Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation

JPEF Education Manager Jonathan Furst visits Prague, Terezin

2012-01-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

JPEF’s Education Manager, Jonathan Furst, traveled to Prague last week to attend the 2012 European League for Middle Level Education Conference. When he was not busy presenting at the conference, Jonathan attended a guided tour of Terezin.

Terezin is a fortress and a town that sits across from the Ohře river in the Czech Republic. Built in the late 1700s by the Hapsburg Monarchy, Terezin was a military town for over two centuries. It was first utilized as a prison in the second half of the 19th century, and housed political prisoners of both World Wars – including Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

During World War II, the Gestapo converted part of Terezin into a Jewish ghetto, interning over 144,000 Jews throughout the course of the war – 33,000 died within its walls due to hunger, disease, and sadistic treatment; only 17,000 prisoners survived. It was also used as a transit camp for European Jews on their way to Auschwitz, and a part of Terezin called the Small Fortress also served as a Gestapo prison for Allied POWs.

Terezin also gained notoriety because the majority of Jews interned there were artists, musicians, professionals, and scholars – their captors encouraged them to lead “creative” lives and even erected and concert venues as a ploy to fool the International Red Cross.

During the guided tour, Jonathan led an impromptu seminar with over twenty European school-teachers participating.

“It was so moving to teach about the spectrum of Jewish resistance in the same place where Jews famously resisted through art, prayer, love and so many other ways – particularly in documenting the reality of the horrors behind the Nazi’s façade of ‘spa’ for elderly Jews.”

“Thanks to Trudi van der Tak for an informative and deeply moving tour, and for inviting me to teach about the wider spectrum of Jewish resistance.”

Featured Jewish Partisan - Max Cukier (z"l), born on January 23, 1918

2012-01-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

"We had food what can eat thousand people, we were going in special my group what I was with the commander. We were going in to farmers where they lived close to big cities, but they never, Russian partisans was afraid, we not afraid, we're going in. They have food, so much of it, and pigs, cows. We took 10 pigs, you know, the meat in the summertime was too hot you no can eat, it's too hot, the meat. We have so much to eat."
— Max Cukier.

Max Cukier was born into a Hassidic family in Ryki, Poland, on January 23, 1918. Growing up as a pacifist, Max never imagined he would carry a machine gun, but his views began to change with the outbreak of the war. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Max fled to Soviet occupied territory, eventually ending up in Belarus. For the next two years he lived as a Polish refugee, persecuted by the Soviet government as a non-citizen. When the Nazis began their attack against Russia in 1941, Max went into hiding, traveling from village to village in search of food and shelter.

Early in 1942 Max saw that hiding in villages was becoming too dangerous, and he took to the woods. In the forest, he made contact with other Jewish refugees, as well as some escaped Russian POWs. Eventually he joined the famous Bielski Brigade, a combination partisan unit and family camp. Taking the initiative, Max began to organize small units and lead missions himself, bombing bridges and masterminding a daring attack on a German bunker using an abandoned Soviet tank. During this time Max met and married his wife, and she began to accompany him on missions, becoming his lookout.

After liberation, Max first joined the Red Army and then defected from the USSR, escaping into Italy. In Italy he became involved with several Zionist organizations, even becoming an acquaintance of Golda Meir, Israel's future prime minister. He traveled to Israel and in 1948 came to the U.S. under the auspices of the Zionist Cultural Congress. Over time, Max disengaged from the Zionist movement and began to focus on building a new life as a civilian, starting an importing business and raising his three children. Today, Max lives in Los Angeles. He has three children and three grandchildren.

Max passed away January 17, 2011.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Max Cukier, including five videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Mira Shelub, born on January 13

2012-01-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

"Somehow, you know, when we came out from them, from the ghetto, I cannot tell you how good it felt to breathe the fresh air, to know that we are free, to know that we can go. Okay, there were difficulties, obstacles, but we knew that we can go, that nobody will stop us, to breathe the fresh air, to see the trees . It was something, a special, special experience and then we came to the forest. We came to the forest and then, and we were lucky enough, I mention again that we were nice, young, pretty so they accepted us, and we joined the Partisans."
— Mira Shelub.

A Polish Jew born in what is now Belarus, Mira Shelub joined a partisan group that operated in the forest near her native Zdziedciol at the age of 18. With her family, she escaped Zdziedciol’s ghetto in 1942 as the Germans began killing off the population.

Mira’s group engaged in sabotage against the Nazis and their Polish collaborators by disrupting communications and transportation to the war front. They blew up trains, attacked police stations, and stole food that had been provided for the Germans by peasants.

In Mira’s group, women comprised about a quarter of the partisans. They did the cooking, took care of the laundry and provided other vital support.

**Nochim Shelub**

While working with the partisans, Mira met her husband Nochim, who was the leader of the group. Nochim had first been in a mixed group run by Russians. However, anti-Semitism was common among the non-Jewish resistance fighters, and so he decided to form his own unit, though he still continued to coordinate activities with the Russians.

On a few attacks Mira carried extra ammunition for her husband’s machine gun, but usually stayed behind to help with work at the camp. In summer the unit slept on the ground in the open forest; in winter they took refuge in underground huts (called zemlyankas), or with sympathetic peasant families. Constant movement was a necessity to avoid detection. When it snowed, they had to alter their tracks into confusing patters so that they could not be followed. Mira recounts,

“In the frost we did not only fight a physical battle, but also a spiritual battle. We were sitting around the fire, singing songs together, supporting each other and dreaming about betters days and a better future… a better tomorrow.”

After the Russian liberation in 1944, the couple made their way to Austria, then finally to the United States, where Mira had contacts with relatives. They settled in San Francisco, and soon after Norman opened a sandwich shop near the Embarcadero. They had three children: a daughter and two sons, both doctors now. Mira lives in San Francisco to this day.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Mira Shelub, including seven videos of her reflecting on her time as a partisan.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Jeff Gradow, born on January 5, 1925

2012-01-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

"When, at lunchtime, when the German was sitting down and eating and resting, I slid down to a ditch across the highway and I ran in the wood. It was very wooded area. Some of the places you could go for miles, 10-15 miles and not see a human being or civilization. A few minutes, as soon as I ran away, it looks like, they went to counting and one was missing, I could hear shooting from, from, like, I don't know exactly what they did, but they were shooting in the wood, in my direction where I ran away. And that is the first time I felt like a free human being, even I didn't know where the heck I'm going to go, or what I'm going to do."
— Jeff Gradow.

Jeff Gradow was born in 1925 in a small town near Warsaw. When Poland was invaded in 1939, he and his father fled east into Soviet territory. In East Poland, his father got work in a factory in Bialystok and Jeff went to Russian school, soon becoming fluent in the language. When Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion into the Soviet Union, was launched in 1941, Jeff was taken to work as a laborer for the Germans, digging mass graves that he feared would be his own.

Eventually, Jeff took his chances and escaped into the forest. The partisan encampment he found lacked weapons and intelligence contacts needed to target nearby German troops. However, in the spring of 1943 the Soviets made contact with the group, airdropping weapons and explosives to them and sending in professional Russian paratroopers armed with short-wave radios. Reorganized by the paratroopers and boasting a much larger stockpile, the brigade began to fight in earnest. They carried out hit and run sniper attacks, mined roads, and cut phone lines. As the front began to move west, the brigade stood guard over the local bridges, preventing them from being destroyed by retreating Germans and holding them long enough to allow the Soviet tanks to cross.

In the summer of 1944, Bialystok and Baronovich were liberated by the Soviets and Jeff's partisan group was absorbed by the Red Army. He was sent to the front and later discharged after being shot in the hand by a sniper. He convalesced in a hospital outside of Moscow, and by the time he recovered, Berlin was occupied and the war was almost over. He fled Russia and entered West Germany, eventually making his way to the United States. Today, Jeff lives in Los Angeles. He has two grown children and three grandchildren.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Jeff Gradow, including six videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Eta Wrobel (z"l), born on December 28, 1918

2011-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

"I was the girl who played soccer with the boys. I was the girl who rode a bicycle on the street in shorts, which no other Jewish girls didn’t do that, I had no objections from my parents. We had a very good home. And not to forget, which hurts my life, we had ten children in our family, and I’m the only survivor. The only one. I have no family whatsoever in my background, so like when we get together in the family there is that celebration, or a wedding or bar mitzvah or whatever there is, I have nobody. Everybody who comes, nieces, nephews, are all from my husband’s side. That’s the only thing I envy in my life—otherwise, I’m free."
— Eta Wrobel.

Born December 28th, 1918 in Lokov, Poland, Eta Wrobel was the only child in a family of ten to survive the Holocaust. In her youth, she was a free spirit who defied authority. As Eta puts it she was “born a fighter.” Her father, a member of the Polish underground, taught her the importance of helping people, no matter the circumstance.

In early 1940, Eta started work as a clerk in an employment agency. Soon she began her resistance by creating false identity papers for Jews. In October 1942, the Eta’s ghetto was liquidated and the Jews were forced into concentration camps.

In the transition, Eta and her father escaped to the woods.

Life in the woods around Lokov was extremely treacherous. Eta helped organize an exclusively Jewish partisan unit of close to eighty people. Her unit stole most of their supplies, slept in cramped quarters, and had no access to medical attention. At one point Eta was shot in the leg and dug the bullet out of her leg with a knife. The unit set mines to hinder German movement and to cut off supply routes. Unlike the other seven women in the unit, Eta refused to cook or clean. Her dynamic personality and military skills allowed for this exception.

She was active on missions with the men and made important strategic decisions.

In 1944, when the Germans left Lokov, Eta came out of hiding and was asked to be mayor of her town. Shortly after, Eta met Henry, her husband to be. They were married on December 20, 1944. In 1947 Eta and Henry moved to the United States. They currently live in New Jersey and have three children and nine grandchildren. Eta summarizes her heroic years with the partisans by saying simply, “The biggest resistance that we could have done to the Germans was to survive.”

In 2006, her memoir My Life My Way was published. Eta died on May 26, 2008 in her home in upstate New York.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Eta Wrobel, including seven videos of her reflecting on her time as a partisan. Eta is also featured in an Emmy-nominated documentary from PBS entitled Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans.

Noted philanthropist and long-time JPEF supporter Warren Hellman passes away

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

San Francisco philanthropist, financier, and supporter of JPEF, Warren Hellman, died Sunday, December 18, 2011 at age 77 of Leukemia. While most know him for his incredible business skills, generosity of spirit, and annual “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” music festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the Board and staff of JPEF will also remember Warren for his generous support of JPEF over the past five years with his wife Chris through the Hellman Family Foundation.

Their philanthropy enabled JPEF to conduct scores of Educator Institutes in the Bay Area and across the globe, impacting thousands of educators and hundreds of thousands of students through the history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans. They also helped build our E-Learning Platform, providing educators with easily accessible training on the use of our cutting-edge educational content. The family was instrumental in the support of JPEF’s international photography exhibit, Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman, which has toured the world thanks to the Hellmans, and is coming to Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco this summer. We will dedicate the San Francisco showing to his memory.

Warren Hellman was a great man, whose impact was felt everywhere. He was beloved by many, and we hope his example for using his significant resources and influence for making the world a much better place with such unique passion and enthusiasm will be emulated by others for many generations to come.

Public services will be held Wednesday, December 21, at 1pm at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Frank Blaichman, Born on December 11, 1922

2011-12-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

"Those who could not come with us, that could not fight, we found shelter for them by farmers, some of them, who made bunkers for them; and they lived there until the area was liberated. And then in Parczew Forest there were maybe 200 Jews like that, in the forest, living until the end. They were under our protection. All the bandits knew if they were going to touch them, they were going to be punished for that."
— Frank Blaichman.

Born in the small town of Kamionka, Poland on Dec. 11, 1922, Frank Blaichman was just sixteen years old when the German army invaded his country in 1939. Following the invasion, German officials issued regulations intended to isolate the Jews and deprive them of their livelihood.

Frank took great risks to help his parents and family survive these hardships. With a bicycle, he rode from the neighboring farms to nearby cities, buying and selling goods at each destination. He refused to wear the Star of David armband and traveled without the required permits, but his courage and fluent Polish ensured his safety.

When word spread that the Jews of Kamionka were to be resettled in a nearby ghetto, Frank hid in a bushy area outside of town. He stayed with a friendly Polish farmer and then joined other Jews hiding in a nearby forest. In the forest, the threat of being discovered was constant and Polish hoodlums beat any women that left the encampment. Frank encouraged the men to organize a defense unit. He obtained firearms by posing as a Polish policeman, using an overcoat he had found.

After a German attack on the partisan’s encampment killed eighty Jews, the survivors left the forest to hide with sympathetic farmers. Always on the move, they killed German collaborators, destroyed telephone lines, damaged dairy factories and ambushed German patrols.

Frank’s squad joined a larger all-Jewish unit, with strong ties to the Polish underground and Soviet army. They were responsible for protecting 200 Jews living in a forest encampment. Only 21, he was the youngest platoon commander in the unit and escorted the future prime minister of Poland to a secret meeting with Soviet high command.

“I’m very proud of what I did all those years,” he says. “The reality was we had nothing to lose, and our way to survive was to fight.”

Frank Blaichman's memoir,"Rather Die Fighting" was published in 2009 by Arcade Publishing.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Frank Blaichman, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan, as well as the Frank Blaichman: A Partisan Leader's Story study guide.

JPEF will be at NCSS this weekend!

2011-11-30T10:06:00.001-08:00

JPEF will be at the NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) Annual Conference this week in Washington DC. Visit us at booth 428 for free DVDs, posters and curricula, as we promote our new E-Learning Platform. All attendees can join us at our free workshop at 4:20pm this Friday – RESIST: Defying the Myth of Sheep to the Slaughter, taught by JPEF’s Education Manager Jonathan Furst.

We look forward to introducing our programs and materials to the 3,500 educators attending NCSS and getting feedback from those who are using our curricula. Last year we had over 450 educators come to our booth to receive free JPEF materials.

To learn more about the NCSS Annual Conference, go here.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Faye Schulman, born on November 28, 1919

2011-11-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

"Every picture has a story. This is a picture when I was accepted into the Partisans but many Jewish people escaped from ghettos, from concentration camps and they were not accepted in the Partisans because they had families. They had little children, so they were in in the woods hiding. But the Partisans had an obligation and they felt they should do it to bring them and to bring them to deliver to them some food so they would survive even without joining the Partisans."
— Faye Schulman.

Faye Schulman was born to a large family on November 28, 1919 in Lenin, Poland. She learned photography from her brother Moishe and assisted him in his photography business.

On August 14, 1942, the Germans killed 1,850 Jews from the Lenin ghetto, including Faye's parents, sisters and younger brother. They spared only 26 people that day, among them Faye for her photographic abilities. The Germans ordered Faye to develop their photographs of the massacre. Secretly she also made copies for herself.

During a partisan raid, Faye fled to the forests and joined the Molotava Brigade, a partisan group made mostly of escaped Soviet Red Army POWs.

She was accepted because her brother-in-law had been a doctor and they were desperate for anyone who knew anything about medicine. Faye served the group as a nurse from September 1942 to July 1944, even though she had no previous medical experience. The camp’s doctor was a veterinarian.

During a raid on Lenin, Faye succeeded in recovering her old photographic equipment. During the next two years, she took over a hundred photographs, developing the medium format negatives under blankets and making “sun prints” during the day. On missions Faye buried the camera and tripod to keep it safe. Her photos show a rare side of partisan activity – one s a funeral scene where two Jewish partisans are being buried alongside Russian partisans, despite the intense antisemitism in the group. In another image, Schulman and three young Jewish men smile joyously after an unexpected reunion in the forest—each believing that the other had been killed.

"I want people to know that there was resistance. Jews did not go like sheep to the slaughter. I was a photographer. I have pictures. I have proof.” She is the only known Jewish partisan photographer.

After liberation, Faye married Morris Schulman, also a Jewish partisan. Faye and Morris enjoyed a prosperous life as decorated Soviet partisans, wanted to leave Pinsk, Poland, which reminded them of a “graveyard”. Morris and Faye lived in the Landsberg Displaced Persons Camps in Germany for the next three years and immigrated to Canada in 1948.

Today Faye lives in Toronto, Canada and shares her experiences with diverse audiences. She has two children and six grandchildren.

The photographs she took during the war have been turned into a traveling photography exhibition entitled Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photography of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman. The exhibit is produced by the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation and curated by Jill Vexler, Ph.D. In 2010, her book A Partisan's Memoir: Woman of the Holocaust was published.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Faye Schulman, including six videos of her reflecting on her time as a partisan and information about the Pictures of Resistance exhibit.

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Borszczower Bande Liberates Prisoners on November 17, 1943

2011-11-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

The Borszczower Bande was a small yet bold resistance group formed by Jews from the Borszczow ghetto in western Ukraine. The leaders were Wolf Ashendorf, Joel Weintraub, Kalman Schwartz and a Jewish soldier of the Red Army named Lyoveh.

Before the ghetto was liquidated by a series of aktions, resistance groups formed. “In October 1941 we started to organize ourselves,” said B. W. Ben-Barak, a member of the Borszczower partisan group. Gathering small arms weaponry, the resistance managed to escape into the forest before the ghetto was ordered to be liquidated in 1943. Throughout that summer, they carried out attacks on Ukrainian policemen and nationalist groups.

Group photo of attending partisans at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.

In November 1943, the Borszczower Bande then planned an attack on the German prison in Borszczow. Led by Ashendorf, they released all fifty prisoners on November 17. This brazen victory overshadowed their demise. After facing hostility from locals, the Bande was attacked by a much larger group of German forces. They inflicted casualties on the Germans, but the Borszczower group’s losses were greater and they were forced to disperse. Some who fled found no choice but to commit suicide, their last defense against dehumanization. Those others who survived joined with Kovpak’s soviet partisan brigade.

Jewish Partisans honored in New York City

2011-11-11T17:12:00.000-08:00

Over 55 Jewish partisans gathered together in New York City on November 6th and 7th to commemorate the enduring legacy they share and to be honored at the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation’s 2011 Tribute Dinner. Traveling from throughout the United States, many with children, grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren in tow, they reconnected with friends and quickly rekindled the strong bonds that will forever unite them.

The celebration began with a Sunday afternoon reception for partisans and their family members, hosted by JPEF, at the Park East Synagogue. Laughter resonated throughout the space as partisans embraced one another, tears of joy welling in their eyes. For many, this was the first time they had seen one another in over sixty-five years. Allen Small, who traveled from Palm Beach Gables, Florida, was overjoyed to be reunited with Leon Bakst who came from Dallas, Texas.

Over 400 guests packed the stylish art deco Edison Ballroom the following evening to formally recognize and honor the courage and sacrifice demonstrated by these Jewish partisans during World War II. Mistress of Ceremonies Dana Tyler, Senior News Anchor for WCBS-TV and actor and Emmy winner Edward Asner, the cousin of partisan Abe Asner, paid tribute to each of the honorees. With their black and white partisan photograph projected on screen, each partisan was individually honored and identified by name, country of birth and the partisan group in which they served. In all there were 23 women and 33 men, representing brigades from Belarus, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Ukraine, Russia and France. Included among the attending partisans were six married couples, three sets of siblings, a rabbi, a cantor and a mohel.

