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The people on this list are or were survivors of Nazi Germany's attempt to exterminate the Jews in Europe before and during World War II; it is most widely accepted that a state-enforced persecution of Jews in Nazi-controlled Europe lasted from the introduction of the Nuremberg Laws in 1933 to Hitler's defeat in 1945. Although there were many victims of the Holocaust, the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) defines a Holocaust survivor as, "Any Jew who lived for any period of time in a country that was ruled by the Nazis or their allies."
The United States Holocaust Museum (USHMM) gives a broader definition "The Museum honors as a survivor any person who was displaced, persecuted, and/or discriminated against by the racial, religious, ethnic, social, and/or political policies of the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945. In addition to former inmates of concentration camps and ghettos, this also includes refugees and people in hiding." Most notably, as well as Jews, this includes Romani people (Gypsies), those who were persecuted for political reasons such as Communists, those who were persecuted for religious reasons (such as Pastor Niemoller), and homosexuals (gays) and those of other sexual orientations. It includes those who were actually in hiding in Nazi-occupied countries. The latter includes Hidden Children, who were hidden to escape the Nazis.
Most especially, in contrast to the ICHEIC definition, it includes refugees, who fled from their homeland to escape the Nazis, and never lived in a Nazi-controlled country.
The ICHEIC definition was created for the purpose of resolving some insurance claims. Over time, the classes of insurance claims have greatly expanded.
This list does not include refugees, since it is created on the basis of the restricted ICHEIC definition. There were many many eminent refugees (too many to mention). Refugees include the unaccompanied children of the Kindertransport, which includes Physics Nobel Laureate Arno Allan Penzias. Refugees also include the unaccompanied One Thousand Children, which includes Physics Nobel Laureate Jack Steinberger. (Somewhat inconsistently the refugee Kindertransport Nobel Laureate Walter Kohn, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry, is listed below.)