An Enemy Around Every Corner

Erin Harper: 12 Years That Shook the World tells true stories from Holocaust history that may not be suitable for everyone. [Theme music] Previously, on 12 Years That Shook the World: Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators unleash terror on Jews in the shtetl of Eyshishok. They march Zvi, his father and his brother to the Old Jewish Cemetery on the outskirts of town. And there Zvi sees that all the Jewish men and teenage boys who’d been marched away from the field, now lie shot to death — murdered. Zvi Michaeli: The air became so heavy. Erin Harper: When the shooting continues, Zvi is grazed by a bullet — although he survives, and escapes. But left behind in the mass grave are Zvi’s father, brother, and nearly all the Jewish men and teenage boys of Eyshishok. After hiding on a barn roof for several days, Leon and Benjamin hear Germans close by, so the boys sneak off to what they think will be a better hiding place: The Catholic cemetery at the edge of town. But soon, Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators march Jewish women and children of Eyshishok right next to the Catholic cemetery. From a distance, Leon and Benjamin watch, terrified, as every last Jewish woman and child of Eyshishok is murdered. Leon Kahn: It wasn’t a matter just of executing and killing people. It was a matter of savagery. Erin Harper: The near-entirety of the Jewish community of Eyshishok — men, women, and children — had been killed by the Nazis. Miriam had already left Eyshishok. She’s hiding on a farm with her family. And she hears about the massacres. Miriam Kabacznik: We couldn’t believe it. No Jews in town— not one left. They killed everybody. Erin Harper: For Zvi, Miriam and Leon, escaping and surviving these massacres is just the beginning. The threat is not over. Nazi killing squads are swarming the region. They continue on from town to town, murdering entire Jewish communities. And they don’t plan to stop until all Jewish people are wiped out. Zvi, Miriam and Leon now go on the run — hiding, resisting, and fighting to stay alive. From the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, I’m Erin Harper. This is 12 Years That Shook the World. Episode five: An Enemy Around Every Corner [Sorrowful piano music] After Zvi escaped the massacre, he ran to the home of his mother’s Polish friends, Józia and her brother. She washes Zvi’s wound, and brings him clothing. She fixes him a place to sleep in their barn. Here’s historian, Dr. J. Luke Ryder. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: And then he spends the next several days in a state of shock, and he's drifting in and out of consciousness. And eventually he recovers enough to get a sense of what has occurred. Zvi Michaeli: I realize — it takes me two days to realize — what had happened to me. Where I am. What I’m doing here. Erin Harper: Zvi recalls the horror: what the Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators did to his father, brother, and all the Jewish men and teenage boys of Eyshishok. Then Zvi thinks of his mother, and three of his sisters, who had been imprisoned in the field in Eyshishok. Józia’s brother explains to Zvi that the Germans and their collaborators also murdered the women and children of Eyshishok. And that Zvi’s mother and three sisters are dead. Soon Zvi hears about his other sister Judith, who he helped escape from the synagogue before the massacres. Since then, Judith had run from town to town, trying to keep hidden. But her affiliation with communism was too well-known. Zvi hears that she was caught and thrown in prison. And shortly after, Judith was hanged. With that, Zvi, at age 16, realizes that he is now the sole survivor of his family. Józia sits with him, as he cries. But at night when Józia leaves, and it’s dark in the barn, Zvi is, once again, all alone. In the meantime, Miriam thinks the best plan is to stay on the move. They hide with Polish people they know in the surrounding countryside. Never staying in one place too long: one day here, two days there. [Barn animals sound] Miriam Kabacznik: Like mice. You leave, you jump, you hide. Erin Harper: