Katarina (Katya) Singer

Katarina Singer, often referred to as Katya, was a Jewish woman born on December 5, 1920, in what is now Slovakia. She was sent to Auschwitz in March 1942, where she rose to the rank of blockälteste (barrack elder) and later became the chief clerk (rapportführerin) for the women's camp. Despite the horror surrounding her, Singer leveraged her position to improve living conditions for many women and saved countless lives by manipulating records to spare inmates from selection for extermination. After the war, she changed her identity and lived in Prague, concealing her Jewish heritage and past until her death in 1995.