Holocaust Survivor, Resistance Witness, Author, and March of the Living Educator
Anna Heilman z”l was born Hana Wajcblum on December 1, 1928, in Warsaw, Poland. She was also known as Hanka. Her parents, Jakub and Rebeka Wajcblum, were both deaf, and her father owned a Warsaw factory, Snycerpol, which employed deaf workers to make wooden handicrafts. Anna grew up with two older sisters, Sabina and Estusia, in a middle-class, assimilated Jewish family.
During the German occupation of Warsaw, Anna, Estusia, and their parents lived in the area that became part of the Warsaw Ghetto. Their apartment was at 38 Miła Street, close to 18 Miła Street, the headquarters of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB). Anna was connected to Hashomer Hatzair, but when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out, she chose to remain with her parents rather than leave them.
In May 1943, Anna, Estusia, and their parents were among the last Jews deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Majdanek. Anna’s parents were murdered there. Anna and Estusia were later transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau in September 1943, where they were forced to work as slave labourers in the Union Munitions Factory.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, Anna and Estusia became part of a network of Jewish women who smuggled gunpowder from the munitions factory to the Sonderkommando, the prisoners forced to work in and around the gas chambers and crematoria. The gunpowder was hidden in small amounts and passed underground until it reached the men planning the October 7, 1944, Sonderkommando uprising.
On October 7, 1944, members of the Sonderkommando revolted and used the smuggled explosives to damage Crematorium IV at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The revolt was quickly crushed, and many prisoners were killed, but Crematorium IV was put out of operation. Anna later became one of the last surviving witnesses connected to the plot.
After the uprising, the SS traced the gunpowder back to the Union factory. Estusia Wajcblum, Roza Robota, Ala Gertner, and Regina Safirsztajn were tortured but did not reveal Anna’s name. In early January 1945, the four women were publicly hanged at Auschwitz. Anna’s sister Estusia was not yet twenty years old.
A short time later, Anna was sent on a death march as Auschwitz was evacuated ahead of the Soviet advance. She survived the final months of the war and was liberated from a small labour camp near Hamburg. After liberation, she made her way to Belgium and later to Israel, where she was reunited with her surviving older sister, Sabina.
In Israel, Anna became a social worker, married Joshua Heilman, and had two daughters. In 1960, the family moved to Ottawa, Canada. For many years, Anna did not speak publicly about her Holocaust experiences. That changed after a visit from Marta Bindiger, a wartime friend who had helped Anna survive emotionally after Estusia’s execution. Anna later said that once Marta encouraged her to speak, she did not stop talking, because she believed education could help young people resist hatred and evil.
Anna’s memoir, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman, was published in 2001. The book grew out of her wartime and postwar memories and became a way to preserve the story of her sister Estusia, the women of the Union Munitions Factory, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau resistance. The memoir won the 2002 City of Ottawa Book Award for non-fiction.
Anna also worked to ensure that Estusia Wajcblum, Roza Robota, Ala Gertner, and Regina Safirsztajn were remembered as Jewish resistance fighters. USC Shoah Foundation notes that Anna helped support efforts to create memorials and plaques honouring the four women at Auschwitz, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and at the former factory connected to the Union Munitions operation.
Anna Heilman was also connected with March of the Living. She participated in the March of the Living in 1994 and shared her testimony with students, helping younger generations understand Jewish resistance, the Warsaw Ghetto, Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the courage of the women who risked their lives to support the Sonderkommando revolt.
Anna Heilman passed away in Ottawa on May 1, 2011. Her legacy continues through her memoir, her USC Shoah Foundation testimony, the Anna Heilman fonds at Library and Archives Canada, March of the Living educational materials, and MOLDAP/Witness interactive content connected to her testimony and memory.
Featured Media
Anna Heilman — Resistance in Auschwitz | USC Shoah Foundation
A USC Shoah Foundation testimony clip in which Anna remembers helping her sister Ester / Estusia Wajcblum smuggle gunpowder to support the Sonderkommando uprising at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Link
Anna Heilman on Resistance in Auschwitz | Google Arts & Culture / USC Shoah Foundation
The same USC Shoah Foundation testimony clip presented as part of the “70 Stories of Auschwitz” collection.
Link
Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations — P. 26: Majdanek / Anna Heilman
MOLDAP interactive Witness content connected to Anna Heilman.
Link
Anna Heilman — Full-Length USC Shoah Foundation Testimony
USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive page for Anna Heilman’s full testimony. This may require VHA access.
Link
Anna Heilman Fonds | Library and Archives Canada
Archival collection containing Anna Heilman’s personal papers, speeches, articles, drawings, and moving-image material related to her Holocaust experiences, the Union Munitions Factory, the Sonderkommando uprising, and the campaign to honour the four women executed at Auschwitz.
Link
Sabotage — Women’s Underground Resistance at Auschwitz
A documentary by Noa Aharoni about the women’s underground operation in Auschwitz-Birkenau, told through the perspective of Anna Wajcblum Heilman and the story of her sister Estusia.
LINK