to live in Paris. He left Paris in 1950 and went to Israel where he volunteered for the army. After three years in the army, he worked for a textile factory. He left his work in the factory to go to school and learn Hebrew. As he was learning Hebrew, he met his wife, Dorothy. They moved to England and married there. He was then offered a job in Brazil and he lived in Sao Paolo for a year. Pinchas and Dorothy moved to South Africa after Brazil and lived there until 1985 when they moved and settled down in Toronto. Pinchas and Dorothy had three children: two daughters and a son. Pinchas is still an active member of his community, serving as a cantor in his synagogue, and he still speaks and shares his story today.

Alan Moskin was a veteran of World War II and liberator of the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp who now lives in Rockland County, New York. Alan Robert Moskin was born in 1926 in Englewood, New Jersey. His father was a pharmacist, served as elected city official, and eventually became one of the few Jewish mayors in New Jersey. When Alan was 16, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and America entered the war. In October 1944, Moskin was drafted in the US army and after completing his basic training Alan was deployed to England as a Private First Class in Patton’s Third Army, 66th Infantry, 71st Division. Alan fought on the front line across France through the Rhineland and into Austria. In May of 1945, Alan’s unit liberated a prisoners of war camp in Lambach, Austria and then they liberated the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp, where Alan and his fellow soldiers learned for the first time about Nazi mass murders of Jews and were shocked with suffering of the prisoners. Alan met the Victory Day in Europe in Wels, Austria. Until he was honorably discharged in June 1946, Moskin served in the army of occupation in Austria. He attended the Nuremberg Trials during this time. After the war, Alan returned to his studies in Syracuse University and then to New York University where he obtained his JD in 1951. Together with his ex-wife Christa, he has two daughters and seven grandchildren. After Alan retired from his career in trial law and civil litigation, he spent his time volunteering with Jewish war veterans, speaking to students, working with local Holocaust museums, and volunteering as color guard at naturalization ceremonies. Alan passed away at age 96 in 2023.

Anita Lasker Wallfisch is a survivor of the Holocaust who lives in London, England. Anita was born in Breslau, Germany, in 1925. She was the youngest and had two older sisters. Her father worked as a lawyer, and her mother was a violinist. Anita picked up the cello very early on and was sent to Berlin when she was twelve to work with a cello teacher. After Hitler and the Nazis took control of Germany, life quickly changed. Anita moved back to Breslau quickly after Kristallnacht. Her mother and father were deported and she never saw them again. While working in a paper factory, Anita and her sister Renata began helping French P.O.W.’s and made a plan to escape to France using false papers. Their plan was discovered and Anita was set to prison. She served half a year of her sentence and was sent to Auschwitz. She was saved from the gas chambers when it was discovered she was a cellist; she played in the camp orchestra until November 1944 when she was transported to Belsen. She and Renata were liberated by the British Army in 1945. After liberation, she and Renata immigrated to England to reunite with their eldest sister Marianne who had managed to flee to England before the war. Anita began learning cello again and became a founding member of the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1952, she met fellow musician, Peter Wallfisch (a pianist) and they married. They had two children, a son and a daughter. Anita is still actively speaking and sharing her story today.

Eva Kor was a survivor of the Holocaust who lives in Terre Haute, Indiana. Eva Kor was born Eva Mozes in 1934 in Portz, Transylvania, Romania. She and her twin, Miriam, had two older sisters. The Hungarians later annexed her hometown and her family was sent to live in the town’s ghetto. After living in the ghetto for a few weeks, Eva and her family were deported to Auschwitz II-Birkeanu. The family, with the exception of Eva and Miriam, were gassed upon arrival. The twins were selected by Dr. Josef Mengele for experiments. Eva and Miriam were subjected to daily experiments that often made the girls very ill. Eva and Miriam were liberated by the Russians in January 1945. After the war, Eva and Miriam lived with an aunt in Cluj, Romania from 1945-1950. Eva, Miriam, their aunt and her husband moved to Israel in 1950. In 1952, the twins were drafted into the Israeli Army. In 1960, Eva met fellow survivor Michael Kor and they married in 1960. They moved to Terre Haute, Indiana in 1960 and had a son and a daughter. In 1984, Eva founded the organization C.A.N.D.L.E.S (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors) and the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. Eva is still very involved with CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center and travels all over the United States, sharing her story with students and organizations. Eva Kor passed away in 2019.