Paintings by Mieczyslaw Watorski

Dear readers, we need your help! We recently received an email from a Holocaust Center on the East Coast about a duo of paintings someone recently donated to them. The paintings came from a collection of Holocaust artifacts owned by the parents (both survivors) of the donor. The artist’s name is Mieczyslaw Watorski, but little else is known about him, other than that both paintings were the 8th in a series of 8.

The first painting depicts the annihilation of the Krakow Ghetto:

The second painting shows the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising:

If you have any info about these paintings or the artist, Watorski, please email us at outreach@jewishpartisans.org.

Writing Contest Extended, Essay Suggestions for Students from Women Activist Think Tank

JPEF's 2012 Youth Writing Contest has been extended until May 10th! Please visit our contest page for more information, including best practices for students and teacher tips with useful ideas for using the contest in the classroom.
Devon Day of Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, CA recently sent us some of their own suggestions to help students choose a focus for the contest. This year’s topic centers on how the stories and life lessons of women partisans can inspire people today to make the world a better place.
Devon teaches Film Analysis to 150 students and is incorporating the contest into her curriculum. She asked a think tank of women activists to help her brainstorm resources and examples her students could use as inspiration in connecting the experiences of women partisans to contemporary subjects. Here are some key contemporary issues that the think tank came up with:

• Modern resistance movements, particularly people resisting and fighting back against genocide
• Contemporary women’s struggles for rights and civil liberties
• Overcoming traditional gender roles (particularly women in the military)
• Resisting/surviving sexual harassment and assault
• Standing up to bullies and bullying
• Risking your safety to helping others in need

Specific examples of such stories include Sunitha Krishnan who saved 11,000 children and women in India’s sex trafficking market and Dolores Huerta who worked with Cesar Chavez to bring rights to farm laborers and their families, and has expanded her foundation to work for gay rights, women’s rights and other causes.
Resources that could help inspire essayists include:

• CNN heroes list — everyday people who stepped up to make a difference
  • Includes a profile of three impressive projects started by young people
• President Obama’s anti-bullying initiative
• Education as a form of resistance, such as Finland’s school reforms

The Youth Writing Contest is a fantastic way to connect teens to the pivotal role the partisans played in history. When learning about the stories of the partisans, educators should encourage students to identify the main ideas and lessons from what they have researched through JPEF’s films and study guides. Then, educators can have their students relate these ideas and lessons to one of the ideas listed above, or other relevant issues in their lives.
We look forward to reading all of the contest entries and wish your students good luck!

Sonia Orbuch Q&A Webcast posted to Youtube

A recording of our recent Q&A webcast with Jewish partisan Sonia Orbuch is now available on Youtube! JPEF Executive Director Mitch Braff interviewed Sonia at her home this Tuesday, with over twenty schools watching the live stream. During the broadcast, students had the opportunity to ask Sonia questions via Facebook, email, and Twitter.

Watch the video below:

JPEF’s Pictures of Resistance Exhibit Opens at UCLA Hillel

Pictures of Resistance, the Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman opened March 15 at the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at UCLA Hillel. The exhibit includes 30 photographs from Schulman, the only known Jewish Partisan Photographer. JPEF Board Member Ada Horwich and her husband Jim hosted a private reception for JPEF’s Los Angeles stakeholders.

JPEF's Executive Director Mitch Braff gives a tour of the
organization's exhibit "Pictures of Resistance."

JPEF’s Executive Director, Mitch Braff, gave a private tour of the exhibit to the guests that included two Jewish partisans, Jeff Gradow and Martin Petrasek. Petrasek, a Jewish partisan from Slovakia who is featured in JPEF’s film “Antisemitism in the Partisans”, was impressed, “I have never seen photographs like this before. They are incredible.” (Petrasek is also the author of “Broken Promise”, which was turned into a feature film that JPEF co-produced in 2009.)

From left to right: JPEF Executive Director Mitch Braff,
Board Member Ada Horwich, Jewish partisan and JPEF
Advisory Board Member Martin Petrasek, and Jim Horwich

The exhibit is on display at UCLA through April 30. A second copy of the exhibit is also on display at the University of Illinois in Springfield, where Braff spoke at a reception for the exhibit on April 9. For more information, click here.