Interactive MapHistorical contextWho’s who

The Zoo

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Who’s who

Characters in the book…

Stefan Zabinski and Marcus Tenenbaum

Shlomo and Otto

Jan and Antonina Zabinski

Simon and Lonia Tenenbaum

Kasia and Tuzinka

Janusz Korczak

Wladyslaw Szpilman

Lutz Heck and Ziegler

Hitler, Himmler, Hydrech, Frank, Krüger

Stefan Zabinski and Marcus Tenenbaum are fictional characters. The Zabinskis real son was Ryszard who was four at the beginning of the

war. For the story in my book to work Stefan had to be twelve. The Tenenbaums had a daughter

Irena – I created Marcus, a twelve year old Jewish boy, to be Stefan’s friend. Although

fictitious, this friendship symbolises the historical bond between Jews and non-Jews in

Poland and is the central relationship in the book

Stefan Zabinski and Marcus Tenenbaum

Jan Zabinski was the director of the Warsaw Zoo from 1928. He improved it’s facilities and

increased the number of animals on display considerably. During the war he and his wife Antonina used the empty animal shelters and the

basement of their own villa, to hide about 300 Jews.

Jan and Antonina Zabinski

Simon (Szymon) Tenenbaum was a world respected entomologist, whose insect collection was kept in the zoo

during the war for safe keeping. He died in the ghetto in June 1941. After the war his wife, Lonia, donated the collection to the State Zoological Museum of Poland.

Simon Tenenbaum is buried in Warsaw’s Jewish cemetery.

Simon and Lonia Tenenbaum

Janusz Korczak was the founder and principle of two orphanages in

Warsaw. He was a doctor, writer and educator who devoted his life to the welfare and education of children.

Although he was offered safe passage out of the ghetto he refused to abandon the orphans in his care and stayed with them all the way to

the death camps of Treblinka. His many publications are still widely

read throughout the world.

Janusz Korczak

Shlomo and Otto are fictional characters. Shlomo is an amalgam of many of the

characters I have read about in books about the time. Otto’s character is fictional, but the

more I read about zoo life before and during the war the

more real he seemed to become!

Shlomo and Otto

Kasia, one of the Zoo’s African elephants, gave birth to Tuzinka in April 1937. At that time she was only the twelfth elephant ever to be born in captivity –

hence her name (tuzin is Polish for dozen).

Kasia and Tuzinka

Before the war Wladyslaw Spilman was a renowned Polish pianist who regularly

performed on national radio. When the ghetto was established he continued to

entertain people in cafés and restaurants and, after the war, was the only surviving

member of his family. His war time experiences were chronicled in his book

“The Pianist” which was made into a successful film in 2002.

Wladyslaw Szpilman

Lutz Heck was the director of Berlin Zoo . Along with his brother Heinz he set out to recreate an

extinct bread of cattle by selectively breeding carefully chosen specimens. With the

encouragement and support of Herman Goering, a prominent Nazi, he sort to “cleanse”

Europe's cattle population in the same way that Hitler was “purifying” Europe’s humans.

Ziegler was a German soldier who was in charge of organising work parties of Jewish slave labour to work in Polish factories. He was a lover of insects and a frequent visitor to the zoo. By winning over his trust Jan Zabinski was able to

exploit this connection to help smuggle out many of the Jews he saved.

Lutz Heck and Ziegler

Adolf Hitler – German Chancellor from 1933-45 and leader of the National Socialist German Workers, or NAZI , Party.

Heinrich Himmler – appointed head of the SS in 1929 and was responsible for organising and implementing

the NAZI policy of genocide based on racial purity.

Reinhard Heydrich – a leading NAZI and eventual head of the Gestapo (Hitler’s special police force) and is

generally considered to be the mastermind behind the “Final Solution” to annihilate Europe’s Jews.

Hitler, Himmler and Hydrech

Hans Frank – Governor General of Occupied Poland

Friedrich Krüger – Police Leader in the General Government of Occupied Poland

Frank and Krüger