Zhanna Litinskaya, from our Kyiv office, spent three weeks in Chisinau in 2004 interviewing elderly Holocaust survivors. Zhanna spent three afternoons with the head of the community, Theodor Magder, who spoke of surviving the war, working as a journalist during the Communist years, and how he joined the government once Moldova became independent. R…

Still teaching school at the age of 79, Polina Leibovich shares with us her story of a happy childhood and how she managed to survive hell in the camps of Transnistria. Interviewed for Centrpa by Natalia Fomina in 2004, Polina also tells us about finding a husband, raising a family and devoting her life to teaching. Read by Sara Kestelman in London…

Narrated by Edward Serotta Moldova became an independent country when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Well more than 65,000 Jews were registered then and over the next two decades, the overwhelming majority emigrated to Israel. The community stands at less than 5,000 today but provides its members with kindergartens, youth clubs, sports teams a…

Episode 2: They were 13 and 14-year-old boys imprisoned in the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto and only a handful would survive the Holocaust. But these teenagers fought back with everything they had: determination, ethics, and moral courage. Every Friday night, they would take turns reading from their own secret magazine, Vedem (Czech for In The L…

Episode 1: They were 13 and 14-year-old boys imprisoned in the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto and only a handful would survive the Holocaust. But these teenagers fought back with everything they had: determination, ethics, and moral courage. Every Friday night, they would take turns reading from their own secret magazine, Vedem (Czech for In The L…

This week we praised the new Indian #1, whoever he may be, looked back at Magnus's victory at the chess 960 GOAT challenge and finally returned to some more cheating talk, as a treat.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

More cheating blah blah, more Hans shenanigans, Peter is excited for 960 in Germany!By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This week we were joined by English IM Ali Mortazavi and even though everyone has moved on, we talked about women's tournaments & titles, along with more cheating stuff. This episode was recorded before the latest Hans & Nepo shenanigans.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This week we talked about Alireza's unstoppable race to the Candidates, the World Rapid & Blitz controversies and important upcoming travel plans.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

Ludmila Weinerova grew up in Prague and was deported to Terezin with her parents and brothers when she was 22 years old. Ludmila paints a vivid picture of what life was like in the ghetto: grim and frightening on the one hand, but on the other, she performed in operas and in choirs that the prisoners performed. Lubmila Rutarova was interviewed by D…

Born into a completely assimilated home in Prague, Alena Synkova didn’t understand what it meant to be Jewish until Germany’s invasion and occupation. Her mother died young, her father was sent off to his death, Alena was called up for a transport to Terezin and her brother fled to the resistance. Alena spent three years in Terezin and after the wa…

Antonie grew up in Brno, where her family lived on the grounds of the Jewish community’s sports club. When the deportations began, her 12 year old brother went into hiding, her father was taken into forced labor, and Antonie, 16 years old, looked after her mother in Terezin. A story of incredible bravery, heartbreak and commitment. Antonie Militka …

Jan Fischer, who became one of Prague’s most creative postwar theatre directors and memoirists, fell in love with the stage while a prisoner in Terezin. He and his fellow cellmates performed dramas, musicals and comedies, until one by one, they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. A compelling story of tragedy and resilience. Jan Fischer was interv…

Edward Serotta's introduction to the Centropa Podcast Season about Terezin.

narrated by Henry Goodman Simon was less than three years old when the family was sent into the hell of Transnistria. They barely survived, and as he grew up in postwar Romania, Simon tells us of the unspeakable poverty and hunger he went through. Simon became an agricultural expert, married, had children. This lively, ironic storyteller is well wo…

narrated by Jeni Barnett Rifca grew up in a village that was nearly 75% Jewish, and she tells us life was good—until the war—when the family was forced to move to a bigger town. They were not deported further but lived in abject poverty and in constant anxiety. Rifca married, raised a family, and spent her last years teaching Hebrew to an ever-shri…

narrated by Steve Furst Simon paints a vivid picture of growing up with his brothers in a Romanian shtetl. The entire family was deported to Transnistria during the war. Not all of them returned. Simon married, raised a family, and in time, became president of his Jewish community.