Guests watched in awe as each partisan, most in their eighties and nineties, stood to accept their honor with the same characteristic strength and determination that empowered them to fight back so many years before.

In his address Asner stated, “JPEF is important because it puts the legacy of the Jewish partisans front and center, as no other organization does. It stays committed to its mission and does not deviate.”

Lauren Feingold, granddaughter of partisans Dr. Charles Bedzow and Sara Golcman Bedzow also spoke. As the first third generation representative to the JPEF Board, Lauren worked closely with her grandfather, who serves as JPEF’s Honorary International Chairman, to promote the Tribute Dinner and guarantee its success. Like Lauren, many of those involved in the recently formed 3G group, are already working to ensure that young people everywhere are empowered by their grandparent’s examples, and she challenged her peers to join in this quest. She was followed by Charles who spoke movingly to his fellow partisans reminding them that they share a unique and important legacy; one which must be passed from generation to generation.

In a fitting testament to this charge, Cantor Shira Ginsburg, grandaugher of partisan Judith Ginsburg, closed the event with a performance of the song “Who Am I”, about her family and the inspiration of her grandmother’s partisan legacy. As Shira’s beautiful voice filled the room, more than forty third generation teens and young adults raised white candles high, signaling their commitment to keep the flame alive.

JPEF extends its sincere appreciation to event co-chairperons Esther-Ann Asch, Suzanne and Elliott Felson, Kim and Jonathan Kushner and Diane and Howard Wohl for their dedication to ensuring the success of this remarkable event.

Links to press materials about the event:
Jerusalem Post article.
Jewish Week article.
An article in the Algemeiner.
WCBS nightly news video.
More photos from the event on our Flickr page.

Partisan Legacy Honored in New York City

2011-11-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

Fifty-five surviving partisans, many traveling from as far away as California, Colorado and Tennessee, attended the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's Tribute Dinner on Monday, December 7th. For many, this was the first time that they had seen one another in over 60 years. Allen Small and Leon Bakst were reunited for the first time since the War. Growing up together in a small town, in what is now Belarus, they attended the same school. Fighting with different partisan brigades during the war, they had last seen each other at a DP camp in Germany before coming to the United States. Another partisan stated that this was one of the “best nights of his life.”

Group photo of attending partisans at the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.

NEW YORK (JTA) — Allen Small, 83, and Leon Bakst, 86, hugged each other so tight, Small said, “I couldn’t let go.”

Their embrace at a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side was 65 years in the making.

Small and Bakst grew up a few houses apart in Ivye, Belarus, attending the same school and synagogue before reality turned black, back when their names were Avraham Schmulewitz and Leibel Bakst, and Ivye belonged to Poland and the Nazis had not yet invaded. They last saw each another in 1946 at a displaced persons camp in Munich.

During the two years preceding their liberation by the Red Army in 1944, the then teenagers fought the Nazis in separate brigades in the vast Nalibotskaya Pushcha forest. For their daring, Small, now living in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Bakst, of Dallas, along with 53 other Jewish partisans from across the United States, were honored here at a synagogue reception Nov. 6 and a gala dinner the next evening.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Click here to read another article about this event from the New York Jewish Week .

Click here to view a video about this event that aired on CBS News New York.

Daniel Craig as older Tuvia Bieski on hack license prop for Defiance

2011-11-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Daniel Craig as an older Tuvia Bielski

If you’ve seen the movie Defiance, you’ll recognize Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, but you won’t recognize the above prop made for the film. It’s a New York City hack license picturing Craig as an elderly Tuvia; the scene (intended as the opening for the film) took place in the 1980’s long after the Bielski brothers lived and fought in Nalibocki forests.

“All of us have gotten into cabs in New York, and we assume that that person is just a person driving a cab.” That’s the kindling behind director Edward Zwick’s idea for the original opening scene in Defiance. Hear the rest of Zwick's thoughts on the scene in this video clip. The idea’s merit is one of relevance and human interest—little known to the Bielski story is how Tuvia and Zus modestly and anonymously lived out their post-war lives in New York City.

However, Zwick didn’t intend the movie to be a romantic or comprehensive overview of the Bielski’s biographies; he wanted the film to express the absolute physical and moral struggles during that particular moment in their lives. In this way, the discarded prop serves as a symbol of artistic integrity. “I didn’t want it to be comfortable,” Zwick said at a JPEF event this Spring, “I wanted it to capture the feeling.” For more on Defiance — including educational material and interviews with Tuvia Bielski's brother Aron — go to www.jewishpartisans.org/defiance.

Visit the JPEF website for our acclaimed Defiance curriculum. Additionally, E-Learning classes on Defiance are available at www.jewishpartisans.org/elearn/web/.

Partisan Tools for Survival: the Instrument of Illusion

2011-10-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

Many who know Jewish partisan stories also know that victory was not only about physical resistance—mining railroad tracks or killing German soldiers—it was also about spiritual and intellectual resistance. One such model of mind over matter is the power of resourcefulness; partisan stories often feature the instrument of illusion saving the day.

**Ben Kamm**

Many partisans recall the tactical trickery they used to defeat enemies. Ben Kamm’s unit would strategically place Soviet parachutes (used to drop supplies) in an area away from camp, wait for Germans to bomb the parachutes, and cut the German airplanes down with machine guns. Likewise, Jack Kakis’ partisan unit developed oft-used deceptive strategies, and for him it was all in the details. He recalls their method for mining the roads, “You put the mines underneath [a piece of rubber] and you make some truck marks on top of the soil.” When the Germans surveyed the roads, they assumed it was as safe for them as for the last truck that supposedly drove by.

**Abe Asner on a horse**

Sometimes ingenuity was purely off the cuff: prior to approaching a group of Lithuanians and their machine gun in the forest, Abe Asner realized he and his outnumbered companions had to devise a plan so they would not be massacred. That's when Abe saw a natural hill within the Lithuanians' view and had a brilliantly simple idea. The seven partisans walked all around the hill several times, which gave the Lithuanians the impression that a great number of partisan soldiers were surveying the area. The Lithuanians quickly abandoned their plan and ran away.

Bernard Musmand's survival was dependent on pretending to be something he was not. Hiding in an all boys' Catholic school in France, Bernard had to play a part he knew very little about. The first day, got a hold of a Bible and spent half the night studying in the bathroom. He explained: “I became such a good Catholic that the priest at one time asked me if I want to go to the seminary, Catholic seminary.”

In Bernard Druskin’s case, however, reasons for deception could also err on the side of recreation:

“You know we used to give the dynamite to the peasants? For booze, in exchange for booze. We used to tell them that's soap. They didn't know what is. Mylo, mylo, mylo — that was soap, used to tell them it was soap.”

Wherever illusion came from—pre-existing resources, extemporaneous action, or pre-planned strategies—many partisans speak of these ephemeral instances of trickery as possessing the power to turn the tables in the fight for survival.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Abe Asner, born on October 18th

2011-10-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

"Grodno still was a ghetto, and lots of people went back to the ghetto like Saul, his father, his mother. And I said, “Me and my brothers, we’re not going back to the ghetto. We’re not going. We’re going to win, doesn’t matter what. If I die, I’ll die standing up — not to shoot me in the back.”
-Abe Asner

Abe Asner was born in the district of Lida, Poland on October 19, 1916. In 1938, Abe followed in the footsteps of his brothers and joined the Polish army. On June 22nd, 1941, Abe was visiting a cousin in Lithuania when he awoke to the sight of German planes littering the sky with bombs. When German tanks surrounded the ghetto where Abe and his brothers were staying, they had to make a choice: stay among the 3,000 Jews who were facing imminent death or flee to the forests. Abe disappeared into the trees with nothing but the clothes on his back.

The forest proved to be a breeding ground for resistance fighters. Soon Abe was among the 60-some Jews and Russian POWs running missions. His military training gave him the skills to kill German soldiers who attempted to search the dense forest. In the beginning, Abe thought the resistance would only last a few weeks. It continued for over four years and their partisan unit grew to several thousand people, including the woman who became Abe’s wife.

Abe and his brothers were successful in many missions, ranging from sabotaging enemy supplies to halting German food convoys to rescuing Jews from ghettos. They frustrated the Germans with their efficiency under the cover of darkness. “The night was our mother,” Abe remembers. Eventually the Germans placed a bounty on their heads. “So much money to catch us, dead or alive,” Abe recalls.

The ongoing violence of the Partisan missions wore away at Abe’s psyche. When the war finally ended, he worked hard to adjust to normal life. Despite the physical and emotional scars he carries, Abe knows his deeds helped to shape the lives of countless people.

Abe’s passion still burns brightly when he recalls his partisan days. “We don’t go like sheep. We did as much as we could. We did a lot,” he says. “People should know somebody did (fight back). People should know.”

After the war Abe moved to Canada with his wife. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Abe Asner, including six videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Revolt in Sobibor Extermination Camp

2011-10-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Those who escaped from the Sobibor Extermination Camp in Poland furnished detailed-first hand accounts of their revolt. Their stories will be a legacy for all who lived and died in the gates and for the events that happened in October of 1943. A small town on the eastern edge of Poland, Sobibor was the locale for an extermination camp. Outside the camp, a 100-meter long road that the Germans called Himmelstrasse (Road to Heaven) led the way to the gas chambers, where approximately 250,000 Jews and Soviet POWs were executed.

On September 23, 1943, Alexander Pechersky, a Lieutenant Quatermaster of the Red Army arrived at Sobibor and was chosen for labor. When Solomon Leitman explained to him that in this small plot of land hundreds of thousands of Jewish women, children and men were murdered, he thought of escape, initially wondering, “Should I leave the rest of the prisoners to be tortured and murdered?” He then writes in his memoir, “I rejected this thought.” Pechersky became a figure of authority when he stood up to a German guard at the camp. That’s when people began to approach Pechersky with ideas for an escape plan.

Leon Feldhendler had been leading discussions for an escape, but was unable to come up with a suitable plan, as the camp perimeter was planted with mines. Pechersky and Feldhendler realized that if they could kill the SS officers while other Soviet POWS raided the arsenal, they could take the camp and escape through the gates.

On October 14, 1943, participants led by Pechersky and Feldhendler covertly killed 11 SS personnel with knives and axes; they covered the blood with sawdust. However, an SS guard who had left the camp and returned early discovered one of the bodies and began to shoot at prisoners. At the sound of gunshots, Perchersky cried out for the others to begin their revolt. Some prisoners had obtained hand grenades and guns, others rushed out of their workshops to escape, some who were unaware of the revolt chose not to leave. All who stayed were executed.

Out of 550 prisoners of Sobibor, 300 made it out of the prison gates; though many, including Leon Feldhendler, were caught by German soldiers and local collaborators. Within days of the revolt, Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp closed, razed, and planted over with trees. After the war was over, only 53 Sobibor prisoners had survived. Pechersky and other survivors joined up with partisan brigades, including an all-Jewish otriad called Yehiel’s Group, and continued to sabotage the Germans. Others who survived were able to, in their own way, bring their perpetrators to justice. Thomas Blatt interviewed former German guard at Sobibor, Karl Frenzel, and contributed to the book, Escape from Sobibor, which gives various personal accounts of the events. Finally, Esther Raab, Thomas Blatt, Chaim Engel, Regina Zielinski, and Kurt Thomas gave these amazing interviews to USC Shoah Foundation, here.

For more information on the story of Sobibor and its participants, see these articles:

Featured Jewish Partisan - Marisa Diena, born on September 29th

2011-10-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

"They didn’t know that I was Jewish. It didn’t cross my mind because there, like I said, everyone thought that I was Mara... But there was also Ulisse, Polifemo, Lampo, Fulmine ... they all had battle names. You didn’t know anything about anyone. It wasn’t important. So most people didn’t know that I was Jewish."
— Marisa Diena.

Marisa Diena was born in Turin, Italy, on September 29, 1916. Eight years old when Benito Mussolini became dictator of Italy, Marisa was taught to love Fascism. However, in 1938, Italy passed its first Racial Laws, in imitation of the Nazi Racial Purity laws, banning Jews from working in the public sector or attending public school. In 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France, and by 1942, Turin was being bombed on an almost daily basis. By 1943, Italy was in a state of virtual civil war. Mussolini was deposed and Italy surrendered following the allied invasion of Sicily. Germany responded by seizing control of Northern and Central Italy and reinstating Mussolini as the head of a new puppet regime.

After the Nazis occupied Turin, Marisa fled into the mountains around Torre Pellice to join the partisans. The role of women in the Italian partisans was unique; since most of the male partisans were army deserters, only women were able to move during the day without arousing suspicion. As a result, Marisa became the vice-commander of information for her unit. During the day, she would ride her bicycle around the countryside, collecting information from local informers. Each night she would report back to her commander. In addition to sabotage and guerrilla warfare, Italian partisans tried to keep order in the war-ravaged countryside. Marisa’s unit created local community committees in the Torre Pellice region to distribute rations and helped organize strikes among industrial workers in cities like Turin.

In the spring of 1945, the estimated 300,000 partisans working in Northern Italy organized a national liberation committee. On April 25th, 1945, Marisa’s partisan unit liberated Turin, while their comrades in other major cities did the same. After the war, as Italian democracy began to blossom, Marisa remained engaged in politics, witnessing the ratification of the new Italian Constitution in 1948. Marisa still lives in Italy, sharing her experience as a partisan with elementary school children.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Marisa Diena, including seven videos of her reflecting on her time as a partisan.

Partisan Tools for Survival: Friendly Locals

2011-09-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

The world of a partisan, and especially a Jewish partisan, was a treacherous, restless, stressful world. They braved the most unendurable conditions—extreme cold, hunger, fatigue—and survived through the will to fight and persevere. Sometimes they received food, shelter, supplies, information, and medical attention from nearby communities. However, Jewish partisans could not fully trust the often anti-Semitic locals, though their services were necessary. Preventative measures were therefore taken: food and supplies were acquired at gunpoint or with some cunning and often improvised deception. Frank Blaichman recalls, “We had information that a farmer had hidden weapons. We made up a story to tell him that we were Russian paratroopers and we needed the weapons. We had our men far away with broken pitchforks that looked like a gun with a bayonet in the background, so to the farmer he looked like he was dealing with the real thing.” Even medical care was forcefully taken when sympathetic doctors were not available.

**Norman Salsitz**

Wounded in battle, Norman Salsitz needed surgical attention but did not trust the local doctors, so he took a hand grenade with him and informed the surgeon that if anything went wrong, everybody in the room would be killed. Brenda Senders explains the necessity of using this type of force, “You know, you go in with guns and the person will not give you food so you take it yourself. It was a war, it was not a matter of being polite or this way or the other way. Survival was at stake.”

However, locals who empathized with Jewish partisans or simply shared the same feeling of opposition toward German occupation were a great asset to partisan survival. Leon Idas found that there were local villagers who were friendly and freely informed partisan troops of German movements, and would even escort disguised partisans to the city hospitals to get them aid. Harry Burger found that locals offered up their barns to shelter and care for traveling partisans. Burger and Idas, however, lived and fought in southern Europe, where there was less anti-Semitism. In Poland, Sonia Orbuch did not encounter many sympathetic locals; although, she owes much of her survival to one citizen by the name of Tichon Martinetz who was instrumental in connecting her with the Russian partisans and also supplied the brigade with food in the bitter winter of ’42. Frank Blaichman spent much time with farmers who hid him and his comrades, cooked meals for them, even washed their clothes. “The locals were anti-Semitic, but they were not killers,” Frank Blaichman explained. “When they saw that we took care of German collaborators they were more willing to help us. Without their help we would have never survived.”

**Frank Blaichman**

According to partisans such as Blaichman, local allies could make all the difference in regards to survival. Even though unsympathetic locals could be tricked or forced at gunpoint to concede services and supplies, not all of survival relies on physical needs. After being chased by locals “like an animal”, when Blaichman found friendly households which sheltered and fed him there was a sense of hope. He said, “They treated us like human beings.”

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Łachwa Ghetto Uprising

2011-09-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

By the 1930s, Łachwa, Poland (now southern Belarus) had a majority Jewish population, which, in April 1942, was confined to a ghetto so under-suited that each resident had about one square meter of living space.

In the five short months of the ghetto’s existence, the youth of Łachwa formed an underground movement led by Isaac Rochczyn and aided by Dov Lopatyn, head of the ghetto’s Judenrat. Together, they established contact with partisan groups in the area in order to secure funding and weapons, although these groups were largely anti-Semitic and did not effectively support the movement.

Lachwa (now Lakhva, Belarus). Ulica Lubaczyńska (Lubaczynska Street)

In August 1942, residents heard from Jews forced to do labor outside the ghetto that nearby ghettos in Łuniniec and Mikaszewicze had been liquidated. On September 2, Lachwa was informed that local farmers were ordered by the Germans to excavate large pits outside the town. Rochczyn and the youth underground wanted to attack the ghetto wall at midnight to allow the population to flee. They watched as 150 German soldiers from an Einsatzgruppe mobile killing squad with 200 local auxiliaries surrounded the ghetto. Lopatyn, however, did not want to abandon the elderly and the children and he asked that the attack be postponed until the morning, allowing the Judenrat to discuss their options.

**Yitzhak/Isaac Rochzyn (or Icchak Rokchin), Łachwa Ghetto underground leader and head of local Betar Group.**

When morning arrived, the ghetto inhabitants were ordered to gather for "deportation". The Germans promised Lopatyn that the Judenrat, the ghetto doctor, and 30 laborers of choice would be safe from deportation. Lopatyn refused the offer, reportedly responding: "Either we all live, or we all die."

Lopatyn and Rochczyn made the decision to resist. Lopatyn set the Judenrat headquarters on fire to signal this decision. The youth resistance engaged the Germans and local collaborators with axes, sticks, Molotov cocktails, and even their bare hands, while others attempted to flee. Rochczyn killed a Gestapo officer with an ax and jumped into the river but was shot and killed. Kopel Kolpanitzky, who later wrote a book about surviving the Łachwa ghetto, recalls the chaos of his escape:

“The machine guns on the other side of the river opened fire along the length of Rinkowa street, wounding fleeing Jews and killing them…I also ran quickly, as the people who ran in front of me were shot and killed, their bodies falling next to me.”

Lachwa lost the majority of its population that day. A number of survivors, however, were able to join up with partisan units in the area. Dov Lopatyn, who fought alongside the youth of the ghetto, escaped to the forest and joined a partisan unit, as well. Though he was killed on an operation by a landmine in February 1945, Lopatyn leaves a legacy of his courage and leadership, underneath which the Jews of Łachwa stood up to their oppressors.

Partisans in the Arts: Hirsh Glik, Poet/Songwriter

2011-09-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1944, Hirsh Glik disappeared from the ghetto in Goldfilz, Estonia, and was presumed dead. He was only twenty-two but had devoted his life to writing and had already established his legacy through the song, “Zog Nit Keynmol” (“Never Say”). This song was a triumphant, hopeful call for defiance, inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “Never Say” became a beacon to many and quickly grew to be known as the “Song of the Partisans”.