But after their community was destroyed, Miriam and her family long to be with other Jewish people. Miriam hears that Jews are gathering in the nearby town of Radun. The town is nine miles south of Eyshishok, and, at this time, it’s being overseen by a different group of Germans. Miriam thinks— maybe those Germans are less cruel, and perhaps Jews would be safer there. [Shuffling] So at night, Miriam’s family heads to the town of Radun. And there Miriam sees Jewish people from Eyshishok— more than 200 Jews who had somehow escaped and found their way there. [Hammer pounding a nail; Wind rushes] In the town of Radun, German officials soon create a ghetto for Jews. They fence off a small area, a street or two— deliberately separating Jews from the rest of the local population. Inside, there’s very little food. About 2,000 Jews are forced to live together, crammed into just a few blocks. Miriam, her mother and several of her siblings, are among those forced into the ghetto. They end up packed into a house with three other Jewish families. And they wait to see what happens next. Miriam Kabacznik: We didn’t know what will be with us… We existed, we didn't know what to think even. Erin Harper: Leon and his brother Benjamin were still hiding with a family friend in the countryside. And one by one, the boys get news that their mother, grandmother, sister and father are alive. They were all hiding out with Polish friends. Now Leon’s whole family reunites. Leon Kahn: We were hugging and kissing and crying. [Slow melodic music] Erin Harper: Leon’s family, too, decides to go to the Radun ghetto. Now, they face the harsh realities of life in the ghetto. Outside their window, guards patrol back and forth. They enforce a curfew. Germans also inflict random violence against Jewish residents of the ghetto. They even sometimes kill Jews at random. But soon it will be winter — and it will turn bitter cold. So, at least for the time being, Leon’s family will stay here in the Radun ghetto. Six months pass. The cold winter turns to spring. It’s now May of 1942. Leon and Miriam remain in the Radun ghetto with their families. But soon, once again, everything is about to change. One Saturday night, after dark, someone unexpected shows up in the ghetto. It’s Korkuć— the Polish farmer who’s been hiding her family. He sneaks into the Radun ghetto and quietly goes around to houses. He knocks on windows to try to find Miriam’s family. Because Korkuć is suspicious — he has a feeling something bad is going to happen in the ghetto. [Music intensifies] Miriam Kabacznik: It was about 11 o’clock at night. ... And we weren't asleep yet. … And he said “I went to sleep, I had a very bad dream, and I came to take you out from the ghetto. And you have to get out.” Erin Harper: They have to make a decision before Korkuć gets caught talking to them. Moments later, Miriam and her family decide to escape. Soon, they find out that Korkuć was right. The very next morning, Leon wakes up to find that Germans and their collaborators have surrounded the Radun ghetto. Leon feels in his gut: this is another massacre. Leon’s family quickly hides in an attic, as the Germans and their collaborators start marching people away. And again, murdering more than a thousand Jewish men, women, and children. [A door opens and closes; A crowd passes by] Once it seems the massacre is over, Leon and his family crawl out of their hiding place. And the Germans announce that any Jews still alive in the Radun ghetto, will be deported to another ghetto. But Leon thinks there's no way he’s going to let his family stay in any ghetto, and risk this danger again. Leon has an idea. He had just heard rumors about Jews hiding out in a forest nearby. Leon thinks in the forest, they might be safer. But his parents are skeptical. It seems impossible to them. They ask: how will they live in the forest, out in the elements? Where will they get food? [Somber music] After days of debate, Leon finally convinces his father, brother, and younger sister to leave the ghetto and go live in the forest. But Leon’s mother has to make a choice: Does she stay in the ghetto with her elderly mother? Or does she