narrated by Edward Serotta In towns like Dorohoi, Suceava, Botosani, and Radauti, Jewish life carried on all during the post-Holocaust decades. They were rapidly shrinking, of course, as most younger Jews wanted to leave, and the majority of them emigrated to Israel. But these small communities still maintained their canteens, youth clubs, choirs, …

A busy week for FIDE & the very exciting Candidates circus. Note: This episode was recorded before the end of the Chennai Grandmasters & when Firouzja had only won 2 games in Chartres. For #transparency!By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

Super coach GM Ramesh joins us to share his some of his teaching philosophies & more!By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This week we talked even more about cheating (because enough has not been said) and tried to figure out ways to game the final candidates spots. Enjoy!By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This week we were joined by Ukrainian #1, GM Pavel Eljanov. Pavel is one of the many chess players whose life has been turned upside down by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This episode was recorded earlier in the week (before the latest allegations about Hans Niemann and many, many Kramnik blogs).By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

As a compensation (punishment?) for the lack of CCC episodes recently, we present Peter's new bonus podcast, the FIDE Segment. This week we were joined by Emilia Castelao from the Women in Chess Foundation. If we can find any of Peter's enemies that are willing to speak to him, we'll have regular guests. Enjoy!…

When Nazi Germany occupied Austria, over 110,000 Jews managed to flee. The Luster family, Moses and Golda, and their 14 year old son Leo, could not find a way out. Leo would endure nearly seven years of hell—in Theresienstadt, in Auschwitz, and in work camps in Germany. His story is read to us by Henry Goodman in London.…

Jozef trained as a barber and as someone who could repair fountain pens. Those skills first saved his life and brought him into direct contact with Nazi officers in Auschwitz—and led him to testify against them in nearly a dozen postwar trials. His story is read to us by Steve Furst in London.

In March 1939, Nazi Germany occupied the Czech regions of Bohemia and Moravia. Pavel’s family was called for a transport to Terezin in 1944. Two years later, they were told they would be sent to “the east.” That meant Auschwitz. Pavel Werner story is read to us by Elliot Levey in London.

Katarina Vidor grew up comfortably middle class in Bratislava. She worked in an accounting office and spoke four languages. She loved playing tennis and water skiing with friends on the Adriatic. She had recently married and her parents lived nearby. Then the war came. Her story is read for us by Jan Goodman in London.…

She grew up in a well-to-do family in Budapest, married in 1928, and doted on her only child, Erwin while running three hat shops with her husband. Then the entire family descended into hell. Her story is read to us by Tina Gray.

Auschwitz-Birkenau. the ultimate symbol of the Holocaust, where more than a million Jews were murdered. Of the 1,230 elderly Jews we interviewed between 2000 and 2009, nearly 100 managed to survive this hell on Earth—some to be sent on to even worse places. We present excerpts from five of those interviews, one each from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia,…

Mirou-Mairy Karasso was born in 1921, the oldest five children. She grew up wealthy and sheltered until she and her brother Albert, hiding with false papers, boarded a bus for Athens. The rest of the family fled to the mountains. A heartbreaking story of loss. Interviewed by Nina Hatzi in Athens in 2006 narrated by Jeni Barnet…

Lily Pardo and her three sisters lived on Tsimiski Street and their father’s store was just down the block. And when the Germans began deporting tens of thousands of Jews, their fathers’ friend would hide them in his flat—for 18 months. Interviewed by Annita Mordechai in Athens in 2006. Narrated by Jilly Bond.…

narrated by Allan Corduner Alberto Beraha’s father was a currency trader, his mother taught French. The family escaped during the deportations, and Alberto tells of hiding in a mountain village, where he listened to BBC broadcasts on a hidden radio, and translated the news for the villagers protecting him and his father. Interviewed by Annita Morde…

narrated by Annita Mordechai I grew up Jewish and Greek, the granddaughter of a woman who survived the Holocaust hiding with her parents and sisters in a friend’s apartment. In 2005, I joined a team of Centropa interviewers led by the historian Rena Molho and our goal was to ask elderly Jews born in Thessaloniki to share with us their personal stor…

We're back. For now.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

The tricky 65th episode.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen

This time it's really the final episode.By Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet & Peter Heine Nielsen