Hirsh Glik was born in Vilna, Poland, in 1922. He demonstrated talent early: at age thirteen he began to compose poetry in Hebrew—and then solely in Yiddish—and his works were published frequently in the Jewish-Soviet press. When the Germans occupied Vilna in June 1941, Glik was sent to work the peat bogs in Biala-Waka, Rzesza. Displacement and grueling labor did not prevent him from writing: in between hauling impossible loads of turf, Glik would ask friends to hum a tune so that he could improvise lyrics. When Biala-Waka was liquidated in 1943, Glik returned to the ghetto in Vilna and joined the United Partisans Organization (FPO), where he took part in the literary scene. Here, Glik first recited “Never Say” to a poet friend, Shmaryahu Kaczerginski, at an event arranged to pay tribute to Yiddish writers, called “Spring in Yiddish Literature”. The scope of anguish, defiance, and hope in the song made it an anthem to many in Vilna.

Glik was also inspired by the actions of Vitka Kempner, a founding member of FPO, and wrote “Shtil, Di Nacht Iz Oysgeshternt” (Still the Night is Full of Stars) about her first act of sabotage, blowing up a Nazi train line.

The struggle to survive at Biala-Waka, Vilna, and later Goldfilz in Estonia, never broke Hirsh Glik’s inspiration to write. He composed sometimes on scraps but mostly in his head, reciting poems to other prisoners. Some written copies of Glik’s poems were discovered buried beneath the Vilna Ghetto. Though most of his words were lost, “Song of the Partisans” is considered worldwide one of the most important anthems of Jewish partisans and is still sung today in remembrance of those who died in the Shoah.

Song of the Partisans (audio)
Never say this is the final road for you,
Though leaden skies may cover over days of blue. 
As the hour that we longed for is so near,
Our step beats out the message: we are here!

From lands so green with palms to lands all white with snow. 
We shall be coming with our anguish and our woe, 
And where a spurt of our blood fell on the earth,
There our courage and our spirit have rebirth!  

The early morning sun will brighten our day, 
And yesterday with our foe will fade away, 
But if the sun delays and in the east remains –
This song as motto generations must remain.

This song was written with our blood and not with lead,
It's not a little tune that birds sing overhead,
This song a people sang amid collapsing walls, 
With pistols in hand they heeded to the call.  

Therefore never say the road now ends for you,
Though leaden skies may cover over days of blue. 
As the hour that we longed for is so near,
Our step beats out the message: we are here!

Transliterated Yiddish:
zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg,
khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg. 
kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho,
s'vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!  

fun grinem palmenland biz vaysn land fun shney,
mir kumen on mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey,
un vu gefaln iz a shprits fun undzer blut, 
shprotsn vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut! 

s'vet di morgnzun bagildn undz dem haynt, 
un der nekhtn vet farshvindn mit dem faynt,
nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in der kayor –
vi a parol zol geyn dos lid fun dor tsu dor.  

dos lid geshribn iz mit blut, un nit mit blay,
s'iz nit keyn lidl fun a foygl oyf der fray, 
dos hot a folk tsvishn falndike vent 
dos lid gezungen mit naganes in di hent.

to zog nit keyn mol, az du geyst dem letstn veg, 
khotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg. 
kumen vet nokh undzer oysgebenkte sho –
es vet a poyk ton undzer trot: mir zaynen do!

JPEF Presents To Youth Leaders At National BBYO Conference

2011-08-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ariel Lippa recently spoke about best practices in teaching about the Jewish partisans using the movie "Defiance" at the BBYO national conference in Washington, D.C. He is an educator and the grandson of Jewish partisan Ann Monka and the late Paul Monka (z"l), Holocaust survivor and member of the Polish Underground.

Here are some of his suggestions about using JPEF materials with teens:

When working with teens and youth I believe it is important to think outside of the box and create programming that will foster engagement and discussion. Youth leaders can easily tailor any of JPEF's materials and films to do just that. The JPEF website provides an endless amount of information and materials. Have your board or youth leaders check them out and feel free to modify or use them in new and exciting ways that are tailored to your needs. Get creative!

I personally get a lot out of JPEF'S Teaching with ‘Defiance’ curriculum. My grandmother and her family were saved and protected by the Bielski partisans, so I love using this action-packed movie to engage and excite Jewish teens. JPEF's materials bring the Bielski partisans' stories of survival into the classroom, touching the deeper ethical questions that many partisans faced.

Within the film ‘Defiance’ there is a conflict between brothers Tuvia and Zus Bielski on how to best save Jewish lives. Zus argues that the partisans risk their own lives by bringing more people into the group because there are not enough resources for the people (civilians and soldiers) already in their group. Tuvia claims that they will be able to protect both themselves and whoever else they can rescue. The question is, is Tuvia recklessly risking the safety of the group and his own family by bringing in others, or is Zus being selfish for not wanting others to join them? This dilemma can make for some great teen programming.

In a youth group setting, the Teaching with ‘Defiance’ guide provides context to this conflict, and a format to work out these issues while having an engaging debate as well. Given the chance High School teens can usually hash out complex issues for themselves, which makes this conflict a perfect opportunity to delve deep into the problems faced by the Bielski leadership.

You can capitalize on High School teens' energetic and talkative nature by taking this activity one step further. First, set up a circle of chairs and pick two teens to play the parts of Tuvia and Zus and have them sit on the inside of the circle. Give each student time to state their character's side/case to the group, and then have them begin challenging each other for about 1-2 minutes. Once the group has heard both sides, they take turns asking questions of the two debaters; everybody else is encouraged to chime in with their opinions, too.

Once all the questions are answered, ask the group: “Who made the better case? Remember: there are no right or wrong answers.” Ask for a show of hands; if there's time give the students a chance to say why they voted as they did. Follow up by asking, “Call whoever you chose the ‘winner’ if you like: based on what you saw in front of you, who would YOU side with in such a situation?”

These questions can get your youth group to think critically about the issues the partisans faced, while firing them up with a little friendly competition. They also help teens discover the confusion and hard choices that had to be made during the partisans’ time in the woods, which can lead to discussion about the hard choices people face fighting genocide today.

Remember: by teaching, by being leaders within our youth and community, by making a difference, by caring for others, and by being proud of who we are, we are all resisting and giving meaning to the words “never again”. I thank the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation for their invaluable support with regard to keeping such an important and personal story alive. I am forever grateful.

— Ariel Lippa, B.A., M.ED., NCC
Grandson of Jewish partisan Ann Monka and the late Paul Monka (z'l), Holocaust Survivor and member of the Polish Underground Resistance.

Ed. note: You can find out more about Teaching with ‘Defiance’ at www.jewishpartisans.org/defiance

Featured Jewish Partisan - Brenda Senders, born on August 20th

2011-08-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

"You know, you didn't, were not fussy where you sleep or where you lay down, and sometimes they ask me how did you get food. You know, you go in with guns and the person will not give you food so you take it yourself. It was a war, it was not a matter of being polite or this way or the other way. It's being survival was at stake."
— Brenda Senders.

Brenda Senders was born in Sarny, Poland, in 1925. She was the daughter of a forester, which would help her survive during the war. In 1939, Sarny fell under Soviet control, and in 1941, under German control. The Nazis forced the Jews of Sarny into a ghetto soon after. In 1942, the ghetto was closed and the Nazis sent the remaining ghetto inhabitants to a death camp.

Someone managed to smuggle a pair of wire cutters into the camp and cut a hole in the fencing, allowing Brenda, her sister, and hundreds of other prisoners to escape. Many of the escapees were caught, but Brenda and her sister were lucky enough to be hidden by a local Christian family who knew their father. Eventually, the sisters fled into the forest.

After several months in hiding, Brenda connected with a large Soviet-backed partisan unit, made up of 1600 people. While she was unarmed, Brenda’s determination to fight convinced the partisan general that she was fit to join. Leaving her sister in hiding with a local peasant, Brenda learned how to shoot a gun and ride a horse. She joined the partisan cavalry, and became one of the general’s bodyguards.

Brenda’s unit was constantly on the move. They occupied villages, conducted ambushes and shot passing German troops, blew up bases, and obliterated bridges and train tracks. “We didn’t let [the Nazis] rest day or night,” Brenda recalls proudly.

After the war, Brenda left Russia, escaping through Slovakia into Austria. She ended up in a Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Braunau Am Inn, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler, where she was reunited with her sister. In the DP camp, Brenda met her future husband, Leon Senders, a fellow former partisan. Brenda and Leon married in 1945 and left for Italy, ultimately immigrating to the United States that same year. Today, Brenda and Leon live in Florida. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Brenda Senders, including seven videos of her reflecting on her time as a partisan.

People Who Resisted – Dith Pran: photojournalist, refugee and survivor of the Cambodian Genocide

2011-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

**Dith Pran: Survivor, Advocate, Photojournalist**

In the 1970s, Dith Pran was witnessing his country’s violent dissolution. Cambodia lapsed into civil war, stirred up by the struggles in Vietnam that spread over national borders. Pran sent his wife, Ser Moeun Dith, and four children to the United States, but he stayed to help report on Cambodia’s civil war, believing that in order to save lives, other nations had to understand Cambodia’s state of desperation. He worked as an essential guide, note-taker, and photographer for New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, who explained in an interview, “[Pran’s] mission with me in Cambodia was to tell the world what suffering his people were going through in a war that was never necessary.” Schanberg later wrote an article about Cambodia and Pran, which was turned into the 1984 movie, The Killing Fields.

In 1975, Pran unwillingly became a pawn in the radical social engineering experiment of Pol Pot, who sought to turn Cambodia into a purely agrarian society devoid of Western influence. Pot’s trigger-happy followers, the Khmer Rouge, gained control of Phnom Penh, forcing all residents out of the capital city and into a collective farm. At the forced labor camp, Pran spent four and a half years harvesting twelve hours a day with a spoonful of rice for sustenance. He did all that he could to survive, while witnessing and enduring arbitrary brutality.

At this time Cambodians were murdered for minor infractions against the regime’s doctrinaire policies; the Khmer Rouge were responsible for an estimated 2 million Cambodian deaths. Pran deemed the mass graves of Cambodians, killed by starvation, disease, guns, and pick axes, as “The Killing Fields.”

A 1974 photo by Mr. Dith of shells being fired at a village northwest of Phnom Penh. Photo: Dith Pran/The New York Times

In 1979 the Khmer Rouge lost power and Pran escaped 60 miles past the killing fields — the overwhelming evidence of genocide — and through landmine-dotted terrain to the Thai border. Soon thereafter, he reunited with his family in San Francisco.

Having survived atrocity, Pran immediately began to devote his time to helping fellow Cambodians who had suffered under the Khmer Rouge. In New York City, he founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project to educate people on the history of the Khmer Rouge regime. He spoke also of his efforts to aid Cambodia: “The Khmer Rouge has brought Cambodia back to year zero and that's why I'm trying to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to the World Court. Like one of my heroes, Elie Wiesel, who alerts the world to the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust, I try to awaken the world to the Holocaust of Cambodia, for all tragedies have universal implications.”

Dith Pran died on March 30, 2008, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just three months earlier. Executive Editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller, explained after Mr. Dith’s death, “To all of us who have worked as foreign reporters in frightening places, Pran reminds us of a special category of journalistic heroism — the local partner, the stringer, the interpreter, the driver, the fixer, who knows the ropes, who makes your work possible, who often becomes your friend, who may save your life, who shares little of the glory, and who risks so much more than you do.”

Featured Jewish Partisan - Bernard Druskin, born on August 18th

2011-08-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

"The only thing we used to get parachutists, parachuted, is dynamite, ammunition, and arms, and the rest, we had to live off the fat of the land."
- Bernard Druskin.

Bernard Druskin was born on August 18th, 1921 in Vilna, Poland. The oldest of three, he had two sisters named Rachel and Marilyn. His family was in the felt supply business. Following the Nazi occupation of Vilna, the Druskin family was sent to live in the Jewish ghetto.

Bernard became a Jewish partisan after escaping from the Jewish ghetto in 1940, which he did with the help of a compassionate Nazi soldier who showed him how and when to escape. After escaping the ghetto, Bernard lived with friendly farmers, chopping wood for them all day in exchange for his meals. Bernard found out later that his family had been executed in retribution for his escaping. Bernard remembers, “I had no reason to live on.”

Bernard then joined the FPO, the United Partisan Organization, and procured a radio to listen to the BBC. Hiding in the forests of Belarussia’s Naroch Forest, he lived in a camouflaged zemlyanka, or underground bunker. Bernard worked under the Markov brigade and with Commander Jurgis, head of the Lithuanian Brigade. He spent his time sabotaging railroad lines, phone lines, and stealing food and supplies from the German army. Bernard and his compatriots once blew up 5 km of train tracks used by the Nazis, in different sections, calling it ‘Hanukkah lights’.

At times different groups of partisans, competed to see which group could blow up the most trains. The partisans were directly aided by the Russian government, who sent bi-weekly parachute drops of armaments and supplies, and on holidays, vodka.

In July, 1944, the Red army liberated the city of Vilna. Instead of taking the German troops as POW’s, the Red Army disarmed them and turned them over to the partisans.

Bernard describes his life as a partisan as being very difficult, as the most difficult thing he has done. Living in the woods was tough. “Let me tell you something,” Bernard recalls, “To be a partisan, it’s not human.”

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Bernard Druskin, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Partisan Attack on Dereczyn, Poland (Belarus), August 1942

2011-08-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

On the night of July 24, 1942, the ghetto of Dereczyn was liquidated; between 3,000 and 4,000 Jews were murdered and placed in a mass grave.

Before the Germans swept Dereczyn, some 250 Jews evaded execution and fled into the forests. They were assisted by another survivor, 33-year old Dr. Yehezkel Atlas who had fled from Kozlowszczyzna, in the Slonim district of western Belarus, where he saw his sister and parents murdered. He was the physician of a partisan group commanded by Pavel Bulak and Boris Bulat, and he brought the refugees from Dereczyn to the two Soviet commanders. There was already a partisan fighting group of Soviet and Polish soldiers, but Atlas announced his intention to form an all-Jewish unit, to give the survivors of Dereczyn vengeance for their murdered families.

Yehezkel Atlas
Copyright © 2011 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' And Heroes' Remembrance Authority

Bulak dismissed him, insisting Jews were not fighters, and in any case they did not have weapons to prove themselves. Furthermore, Bulak did not want Atlas, although he was a skilled tactician, to be a partisan leader; he was essential as a physician. Dr. Atlas was adamant and convinced Bulak enough that the commander sent the Jewish men to prove their merit on a dangerous operation — half-expecting failure. When Atlas and the others returned with newly attained arms, Bulak allocated forces for an all-Jewish partisan unit.

One Jewish partisan who came from Dereczyn, Gertrude Boyarski, described her choice to join the fighting unit under Bulak instead of the family camp:

“Sitting and hiding behind my mother's skirts didn’t feel right, I figured in the fighting unit I could get vengeance, I could do something good.”

On August 10, 1942, Dr. Yehezkel Atlas received permission to attack the Germans at Dereczyn. Under the authority of Bulak and Bulat, Atlas led 300 partisans in an armed attack on the German garrisons. They successful took control of the town, capturing 44 German policemen and killing almost 20 in the struggle. After raiding the supplies, the Jewish partisans now all had high Russian boots, leather knapsacks, shirts, and a number of small, good-quality arms and ammunition. Atlas ordered the 44 captured German policemen atop the mass grave outside Dereczyn, where they were lined up and executed.

After the operation, Atlas told his unit:

“We must not settle down and take things easy…Our struggle only began with the defeat of the Germans at Dereczyn. Your lives came to an end in the slaughter of the 24th of July. Every additional day of life is not yours, but belongs to your murdered families. You must avenge them.”

Larry King, Liev Schreiber and Edward Zwick Join Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation to Honor All Surviving Jewish Partisans with Launch of New PSA

2011-08-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Hollywood and the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation have joined forces to launch a unique public service announcement campaign about standing up against discrimination by honoring the Jewish partisans – thousands of World War II resistance fighters that fought back against the Nazis and saved thousands of lives. CNN anchor Larry King, actor Liev Schreiber (Salt, X-Men: Origins, Defiance), director Edward Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond, Defiance), Rose Holm, a Jewish partisan, and her granddaughter Elisabeth Holm are all part of JPEF's grassroots initiative to bring together the last surviving partisans and their families at a gala event in New York City on November 7 in their honor. To view our public service announcement, please click: http://youtu.be/9lgqCZ6OsMk.

Larry King, a long time JPEF supporter, said, "The Jewish partisans are an important part of our history, and JPEF does tremendous work to keep their story alive and relevant with an innovative curriculum, short films and fabulous online resources. It is important to bring together as many partisans as we can for this special event on November 7."

The three-part campaign will kick off with a Web PSA designed to help locate these courageous individuals so that they may be re-united and honored with their colleagues at the tribute dinner in November. JPEF will give complimentary tickets to any partisan that wishes to attend the tribute event. The remainder of the PSA campaign will be launched later this fall and into 2012.

"By honoring these brave men and women, JPEF inspires the next generation of leaders to stand up for human rights and social justice," said Mitch Braff, founder and executive director of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. "Our tribute event is a historic link to the people who are a living testament that young people can make a difference – as many of the partisans were teens."

About Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation

Since JPEF's founding in 2000, hundreds of thousands of students in schools all over the world have learned about the history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans through a dynamic curriculum targeted to 7th-12th grade students. The organization makes innovative uses of film, the Web, and an e-learning platform to teach not only the history, but what the partisans want future generations to always remember: Young people can make a difference and we must all stand up to oppression and discrimination. The organization focuses on secular, parochial, and Jewish schools as well as teen youth groups and summer camps. JPEF has been named one of the most innovative Jewish organizations the country for five years by Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies' Slingshot. To find out more about the Jewish partisans and JPEF visit, www.jewishpartisans.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

Jewish Partisans: Tools for Survival and Resistance - The Night

2011-08-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

The day-to-day lives of the Jewish partisans were extraordinarily difficult. Jewish partisan units had little arms and ammunition to fight with, and when they were not fighting, they were struggling to find food for survival. They slept in the elements and had little to no medical supplies. They also had to worry about local collaborators plotting against them. Yet, the Jewish partisans evaded capture, used their resources to impede German operations, retook ghettos, killed German troops, and saved thousands of Jewish lives during World War II. They were successful for many reasons and developed many instruments for survival. One way in which the partisans had an advantage over their enemies was their use of the cover of night.

**Simon Trakinski**

Most partisan group activities, especially those outside of the forest, were carried out at night. Jack Kakis used the cover of night as a setting for his factory-bombing operations, Simon Trakinski's partisan group blew up train lines at nighttime, and the Bielskis used the darkness to veil their food gathering missions. Ben Kamm also led operations at nighttime, successfully freeing 600 Jews from the Janow Lubelski labor camp in Poland.