escape with the rest of the family? Leon Kahn: She said, “You go ahead, save yourself. I cannot leave my mother.” Erin Harper: Leon questions himself: Should he stay in the ghetto to protect them? Should he insist his mother come to the forest, and leave his grandmother behind? This impossible decision tears at his heart. Finally Leon chooses to go to the forest, and leave his mother and grandma behind in the ghetto. He hugs his mother tight, and kisses her goodbye. As he walks away, he looks back at her standing in the doorway. The woman who empowered him all his life. Leon memorizes her face. Then he walks away. Leon Kahn: And every time I kept turning around just to take another look at her … After a while, we just got out of sight. Erin Harper: And with that, Leon, his brother Benjamin, his younger sister Freidke and their father, Shael, run from the ghetto, towards the forest. Meanwhile, Zvi is still hiding on a farm with Józia and her brother — in their barn. [A door creaks open and closes; Straw shuffles] Józia sneaks into the barn to visit Zvi a few times a day. She brings food, and her brother brings news. He tells Zvi about Jews being killed in the Radun ghetto, and of the other towns nearby where Germans are murdering entire Jewish communities. This town, that town. Places Zvi knows, people he knows. Zvi is trying to process all of this— the Germans are destroying, not only his shtetl, but his people. [Barn animals sound] At night, when Zvi manages to sleep, he only wakes up with nightmares. He screams and cries. And after a while, something else occurs to Zvi. It’s now been eight months since the massacre in Eyshishok— eight months since Zvi has been living in Józia’s barn. He feels he’s becoming a burden to them, and even endangering them. He also misses speaking Yiddish and being with his Jewish community. So Zvi decides to move on hoping he will find Jews to live with. He heads out into the countryside, not sure what or who he will find. [Pause] A few more months pass. It’s now summer of 1942. And Miriam is still in hiding on a farm with Korkuć — after he rescued her family from the Radun ghetto. Miriam’s family is giving Korkuć money to pay for their food, clothing, shoes, and other necessities in hiding. The money is also helping Korkuć afford to hide several other Jewish families on his land. [Birds chirp] Germans still have control of this area, and they’re on constant patrol. Some non-Jewish people in the villages are growing nervous. Many think, if Jews are in hiding nearby, the Germans will find out, and retaliate with violence. So now Miriam doesn’t only fear the Germans, she fears the neighbors as well. Here’s historian, Dr. Lindsay MacNeill. Dr. Lindsay MacNeill: People are paying attention to each other. They are noticing changes in patterns. [Ethereal music] Miriam Kabacznik: They used to feel that this and this family is hiding somebody. They had a very funny feeling. If they saw an extra … from the chimney … an extra smoke is coming out, she’s baking bread more than normally she would bake for herself. Dr. Lindsay MacNeill: They had to worry that a neighbor, a friend, even a family member would denounce them, would tell on them to the German authorities. Miriam Kabacznik: And then they used to come to the homes and find and kill them. It was every day that we heard those stories. Erin Harper: It’s not long before someone finds out Korkuć is hiding Jews. Now, Korkuć himself has to go on the run from the Germans. But first, he finds new places for all Jews who he’s currently hiding on his land. So Miriam’s family heads out at night to their new hiding spot. [Rustling in the brush] Leon and his family continue their long trek into the forest. As Leon walks deeper into the woods, he notices the lush greenery. The summer flowers. He thinks: it feels so different. He smells food cooking, and sees smoke rising from campfires. And some 200 people gathered in a makeshift campsite. And to Leon — it feels like freedom. Leon Kahn: We couldn't believe our eyes, what we saw there. That was a group — a family group… men, women and children that escaped and made a life for themself in the forest.

