Throughout April, the museum will showcase the interactive biography of Halina Zimm, a Holocaust survivor from Richmond.
Born on December 4, 1927, in Łódź, Poland, Halina lived with her parents, Solomon and Regina, and her sisters, Helen and Nana.
After the Nazi invasion in 1939, Jewish citizens were forced to wear yellow stars, and Jewish children were banned from school.
Within a year, Halina’s father moved the family to Zarnów, seeking safety with her grandparents.
By 1942, as deportation rumors spread, Halina’s father secured false birth certificates for her and her sister Helen, enabling them to escape to Warsaw.
There, Halina worked as a housekeeper while hiding her Jewish identity. She later witnessed both the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising, experiencing firsthand the brutality of war.
In the summer of 1944, she joined the Warsaw Uprising, a resistance movement against Nazi occupation.
Following its suppression, Halina was deported to Germany as a forced laborer but managed to escape. She was later liberated by the Soviet Army and, in 1945, met her future husband, Alan Zimm.
The couple immigrated to the United States, where they built a new life together.
Showings run hourly from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reserve your seat at the front desk.
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Let us come together to honor the past, educate the present, and inspire a future rooted in understanding and peace.
