Gisela Nyman, born Blumenthal, was the daughter of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. She grew up in her birth town Leipzig. As a child, the Hungarian actor Marika Rökk became the role model for the young Gisela. At the age of five, Gisela began her ballet training. Later, she took also music lessons. Read More…
The transcript of the escape story of the Schauerjans family is the result of a collaboration between descendants of the circus family and the French historian Laurence Prempain. Until 1943, Rosa (born 1902) and François Jacob Schauerjans (1903) lived with their children Edwige (born 1928) and Roger (born 1938) in Grenoble, France. Two versions of Read More…
The Latvian-born circus performer Rodion Nikitins lived through WWII performing in different circuses and theatres in Latvia, Germany and Nazi-occupied Prague. In his autobiography Of Flight and Freedom from 1987, Nikitins confesses that his work as an entertainer gave him more opportunities and options during WWII than those available to his family members or friends Read More…