Erin Harper: Men take turns guarding the campsite on all sides — armed with whatever guns they’ve been able to get. So, feeling protected, Leon builds a small structure out of tree branches to shelter his family. And by nightfall, they lie down to sleep.

Leon Kahn: And it's the first time, I think, in weeks or month that we slept, kind of peace.

Erin Harper: Over time, Leon says, a fire has started to burn inside him. A longing for revenge — revenge for what the Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators did to Jews in Eyshishok. While living in the forest camp, one of the men approaches Leon and asks him if he wants to join their group of Jewish and Soviet partisans — armed resistance fighters. And Leon feels this is what he’s been waiting for: the chance to fight back against the Germans. So without hesitation, Leon joins the group to become an armed resistance fighter. [Low empowering music] Their goal is to stop German soldiers — and their supply trains — from going deeper into occupied-Soviet territory. Essentially, to kill German soldiers, and blow up their supply trains. But Leon is only 16 years old, and he doesn’t even know how to use a gun. Leon Kahn: They started showing me how to use a rifle. They started showing me how to use a grenade. They started showing me how to use a machine gun and they started showing me how to use dynamite. Erin Harper: Leon works, especially, with the dynamite. Along with the group of resistance fighters, Leon blows up — sometimes six — German supply trains in one week. Leon says when he sees those trains explode, he feels joy. And when any surviving Germans soldiers run away from the ruins, Leon and the fighters attack — shooting the soldiers with their rifles. Throughout the summer of 1942, Zvi keeps on the move. He goes from place to place across the rural landscape. At times, crawling into a hole in the ground, hiding in a haystack, or staying tucked away in a farmer’s barn. Roaming, wandering, and looking for any scraps of food. [Barn animals sound, Birds sing] Zvi Michaeli: Between the bushes and the forest, and in between the farmers. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: And he's calling on different farmers that he knows might be friendly to him. There's this net of support in the countryside from these connections, and he goes and knocks at their door and then they open the door and then they hand out a roll or a bit of cheese or bottle of milk. And it keeps him alive for a number of months. [Melodic piano music] Erin Harper: And in this time Zvi thinks of his father’s last words to him, during the massacre in Eyshishok. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: There's also this feeling for revenge, this push to follow, what he is now interpreting as a command, I think, from his father, the last words from his father, “you will survive and you will seek revenge.” Zvi Michaeli: His words were accompanying me all my time from running away from the graves. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: And so as soon as he's able to, I think he begins seeking that revenge. Erin Harper: The season is turning. It’s now fall of 1942. It’s now been nearly a year since the massacre in Eyshishok. Miriam and her family are hiding on another farm — this time with a Polish widow and her daughters. And Miriam knows, it will again be the Jewish New Year — Rosh Hashanah. Here’s historian, Dr. Edna Friedberg.

Dr. Edna Friedberg: She did the best she could to keep track of the Jewish date. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, and it has its own rhythm and holidays. And she kept hold of that as a sort of grounding force to know, even if she couldn't celebrate it, what holiday should be happening today.

Miriam Kabacznik: We knew when it's holidays, just by the moon. … We knew when it's Pesach, we knew when it’s Rosh Hashanah.

Dr. Edna Friedberg: She tried to keep the same religious dietary restrictions, tried to keep kosher, even in circumstances where they could barely get anything to eat. Erin Harper: Miriam still takes her little prayer book everywhere she goes. She prays every day, just like she had back home in Eyshishok. Dr. Edna Friedberg: These kinds of spiritual or mental resistance — something that maybe no one else even knows— this is a mode of survival. It is a way of not being defined by what is happening to you, but instead, holding tight to who you were before, to an identity, and to a sense of humanity that you will not allow to be stripped from you.

Erin Harper: For Miriam, the days are long. Most of the time, Miriam and her family can’t do much. They’re trapped in their hideout. They sit together, but can’t talk, or even whisper — for fear of being found out by Germans, or suspecting neighbors.

[Hebrew prayer]

She gets lost in thought: When will the hiding end? When will the war end?

Miriam Kabacznik: And we don’t know what it’ll be tomorrow, what it’ll be in a minute.

Erin Harper: So again, she prays.

[Hebrew prayer continues; Light hopeful music]

Miriam Kabacznik: We prayed harder. We prayed harder and believed there will come a miracle.

