2. The Nazis Executed Edward Galinski and Mala Zimetbaum After Their Failed Escape Attempt From Auschwitz
The Holocaust doesn’t seem like the proper setting for a love story, but Edward Galinski and Mala Zimetbaum fell in love during their imprisonment at Auschwitz-Birkenau. With the help of a sympathetic guard, Edward and Mala walked out of Auschwitz together, disguised as an SS guard transporting a prisoner. Their short-lived freedom ended when a Nazi border patrol arrested them as they tried to cross into Slokavia. Instead of killing them on sight, the Germans returned the fugitives to the death camp. Throughout their torture, neither Edward nor Mala revealed who helped them escape.
The guards held the couple in different cells on the same block, and Edward communicated with Mala by whistling a love song out of his window. During his imprisonment, he carved her image on the wall, with the date they were arrested: July 6, 1944. On September 15, 1944, the Nazis condemned Edward and Mala to separate public executions – Edward in front of the men’s camp and Mala in front of the women’s camp. The defiant couple had other plans: she slit her wrists before her execution, and he kicked away the bench under his feet to hang himself.