Holocaust education and documentary storytelling
36 women who defied the Nazi regime, 1933–1945.
Jewish resisters and non-Jewish rescuers. Fighters, couriers, witnesses and women who risked their lives to save others.
By Grant de Graf · Manuscript complete; preparing for publication.
Free to read · No registration required
The first major project
A completed collection of 36 biographical narratives of resistance, rescue and remembrance, drawing on archival evidence, survivor testimony and published scholarship. The subjects include Jewish women and non-Jewish rescuers. A documentary series based on their lives is in development; educational adaptations are being developed for schools, museums and community groups.
A story from Women Without Fear
Arrival. Selection. Resistance. Three dramatised scenes place the women’s courage within the history of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
01 / Auschwitz · 1940–1945
Between 1940 and 1945, at least 1.1 million people were murdered or died at Auschwitz, including about one million Jews. At least 1.3 million people were deported to the camp complex, many arriving in crowded trains from across Europe.
Scene 1: The arrival
Róża Robota · 1921–1945
The women who supplied the gunpowder helped make resistance possible inside Auschwitz. Their courage is part of the story told in Women Without Fear.
Read Róża Robota’s chapter →Auschwitz operated from 1940 until its liberation on 27 January 1945; the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centre began operating in 1942. The death toll refers to the Auschwitz complex, which comprised three main camps and more than 40 subcamps.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was one of five Nazi killing centres identified by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, within a system of more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites, including ghettos. Between 14 May and 9 July 1944, 142 trains brought about 420,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz; that figure describes one deportation campaign. Arrivals occurred by night as well as by day, rather than establishing an uninterrupted 24/7 train schedule.
These supplied films are dramatised visualisations, not archival footage or exact architectural reconstructions. Arrival and selection provide the wider context; they do not portray a documented chain of events on the day of the revolt. The third film evokes the prisoners’ burning of Crematorium IV and the explosives supplied through the women’s network.
Meet the women
Auschwitz-Birkenau
1921–1945
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, Róża Robota helped organise the clandestine transfer of gunpowder from women working in the munitions factory to prisoners preparing resistance. The explosives supported the Sonderkommando revolt of 7 October 1944. Her contribution shows how cooperation and resolve could sustain resistance even within a killing centre.
Read her chapter Historical reference: US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Bratislava
1892–1944
In Bratislava, Gisi Fleischmann helped lead the Working Group, an underground network that sought to protect Jews facing deportation. She helped raise funds, organise rescue efforts and negotiate with officials in an attempt to save lives. Her story reveals resistance through leadership, persistence and the difficult work of rescue.
Read the historical background at Yad Vashem
Warsaw Ghetto
1903–1976
In the Warsaw ghetto, writer Rachel Auerbach contributed to the clandestine Oneg Shabbat archive, documenting Jewish life under Nazi persecution. By recording what she witnessed, she helped preserve a historical record the occupiers sought to erase. Her contribution demonstrates that testimony and the defence of memory were also forms of resistance.
Read the historical background at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Partisan resistance
1919–2021
After surviving the destruction of her community, photographer Faye Schulman joined Soviet partisans. She served as a nurse and photographed life and resistance in the forests. Her images preserve evidence of Jewish participation in the partisan struggle, bringing together the work of survival, care and historical witness.
Read the historical background at the US Holocaust Memorial MuseumThese references provide historical background; linking to an institution does not imply its endorsement of the book or project.
Select a portrait to read her story.
Official trailer
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Why now
Antisemitism is rising globally — and communities need historically reliable material to answer it.
The last direct witnesses are passing, taking living memory with them.
Jewish women's resistance remains underrepresented in mainstream historical accounts.
Young audiences respond to story and film — among the strongest tools for memory transmission.
What your support funds
Ways to support
Help publish the completed manuscript, develop educational materials and bring these stories to students and communities.
Individuals and families
A charitable gift goes straight into the work: research, publication, educational materials and getting the book to the people who will teach from it.
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Discuss a Leadership GiftHow we operate
The narratives draw on historical records, testimony and published scholarship. Selected historical references accompany the introductions above; the sample includes further reading.
Educational adaptations are in development. Educators and museums are invited to advise on age suitability and pilot materials.
Donations support publication, educational resources, distribution and the administration needed to deliver that work.
Tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor. The Legacy Project operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Ner L'Horeinu, Inc., a U.S. 501(c)(3) organization (Federal Tax ID 83-1635608). Donations are processed securely and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
The founder
Writer and filmmaker, and the author of Women Without Fear. He brings a filmmaker's discipline to the work — rigorous sourcing, cinematic craft, and the conviction that honoring courage means telling these stories with the same precision the people in them brought to their own lives.
Thirty-six stories filled a book; thousands more remain documented and largely untold. The Legacy Project grew out of that work.
The organization
Educational materials and public programming are in development, with institutional collaboration invited to support their suitability for schools, museums and community groups.
A documentary series is in development, drawing on historical sources and intended for broadcast, streaming and educational use.
Historically grounded storytelling intended to support education, remembrance and informed discussion of antisemitism.
On the horizon: Women on the Frontline, a docu-series in development that extends our storytelling to women whose courage shaped history beyond the Holocaust.
Support the work
Your gift supports publication of the completed manuscript, educational adaptation and distribution. Gifts of any amount are welcome.
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What one life becomes
Every life saved became a family. Remembering what was lost, and what survived, is a legacy that grows with each generation.
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