Erin Harper: Zvi continues to roam the area. And one day he crosses paths with a Jewish girl, a teenager about Zvi’s age — Rivka. Rivka is one of the few survivors who escaped the massacre of the Radun ghetto a few months back. Zvi Michaeli: We had a lot in common, to tell stories. I was telling her my way of life, my style of life in hiding, what I'm doing all day, how I’m spending my hours. She was telling me her story of life. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: They develop this bond pretty quickly. And even in all of this death and extremity that's surrounding them, they have this kind of romantic feeling for each other. Erin Harper: Rivka and Zvi stay up late into the night talking. Zvi Michaeli: Just sitting holding hands. Erin Harper: Zvi is now growing close with a Polish couple who’s been helping him survive — giving him food and shelter. The Wojewocki’s. They’ve become like parents to Zvi. So he brings Rivka to meet them. They’re so happy for Zvi that he’s found a girlfriend. They cook a meal for the young couple and tell them that someday they’ll have beautiful children together. Dr. J. Luke Ryder: And soon they decide to become a pair and try to live together. The two of them decide to stay in one of the forest camps with another group of Jews, at least for a little while. Erin Harper: Throughout the fall of 1942 Leon continues to blow up German trains with the armed resistance fighters. But eventually, Leon decides it’s safer for him and his family to move on from life in the forest. Because winter is about to set in. Although they know that the ghettos established by the German authorities are dangerous and miserable, Leon decides their best hope to survive the severe winter cold is to go into another ghetto. This time in the town of Grodno. So they pack up their makeshift home in the forest, and set out.

But within weeks, German officials announce that they will deport all Jews from this ghetto to an undisclosed location. The Germans start marching people away by the thousands.

[Engines drive by; Footsteps marching]

Leon and his family immediately know this is a bad sign, and they have to escape. So quickly, they try to find a way to sneak out of the ghetto. German guards have sealed off the ghetto with barbed-wire fences.

But Leon finds a potential way out: a building that had been bombed, leaving an opening where they might be able to escape. The problem is, the opening is being guarded by two German soldiers on patrol.

Leon Kahn: We decided that the only way that we can get away is to kill the guards.

Erin Harper: But who is going to kill them? Among the group are Leon, his brother Benjamin, his father Shael, his sister Freidke — as well as several other Jews who are also trying to escape. After some debate, the group nominates Leon, because, despite the fact that he’s just 16-years-old, he’s the only one in their group who has experience as an armed fighter. [Serious music] Leon has bombed trains and fired rifles. But here in the ghetto, they don’t have any guns. The only possible weapons they have are butcher knives. And Leon has never killed anyone up close, with his hands. But he knows, it’s the only way to get his family out.

Leon Kahn: Now how, how, how do you do it?

Erin Harper: Leon studies the two German guards to learn their routines— noting where they walk, when they’re together, when they’re alone. Leon makes a plan. His father and the rest of the group stand far back, watching.

Leon Kahn: And I was rehearsing, running up and rehearsing how to do it.

Erin Harper: And when Leon sees that one guard is alone, Leon makes his move.

[Sharp punctuated music]

Gripping the knife, Leon sneaks up behind the guard, covers his mouth, and cuts his throat. The guard slumps down into the snow.

[Thump]

Leon hides nearby, still gripping the knife. Soon, the other guard returns, and bends down to see what has happened. Leon pounces — stabbing the second German guard in the back.

Leon steps back — overwhelmed with disgust. Leon leans over the edge of the bombed out rubble, and throws up. His father Shael rushes over to gather Leon and the group hurries out of the ghetto in the darkness. As Leon runs away, he still feels sick to his stomach for what he had just done.

Leon Kahn: In my own mind, I was thinking about it. I just killed two men and I didn't see their faces. But I killed two people that I don’t know if they were innocent. Were they guilty? Were they bad people? Good people? I felt very, very bad. But I had no choice.

Erin Harper: Leon says he also feels joy. He just saved his family from — what was almost certainly — death. But their relief is short-lived. By now, it’s December of 1942. Leon, his father, his brother, and his younger sister face the bitter cold winter.

