Unveiling Heroism: The Remarkable Story of the “Counterfeit Countess"

Dear X:
Please join us for the next TJHTalks webinar as we delve into the incredible story of the "Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust" with the book’s authors Dr. Joanna Sliwa and Dr. Elizabeth White. Our guest scholars, in conversation with moderator, Dr. Anna Hájkov, will shed light on women’s heroism during World War II through the story of one Jewish woman who rescued thousands of Poles during the Holocaust.
Unveiling Heroism: The Remarkable Story of the “Counterfeit Countess"
Thursday, March 28, 2024
1:00 p.m. PDT
3:00 pm CDT
4:00 p.m. EDT
8:00 p.m. GMT
9:00 p.m. CET
10:00 p.m. Israel
Josephine Janina Mehlberg, a Jewish mathematician, embarked on a remarkable journey during World War II, masquerading as a Polish aristocrat to save thousands of lives in Nazi-occupied Poland. Her extraordinary tale of courage and resilience, drawn from her unpublished memoir, stands as a unique testament to the human spirit amidst the horrors of the Holocaust. Countless stories of resistance and rescue continue to emerge from this dark period. "The Counterfeit Countess" brings a new aspect of history to light - the compassion and heroism of Mehlberg who defied all odds to save her fellow countrymen.

Joanna Sliwa
Dr. Joanna Sliwa is a historian at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in New York, where she also administers academic programs. She previously worked at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. She has taught Holocaust and Jewish history at Kean University and at Rutgers University and has served as a historical consultant and researcher, including for the PBS film In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler. Her first book, Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust won the 2020 Ernst Fraenkel Prize awarded by the Wiener Holocaust Library.
Elizabeth B. White
Dr. Elizabeth “Barry” White recently retired from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she served as historian and as Research Director for the USHMM’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Before working for the USHMM, Barry spent a career at the US Department of Justice working on investigations and prosecutions of Nazi criminals and other human rights violators. She served as deputy director and chief historian of the Office of Special Investigations and as deputy chief and chief historian of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.
Dr. Anna Hájková
Dr. Anna Hájková is Reader for modern European continental history at the University of Warwick. Her book, The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt, came out in 2020 with Oxford University Press. She has also published three short books: in addition to a co-authored book on the Veit Simon family, she also edited family wartime diaries from the Communist resistance in the Holocaust, and in 2021, published Menschen ohne Geschichte sind Staub on queer teenagers in the Holocaust. The book is coming out as People Without History are Dust in an expanded English translation with the University of Toronto Press.

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Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Majdanek camp. My Grandmother’s brother was murdered there in 1942, but we can’t find any records from the camp. He was only 20 years old 😢 I will definitely buy your book to learn more about what Janina did in Majdanek.