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Anna Heilman

1928–2011

Nationality
Poland
Occupation
resistance fighter

Anna Heilman, born Hana Wajcblum (December 1, 1928 – May 1, 2011 age 83), referred to in other sources as Hanka or Chana Weissman, was one of the surviving prisoners from Auschwitz who plotted to blow up the crematoria.

Incarceration history

Biography

Anna Heilman, born Hana Wajcblum (December 1, 1928 – May 1, 2011 age 83), referred to in other sources as Hanka or Chana Weissman, was one of the surviving prisoners from Auschwitz who plotted to blow up the crematoria. She, along with her elder sister (Estusia) and other women, smuggled gunpowder out of the Union munitions factory. They were then able to pass it from insider to insider until it reached the Sonderkommando. The women involved in the gunpowder smuggling chain include Roza Robota (who had direct contact with the men of the Sonderkommando), Ala Gertner, Regina Safirsztajn, Rose Grunapfel Meth, Hadassa Zlotnicka, Marta Bindiger, Genia Fischer, and Inge Frank, among others.