Over the next few months, temperatures drop below freezing. Icy winds whip across their bodies. They go from place to place, looking for help from local farmers. They walk in the dark, through the mounds of snow — but never on the roads — because German trucks are constantly patrolling. [Heavy footsteps in snow] And even though Leon’s father knows the area, and knows these woods, in the dark and with snow covering the landscape, everything looks different— it’s unfamiliar. Sometimes they get turned around, and end up walking in circles. The family is freezing and exhausted. Leon Kahn: I remember my sister lying down many, many times and saying, “Leave me here. I cannot go on.” Erin Harper: Leon and Benjamin hoist her up, nearly carrying her. They keep moving on. And when they ask for help, most farmers turn them away. Others take pity on them and let them sleep inside, despite the risk of getting caught. They give Leon’s family food, dry clothes, and a warm place to sleep for the night. The winter months pass. It’s now spring of 1943. Rivka and Zvi are now living together in a small forest campsite with other Jewish people. And they seem to be relatively safe. But a local farmer has just revealed their camp location to authorities. And one night, they wake up to find that they’re surrounded by armed men. [Men yell] Dr. J. Luke Ryder: German officials have ordered a sweep of that particular area, and Lithuanians and Germans storm the camp and Zvi loses track of Rivka. But Zvi escapes and he doesn't really know what has happened to her. Erin Harper: Not knowing what to do, Zvi runs to the home of the Wojewocki’s— the couple who’d been taking care of Zvi. He asks them for help. And the Wojewockis soon find out that, in the attack, Rivka was killed. And just like that, Zvi’s world is shattered, again. Zvi learns the name of the man — the farmer who gave up the location of the camp. Apparently the farmer had betrayed them in exchange for some cooking oil. Zvi once again, thinks back to the last words his father spoke to him. Zvi says, “I decided I must take revenge on who betrayed us.” Zvi gets a gun, and finds out what path the farmer takes on a nearby road. [Tense fast-paced music] Dr. J. Luke Ryder: He ambushes this farmer along the road and kills him and then pins a Star of David on the body as a way to warn: If you betray hidden Jews, this is your fate. Erin Harper: On this night, Zvi dreams of his family being murdered. Rivka being murdered. He says, “There is no one else. Now I've lost everything.” Through the spring of 1943, farmers help Leon and his family get by while on the run. Polish farmers, Lithuanian farmers. People his father knew before the war. And now that the weather is mild, Leon and his family make the trek back into the forest to be with other Jews. [Soft thoughtful music] Leon knows he wants to get back to the armed resistance group — and get back to fighting the Germans. But this time the group says Leon can only join if he can muster up his own weapons. Leon finds a farmer who is willing to sell them rifles. So Leon’s brother Benjamin, and a few other Jewish men, agree to meet the farmer to collect the weapons. But this exchange doesn't go as planned. Benjamin, and the otherJewish men wait for the farmer inside a barn. But it seems someone has betrayed them. Suddenly, the barn is surrounded by armed men who open fire — shooting at Benjamin and the other Jewish men inside. Leon Kahn: And one by one they were killed. My brother was killed. Erin Harper: Leon can’t believe it. The pain is horrible and unbearable. The brother who he grew up with, went fishing with, played soccer with, their whole childhood. Benjamin was next to him on the roof in Eyshishok, and in the cemetery during the massacre. Now it’s just Leon, his father and sister together in the woods— torn down, and beyond heartbroken. Months later, Leon’s family receives more news. It's about Leon’s mother and grandmother. The last time Leon saw them was in the Radun ghetto, when Leon’s mother stayed behind with Leon’s grandmother, and the rest of the family escaped to the forest. Just as Leon feared, that ghetto was not a safe place for his family to stay. Leon gets word that the Nazis may have sent his mother and grandmother to a place called Treblinka. And even though Leon doesn’t know exactly what Treblinka is, he’s heard that people who are sent there never return. This tears him apart. He thinks of the last moment he saw his mother in the ghetto. [Tense, somber music]

Leon Kahn: Here is the time that my mother needed me most. She needed me to protect her, to help her. I ran out on her. I deserted her. [Crying] And this is something that I cannot swallow, I cannot forgive myself.