**Norman Salsitz**

The night was more or less a necessity for the successful conduct of operations — during the day, it was very difficult for partisans to go anywhere outside the forest without being detected. Even clear nights and the moon caused a great deal of anxiety, so the partisans would actually welcome the kinds of difficult, stormy weather they would otherwise wish to avoid. As Norman Salsitz said:

“Who was our biggest enemy? The moon. The moon was our biggest enemy… if there was a moonlit night, we couldn’t move. So the night, the blizzard, heavy snow, heavy rain, this was our friends.”

The partisans also knew that the Germans had no tactical advantage over the partisans in the dark or in poor conditions. Silvio Ortona explains their strategy:

“We defended ourselves and at night, disappeared, because we were in charge at night. Because we had people who knew everything about the region. And they didn’t move at night… because their weapon superiority was no longer applicable.”

For these reasons, nighttime was an important element for the partisans and a powerful one. Abe Asner, who repeatedly frustrated the Germans with his efficiency under the cover of darkness, describes night’s importance to partisans:

“I think, if I would write a book, the title would be, The Night is Our Mother because lots of things we used to do, at night. The night was protecting us… the night was our mother.”

For more information about the Jewish partisans, please visit the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's website.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Joseph Greenblatt, born on August 5th

2011-08-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

"I lost my family -- lost my father, my mother, my brother, lost all the close relatives, and that was about 70 members of my closest family. It was tough to talk about it, and the refresh bring it back to your memory. It was painful. But as the time was going by, and I felt the story which I know firsthand has to be told."
- Joseph Greenblatt.

Joseph Greenblatt was born in Warsaw in 1915. He learned about resistance from his father, an army captain who had fought for Polish independence during WWI. At eighteen, Joe enlisted in the Polish army as an infantryman, becoming an officer in 1938. In 1939 he was mobilized and sent to the Polish-German border. He witnessed the German invasion directly and fought for almost twenty days before being taken prisoner and sent to a German POW camp. It was in the camp that he began to establish connections with the newly formed Armia Krajowa (AK). The AK hijacked a German truck, transporting Joe to a hospital, freeing him and his fellow prisoners.

Joe returned to Warsaw, only to find the Jewish population of the city walled into a newly formed ghetto. Though they were imprisoned the Jews of Warsaw were far from passive; underground resistance units had already begun to form. Joe used his army connections to amass a stockpile of black market weapons. He also met and married his wife, the younger sister of a comrade in arms.

In the spring of 1943, rumors of a full-scale liquidation circulated. Joe and the other partisan commanders decided it was time to act. Disguised as Nazis, they attacked German soldiers as they entered the ghetto. Joe remembers how men from his unit threw a Molotov cocktail into a tank, destroying it and killing several Germans. Joe eventually escaped from the ghetto through the sewer system, emerging in the Gentile quarter. Hiding his identity with a Christian alias, Joe made contact with his old POW comrades and joined the AK. For a while, he worked as a member of the Polish underground, raiding a German train depot and aiding in the assassination of a prominent SS official. In late 1944 he was remobilized with the Polish army.

When Germany surrendered, Joe was working as the commander of a camp of German POWS. After the war Joe went to work for the Irgun under the command of Menachem Begin, traveling between Belgium and Israel as an arms dealer.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Joseph Greenblatt, including four videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Nesvizh Ghetto Resistance, July 1942

2011-07-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Jews in Nesvizh organized one of the first Jewish uprisings during World War II in order to resist complete liquidation of their community. Nesvizh is a small city in Belarus, over 100 kilometers southwest of Minsk, full of public parks and architectural attractions, and is passed through by a lake. On the small lake’s eastern bank the formidable Nesvizh castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands tucked in between shade trees, cosseted by ramparts and canals. As a center for fairs, the town attracted artisans, horticulturalists, and farmers. Until 1942, there had been a Jewish community here for hundreds of years.

Nesvizh Synagogue, date unknown. Compiled by the members of the Nesvizh Study Group.

After the German invasion in June 1941, an aktion was ordered on Nesvizh and thousands of Jews were executed all at once in the small city. By October 30, 1941, the Jewish population in Nevizh had been reduced from between 4,500 to 5,000 to approximately 600 Jews. The remaining Jewish population was limited to a ghetto.

Anticipating a second aktion, an underground movement in the ghetto was formed to resist the community’s complete annihilation and to embody the mottos: “We shall not go like sleep to slaughter” and “Let me die with the Philistines”. Underground participants acquired arms by having weapons — including a machine gun — smuggled into the city from storehouses. Nine months later, in July of 1942, the Nesvizh ghetto began to hear of German liquidation engulfing nearby communities. They prepared for the imminent orders: digging bunkers, organizing into fighting units, and preparing additional homemade weapons like knives and hatchets. In the event of an occupation, they planned to set fire to the ghetto and break through to the forest.

On July 20th, a German commander stood outside the gates of the ghetto and announced the order to liquidate with the exception of thirty essential skilled workers. When the Germans and collaborating Belarusians infiltrated the ghetto, the Jewish resistance set their houses aflame and fought towards the gate. The Germans and Belarusians soon overpowered the resistance, killing most in the onslaught. Only twenty-five underground fighters succeeded in escaping to nearby forests.

Having endured one of the first ever ghetto uprisings, many of these survivors went on to join partisan units, including the Zhukov Otriad, and continued in the struggle to resist.

Entrance to the Nesvizh Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This uprising is described in detail in: Cholawski, Shalom, Soldiers from the Ghetto: The First Uprising Against the Nazis (San Diego and New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., Inc, 1980).

Nesvizh, 2004.

Partisans in the Arts: Alexander Bogen (1916-2010)

2011-07-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

"Why would a man in grave danger create art? For an artist, the motivation to create is even more powerful than existence itself."
— Alexander Bogen.

Alexander Bogen’s sketches during World War II show a tremendous knowledge of the human condition: an abandoned child in the streets of the Vilna ghetto, an old man who is dying, comrades drinking vodka and playing cards around a bonfire. Although condemned to record his subjects often without—or in place of—the ability to save them, his passion for art was a weapon in itself against the Nazi forces.

**Alexander Bogen, unit commander of Nekama. Copyright © 2011 Yad Vashem — The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority**

Bogen was, however, able to save a great deal of lives through his efforts as the commander of a partisan unit. Born in 1916, Bogen grew up in Vilna, Poland, and studied painting and sculpture at Vilna’s university. When World War II began, he left and joined a partisan movement in the endless forests surrounding Lake Naroch in Belarus. Facing discrimination from the non-Jewish partisans, Bogen assisted in forming an all-Jewish otriad called Nekama, meaning Vengeance. He served as a unit commander, helping transport people from the Vilna ghetto before it was liquidated.

During the war, Bogen compulsively sketched his surroundings to document ghetto and partisan life, dropping his gun to capture his brothers in arms. In the forest he scavenged scraps of packing paper, burnt twigs, charcoal from fire to continue his representations of life. These sketches serve as an invaluable record not only of Jewish partisan life, but also of human perseverance.

Once the war was over, Bogen completed his studies at the university and worked as a professor of art. The versatility of his work after the war blossomed and Bogen became famous in Poland as an artist, set designer and book illustrator.

**Alexander Bogen and his wife, Rachel, at the opening of an exhibition of his works at the Museum of the Ghetto Fighters’ House**

In 1951 Bogen immigrated to Israel where he worked as a painter, sculptor and art educator. His work continued to gain recognition and was exhibited in museums worldwide. Influenced by Chagall, Matisse, and Picasso, Bogen was always learning and expanding, never tied down by one single style. He recalls, “My encounter with the abstract, lyrical art style of the ‘New Horizons’ movement, which was dominant in Israel during the years 1950-1970, was a revelation to me.” Bogen has in his lifetime created a body of work both varied and true to his passions, with great skill in sketching and range as a painter—his artwork, like many great compositions, is both lovely and terrifying.

The Deportation, 1996. Oil on Canvas

For Alexander Bogen, who wrote on his work, art fulfilled several needs:

When I asked myself why I was drawing when I was fighting night and day, [I realized] it was something similar to biological continuity. Every man is interested in continuing his people, his family, to bring the fruits of his creativity (his children) towards the future and to leave something behind… To be creative during the Holocaust was also a protest. Each man when standing face to face with cruel danger, with death, reacts in his own way. The artist reacts in an artistic way. This is his weapon… This is what shows that the Germans could not break his spirit.

For more of Alexander Bogen’s story and artwork:

His website
His partisan story
His exhibit at Yad Vashem
Featured works on the "Learning about the Holocaust through Art" website
Bogen on creating art

Featured Jewish Partisan - Simon Trakinski, born on July 13th

2011-07-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

"Is it the same to Jews as it is to Americans to study the revolutionary war and its heroes, right? People put their chest in front of English muskets to build a country, we put our chest in front of German Muskets to defend ourselves from annihilation and maybe prevent the deaths of other Jews."
— Simon Trakinski.

Simon Trakinski was born in Vilna, Lithuania, in 1925. Like many others, his family fled to the east when the war began in 1939. They sought refuge in the Russian village of Smorgon. When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, Smorgon was occupied and all Jews were forced into the ghetto.

Simon heard about the activities of the partisans from escaped Soviet POWs. When his family left the Smorgon ghetto to return to Vilna, he and his friends carried guns with them. In Vilna, they joined up with the United Partisans Organization and took part in the failed uprising in the Vilna ghetto.

When the ghetto was closed in 1943, Simon and his group escaped, but were forced to leave their families behind. They initially fought with the Jewish Markov Brigade, led by a Russian. The Markov Brigade was engaged in a struggle against rival partisan groups, like the anti-Semitic Armia Krajowa, over control of the territory around Vilna. But when Markov’s camp was blockaded by the Germans, Simon was forced to escape and join another group. He worked as a spy and a saboteur in liaison with a partisan unit established by the regular Russian army, gathering information about troop and supply movements, mining roads, and blowing up bridges. His group was especially active along the Berlin-Moscow supply route.

As the war continued, Simon left the partisans to work for the Soviet government, as a schoolteacher in a remote Russian village. When the war ended and the “iron curtain” began to descend across Eastern Europe, Simon returned to Poland and smuggled himself into the West. He spent three years in Austria attempting to immigrate to the U.S., before finally being allowed to enter in 1948.

Simon died on January 2, 2009, surrounded by his loving family at his home in New York.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Simon Trakinski, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Leon Idas, born on July 11th

2011-07-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

"We are Jewish, and you know what happened to the Jews, I said, they round them up and we come here, we didn't care if it is Communists or Royalists or Democratic, Conservative, we come here to become Partisan, to fight the common enemy..."
- Leon Idas.

Leon Idas was born in 1925 in Athens, Greece and grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood with his father, a textiles merchant, mother, four brothers, and sister. He attended a private school run by the Greek Orthodox Church.

Shortly after the beginning of the German occupation of Greece in 1941, sixteen year-old Leon joined a group of partisans fighting for the liberation of Greece under a socialist banner. At that time, there were three groups of partisans in Greece: socialist, democratic, and loyalist. Leon fought and served as communications specialist with the partisans for more than two years, setting up wires that wound through the trees in various villages to enable telephone communication.

The partisans lived in and organized armed resistance against the German army from bases in the mountains of Greece, aided by nearby villages, British airdrops of supplies, and their own resourcefulness. They employed mostly ambush and guerrilla tactics against the German army, and the Germans in turn attempted to eliminate the partisans by destroying villages that supported them. Leon spent more than three years with the partisans. During that time, Leon suffered hunger, lack of adequate clothing, and had virtually no contact with his family — save for a single encounter with one of his brothers who was fighting for another partisan group.

At the end of the war in December 1945, Leon left the partisans and returned to his family home in Athens. Once there, he was reunited with what was left of his family and learned that his parents and brother Gabriel had died in Auschwitz during this time. Leon eventually made his way to the United States with no more than 50 cents in his pocket and settled in Baltimore, MD. He married and raised a family of three sons and one daughter, started his own clothing business, Royal Vintage Clothing, and today lives in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Leon Idas, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Joe Kubryk, born on July 1st

2011-07-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

"We had a very difficult time in the partisans among our own soldiers. What happened is we had Ukrainians, we had Poles, we had Polish soldiers that escaped from the prisons of Juaros and came to the partisans. And we had Russians. None of them really liked the Jews."
- Joe Kubryk on being a Jewish partisan.

Joe Kubryk was born in the Russian Ukraine, not far from Odessa, on July 1, 1926. Before the war, the Kubryk family didn’t experience much antisemitism, but after the war broke out, Joe’s village was filled with Ukrainian fascists, who cooperated with the Germans to kill Jews. When Joe saw the Germans rounding up his classmates, he knew he had to run for his life. In August 1941, not long after his friends were taken by the Nazis, Joe left the village. He found a Ukrainian farmer who hired him as a farmhand. The man didn’t think Joe was a Jew because he spoke Ukrainian perfectly. While Joe cried himself to sleep at night, he never let anyone see him doing it. He didn’t want to explain why he was crying.

Near the end of 1941, Russian partisans came scavenging for food at Joe’s farm. Curious, he asked them who they were. “Russian partisans,” came the reply. “Who are you?” When they heard he was Jewish and alone in the world, they said, “You are one of us,” and took him to a camp in the forest of Drohobicz. A few months after Joe arrived, a junior secret service was formed. Joe and the other teenagers began serious training in spying — learning how to recognize guns, artillery pieces and officers’ insignia. They were “toughed-up” in the training, taught secret codes and the rules of espionage. The Junior Secret Service spied on German troops. Platoon by platoon, they counted men, checked equipment, noted who the ranking officers were and where they were camped. They also provided information to saboteurs who mined bridges and railroads to disrupt German military activity. Joe still bears the shrapnel scars he received during gunfights with the German army, and a German bombardment left him deaf in one ear.

After the war, Joe worked for the Bricha, the illegal immigration of Jews to Israel. Joe fought in Israel’s War of Independence and worked for the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, before moving to America, where he became a successful businessman.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Joe Kubryk, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan. Our study guides section also contains a guide titled Joe Sasha Kubyrk: Tennage Partisan Spy.

'Defiance' Director Discusses the Film's Original Opening Scene

2011-07-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

The first scene of the film Defiance, as originally produced, opens with an elderly Tuvia Bielski (played by Daniel Craig) driving a cab in New York City. He picks up an fare — an elderly gentleman, who is a former Bielski partisan who recognizes Tuvia by his cabbie's license.

In this video shot recently in New York, Defiance director Edward Zwick discusses this scene, and why he ultimately replaced it with something that wouldn't be "comfortable" or "nice".

For more videos, including Zwick discussing Defiance, visit our youtube page. For more on Defiance — including educational material and interviews with Tuvia Bielski's brother Aron — go to jewishpartisans.org/defiance.

Featured Jewish Partisan - Shalom Yoran, born on June 29th

2011-07-01T13:44:00.001-07:00

"Go fight... try to save yourselves, avenge our death, and tell the world what happened."
- Last words of Shalom Yoran's mother.

Shalom Yoran was born in 1925 in Warsaw, Poland. When Shalom was 15 years old, his family fled eastwards, leaving the Nazi-occupied area of Poland for the Soviet side. A year later, though, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, and the Yoran family found their new home, the village of Kurzeniec, occupied by the Nazis. Two years later, in 1942, the Nazis situated a Russian POW camp in Kurzeniec, where the prisoners were treated brutally. Shalom first learned about the partisans through rumors told to him by escaped Soviet POWs. The day before Yom Kippur, 1942, the order was given to liquidate the Kurzeniec ghetto.

Shalom was given an early warning, but his family wasn't as lucky. Hiding in a barn, Shalom listened as the entire remaining population of the ghetto, totaling 1,052 people, were murdered. He spent the frigid winter of 1942 in the forest near the river Sang, where, along with his brother and three friends, he built a zemlyanka for shelter and lived off mostly a large store of food they stole and begged from local farmers. In the spring of 1943 Shalom located a partisan unit. But because neither he nor his group had weapons they were not allowed to join — a common practice among the partisans.

Another unit’s commander initially refused to let them in. When they persisted, they were offered a deal: if they returned to Kurzeniec and blew up the factory that made parts for rifles there, they could join. The Russian partisans considered it a suicide mission against this well guarded building, but Shalom and his friends succeeded regardless. Returning victorious, they learned the Russian partisans did not expect them to succeed and never intended to let them into their group because they were Jewish. Shalom then helped to form an all Jewish unit with over 200 Jews. In the wake of the German defeat at Stalingrad, Shalom’s unit harassed the retreating German troops, blowing up bridges and destroying railroads.

When Belarus was liberated by the Soviets in 1944, Shalom and the rest of his comrades were drafted into the Russian regular forces. Fighting in the Red Army, he was appalled by the brutality and political persecution he experienced. Eventually he deserted and made his way to Italy, where he worked for the British Army through the end of the war.

In 1946, Shalom traveled to Palestine with the aid of a fake British Military passport, joining the newly formed Israeli Army. Though he left Israel to attend an American university, he returned to become an officer in the renowned Israeli Air Force. He then spent 22 years in the Israel Aircraft industry.

Shalom moved to the US in 1979. He and his wife Varda, an artist, reside in New York.

In 2003, he published his memoir, The Defiant: A True Story of Escape, Survival & Resistance. The book, written shortly after the Shoah but rediscovered many years later, is dedicated to his parents. Click here to listen to Larry King reading excerpts from the book.

Visit jewishpartisans.org for more about Shalom Yoran, including ten videos of Shalom reflecting on his time as a partisan.

2011 Youth Writing Contest Participants Comment About Their Experience

2011-06-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Over 500 students from 20 states, Canada and South Africa, representing public, private, Jewish and parochial schools, competed for the notoriety, an iPod Touch, JPEF DVDs, posters and t-shirts for both themselves and their teachers. Click here to read the blog announcing the winning essays.

Elliott Felson, JPEF board co-chair noted, "The students' essays were thoughtful, bright, and creative. Each one of them, from middle school to high school, spoke from the heart and the students were moved to make a difference in the world in their own way."

Many of the of the winning essayists were excited to share their comments:

EJ Weiss, First Place Winner - Upper Division, felt the contest was transformative, "I now not only remember the bitter end of the six million Jews, but also the fighting spirit of the forceful resistance. This contest has forever changed my perspective of the Holocaust, my people, and my family."

Jewish Partisan Sonia Orbuch with winning essayist EJ Weiss.
They had the opportunity to meet last week.

EJ's History Instructor at Kehillah Jewish High School, Jaclyn Guzman was excited to share that "JPEF's writing contest is a perfect match for classes that are looking to transform the lessons of history into their understanding of the world. The contest provides a true connection to real people and brings the past to the present for the students."

Molly Oberstein-Allen, Second Place Winner - Upper Division, observed, "I was glad to be given the opportunity to write about a topic so meaningful to me and to my heritage. I think the contest is a great way for students to both learn about people who stood up for others and to relate those people's actions to current times. The contest gave me new understanding of the Holocaust."

Molly's teacher at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Michal Cahlon, adds, "The Youth Writing Contest helped students reflect on the different ways they could effect change in their community, and on the importance of choosing to be a participant rather than a bystander during life's most difficult moments."

