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HIDDEN
​HOLOCAUST HISTORIES

Interactive experiences for learning, commemoration, and empathy.
THE 19TH WINDOW
A CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-PATHWAY MYSTERY
START  >

​Help Lydia piece together her family's past
and solve the mystery of The 19th Window.
​​
​Time: 25 minutes
Content Warning: Nazi camps, Suicide, Mass murder
HIDDEN PAGES
A WEBQUEST
START  >

 Solve a series of puzzles
to unlock hidden Holocaust histories.


​Time: 50 minutes
​Challenge level: Difficult
Content Warning: Persecution, Nazi camps, Mass murder
I SAW EVERYTHING
A PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT
START  >

Discover stories of Roma Holocaust survivors
and their struggle for reparations.


​Time: 10 minutes
Content Warning: Nazi camps, Sexual violence, Mass murder
THE SON
AN INTERACTIVE TESTIMONY
START  >

​Explore the story of Michael Bauer,
the gay son of Jewish Holocaust survivors and activist for social justice.


​Time: 8 minutes
Content Warning: Nazi ghettos, AIDS crisis, Genocide
HIDDEN HISTORIES
AN OVERVIEW

​The list below (arranged somewhat chronologically)
represents an incomplete list of narratives that are often excluded
- intentionally and unintentionally -
from Holocaust education and commemoration.
​
We are compelled to ask:
Why don't we usually hear these parts of Holocaust history?
What patterns can we see?
What lessons are lost when these narratives are excluded?
And what happens when we include them?

​

BEFORE THE NAZI ERA
(before 1933)


Existing prejudices against many communities in Germany and Europe

​19th Century origins of eugenics in Great Britain and the United States

U.S. forcible sterilizations of people with disabilities and people of color
(
sterilization laws passed in some 32 states, beginning in Indiana in 1907, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (8-1) in 1927)

Early use of gas chambers in the United States
(beginning in Nevada in 1924)

Collaboration between British, American, and German eugenicists, including meetings of the International Eugenics Congress
​(London 1912, New York 1921, and New York 1932)



EARLY NAZI ERA
(1933 - 1939)

The Nazis' persecution of political dissidents, including Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade unionists


The Nazis' imprisonment of people addicted to alcohol

The Nazis' persecution of people working in the sex trade
​(so-called prostitutes)


The Nazis' round-ups of people who were homeless

‘The Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion’
(founded in 1936)


The Nazis' forcible sterilizations of people of African or Roma descent

​The Nazis' round-ups of Roma before the Nazi Olympics of 1936

​The Nazis' attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality

So-called homosexuals in the Nazi camps, including people we would today refer to as gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women

The Nazis' persecution of lesbians and bisexual women, including people we would today refer to as transgender men

Homosexuality amongst Nazi soldiers and Nazi party members

Experiences of inter-faith Jewish-Christian families

Roma prisoners in the Nazi ghettos

U.S. foundations (Carnegie, Rockefeller) funding of Nazi eugenicists
(up until 1939)

Approx. 20,000 American Nazis rally at Madison Square Gardens, NYC
​(February 20, 1939)



WARTIME
(1939 - 1945)


The Nazis' kidnappings of Polish children perceived to be ‘Aryan’

The Nazis' systematic murder of children and adults with disabilities, including: people with severe physical defects, people with so-called mental retardation, people with hereditary deafness, people with hereditary blindness, people with schizophrenia, epilepsy, so-called manic-depressive disorder, and other real and perceived disabilities

'The Gray Zone' and moral ambiguity in prisoner narratives

Atheism amongst Holocaust victims and survivors

People who risked their lives to rescue Roma, LGBTQ+ people, and others


The Nazis' prohibition of abortion for 'Aryan' women

​Public protests against the Nazis' murder of people with disability

​Nazi sexual violence against women and girls, and the so-called brothels in the Nazi camps

Jewish women choosing abortions in the Nazi camps to save their lives

Women prisoners committing infanticide in the Nazi camps

Cannibalism amongst starving prisoners in the Nazi camps

The Nazis' use of ‘excremental assault’

Humor, comedy, and laughter during the Holocaust

Sexual relationships in the Nazi camps

Relationships between camp prisoners and Nazi guards

Revolts in Nazi camps led by Jewish, Roma, and political prisoners,
for example: the Treblinka Uprising of August 1943; the Sobibor Revolt of October 1943; the Roma Camp Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944; the Auschwitz-Birkenau 
Crematorium Revolt of October 1944 

Soviet, American, British, and Canadian soldiers raping German women



​POST-WAR
​(after 1945)


Trauma and suicide amongst Holocaust survivors

Re-imprisonment of gay survivors, recommended by Britain and U.S.

Post-war persecution and imprisonment of LGBTQ+ people


Post-Holocaust anti-Jewish pogroms

Denial of reparations for Roma, disabled, gay, African, and other survivors

​Trauma suffered by liberators

​Trauma suffered by perpetrators

Intergenerational trauma experienced by the children of perpetrators

Post-war meetings of American and British eugenicists


Ongoing U.S. forcible sterilizations of people of color and with disabilities
​
​
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Until 2022, Unsilence was a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Tax ID: 47-3960765

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​
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT UNSILENCE
    • FRAMEWORK
    • DEFINITIONS
    • PEOPLE
    • 10 YEAR REPORT
    • CONTACT
  • EXPERIENCES
    • INTERACTIVE FEATURES >
      • THE SISTERHOOD
      • OXYGEN
      • TOMORROW
      • THE 19TH WINDOW
      • HIDDEN PAGES
      • I SAW EVERYTHING
      • THE SON
      • IN OTHER PEOPLE'S HANDS
      • SECRETS
    • OVERLAPPING TRIANGLES
    • POETRY & STORIES >
      • I BELIEVE YOU
      • FAIRY TALE
      • BEDTIME STORIES
      • THE 'S' WORD
      • BRIAN
      • INTO MY ARMS
      • HAND HOLDING
      • SOUNDLESS ROAR
      • GHOSTS OF AUSCHWITZ
      • SOMETHING MISSING AT TREBLINKA
      • NEVER HEARD
      • TRAIN
    • THE MAJOR LIFT
    • EDUCATION RESOURCES >
      • THE 19TH WINDOW GUIDE
      • HIDDEN PAGES GUIDE
      • I SAW EVERYTHING GUIDE
      • THE SON GUIDE
      • TRAIN READERS GUIDE
      • TOMORROW GUIDE
      • HAND HOLDING GUIDE
  • COMMUNITY
    • PAST PROGRAMS & PARTNERS
    • PROGRAM INQUIRIES
    • HELP & SUPPORT