Erin Harper: What Leon suspected about Treblinka was true. In fact, Treblinka was a Nazi killing center, where Nazis and their collaborators murdered more than 900,000 Jews using poison gas. It’s unknown whether or not his mother and grandmother were among them.

The summer has passed. And it’s nearly fall of 1943. It’s been almost two years since the massacre of Jews in Eyshishok. Miriam and her family are still in hiding with a Polish widow and her daughters, on their farm. And sometimes Miriam goes into the forest nearby to cut down trees. She wants to help collect wood for their fires. So with her axe, Miriam walks out into the woods. She picks out a tree. And raises her axe. She takes a swing. Then, another. And another. Hacking away at the tree, Miriam’s eyes well up with tears. With every swing of the ax, she cries. Miriam Kabacznik: There was so much tears in that forest… Every tree that I cut, that ground was soaked with my tears. Erin Harper: She thinks of everything that the Nazis had done to her. To her family. To Jews in Eyshishok. To her people. Miriam Kabacznik: I felt this is how we are cutting — be cutting us down. Like I should not cut the trees because why do I do it to the trees when we've been cut down like this? … But I couldn’t take to cut down a tree. I couldn’t. Erin Harper: After nearly two years on the run, hiding from German soldiers and their local collaborators, Zvi, Miriam, and Leon's lives are torn apart. The Germans are still hunting Jews. The neighbors are still keeping watch. The threat of death at every turn. Who will betray them? Who will sell them out? And soon, things are about to get more dangerous. [Tense music] Coming up on 12 Years That Shook the World: Miriam Kabacznik: They burned her alive, and they burned everything down. Leon Kahn: They were coming like an avalanche. Miriam Kabacznik: Why should we live in a place where everybody's dead? Everybody's dead, around.

[Theme music]

Erin Harper: From the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, I’m Erin Harper. Joining me were historians at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dr. Edna Friedberg, Dr. Lindsay MacNeill, and Dr. J. Luke Ryder. Our show is written and produced by me. Our story is researched by Meredith Gui, with additional research by Dr. Lindsay MacNeill, as well as Clare Cronin and historian, Dr. William Meinecke. We offer a special thank you to Dr. Simon Goldberg, and Hana G. Green. This story is informed by the work of historian, Dr. Yaffa Eliach. Some oral history interviews are from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s collection, as a gift from Jeff Bieber, including: Miriam Kabacznik Shulman from 1997, Leon Kahn from 1998, and Zvi Michaelowsky from 1997, and 1999. An interview with Miriam Kabacznik Shulman from 1996 is a gift from Randy M. Goldman. You can watch these testimonies online in the Museum’s collection. Other Interviews of Miriam [Kabacznik] Shulman from 1998, Leon Kahn, from 1996, and Zvi Michaeli from 1996 are from the archive of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education. For more information, visit sfi.usc.edu. Leon Kahn’s interview from 1982 is from the Montreal Holocaust Museum. For a complete bibliography for our story, and for more resources, look for the link in the episode show notes or visit USHMM.org/12YearsPodcast. This podcast is funded in part by support from the Crown Family Philanthropies, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation, Walmart Foundation, and from the Judd, Randi, Stephen & Barry Malkin Families. Music and Sound Design by SALT Audio. Lead Editor and sound effects by Aaron Kennedy. Listeners, we need your help to make 12 Years That Shook the World even better. We want to hear from you: what resonates, what moves you, and what you think of our latest season? Look for the survey link in the show notes or send an email to podcast@ushmm.org. If you like our show, follow us on your favorite podcast app and share our podcast with others. Thank you for listening.