"Before the contest, I was familiar with the history of the Holocaust, having recently visited Terezin and Auschwitz." commented Nick Sexton (Third Place Winner, Upper Division), "By participating in the JPEF's Youth Writing Contest I gained insight into the lives of those that resisted the Nazis, teaching me things I did not know before - including that there were people that stood up and managed to save thousands of lives."

Mary Solomon, 8th Grade English and Literature teacher of Mason Stevens, the First Place Winner, - Lower Division, commented, "The Holocaust is a major part of our 8th Grade curriculum, which I have been teaching for more than twenty-five years. The JPEF web site is fabulous because in earlier years when students tried to research partisans there was not much available. This site is now on my list of highly recommended resources. We especially like to emphasize all the people who made a courageous decision to act rather than remain bystanders. Thanks for all that you do to make these stories available to students. They need images of heroes who are not rock stars or sports figures. The JPEF website provides that for them."

Jennifer Peterson, Second Place Winner - Lower Division, observed, "Researching and learning about the Jewish partisans has been a great experience. Thanks to the wonderful resource of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation website, I was able to learn so much I hadn't known about the Holocaust."

JPEF's 2011 Youth Writing Contest was made possible by a contribution in memory of Eta Wrobel (z"l) and contributions in honor of Rose Holm and in memory of Joe Holm (z"l).

Information about the 2012 Writing Contest will be available at www.jewishpartisans.org/contest in January, 2012.

For more information or questions about the contest, please email writingcontest@jewishpartisans.org

Youth of Today Inspired by Youth of the Holocaust Era

2011-06-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

The first place winner of the Upper Division category (10th-12th grade) of our 2011 Youth Writing Contest was EJ Weiss, a sophomore from Kehillah Jewish High School in California. Congratulations, EJ!

Winning essayist EJ Weiss (on right)
with her History Instructor Jaclyn Guzman

EJ's essay starts by talking about what she believes is threatening humanity today - silence. "It is not guns, nor gas, nor bombs that threaten humanity. It is silence," she says.

Cries of the innocent, the deafening shot of a rifle, the faint sound of gas spreading, followed by utter silence. It is not guns, nor gas, nor bombs that threaten humanity. It is the silence. A silence that only a strong person can break. A silence that was broken by young people standing guard in the freezing cold, mining the train tracks, slowly nursing people back to health, and saving lives of brave men and women who entered a seemingly impossible battle. While evil stared in the hollow faces of men, women, and children, piercing the hearts of mothers, fathers and children, the partisans took action.

Using her limited knowledge of her great uncle Shmuel, a Jewish partisan, EJ shows her understanding of the partisans.

"My great uncle Shmuel was one of these brave young partisans. I know he had a great spirit of resistance and fought for the freedom of my family and the Jewish people. Unfortunately, that is all I know about him. His story was never told. He was one of the millions that perished in the war, but one of only thousands that died while fighting back."

Her essay continues, referencing the story of Jewish partisan Sonia Orbuch.

Sonia Orbuch

click on name for more information on Sonia

"I imagine that his story is like that of Sonia Orbuch. Sonia Orbuch could have worried for her own safety and never faced the wicked force threatening her people, but, instead, she devoted herself to combating the atrocity. Even in a predominantly non-Jewish, Russian partisan unit, without training in weapons, she retaliated. She is an inspiration. Partisans like Sonia resisted by sabotaging the Nazis by stealing weapons and food, and prevailed by living and cultivating a proud Jewish existence. She and her fellow Partisans were not among the silent. They would not allow evil to prosper. They fought back. They were fundamental in the triumph of good, and are a key component to my proud, strong, Jewish identity."

EJ's essay concludes with a discussion of what is happening in the world today.

"The horrors of war and genocide still exist in the world, but the greater evils that Shmuel and Sonia faced are not at my doorstep. It is easy to close our eyes and live in the cocoon of our comfortable existence, but we must open our eyes to the corruption and injustice surrounding us. If we listen, we can hear the cries of our poor, hungry and homeless neighbors. If we are aware, we can feel the despondency of the drug addict and the pain of victims of prejudice, racism and anti-Semitism. And if we only look, we can see the irreversible damage to our planet that is caused by pollution. It is our duty to even the scales of justice in the world. We must take action. Through educational initiatives the cycle of poverty can end, by going green we can save our planet, and through donating blood and marrow to the terminally ill we can fight for life. But, the way to truly defeat evil is by teaching others not to be indifferent. We must resist, we must defy, we must fight, and we must never embrace silence."

In addition to meeting the contest's guidelines, EJ's essay exemplified the inspiration between the student and the partisan, which resonated very strongly with the readers and judges.

Reflecting on her experience with the Writing Contest EJ notes, "the Writing Contest has inspired me and given me pride in the relatives I will never meet because they fought against the cruel hand of injustice. I now not only remember the bitter end of the six million Jews, but also the fighting spirit of the forceful resistance. This contest has forever changed my perspective of the Holocaust, my people, and my family."

EJ's History Instructor Jaclyn Guzman adds, "JPEF’s Writing Contest is a perfect match for classes that are looking to transform the lessons of history into their students’ understanding of the world. The essay contest provides a true connection to real people and brings the past to the present for the students. Instead of their writing being removed from and only commenting on the history they are learning, the students are motivated to reflect on and relate with the history. The interactive nature of the essay and the JPEF website mirrors the hands-on history philosophy of my school in which the students are participants and not merely observers of history."

Elliott Felson, co-chair, JPEF Board of Directors commented, "JPEF's Writing Contest allowed me to experience the impact our work has on the kids that are exposed to it. The student's essays were thoughtful, bright, and creative: each one of them, from middle school to high school, spoke from the heart and were moved to make a difference in the world in their own way."

Announcing the Winners of Our Second Annual Youth Writing Contest

2011-06-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Winning Essays are posted below -
please scroll down and click on links.

From 500+ entries representing 20 states across the country as well as entries from Canada and South Africa, in public, private, Jewish and parochial schools, the six top essays were chosen as winners: three from 8th-9th grades and three from 10th-12th grades.

Students were given the following quote as an essay prompt: “The only way for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing.” An English statesman expressed this sentiment, two hundred years before the Holocaust. This quote is commonly attributed to Edmund Burke, a member of the House of Commons in England during the time of the American Revolution. Burke supported the independence of the American colonies from England. His quote is as relevant today as it was then.

Student essayists were asked: How do you think this quote relates to the Jewish partisans? Then they wrote a 300 to 500 word personal essay answering this question using specific examples from at least one Jewish partisan that inspired them. Additionally they were asked to write about how they see this quote as relevant today.

The students essay portions on the relevance today ranged from bullying, to pollution to Darfur to standing up against discrimination and oppression.

Essays remained anonymous to our volunteer readers. Each essay was read three times by three different readers.

The winners are:
Lower Division (8th-9th Grades):
1st place:
Mason Stevens, 8th grade, St. Cecilia Catholic School, TX
2nd place:
Jennifer Peterson, 9th grade, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, NE
3rd place:
Ashley Gomez. 9th grade, Arts High School, NJ

Upper division (10th-12th Grades):
1st place:
EJ Weiss, 10th grade, Kehillah Jewish High School, CA
2nd place:
Molly Oberstein-Allen, 12th grade, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, KS
3rd place:
Nicholas Sexton, 11th grade, McNair Academic High School, NJ

The winning essays discussed the life lessons of these Jewish Partisans:

Harry Burger

Don Felson

Sara Fortis

Sonia Orbuch

We want to take the opportunity to thank all of the students who participated in the contest, and all of the administrators, educators and mentors who encouraged their participation. We would also like to thank the 40 volunteer readers who helped us judge this contest.

These essays were deeply touching and inspiring to all of us here at JPEF: the staff, board members and partisans. We look forward to hosting the contest again next year.

For further information or questions about the contest, please contact Doug Moss at doug@jewishpartisans.org

Featured Jewish Partisan - Sonia Orbuch, born on May 24th

2011-05-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

“I didn’t even bend down my head, I wasn’t worried that I was going to get killed, If I was going to get killed I was going to get killed as a fighter, not because I am a Jew.”

Sonia Orbuch, during JPEF interview.

In September 1939, World War II began when Germany attached Poland. Sarah Shainwald was 14 years old and getting ready to start high school when the bombs began falling. The Soviets invaded Poland from the east and Lubomi was handed to the Russians under the Hitler / Stalin pact that divided Poland between them.

For two years, under the Soviets. Sarah grew up against the backdrop of war, with worries about her family’s future. In 1941, her small Polish town fell under German occupation following Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. Sarah and her family survived in the ghetto alongside the other members of the Jewish community.

News spread quickly when the Germans began killing the Jews in the ghetto. Her brother and several male friends left to join a partisan group. The forest was the only hope for Sarah and her parents. They hid among the trees where they survived in freezing temperatures for months.

Sarah and her family made contact with a nearby Russian partisan group through the help of a sympathetic local peasant. Without weapons or training, they hoped that Sarah’s uncle, a trained scout with life-long knowledge of the surrounding terrain, would be enough of an asset to gain acceptance. The largely non-Jewish unit eventually received the family and Sara began her new life in the forest encampment that served as a base for missions of sabotage and resistance.

Sarah, renamed Sonia by the partisans, mined train tracks and stood guard on the camp perimeter. She played the role of makeshift nurse, using whatever supplies were available to dress the wounds of partisans returning daily from battle.

In the winter of 1943/44, Sonia’s battalion joined eleven others to establish a winter camp deeper in the forest. Several thousand were in that camp and her duties were transferred to the camp’s hospital.

To avoid possible torture and interrogation in the event of capture, Sonia carried two hand grenades, Sonia carried two hand grenades, “One for the enemy, and one for myself.”

“During the daytime, the fights were terrible,… you didn’t take off your shoes, you didn’t wash; you barely ate. You just worked very hard providing whatever comfort your could…I was frightened, horrified at the numbers of people we lost.”

In 1944, Sonia and her parents faced the decision of either leaving the partisans or joining the Red Army. They decided to leave the partisans and took refuge in an abandoned house infected with typhus, a condition they were unaware of at the time. The typhus soon claimed Sonia’s mother, leaving only Sonia and her father.

As the war ended, Sonia focused her energies on getting to America. These days, Sonia lives in Northern California. But the past is never far away. “I miss my family every minute of the day,” Sonia says. “I see them always before my eyes.”

Sonia defiantly proclaims. “I want young people to know we were fighting back and that you can always find a way to fight back against injustice, racism, or anti-Semitism. If I was going to get killed, I was going to get killed as a fighter and not because I am a Jew. That itself gave me strength to go on.

Sonia realized that while terror was raging around her, kindness always managed to shine through. “I feel great respect for the Russian people who were so brave and helpful to us,” Sonia says. “Life is very precious. Even though the world is cruel, there are some good people and they should not be forgotten.”

She continues to share her experiences, teaching students in the classroom as often as she can. Here she is recently in the 8th grade classroom at Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Rafael, California.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about the Sonia Orbuch, including seven videos of Sonia reflecting on her time as a partisan. You can also download our study guide Sonia Orbuch: A Young Woman With The Russian Partisans.

Sonia has written about her experiences in the partisans in her book Here, There Are No Sarahs: A Woman's Courageous Fight Against the Nazis and Her Bittersweet Fulfillment of the American Dream, available at amazon.com.

Inspiring Memoir Of Two Jewish Partisans

2011-05-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

JPEF recommends this book. Please read the following from Ralph S. Berger, editor of the book.

With Courage Shall We Fight:
The Memoirs and Poetry of Holocaust Resistance Fighters

Frances “Fruma” Gulkowich Berger and Murray “Motke” Berger

Edited by Ralph S. Berger and Albert S. Berger

“With courage shall we fight,” a line from one of my mother’s poems, “Jewish Partisans,” is a fitting title for the memoir of Murray “Motke” and Frances “Fruma” Gulkowich Berger’s incredible story of survival. Miraculously, first individually and then together as fighters in the Bielski Brigade, they escaped from the Nazis and certain death and literally fought back, saving not only their own lives but those of others as well.

Growing up, I never knew any of the former Partisans to be reticent about speaking of their experiences. My parents were passionate about Holocaust education and about educating people to the fact that Jews did not go like sheep to the slaughter. They wanted the world to know that when they could, Jews fought back, physically and spiritually. In writing this book, my brother Al and I sought not only to honor our parents, but to continue their mission of educating people about their experiences, as well as the experiences of others, during the Holocaust.

My Dad, Murray Berger, was born in a shetl called Wseilub, in what was then Belorussia, White Russia. My Mom, Frances Gulkowich Berger, was raised in Korelitz, Poland, a shetl in the county of Novogrudek. The world that my parents lived in was destroyed by the Holocaust.

Sensing that a massacre was soon to take place in the Novogrudek Ghetto, my Dad was determined to escape. He and others wanted to join the Partisans, guerrilla fighters, and fight the Nazis. They wanted to do this despite the fact that there was tremendous anti-Semitism among the Russian and Polish partisans. Many of them would readily kill a Jewish fighter for a good pair of boots. But then word came that the Bielski Brothers were forming a Jewish partisan unit.

My father was among the first seven men to escape from the Novogrudek ghetto and join the Bielskis. Another eight, including my uncle, Ben Zion Gulkowich, followed soon thereafter. Those fifteen men elected Tuvia Bielski to be their Commander. The Bielski Brigade was born. Both independently and along with Russian detachments, it fought the Nazis. It engaged in sabotage, blowing up bridges and rail lines, destroying telephone lines, bombing Nazi police headquarters and, at times, engaging in open combat. And, very importantly, the Bielski Brigade rescued other Jews. The Bielski detachment grew into a forest community of more than 1200 Jews. It was the most massive rescue operation of Jews by Jews.

In the summer of 1942, the Nazis massacred over 4,000 Jews from the Novogrudek ghetto. My Mom and my aunt Judy Gulkow survived by hiding in a cesspool for six days, without food or water. They were rescued by my uncle, Ben Zion. Shortly thereafter, with about two dozen others, they escaped and joined the Bielski Brigade. My Mom was the first woman in the Brigade to be issued a weapon.

With Courage Shall We Fight is a compilation of my parents’ writings and my Mom’s poetry, as well as a pictorial history. It tells about their lives before, during and after the War. It is first person testimony in my parents’ own words. Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum described With Courage Shall We Fight as a memoir of “defiance, determination and resistance.” I agree. But it is also a story of love and of hope.

The picture on the cover of the book was taken in 1945 in a displaced persons camp in Romania nicknamed “Kibbutz Tulda”. All are former members of the Bielski group. My Mom is the one with the hat, my Dad the one in the cool glasses. We chose this picture because despite what they all endured, they look so happy, happy to be alive.

- Ralph S. Berger, Co-Editor

Copies of With Courage Shall We Fight are available from the publisher at www.comteqpublishing.com, the Museum of Jewish Heritage at www.mjhnyc.org, and from amazon.com. All royalties are donated to support Holocaust education.

Discussing Bin Laden & Terrorism: Using JPEF’s Ethics and ‘Defiance’ Guide

2011-05-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Looking for resources to help discuss the recent death of Osama bin Laden with your students? JPEF's Ethics and 'Defiance' discussion guide contains useful critical thinking threads on responding to terrorism, wartime ethics, and Jewish perspectives on killing in self-defense and taking revenge.

Pages 4 and 7 of the guide include several quotes and perspectives — including President Obama on responding to terrorism and Al Qaeda — which highlight the relevance of the Jewish partisans' ethical dilemmas with we see every day in the headlines. Here are a few excerpts:

"…Negotiations cannot convince Al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history…" — President Obama

"Evil only recognizes stronger evil." — Jewish partisan Simon Trakinski

"… Only by repaying evil with good do we defeat it." — Judea Pearl (father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl)

For complete quotes with context and discussion questions, download the Ethics and 'Defiance' guide at www.jewishpartisans.org/resist. And please contact us to let us know what your students come up with in response.

Youth Writing Contest - last call for entries Deadline for essays is May 17th

2011-05-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Reflections from the 2010 contest winner Loren Miller:

When I was in eighth grade, we watched the miniseries “Uprising” in class. I had always heard about the Holocaust survivors, but it was first at this point in time that I truly appreciated the role of the partisans—the fighters. Watching with rapt attention as Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto fought the Nazis until the bitter end, I knew I had to learn more about these people, not just to recognize pure bravery but also to make evil less terrifying. Knowing that evil could be countered, that resistance was possible, that indifference was simply unacceptable, I felt empowered.

By participating in the JPEF Youth Writing Contest, I had the chance to reflect once again on the power of defiance, exploring this theme through the eyes of partisan Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi. As far as society has come in the years since World War II, we still have a long way to go in combating the hatred and prejudice that is unfortunately so prevalent. This contest was an excellent opportunity for me to reaffirm my goals of fighting modern-day bigotry in a creative and meaningful way.

Educators and Administrators: there is still time to get your students to enter our 2011 Youth Writing Contest.

Students: your voices can be heard, your words can be powerful. Enter our 2011 Youth Writing Contest - you may win an iPod and you will help shape your vision of the past, the present and the future.

Submissions to the 2011 Youth Writing Contest are due May 17th. For more information, including entry rules and guidelines, please visit our contest page at www.jewishpartisans.org/contest.

Featured Jewish Partisan: Tuvia Bielski (z''l)

2011-05-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

Tuvia Bielski was born in Stankiewicze, in western Belorussia in 1906. When Germany invaded Russia in June of 1941, Tuvia and his younger brother Zus vowed never to be caught by the Germans. Tuvia's extensive knowledge of the area saved his life, allowing him to move around frequently to avoid being captured by the Germans, who had a warrant for his arrest.

In early 1942, Tuvia began hearing rumors about partisans, and decided that if he and his fellow Jews were to survive, he must acquire arms and organize all-Jewish resistance groups. Along with two of his brothers, Zus, and Asael, Tuvia began organizing Jews. By May of 1942, Tuvia was in command of a small group, which by the end of the war had grown to 1200 people, and was known as the Bielski otriad. Tuvia had focused on saving as many Jews as possible, and would accept any Jew into his group. Many came through the family of Konstantin Kozlovski, a non-Jew, who provided shelter for Jews escaping from the Novogrudok Ghetto and worked with the partisans to free hundreds of Jews from the ghetto. The Bielski otriad carried out food raids, killed German collaborators, and sometimes joined with a Russian partisan group in anti-Nazi missions, such as burning the ripe wheat crop so the German soldiers couldn't collect and eat the wheat. Additionally, the Bielski otriad would seek out Jews in the ghetto willing to risk escape to the forest, and send in guides to help them.

By the summer of 1943, Tuvia was the leader of 700 people. In the Nalibocka forest, Tuvia set up a functioning community, with everyone working to support the community in a variety of ways. There was a hospital, classrooms for the children, a soap factory, a Turkish bath, tailors, butchers, and even a group of musicians who played at festivals. Beyond meeting the needs of its own members, the Bielski otriad was able to provide services to other partisan groups in exchange for food and arms.

By the summer of 1944, the group had grown to 1200. The group consisted mainly of the elderly, women, and children. Tuvia's group was the largest of the Jewish partisan groups.

A high percentage of those he led survived, due to Tuvia's strong and effective leadership, and his determination to save as many Jews as possible.

