Information provided by Midwest Center for Holocuat Education (MCHE)
The enormity of the Holocaust was such that no victim response to it would have stopped the Germans from implementing genocide. Jews under Nazi control faced various and overwhelming obstacles to effective resistance. Despite this, Jews repeatedly sought to oppose Nazi policy in various ways. While armed uprisings or partisan activities are often held up as examples of successful Jewish Resistance, not all resistance was armed. Often the only course of action available was an act of unarmed resistance.
Successful acts of resistance took many forms, ranging from personal acts to preserve dignity; social acts to preserve the community such as organizing clandestine schools, soup kitchens and underground record keeping; political acts such as the sabotage of the German war industry; and eventually, armed uprisings. Nowhere was resistance more robust than in the ghettos where Jews last lived as families and communities and resistance activities occurred amidst extreme conditions and again enormous odds.
Research: Describe the goals and obstacles to one specific form of Jewish resistance in the ghettos. Explain how that method was used by one Jewish person or group.
Reflection: Holocaust historian Lucy Dawidowicz said, "The wonder is not that there was so little resistance, but that, in the end there was so much." Based on your research, do you agree with this thought? Why or why not?
*Some of the photos do not line up completely with the narrative in the articles, but they are a general representation of the subject matter.
1.Oneg Shabbat - Slides 1 - 4
2. Excerpt from Dawid Sierakowiak: Slides 6 - 22
3. Vladka Meed: Slide 23
4. Zenia's Testimony -Mothers, Sisters, Resistance: Slides 24 - 30
5. Armed Resistance in the Ghetto: Slides 31-32
6. Proclamation by Jewish Pioneer Youth Group - Vilna: Slide 33
7. Call to Resistance: Slide 34
8. The Discussion of Fighting Aims by the Activists of the Bialystok: Slide 35
Vocabulary:
Partisan - A firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person.
Zionist - A political movement that supports the maintenance and preservation of the State of Israel (Palestine).
Clandestine School - On November 18, 1938 all Jews were terminated from their jobs. Clandestine schools developed in the ghettos. Unemployed teachers from prewar faculitties staffed the schools in different ghettos. Vilna, Lodz, and Warsaw had elaborate school systems. 1941 - All schools were disbanded and children 10 and up were forced ot work in labor camps.
Bund - 1939 Jewish Trade had 14 trade unions, 498 branches, and 99,000 workers - They displayed initiative and energy to organize self-defense groups and protest strikes against antisemitism.
Betar: Zionist Youth Movement founded in 1923. During WW2, Betar engaged in illegal operations which by 1939 allowed some Jews freedom in Palestine. Betar volunteered for Palestinian Units of the British Army and the Jewish Brigade.
Witnesses to the Holocaust Archive
Explore individual testimonies of 73 Kansas City – area Holocaust survivors in MCHE’s Witnesses to the Holocaust Archive. The online archive features survivors from several countries including Germany, Poland, Hungary, Holland, and Greece. Their Testimonies address a variety of experiences including early legal persecution, ghettoization, slave and death camp experiences, survival in hiding, and liberation.
Each profile page features the individual survivor’s biography and testimony as well as accompanying maps, photographs, books, websites, and lesson plans to place that survivor’s experience in historical context.
Essays will be evaluated on historical accuracy, development of content and theme, original expression, grammar, and mechanics.
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