Survivors of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution
A Leader Who Saved Lives in Auschwitz (Part 2): Magda Hellinger
19m
Inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, surrounded by death and terror, Magda Hellinger became a prisoner-leader responsible for 30,000 women. Using courage, empathy, and extraordinary presence of mind, she risked her life to shield others from selections, starvation, and the gas chambers — even saving hundreds from certain death under the eyes of notorious SS figures like Irma Grese, Maria Mandl, and Josef Mengele.
This second part tells how Magda’s strength, intelligence, and humanity turned survival into quiet resistance. From the frozen death marches to liberation and the life she rebuilt after the war, her story stands as a testament to moral courage, compassion, and the will to remember.
Up Next in Season 1
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Dita Kraus (Part 1): From Prague’s Ch...
September 1938. Hitler’s demands tear Czechoslovakia apart, and a young Jewish girl named Dita Kraus (née Polachová) watches her peaceful childhood in Prague vanish.
This first part follows her early years under Nazi occupation — from losing her home and her father’s work to the harsh realities o... -
Dita Kraus (Part 2): The Librarian of...
Deported to Auschwitz at just fourteen, Dita Kraus (née Polachová) risked her life to guard a handful of smuggled books for the children’s block — becoming the librarian of Auschwitz.
From the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau to the final days in Bergen-Belsen, Dita endured starvation, loss, and uni...