After the war, Tuvia moved first to Israel and later to the United States, where he died at 81.

A letter written by Bielski describing a Russian General's visit to the Bielski camp can be read here.

Tuvia Bielksi and the Bielski partisan group were portrayed in the Paramount Pictures film "Defiance" starring Daniel Craig as Tuvia and Liev Schreiber as his brother Zus. Working with Paramount and director Edward Zwick, JPEF developed a unique curriculum and an Educator's DVD with 16 scenes from the film. This curriculum engages students in critical thinking about History, Leadership, Ethics, and Jewish Values. JPEF presents these innovative materials through teacher training workshops and through our free-online E-Learning platform.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org/defiance for more about the Bielksi Partisans and the film 'Defiance', including a 5-page Tuvia Bielski study guide/biography. See JPEF's Bielski Partisans and Defiance resource page for videos, our new Tuvia Bielski and Ethics & 'Defiance' film discussion guides + more, and check out our free E-Learning platform

Holocaust Remembrance Day – Alameda County

2011-05-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yom HaShoah v'HaGevurah - The Day of the Holocaust and Resistance 

Community-Wide Observance

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

7:45 PM 

Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit Street, Oakland

During World War II, between 20,000 and 30,000 Jews escaped the ghettos and camps to create or join resistance groups. Our speakers this evening will be Murray Gordon and Henry Ramek, two survivors who were part of the resistance during the Holocaust. Their voices will remind us never to forget.

To learn more about Murray Gordon and other Jewish partisans, read the article titled “Hidden heroes Filmmaker puts spotlight on Jewish partisans who fought Nazis”

Co-sponsors: Bay Area Midrasha, Beth Jacob Congregation, B'nai B'rith Lodge 252, CJLL, Israel Center, JCC of the East Bay, JCRC of the East Bay, Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay, Jewish Family & Children's Services of the East Bay, Jewish Federation of the East Bay, Jewish Partisan Education Foundation, Oakland Hebrew Day School, Tehiyah Day School, Temple Beth Abraham, Temple Beth Sholom, and Temple Sinai.

Remembering the Shoah, Remembering Courage

2011-04-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Mitch Braff, JPEF Executive Director

Holocaust Remembrance Day, often known as Yom HaShoah, is a time when we all reflect upon the atrocities and losses which occurred during the Holocaust. The intent of this day, established by the Israeli Knesset in 1951 (and declared a public holiday in 1959), was to recognize both the devastation and the heroism. Its complete name in Hebrew is Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah – Gevurah meaning heroism or courage, and Shoah referring to the Holocaust.

JPEF encourages using the full name for this commemoration, as do many communities across the United States. The specific date was chosen to coincide with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, so resistance was always to be intertwined with this day.

We have developed a short two page guide on putting the Gevurah back into Yom HaShoah. I encourage you to download it from our website.

I hope that everyone has a meaningful Yom HaShoah v'HaGevurah this May 1st or any time during the Days of Remembrance (May 1-8) when it is commonly acknowledged among schools and communities throughout the United States.

-Mitch Braff

Founder & Executive Director

Resources:

"Putting the Gevurah Back Into Yom HaShaoh" and "Who Are the Jewish Partisans?" - www.jewishpartisans.org/resist
Knesset Holocaust Memorial web page, including scan of original 1959 Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day Law - www.knesset.gov.il/shoah/eng/eshoah.htm
Day of Remembrance 2011 (USHMM - includes materials for educators and community ceremonies) - www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor

Second Annual Youth Writing Contest

2011-04-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row, JPEF‘s Youth Writing Contest will challenge middle and high school students (8th-12th grade) throughout the country to creatively express how the life lessons of the Jewish partisans relate to their own lives. This year’s entrants are asked to describe how the famous quotation- “The only way for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing.”- remains relevant today, using examples from the life story of at least one Jewish partisan. Each essay must also address what the writer can do personally to ensure that evil – in whatever form – never prospers in her or his own community.

The most inspiring essays in the 8th to 9th grade level and the 10th-12th grade level will win the writer (and his/her teacher!) an iPod Touch, preloaded with all of JPEF’s short films. Essays must be submitted via the JPEF website by May 17, 2011.

Winners will be announced June 1. Go to www.jewishpartisans.org/contest to enter or download a printable classroom poster with contest guidelines. The JPEF writing contest will be judged by a prestigious panel that includes Jewish partisans. Please email us at writingcontest@jewishpartisans.org if you have any questions.

Innovative Class Links Native American and Jewish Resistance

2011-04-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

At the Fort Washakie School, on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, Librarian and Film-maker Robin Levin teaches “Responses to Genocide”, a high-school class which ties the cultural history of her mostly Native American students to the life lessons of the Jewish partisans.

Robin uses Teaching with Defiance in concert with her documentary, Taken From My Home: Indian Boarding Schools in Perspective, Told by Teenagers Who Lived Through the Unthinkable, and many other resources, including interviews from both boarding school survivors and former Jewish partisans. She plans to show excerpts from these interviews for "Defying Genocide", a community-wide Days of Remembrance ceremony on May 3, 2011 at the Lander Public Library in Fremont County, WY.

Robin says that common threads can be drawn in understanding the ways that dominant societies set out to victimize groups in their midst and that, for her students, the parallels to the Jewish experience in the Holocaust are obvious: “Every native student alive today is a survivor. The connection is intuitive, it’s there. They know that the cavalry mowed down their forebears; they know that their relations suffered forced marches and starvation and relocation and dehumanization. Yet here they are today, victorious: they’re still here and still identifying themselves as a member of a tribe, a family, and clan.” She notes that studying the Jewish partisans also gives her students a sense of hope, "Every story of survival is an actual miracle.”

Robin starts her course with a discussion of the U.N. definition of genocide. The students then study Ishmael Beah's book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and the related film The Storytelling Class, and discuss whether or not the book’s circumstances can “technically” be considered genocide. The class then moves on to the Holocaust and Jewish resistance, focusing on the film Defiance and JPEF's accompanying curriculum. She concludes the course with the history of the Indian Boarding Schools, and the actions that helped end them. This gives the students an opportunity to “bring their own family stories into the loop” using curricula she developed to accompany Taken From My Home. Robin notes that the Indian Boarding School movement clearly falls within the U.N. definition of genocide: destroying the cultural identity of a group, taking them from their home, refusing them their language, clothing expression, games, and song and, under extreme duress, forcibly imposing Euro-American values.

Robin shared several tips for using the Jewish partisans in the classroom, starting with the film Defiance which, she says, leaves her students "breathless; at the end of the film, their reaction is, 'oh that was awesome.'" She stresses the importance of watching the entire film, Defiance, breaking when needed but taking as long as it takes over several class sessions to see the entire movie and hone in on issues of greatest interest to the students. She also suggests using testimonials from surviving partisans to present an active voice in reinforcing messages of the film.

Robin laminated several copies of JPEF's Faye Schulman “Pictures of Resistance” poster (available from JPEF), which she passes out to her students, asking them to describe what they see: who the people pictured in the poster are, how they seem to function together and what their responsibilities were, during both peaceful moments as well as during warfare.

She concludes her segment on the partisans by assigning the students a creative project -- a poem, drawing, home design -- that the student develops as a “gift” for a partisan, designed to meet a need of theirs in either his or her past, present, or future. Levin explains, “Don’t dictate what to expect. If the students says, 'I can’t do anything', then ask what could this person could do for you, if you were in need.”

For more information about the Taken From My Home DVD and curriculum, click on the "store" link at www.fascinatinglearningfactory.org or email robinlevin@gmail.com.

Featured Jewish Partisan: Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi (z''l)

2011-04-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Soldier's Sketches Only Known Drawings of Jewish Partisan Experience

Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi was a young man in Turin, Italy during the time of Mussolini and fascism. When Italy’s racial laws – based on the Nuremberg laws – were put into effect, he was able to continue his university education by relocating to Milan, where the bureaucracy was too inefficient to notice him. Eugenio stayed in Milan for several years, working as an architect’s apprentice. His first act of resistance began when he and his friends tore down antisemitic propaganda posted throughout the city.

Following the German invasion, Eugenio connected with the Arturo Verraz partisans, surviving in the mountains and sketching scenes of his life in the resistance. His partisan unit kept mountain trails open for the Allies and prevented reinforcements from reaching the Germans. Eugenio was personally responsible for hiding the dynamite used to blow up roads and tunnels and obtaining critical supplies for partisan survival such as shoes and food. In the fall of 1944, he fought alongside British and American soldiers, following the front lines into France.

Eugenio’s sketches are the only known drawings made during the war by a Jewish partisan, and are of critical historical importance. You and your students can view these artistic documents (with annotations) by clicking the "IMAGES" tab on his profile at www.jewishpartisans.org/eug eniogbio. There is also a video of him explaining the sketches with an English translation.

After the war, Eugenio remained in Milan, marrying and continuing his studies. He eventually became a master architect, as well as a professor at Milan’s Polytechnic. Eugenio died in Milan in 2005. May his memory be for a blessing.

2011 Youth Writing Contest Currently Underway

2011-04-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Reflections from the 2010 contest winner Talia Weisberg:

Last year, a friend of mine told me about the Jewish Partisans Educational Foundation’s Youth Writing Contest. Since I only had a basic knowledge of the partisans’ accomplishments, I really looked forward to doing research on them. I was amazed by the courage and strength of the partisans. The fact that these young men and women were brave enough to take a stance and to fight back really made me think about how I live my own life.

Am I continuing their legacy, and the legacy of their ancestors? Am I fighting against what I think is wrong, speaking up when I hear something I oppose? Or am I letting injustice slide past me without protest?

The lessons that the partisans have taught me are invaluable. Even if I hadn’t won the contest last year, just learning more about the partisans and writing an essay about them would have been rewarding enough. The partisans have really changed my opinions towards past history, current society, and how I want the future to be.

One year after her Youth Writing Contest essay, this young woman continues to think about the Jewish Partisans and their experiences. Studying the partisans and writing an essay have had a significant impact on her.

Educators and Administrators: help your students have a similar experience! Encourage and support their entry in our 2011 Youth Writing Contest.

Students: your voices can be heard, your words can be powerful. Enter our 2011 Youth Writing Contest - you may win an iPod and you will help shape your vision of the past, the present and the future.

Submissions to the 2011 Youth Writing Contest are due May 17th. For more information, including entry rules and guidelines, please visit our contest page at www.jewishpartisans.org/contest.

Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi - Buon Compleanno (Happy Birthday)!

2011-03-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

Today we mark the birthday of Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi (z"l). Eugenio was born in Italy in 1916. While Eugenio came of age under Mussolini, he was exposed to antifascism at a young age, as his hometown of Turin was a hotbed of opposition. The war began to directly affect Eugenio in 1938, when Italy’s racial laws, based on the Nuremberg laws, were put into effect. His father lost his job, and while Eugenio’s family went into hiding, Eugenio traveled to Milan, where the bureaucracy was inefficient enough that he could sit for his university tests without harassment. After scoring top marks, Eugenio went to work as an architect’s apprentice in Milan, where he would stay for several years.

In Milan, Eugenio and his friends tore down the anti-Semitic propoganda posted in the city, their first act of resistance in that city. Eugenio also began to act as a courier, carrying underground pamphlets from a communist print shop in Turin and carrying them to Milan

Eugenio left Milan to escape the bombardment that followed the German invasion and took to the Valle d’Aosta countryside. He eventually connected with the partisans, living in the mountains and sketching scenes of his in the resistance.

Eugenio and his partisan unit kept the mountain trails open for the Allies and kept the Germans pinned down in Italy, preventing reinforcements from reaching the front lines in France. He was personally responsible for hiding the dynamite used to blow up roads and tunnels underneath his bed as well as obtaining supplies needed for daily survival, such as shoes and food. In the fall of 1944, he fought alongside British and American soldiers and then followed the front lines into France before heading back to Rome, where he learned of the liberation of Turin and Milan.

After the war Eugenio settled down to make a life for himself, marrying and continuing his studies. He would eventually become a master architect, as well as a professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He died in Milan in 2005.

Hear first-hand from Eugenio during his interview with JPEF and view more of his unique sketches on the JPEF website.

Picture drawn by Eugenio that shows the role of women. Women provided an important service to the partisans by hiking for 12 hours in the high mountains to deliver messages. (Source: JPEF Archive, Italy 1942-1943)

Drawn by Eugenio during the war this picture shows two partisans on an exploration mission of the northern slope of the mountain in the valley. (Source: JPEF Archive, Italy 1942-1943)

2011-03-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

Our executive director, Mitch Braff, wrote an article for the NSSSA Leader, the house publication of the National Social Studies Supervisors Association. The entire article can be downloaded in PDF format at this link.

Video from Polish TV about JPEF Program

2011-03-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Brush up on your Polish to understand this, and make sure you have latest Sliverlight Player (will install automatically from Microsoft if needed) and click here.

Forward player to 7:38.

This is regarding our traveling exhibit, Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman, which is now traveling extensively throughout Poland.

For more information about the exhibit, please go here.

Two minute video from South Africa trip

2011-02-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

Read blogs below about trip for more details:

Part 1
Part 2

Student Inspired by the Legacy of Women Who Came Before Her

2011-02-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

Nine grader, Talia Weisberg, Winner of our 2010 Youth Writing Contest

Last year, ninth grade student Talia Weisberg was inspired by the strength and courage of Jewish partisan Sara Fortis and many other Jewish women who came before her. Read her moving essay below.

JPEF will be announcing its 2011 Writing Contest soon! E-mail writingcontest@jewishpartisans.org for more information.

“We are of the Line,” I hear my mother say, and I am swept into the past, reliving the strong history of the women in our religion:

I am with Sarai as she becomes Sarah. I assist Rebecca as she helps Eliezer water his camels. I stand behind the chuppah with Rachel as Jacob unknowingly marries Leah. I strum a harp with Serakh as she tells Jacob that Joseph is alive. I sing with Miriam as she leads the Jewish women through the Red Sea. I protest with the daughters of Zelophehad as they ask Moses for their inheritance. I sit with Deborah under her date tree as she judges the Jewish people. I hand Jael the tent peg to kill Sisera and save her nation. I pray with Hannah in the Temple as she beseeches God for a child. I fast with Esther as she prepares to approach Ahasuerus and try to save her people.

I go from the plains of the Fertile Crescent, the deserts of Egypt, the lush fields of Israel, and the palaces of Persia to a more recent time. I am witnessing a hell unlike any I have seen before. Women, skeletons, starve in concentration camps I can barely recognize my grandmother and great-grandmother with several other female relatives, shipped from a wealthy home in Hungary, to this cold Polish prison, Auschwitz. I help my cousin pull my great-aunt from the left line, and again from a wagon destined for certain death I shield my great-grandmother as she steals scraps of food from the kitchens and trades them for cigarettes for my grandmother to smoke I deny the non-kosher meat with my great-grandmother and live off of air I feel the starvation, the cold, the pain, with my Jewish sisters.

As soon as I have seen their nightmarish life conditions in the concentration camp, I find myself among a group of Partisans, girls turned into women prematurely, acting as men trained for battle. They are dressed like regular Greek villagers, but it’s obvious they are on a mission. They stop at a house with swastikas on flags outside of it, and start a fire inside.

“Captain Sarika!” one girl calls out. “Sarika Fortis! Have we done it right?” Smoke begins to curl out of the house’s windows. “Yes, Eleni,” the captain replies. “Now we must go! The Partisans must never be caught!” The women hurry from the scene and I run with them, marveling at their strength, their audacity, how such young women could stand up to tyranny and prejudice with no second thoughts.

“We are of the Line,” my mother says, talking about the strong line of women we descend from, and yes, all I can do is nod, all I can do is agree. All these women were strong, defying social norms, protesting prejudices that kept them down, always questioning authority, never taking no as an answer, always fighting, always working, always reaching their goal.

JPEF Short Films, Great Resources in Classrooms

2011-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Partisan women have always been an incredible aspect of Jewish partisan history. Besides fighting the Germans, women had to put up with sexism and sexual violence in their own groups. JPEF has important resources on these fascinating women including a printable guide and two short films:

"A Partisan Returns: The Legacy of Two Sisters" chronicles former Bielski partisan Lisa Reibel’s journey back to her home in Belarus for the first time after nearly 65 years. Hear first-hand how her story of escape, struggle, and success continues to influence her family today.

"Everyday the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans" relates how Jewish women partisans overcame the unique dangers they faced both as women and as Jews to become part of the vital infrastructure of partisan movements throughout the World War II. JPEF also developed a study guide “Women in the Partisans” to accompany the film, which is narrated by Tovah Feldshuh.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Outreach Division promoted the JPEF study guide "Women in the Partisans" to coincide with the film, Daring to Resist, at 30 U.N. Information Centers around the world. The film profiles three young Jewish women during the Holocaust--including Faye Schulman, Jewish partisan photographer--who found unexpected ways to fight back against the Germans. JPEF features Schulman's remarkable photographs in our traveling exhibit, "Pictures of Resistance."

Click here to learn more about the 11 Jewish women partisans on the JPEF website, download study guides, and watch short films emphasizing the unique role that women played in partisan groups during the Holocaust.

Women's History Month Resources

2011-02-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Schulman, Faye, Sarah Silberstein Swartz

A Partisan’s Memoir: Woman of the Holocaust

Second Story Press, 1995.

Essie Shor and Andrea Zakin

Essie: The True Story of a Teenage Fighter in the Bielski Partisans

Mindfulness Publishing, 2009.

Sonia Shainwald Orbuch and Fred Rosenbaum

Here, There Are No Sarahs

RDR Books, February 23, 2009.

Eta Wrobel

My Life, My Way, the Extraordinary Memoir of a Jewish Partisan in WWII Poland

The Wordsmithy, LLC, 2006.

Frank Blaichman

Rather Die Fighting

Arcade Publishing, 2009.

Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary, the First Complete Edition

“Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh”

Vitka Kempner “Crossroads of Life.” Yalkut Moreshet 43–44 (August 1987):171–176;

Vitka Kempner “The Memory of the Shoah and its Lesson.”

Vladka Meed, “Jewish Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.” Dimensions, Vol. 7 No. 2; 1993.

JPEF short films and study guides

Daring to Resist: Three Women Face the Holocaust

Study Guide and DVD- Women and the Holocaust: “Courage and Compassion"

Quilt Inspires 7th Grade Class to be Upstanders

2011-02-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Michele Tyler, 7^th grade Language Arts teacher at Clark Middle School in Saint John, Indiana, attended an educator institute in Lafayette, Indiana.

Integrating the lessons that she learned into her classroom, Tyler developed a project allowing each student to choose one Jewish partisan to learn about. “They each created a quilt square to represent their partisan, and then we sewed the squares together.” When teaching about the Holocaust to her class the central theme for Tyler is to explore the issue of “am I an upstander or a bystander?” Her class examines this concept by reading Children of Willesden Lane and the stories of the partisans to support her central theme.

Tyler generally begins the unit with a KWL (What You Know, What You Want to Know, and What You’ve Learned) chart about the Holocaust. She has since discovered that many students have studied the Holocaust, but most of them have never heard about the partisans or the Kindertransport. Tyler commented, “I use the KWL as a jumping off point to introduce these two stories. At the end of the unit, students are asked to integrate what they have learned into an action plan for their own lives—how they will live as upstanders.”

