How the Warsaw Zookeepers Risked Their Lives to Shelter Jews

Portraits of Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska. —Courtesy of Yad Vashem

Inspiration can be found even in the most challenging times. During World War II, the Warsaw Zoo director, Jan Żabiński, and his wife, Antonina, endangered their own lives to smuggle hundreds of Jews out of the Warsaw ghetto — hiding them in their home and on zoo grounds. In this digital program, Museum historians Edna Friedberg and Patricia Heberer Rice discuss the true story behind the book and movie The Zookeeper’s Wife.