South Africa Part II - Durban and Joburg

2011-02-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

The second week of my journey in South Africa took me to Durban and Johannesburg. While in Durban, I spoke at the International UN Holocaust program to a sold out audience at their Holocaust Centre. Part of this program was the local premiere of the play “The Boys from the Ashes.” Written by his granddaughter, Courtneigh Cloud, “The Boys from the Ashes” is a powerful play about Israel Gurwicz, a Holocaust survivor from Vilna who was involved with Abba Kovner and his ghetto resistance.

Mary Kluck, Durban Holocaust Centre Director during opening remarks.

The following day I addressed a group of docents -- preparing them for our Faye Schulman exhibit that will be in Durban in early March. I also conducted a teacher training consisting of educators who teach in both private and state schools. After the workshop, one educator wrote, "The workshop answered some stereotypes one had about the Jewish community." The idea of Jewish passivity during the Holocaust is so pervasive even among educators, and I was glad I could dispel it through the JPEF training.

JPEF Executive Director Mitch Braff goes over the JPEF website with local educators in Durban.

I learned a great deal on the challenges of teaching in South Africa. Primarily, that in many parts of South Africa, at least outside of the big cities, many schools are without electricity. More importantly though, many educators in the townships do not know what the Holocaust was and for that matter how to teach the lessons. I admire the work and staff of the South African Holocaust Foundation, for they are teaching in a challenging environment, to say the least. They are also doing excellent work on talking about the Holocaust in context with the Rwandan genocide. It was a privilege to be part of all three of the Centre’s incredible and meaningful work.

JPEF presentation at King David High School in Johannesburg.

The first day in Johannesburg, I was invited to speak at the Great Park Synagogue as part of a community-wide program. I also presented at both the King David and Wendywood schools in the Joburg suburbs. The contrasts between these high schools were significant. Kind David is a private Jewish school on a beautiful campus with amazing facilities, whereas Wendywood is a state school in a nice Joburg suburb, with many students from the neighboring townships attending. This is quite similar to urban public schools in the US vs. private schools in the same city. King David was all white, and Wendywood was nearly all black. Both groups of students enthusiastically embraced the subject matter. In fact, the head teacher from King David promised that his students will learn the partisan song and send us a video when they do.

Students from Wendywood High School in Johannesburg with JPEF Resist stickers of
Eta Wrobel (z"l) and Zus Bielski (z"l).

Our Resist stickers were big hits with both groups of students--though the Wendywood kids were definitely a bit more enthusiastic.

By the time I left South Africa I had spoken to over 1,000 people, including 80 educators in Cape Town, Joburg, and Durban. Our exhibit will be seen by thousands of people, including schools making special trips to view the compelling photographs and learn about Faye’s experience. The local Jewish paper ran an article on my visit and a Joburg radio station even interviewed me about the trip. It is our hope that history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans will be taught in classrooms for years in South Africa, but there are still thousands of educators that we still need to reach.

JPEF presented to a full house at the Durban Holocaust Centre.

I know that we have made a significant impact in South Africa. In the coming months and years, JPEF looks forward to continuing to build its relationship with the South African Holocaust Foundation and to bring our materials and programs to communities throughout South Africa.

Here is an article that features Mitch Braff during the U.N.'s Holocaust Remembrance Day from their website.

Mitch Braff (center) with Janine Cohen (left) and Tali Nates (right) from the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. Tali is the Executive Director and an international leader in Holocaust education.

Live Webcast of the International Day of Commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust

2011-02-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

Watch a live webcast as the United Nations honors the courage of women during the Holocaust, which continues to inspire and empower women today.

The theme of the Memorial Ceremony: “Women and the Holocaust: Courage and Compassion” on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will deliver opening remarks. Statements will also be made by H.E. Mr. Joseph Deiss, President of the 65th Session of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Ehud Barak, Minister of Defence of the State of Israel, and H.E. Ambassador Rosemary A. DiCarlo, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The keynote speech will be delivered by Professor Lenore Weitzman, Professor Emeritus, George Mason University and Mrs. Nesse Godin, Holocaust Survivor (Lithuania) will share her testimony.

JPEF worked closely with the UN to promote its materials including the study guide, Jewish Women in the Partisans. The UN sent the study guide to over thirty United Nations Information Centers (UNICs) around the globe to be used for local programming in conjunction with the documentary film Daring to Resist, which profiles three young Jewish women during the Holocaust--including Faye Schulman Jewish partisan photographer.

When: 10:00AM EST (7:00AM PST)
Channel: 3
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/>

Explore all of the resources of JPEF to learn more about Jewish women partisans.

Click here to download the study guide Women and the Holocaust - Courage and Compassion

Memoirs of a Hungarian resister

2011-02-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2011

Memoirs of a Hungarian resister

BY JONATHAN KIRSCH

Every self-published author thinks he or she has something important to say. It’s rare that the reader agrees, I’m afraid, and rarer still when history or literature is enriched by the author’s effort.

I am happy to report that none of these cautions apply to “Rebel With a Cause: The Amazing True Stories of an Urban Partisan in WWII” by Andrew E. Stevens in collaboration with Meir Doron. (See below for ordering information.)

Like other survivors of the Holocaust, Andrew Stevens managed to find a safe refuge in America after the war. The Beverly Hills businessman, whose name back in Hungary was Steinberger Endre — the family name was given first in Hungarian usage — has been active in Jewish philanthropies, including the sponsorship of monuments to the victims of Nazi genocide, but he has remained mostly silent about his own exploits until now.

With the publication of “Rebel With a Cause,” Stevens is finally telling his own remarkable tale of resistance against Nazi Germany and its Hungarian collaborators.

“I haven’t put my story into writing for 66 years because I did not want to deal with the question that has been troubling my mind ever since: ‘Why did they go to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter?’ ” he explains to the reader. “Why wasn’t the Shoah more of a battle?” Now in his late 80s, “at peace with the knowledge that I will soon leave this world,” Stevens feels “called upon to put everything into writing so that future generations will truly ‘never forget.’ ”

The ordeal of Hungarian Jewry is especially heartbreaking because it came at a time when reports of what was happening in the death camps and the killing fields had already reached the West. “During the first years of World War II, we lived in a fool’s paradise in Budapest,” he recalls. “We were buying time and ignored the time bomb ticking in our ears.” Only in 1944 did the Nazis finally turn their deadly attentions to Hungary.

Stevens tells his tale in a parallel narrative consisting of recollections of his return visit to Hungary long after the war and flashbacks to the terrible times when he was “a fugitive in [his] own city,” struggling to avoid the fate that befell so many of his fellow Jews and surviving on physical courage and sheer chutzpah. He managed to escape from the labor battalion in which he was forced to serve, tore off the yellow stripe that identified him as a Jew and searched out the Zionist underground that was finding a way out of Hungary for a precious remnant of the Jewish community.

“This was the moment that defined my own purpose in this terrible war,” Stevens writes. “In the middle of the ongoing catastrophe, I experienced a moment of joy, and finally felt that I had power over my own life.”

Stevens adopted a new identity as a Christian — he donned an eye patch and a bloodstained bandage in order to feign battle injuries as a “wounded war hero” — and undertook a new job as a forger and smuggler of documents. “Each of these documents can save the life of yet another Jew!” he was told by his comrades. Some of these forgeries are reproduced in the book along with photographs of the handsome young man who created them — an archive of documentary evidence and, at the same time, a thrilling war story, full of intrigue and suspense, including a daring escape under fire from the Hungarian fascists who aided the German army of occupation in finding and killing Jews.

Stevens’ testimony includes firsthand glimpses of some famous historical figures, including Hannah Senesh and Raoul Wallenberg. When Stevens asked why he had been chosen to carry documents from the forgery workshops to Wallenberg, he was told: “You and him, both of you are fearless.” Yet Stevens confesses that he is still haunted by memories of the atrocities that he witnessed while making his way through the streets of occupied Budapest, and he has not yet found an answer to his agonized question about the apparent passivity of so many victims of the Holocaust.

“They sneak up on me without warning,” he writes of those memories and those questions, “most of all at night and in my dreams, but also during daylight hours, when I sit down with my family for dinner or spend time with my children, in the middle of a Rotary meeting, or at the height of business negotiations.”

The book that Andrew Stevens has written and published can be approached as an intimate family memoir, as the eyewitness testimony of a Jewish partisan, and as the courageous act of a man who has chosen to confront his own demons. For all of these reasons, “Rebel With a Cause” is one self-published book whose author has earned the right to put his own words into print.

Copies of “Rebel With a Cause” by Andrew E. Stevens in an e-book edition can be ordered from Amazon.com at $9.99 per copy. Hardcover copies can be ordered directly from the author through the following e-mail address: rebelwithacause.as@gmail.com.

Jonathan Kirsch, author and publishing attorney, is the book editor of The Jewish Journal. He blogs on books at www.jewishjournal.com/twelvetwelve and can be reached at books@jewishjournal.com.

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JPEF Brings Programs to South Africa - First Stop, Cape Town

2011-01-30T21:19:00.000-08:00

The trip so far has been very exciting -- both for JPEF and me personally. South Africa is a beautiful country and I feel lucky to be here. I arrived in Durban, after a very productive week in Cape Town. There I met with Richard Freedman, the director of the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation, and his amazing staff who were so grateful that JPEF was in town with our exhibit. It has up at their Centre for a week already, and I was in town to teach their docents on how to present tours of the exhibit, show local teachers on how to teach with our materials, and give a couple lectures to groups of students.

Here is link to some of the programs from the Holocaust Centre regarding my visit.

My first program was with 350 students from Herzlia High School -- a Jewish school in the hills above the city. I gave a PowerPoint student presentation and showed JPEF's "Introduction to the Partisans" video to a very engaged audience. I then had some excellent questions -- including one 12th grader who asked why I could be proud of the partisans as they were killing people. This opened the discussion that when people are resisting genocide they do not have many choices -- boycotts, hunger strikes, and work stoppages would not have stopped Hitler. We discussed the concept of "tactics" when resisting, and how the tactic chosen to resist needs to match what people are resisting. For instance, when Dr. King and Gandhi were fighting for civil rights they chose non-violent resistance and were successful. Violent resistance is only a last resort. This will be a topic for a future JPEF study guide.

Students at Herzlia High School in Cape Town watch JPEF film, "Introduction to the Partisans"

I also spoke to a group of educators, using our "Living and Surviving in the Partisans" and "Women in the Partisans" curriculum and films as the basis for the workshop. The educators appreciated the connection between the partisans resisting and those who fought against Apartheid. Our work has special meaning here. One educator said, "Maybe be one could draw a comparison of the partisans and those of guerilla fighters in SA [South Africa] and let learners debate the importance of resistance."

Through our new relationship with the Holocaust and Genocide Foundation JPEF will now have the opportunity to get our materials into the country's official 15 hour curriculum on the Holocaust taught to all 9th graders. This can ultimately effect millions of young people here. There is still a lot of work to do to make this a reality. We are excited at the opportunity.

JPEF Executive Director Mitch Braff with Jewish partisan Martin Breslin and Richard Freedman, Executive Director of the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation at Faye Schulman exhibit at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre

I also spoke to a smaller group of students from the school -- running our "Ethics of War" program where we read JPEF play "Conversation in the Woods" .

Students from Hetzlia read the JPEF short play, "A Conversation in the Woods"

The big presentation I was here to do was for the UN Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations to almost 200 people. I was honored to be the keynote, with UN Information Director from Pretoria giving a message from the Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN before I spoke. The theme the UN chose this year was on women in the Holocaust, so I tied everything to our Faye Schulman exhibit and showed clips from our "Women in the Partisans" short film in addition to video clips from Faye. It was a great match for our material.

Richard Freedman conducts UN Holocaust Program at Cape Town Holocaust Centre with local survivors.

The exhibit will attract hundreds of people to the Centre. Already several classes are making special trips to see the exhibit -- both private schools and State schools. They will also use our materials and discuss the partisans as part of future tours of their permanent exhibit which is quite impressive in itself.

Here is panel they had set up with our material outside of where the exhibit is staged.

This is some of the feedback that was written after people saw the exhibit...

Tomorrow night I am the keynote at a Holocaust program in the port city of Durban, then I teach teachers and docents Monday. Tuesday I am off to Johannesburg to do much of the same, but will stop at a State school to speak to 150 kids there as well as a Jewish High School.

Our exhibit will be touring the country though March and will reach a few thousand people. The programs I am doing with teachers and staff of the Holocaust and Genocide Foundation will ensure the history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans are taught in South Africa for generations.

I want to give a special thank you to our funders and to curator Jill Vexler who made this all possible. Of course, we would not even be here unless it was for the generosity of Faye Schulman, who has trusted us to take her beautiful photographs to the world. Thank you Faye.

Jewish Partisan, Frank Blaichman's book is Published in Poland

2011-01-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

Jewish partisan commander, Frank Blaichman, recently had his book, Rather Die Fighting, published in Poland.

United Nations Pays Tribute to Women of the Holocaust

2011-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

United Nations Pays Tribute to Women of the Holocaust

January 24, 2011 (MMD Newswire) -- On 27 January 2011, the United Nations Department of Public Information will honour women at the sixth annual observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in a ceremony, to be held in the General Assembly Hall from 10 a.m. to noon.

This year's observance will focus on the theme "Women and the Holocaust: Courage and Compassion", and will pay tribute to the bravery and ingenuity of the women who faced Nazi persecution with strength and dignity during the Second World War. "Jewish women performed truly heroic deeds - in the face of danger and atrocity - they bravely joined the resistance, smuggled food into the ghettos and made wrenching sacrifices to keep their children alive. Their courage and compassion continue to inspire us to this day," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Hosted by Kiyo Akasaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, the ceremony will open with a message from the Secretary-General. Statements will be made by Vice-President of the General Assembly; Francisco Carrión, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations; Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations; and Meron Reuben, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations.

The keynote speech will be delivered by Lenore Weitzman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at George Mason University, who has devoted her career to advocating for women's issues. She co-edited the book Women in the Holocaust (1999), and is now completing a book on the "Kashariyot" - the young women that served as secret underground "couriers" for the Jewish resistance movements in the ghettos.

Also featured in the memorial ceremony will be Nesse Godin, a Holocaust survivor, originally from Lithuania. As a child during the Holocaust, Mrs. Godin survived a ghetto, concentration camp, four labour camps and a death march. Mrs. Godin has dedicated her life to teaching and sharing memories of her horrific experience and serves as a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Ádám Banda, a renowned concert violinist from Hungary, will perform, and Cantor Yaakov Lemmer, Chief Cantor of the Congregation Anshe Sholom, will recite the memorial prayers. Three young students from the United Nations International School, Tinglan Cao, Boteng Maluke, and Gabriela Ruiz Pez, will read excerpts from a diary and letters of women who perished in the Holocaust.

In the afternoon, there will be a panel discussion held by B'nai B'rith International, entitled "The Survivors, 1945-2011: Struggle and Perseverance" and a round table organized by the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation, entitled "A World Without Nazism - A Global Goal for Humanity Today and the Sixty-fifth Anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials". This event is co-sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information, the International Human Rights Movement "World without Nazism" and the American Forum of Russian Jewry.

The week-long events in New York will include the opening on 24 January of the exhibition "The Memories Live On", which features drawings of Auschwitz made by an unknown prisoner of the concentration camp. This exhibition is sponsored by the International Auschwitz Committee in Germany, the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oswiecim, Poland, the German Resistance Memorial Centre in Berlin, Germany, the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations and the United States Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The exhibition "Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life", curated by Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, France, will also be displayed in the United Nations Visitors' Lobby. This exhibition, based on the diary of a young Jewish girl, documents the persecution of Jews in Occupied France during the Second World War (see Note No. 6291).

Other events include a screening on 25 January of the documentary film Daring to Resist, produced and directed by Barbara Attie and Martha Goell Lubell and distributed by Women Make Films. The film recounts the stories of three young Jewish women who found unexpected ways to fight back against the Nazis. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Frank Blaichman, a former partisan, whose presence was made possible with the help of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, and Bonnie Gurewitsch, an archivist and curator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York City.

Around the world, United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) will also commemorate the Day with screenings of this film, memorial ceremonies and educational activities with local schools. The United Nations Holocaust Programme and the Mémorial de la Shoah produced a travelling exhibit in English, French, Russian and Spanish, which will be hosted by Information Centres in Bujumbura, Dakar, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow and the United Nations International Service in Vienna. For more information on the Mémorial, please visit www.memorialdelashoah.org.

In line with this year's theme, the United Nations Holocaust Programme also produced an educational study guide and companion DVD for high school students, entitled Women and the Holocaust: Courage and Compassion, to help youth better understand how the Holocaust affected women. The materials were developed in partnership with the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, and the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. The study guide and DVD can be downloaded from the Holocaust programme's website and will be available in all United Nations official languages. For more information on these partners, please visit www.yadvashem.org and www.usc.edu/vhi.

All guests must pre-register to take part in the events at New York Headquarters. Photo identification will be required and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please see the Programme's website www.un.org/holocaustremembrance for registration details and www.un.org/media/accreditation for media accreditation.

* *** *

via http://www.mmdnewswire.com/united-nations-pays-tribute-to-women-of-the-holocaust-21477.html

JPEF Partners with United Nations Holocaust Outreach Program

2011-01-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, whose mandate is to educate the public about genocide, is collaborating with JPEF on its International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th.

In New York City, a screening of the documentary film Daring to Resist, which profiles three young Jewish women during the Holocaust--including Faye Schulman Jewish partisan photographer--who found unexpected ways to fight back against the Germans, will be part of a week long observance commemorating the memory of the victims of the Holocaust organized by the U.N. The screening will be followed by a discussion with author Frank Blaichman, former Jewish partisan commander and Bonnie Gurewitsch, Archivist/Curator, Museum of Jewish Hertitage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

The U.N. is promoting JPEF's study guide "Women in the Partisans" to coincide with the film to 30 U.N. centers around the world including Kenya, India and Georgia. To access these resources, see below.

"Learning about the Jewish partisans is a vital element of Holocaust education. Resistance is a perfect example of what the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called in 2010, 'a triumph of the human spirit [and a] living testimony that tyranny, though it may rise, will surely not prevail.'" --Melanie Prud'home from the Holocaust and the U.N. Outreach Programme.

There are a limited number of tickets available:

Daring to Resist

Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Contact and Registration: Holocaustremembrance@un.org

Venue: Temporary North Lawn Building, ECOSOC Chamber, New York City

JPEF's "Pictures of Resistance" Tours South Africa

2011-01-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

U.N. Holocaust Memorial Day Flyer

JPEF's traveling photography exhibit, "Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman", is in Cape Town at the Cape Town Holocaust Center through February 3rd. The exhibit will travel to Johannesburg and Durban over the next two months. JPEF's executive director, Mitch Braff, will accompany the exhibit, conducting teacher trainings and speaking at public events, including the U.N. Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration ceremony in Cape Town on January 26th and in Durban on January 30th.

South Africa has a nationally-mandated Holocaust education unit for 9th and 11th grade students. JPEF materials will soon be a valuable addition to these educators' curricula.

Check our blog in the upcoming weeks for more stories, photos and videos from Mitch's trip to South Africa.

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Women in the Partisans Resources

2011-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

See Faye Schulman tell the stories behind her pictures, as well as photos from her exhibit, and a printable biography at www.jewishpartisans.org/fayesbio.

More free JPEF resources on women who fought back include:

Jewish Women in the Partisans resource page: films, study guides and women partisan profiles and more at www.jewishpartisans.org/women.

Short Films: "Everyday the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans" and "A Partisan Returns: the Legacy of Two Sisters" at www.jewishpartisans.org/films.

Study Guides and Poster: "Women in the Partisans," Gertrude Boyarski, Sonia Orbuch and downloadable Eta Wrobel "RESIST" poster at www.jewishpartisans.org/resist.

Tu B'Shevat (Jewish Arbor Day / New Year for Trees):

The partisans depended on the forests to evade from and combat their enemies, as well as endure the brutal winters. JPEF's "Living and Surviving" study guide and short film make great additions to your Tu B'Shevat activities this week.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org/resist and www.jewishpartisans.org/films.

JPEF Exhibit and Training at the University of Washington Hillel

2011-01-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

On January 14, accompanied by filmmaker Sharon Rennert -- Tuvia Bielski's granddaughter-- JPEF staff, provided the keynote address for the opening reception of Pictures of Resistance at the University of Washington Hillel. The following day, in conjunction with the exhibit, JPEF led a "Women in the Partisans" teacher training for dozens of area educators.

Pictures of Resistance at University of Washington Hillel, January 14, 2011.

A teacher reflected that "one of the strongest themes that flows through my curriculum is the power of the human spirit. I connect this to all historical events studied in my 8th grade class. 'Women in the Partisans' will be a perfect addition to my Holocaust unit."

To bring the Women in the Partisans and other JPEF workshops to your community, please contact outreach@jewishpartisans.org.

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Happy Birthday, Resistance Fighter, Mira Shelub

2011-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

Mira after the war, 1947.

Mira on the set of a JPEF interview holding a
photo of her husband, Norman, 2002.

Last week, Jewish partisan Mira Shelub celebrated her birthday. Mira's partisan activity took place mainly in northeastern Poland (today's Belarus) where her all Jewish group engaged in sabotage against the Nazi's and their Polish collaborators. They blew up trains, attacked police stations, and stole food that had been provided for the Germans by peasants.

Mira met her husband, Norman, who was also a fighter in her group and was the leader of their group. She reminisces, "I was lucky enough that I loved my husband and he loved me, and it was like a love affair in the forest. Can you ask for a better place? So, we were lucky that we got together and we, and we promised each other that we'll be together forever."

They married after the war, had three children, and moved to San Francisco.

Read more about Mira here.

Mira Shelub is featured in multiple JPEF documentaries and study guides including the printed guide: "Women in the Partisans" and short film, "Everyday the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans".

Mira talking about the decisions she faced as a resistance
fighter to youth at Fremont High School, 2008.

JPEF's New Poster -- Zus Bielski

2011-01-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

We have released a new poster -- featuring Jewish partisan Zus Bielski. Zus was one of 12 children, and with his brothers Tuvia, Asael, and Aron Bielski formed the largest all Jewish partisan group. The group had 1,200 members and today, there are 15,000 - 20,000 decedents from the Bielski Brigade -- alive today because of Zus and his brothers.

Zus was featured in the film "Defiance" directed by Edward Zwick and played by Liev Schreiber.

The poster reads, "Zus Bielski and his brothers fought against the Nazis and saved more than 1,200 lives" and was poster was designed by Chicago based designer Eric Triantafillou.

Download a PDF on the JPEF "Defiance" page here.

If you are interested in a t-shirt of this image, please write rachel@jewishpartisans.org.

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JPEF Executive Director, Mitch Braff, to Speak in Seattle

2011-01-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, January 13th, JPEF's Executive Director, Mitch Braff will speak at the Opening Reception of "Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman". The reception runs from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (PST) at Hillel, University of Washington with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center (WSHERC).

On January 14th (8:30 AM - 3:00 PM PST), Braff and Tuvia Bielski's granddaughter, Sharon Rennert, are featured speakers for a teacher training. JPEF's "Women in the Partisans" training will accompany Rennert's "In Our Hands: A Personal Story of the Bielski Partisans."

View the event flyer.

Register for the training here.

"Pictures of Resistance" will run at UW Hillel until February 17.

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JPEF Partisan, Jeff Gradow, Celebrates 86 Years

2011-01-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Jewish partisan, Jeff Gradow's 86th Birthday. During World War II, Jeff was forced to take refuge in the forest when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Years later the Soviets would air drop supplies and weapons to his partisan group. This help allowed the camp to launch guerilla attacks on nearby German soldiers. In 1944, his partisan group was absorbed by the Red Army.

Jeff eventually moved to the United States where he still resides today.

As a JPEF partisan, we feature Jeff's story and images on our website. Click here to read more about Jeff.

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Two JPEF Jewish Partisan Birthdays in December

2010-12-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

Blaichman in Polish partisan uniform, 1945

This month, Jewish partisan Frank Blaichman celebrated his 88th birthday. Frank was only 16 years old when the Germans invaded Poland. Month by month, life became harder until in 1942, the Jews of Frank's hometown of Kamionka, were to be resettled in a ghetto. Determined to keep his freedom, Frank left his family and eventually joined other Jews hiding in a nearby forest. When Frank was only 21 years old, he became the youngest platoon commander in a partisan unit. Frank met his wife, Cesia, while they were both in partisan units.

Frank has documented his stories and experiences from his life as a partisan in his book: Rather Die Fighting. Purchase this incredible resource here.

Frank has appeared in multiple JPEF documentaries including "Antisemitism in the Partisans" and "Introduction to the Partisans."

Eta Wrobel portrait, 1945

Polish Jewish partisan Eta Wrobel (z"l) was also born on December 28, 1918. She was the only child in a family of ten to survive the Holocaust. Eta described herself to be "born a fighter." In 1942 Eta's ghetto was forced into concentration camps, but Eta and her father escaped into the woods. Eta helped to organize an all Jewish partisan unit of about 80 people. At one point Eta was shot in the leg and dug the bullet out of her leg with a knife.

Because of her exceptional military skills, she was active on missions with men and made important strategic decisions.

Eta is featured in the JPEF film, "Women in the Partisans," and she also inspired the original JPEF poster and sticker images.

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Bold Plans for JPEF's Future

2010-12-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

JPEF's staff and board are thoughtfully planning the organization's next 10 years. Existing programs are being strengthened and new ones are being developed to reach thousands of educators and millions of students. "We want to reach every 6th-12th grade student in public, private, and parochial schools, ensuring that they all learn about and are inspired by the history and the life lessons of the Jewish partisans," says JPEF board co-chair Elliott Felson. To accomplish that goal, JPEF has introduced the E-Learning Platform, a new technology that has the potential to reach millions more and will have a far-reaching and profound impact in the field of education.

JPEF will also focus on strengthening its relationship with over 5,000 educators and organizations who currently use JPEF material making them easily accessible to every educator who wants to use them. This will include the establishment of an endowment, a planned giving campaign, and plans to promote JPEF programs in Israel, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. These efforts ensure that JPEF's bold vision will become a reality. For more information, please contact JPEF's executive director, Mitch Braff, mitch@jewishpartisans.org.

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Class Trip to Yad Vashem

2010-12-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ilana Fine Bar-hai (see Meet a JPEF Educator) recently took her class to Yad Vashem. During the visit, her class used the JPEF website to do research.

Israeli student learns about Jewish partisan Brenda Senders

Meet a JPEF Educator

2010-11-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Ilana Fine Bar-Hai

Ort Afridar Ronson High School, Ashkelon, Israel

JPEF materials are now being used worldwide. One example is in Israel where teacher Ilana Bar-Hai is asking her students to do a year-long project on the Jewish partisans. The focus of the project is to utilize JPEF's online materials. Bar-Hai wants to empower her students through the life lessons of the Jewish partisans. Her students were astounded by many of the partisans' courage. "When teaching about the Holocaust, we tend to focus on camps and being a victim, whereas the JPEF website and curricula instill my students with a sense of pride."

From Obscurity to the World Stage - Highlights from JPEF's First 10 Years

2010-11-19T11:24:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago, a life altering conversation took place between young documentary filmmaker Mitch Braff and a man in his 70's who shared his experiences fighting back against the Germans during World War II as a Jewish partisan. Inspired by what he heard, Braff started JPEF in 2000 to ensure that young people learn the history and life lessons of the 20,000-30,000 Jewish partisans who stood up to tyranny and saved lives.

Since this time, thousands of educators and hundreds of thousands of young people have been inspired by the history and the life lessons of the Jewish partisans thanks to JPEF.

From its humble beginnings based in Braff’s basement the organization grew, moving to its current offices San Francisco while producing a wide array of educational materials and programs that have garnered worldwide acclaim

Initially, JPEF interviewed dozens of Jewish partisans, created several short documentary films and more than a dozen printed guides with the goal of getting them in the hands of educators in Jewish and secular classrooms across the country. Soon the demand for its materials included Jewish youth groups like BBYO and USY, Jewish summer camps, synagogues, and parochial schools. Now, the country's most prestigious Holocaust organizations including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, the Simon Wiesethal Center in Los Angeles, and the Anti Defamation League all rely on JPEF to bring its materials to their constituents. Nearly 5,000 educators work with the organizations' materials.

JPEF’s reputation reached Hollywood and the organization consulted on the major motion picture, Defiance. Working collaboratively with the film’s Director, Edward Zwick, JPEF then produced a teaching guide and special classroom training DVD. JPEF’s popular “Teaching with Defiance” Educator Institutes have been attended by hundreds of teachers around the country.

Three years ago JPEF developed a traveling photography exhibit of the only known Jewish partisan photographer, curated by Jill Vexler, Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman, which has been shown in over a dozen domestic and international venues, and is booked through early 2012 with upcoming dates in Cape Town, South Africa, and Ann Arbor, Michigan

In 2010 JPEF launched a writing contest which attracted 500 students from 17 states. Also, in 2010 JPEF launched its e-learning platform to meet the growing demand for the organization's materials. Now, the organization is poised to reach significantly more educators in the coming years.

JPEF will be celebrating its 10 years throughout the next year, highlight programs, individuals, and communities were the origination’s impact has been greatest.

Watch JPEF's 10 year anniversary video narrated by Ed Asner.

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New York City Gala Celebrates JPEF's 10 Year Anniversary

2010-11-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

On a recent Fall evening, nearly 300 guests, including many Jewish partisans and their families, gathered at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City for a heartwarming and emotion filled evening both honoring the Blaichman and Holm families and celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF). WCBS anchor Dana Tyler was the emcee and Defiance writer/producer Clayton Frohman gave awards to the honorees.

The program recalled JPEF's humble beginnings and subsequent growth as a world leader in Holocaust education. In a tribute to her grandfather, Joe Holm (z"l), Elisabeth Holm remembers her grandfather as someone who "carried his family on his back through the forest to keep them alive. He risked his own life countless times for the sake of others...He didn't simply survive, he fought back." Read Elisabeth Holm's entire speech on the JPEF website.

Other speakers included JPEF Board Co-Chair Paul Orbuch, who talked about growing up as the son of a Jewish partisan, and JPEF Founder & Executive Director Mitch Braff, whose remarks included a tribute to the seventy partisans, survivors, their children and grandchildren in attendance. The event culminated in JPEF’s presentation of its first Lev Aryeh (Heart of the Lion) Award to partisans Cesia and Frank Blaichman and Rose and Joe (z’’l) Holm and their families. This award will be presented annually to recognize Jewish partisans, their families, and others who stand up and make a difference in the spirit of the Jewish partisans.

Watch the five-minute video honoring Frank and Cesia Blaichman and Rose and Joe (z"l) Holm.

Read more about Jewish partisan, Frank Blaichman, on the JPEF website.

JPEF was selected for its 5th time by Slingshot for its 2010-2011 50 most innovative Jewish groups

2010-11-12T13:17:00.000-08:00

We are excited to be selected as one of the 50 most innovative Jewish groups in the country for the fifth time by Slingshot. Below is an related article from the J. Weekly.

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New local faces and old in this year’s Slingshot
by amanda pazornik

Mitch Braff and other Bay Area winners Oct. 18 at “Slingshot Day” in New York. photo/courtesy of aliza craimer elias

Of the seven Jewish organizations with local ties highlighted on a list of the country’s 50 most innovative Jewish groups, six have been there before.

For the seventh, G-dcast, a website that aims to raise Jewish literacy through a weekly online Torah cartoon series, the first-time mention in the annual Slingshot directory is proof that small organizations can make a big difference.

“It was really exciting to learn G-dcast had made the cut,” said its creator, San Francisco resident Sarah Lefton. “Slingshot is a prestigious national honor — most of the organizations have been around a lot longer than we have and have more than one full-time staff member.

“This is a validation that we are really making an impact on Jewish literacy and raising the bar for Jewish new media.”

Among the cutting-edge groups named again in the Zagat-style guide is the Institute for Curriculum Services, a program of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council. This year marks ICS’ second appearance on the list.

The institute focuses on promoting accurate instructional material on Jews, Judaism and Israel. This includes monitoring how Jewish history is told in textbooks. The agency also works with state agencies, teachers and textbook companies to obtain corrections to inaccuracies, such as a prevalent fallacy that Jews were the principal persecutors of Jesus.

“It’s a nice recognition of the impact we have on Jewish education,” said Aliza Craimer Elias, ICS director of program development and national outreach. “It also exposes ICS to a wider audience nationally and opens the door to new funding opportunities.”

Also securing its second Slingshot spot is Be’chol Lashon (“In Every Tongue”), a San Francisco–based organization that works to grow and strengthen Judaism through ethnic, cultural and racial inclusiveness.

Be’chol Lashon activists work to build networks of Jewish leaders committed to encouraging Jews from all backgrounds to play dynamic roles in Jewish life.

The Hub at the JCC of San Francisco, which holds concerts, art shows, holiday festivals and other events that draw in young adults, also joins the two-time appearance list.

The program estimates nearly 10,000 people have participated since the JCCSF hired actor-rapper Dan Wolf in 2006 to expand the Hub’s lineup of happenings originally created by Amy Tobin.

Today, holiday festivities at the Hub include a Purim event that attracts hundreds of costumed participants, as well as eight days of Chanukah celebrations. It also produces a Chanukah Survival Kit for newcomers to the JCCSF living far from home.

Meanwhile, making its fifth appearance in Slingshot is San Francisco’s Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, which offers a “Resist” curriculum that teaches seventh- through 12th-grade students about the thousands of Jewish partisans who fought against the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Across the bay, Moishe House, the Oakland-based international nonprofit that provides rent subsidies for 33 Moishe Houses worldwide, including three in the Bay Area, is on the list for the third time.

And Berkeley-based Jewish Milestones, a community resource for Jews preparing for lifecycle events, is making its sixth appearance.

Slingshot was founded six years ago as an annual compilation of 50 pioneering Jewish agencies. The list is selected by members of Grand Street, a network of 18- to 28-year-olds who are or will soon be involved in their family’s philanthropy.

After Slingshot was first published, the original group of funders decided to establish the Slingshot Fund to help support the innovative, and often nascent, organizations featured in the annual guide.

For more information, visit http://www.slingshotfund.org.

Teaching with 'Defiance' in the North Bay

2010-11-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

JPEF's free educator workshop, Teaching with 'Defiance', will be in San Rafael, CA on December 6, 2010 from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM (PST). The workshop will be located at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center at 200 North San Pedro Road.

Each participant will receive: Defiance DVD with Excerpts, Defiance / Bielski Partisans Curricula, and a free vegetarian meal.

This workshop is made possible by: Elliott and Suzanne Felson, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and the Holocaust Memorial Education Fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.

Partner Organizations: Osher Marin JCC; Congregation Rodef Shalom; Bureau of Jewish Education; Facing History and Ourselves; Jewish Community Relations Council; The Curriculum Initiative.

What a Week -- Six Programs in Four Cities

2010-11-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Putting final touches on JPEF's e-learning "Living and Surviving" module.

JPEF is making a signficant impact in cities from coast to coast this week and we wanted to share the good news.

Tuesday, JPEF will be leading an educator institute for 50 advanced Holocaust educators in Miami. On Wednesday we will do the same in Palo Alto, and on Thursday in Los Angeles in collbaration with the ADL, LA Museum of the Holocaust, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Our exhibit, Pictures of Resistance is now in both Atlanta and Miami. (We are also preparing for the South Africa trip of the exhibit in January, with teacher trainings in conjunction with the exhibit in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg.)

JPEF's E-learning platform will have a soft launch later this week. We are finishing up the videos, finessing the programming, perfecting the compression, and entering thousands of line of code to make it all work. Check back here to see when it is live.

As always, please give us your thoughts, requests, and feedback. You can reach our general email box here.

"Pictures of Resistance" - Booked through 2011

2010-10-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

On view at The Breman Museum , Atlanta, Georgia

"Pictures of Resistance" is completely booked for 2011 and our 2012 schedule is filling up quickly.
Two new bookings, The New Mexico Holocaust & Intolerance Museum and Florida Gulf Coast University closed out the year for available months in 2011.
In December, the exhibit travels to South Africa for a three city tour where Mitch will be bringing the work of JPEF with talks and educator trainings. Recent openings include the exhibit at the Breman Museum in Atlanta, Georgia and a two month run in Miami, Florida (both in concert with Teaching with 'Defiance' educator workshops).

"Pictures of Resistance" is a must-see exhibit. The images of Jewish resistance by Faye Schulman are enthralling. Community members attending the exhibit were moved throughout the weeks it was on view.” -- Sally Oken Arts, Culture and Adult Program Director Oshman Family JCC/ Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, Palo Alto, CA

If you are interested in brining "Pictures of Resistance" to your community in 2012 contact: exhibit@jewishpartisans.org

-Jan Lauren Greenfield

Teaching with 'Defiance' in Palo Alto

2010-10-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Teaching with ‘Defiance’:

Jewish Resistance and the Bielski Partisans

Free Educator Workshop on Using the Film in Your Classroom

Wednesday, Nov. 3 – 6:00-9:00

Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School

450 San Antonio Road - Palo Alto, CA

Find out how to use the film 'Defiance' and the true story of the Bielski Jewish partisans -- who saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, and successfully fought back against the Germans and their collaborators -- to teach History, Ethics, Leadership, Jewish Values and more.

FREE TO EDUCATORS - PARTICIPANTS RECEIVE:

• 30+ pg curriculum

• 'Defiance' film on DVD

• Made-for-classroom DVD of excerpts and primary-source testimonials from former Bielski partisans.

Bring a colleague and get a $20 Amazon gift card

$20 Deposit required (REFUNDED on completing workshop)

* Register online at www.jewishpartisans.org/defiance-southbay or call 415-563-2244 *