Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman turns 101 years old today!

"Pictures of Resistance" is an international success!

It’s hard to believe that this incredible woman is 101 years old. I am honored to have had the opportunity to spend some time with Ms. Schulman when she travelled all the way, by herself, to Israel for the opening international premiere of “Pictures of Resistance” last November.

I was struck by how I could still see that beautiful girl, that one who pushed herself beyond the limits of self - fighting the Nazi’s, that girl who was afraid of blood but helped endlessly as a doctor’s aide in the forest ,and fearsomely documenting the experience. That young woman radiates through her being.

One of Ms. Schulman proudest accomplishments remains the three lives she directly saved including the young Jewish girl who was eight years old whose life she saved by negotiating for hours with her commander to allow the child to serve in the partisan unit as her aide until she could be safely airlifted out of the woods to relatives in Moscow.

There is so much to update on “Pictures of Resistance” since our last blog post. “Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photography of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman” is one of the best ways that JPEF can reach thousands of people in communities all over the world, some of whom have never heard of the Jewish partisan experience. The images are a visual testament to the thousand of Jewish boys and girls who heroically fought against the Nazi’s and shatters the myth of Jewish passivity during the Holocaust.

“Pictures of Resistance” has exhibited in nine cities around the world including Zurich, Switzerland and Tel Aviv, Israel. It continues to draw international acclaim and media attention, bringing JPEF’s work to more and more communities. The exhibit is now in Santa Barbara, Calif.

( Captivated viewers at "Pictures of Resistance" in Berkeley, CA)

In March 2009 “Pictures of Resitance” exhbitied again in the United States in Berkeley, California.

The event was a smash hit and covered in the Jewish Week. Many longtime JPEf supporters and board members coming out to view the incredible photographs they had heard so much about.

( JPEF Founding Board Member Michael Grossman and board co-chair Paul Orbuch in Berkeley)

Yom Hashoah 2009 “Pictures of Resistance “ had both a national and international viewing, Internationally a selection of the photos were on view in Tel Aviv at a special event for survivors, partisans , their children and children’s children sponsored by “Second Generation".

Nationally the exhibit was on view at the Columbia/Barnard Hillel. Faye was the keynote speaker to a standing room only audience at the closing reception.

Simon Klarfield, Hillels’ Exectuive Director had this to say about the exhibit, "The vital history of the Jewish Partisans has to be taught to the ‘next generation’, and the exhibit allows for students to raise essential questions regarding heroism, justice, ethics of war, the power of a few, and the list goes on."

(Faye speaking to a standing room only crowd at Columbia University)

Most recently “Pictures of Resistance” was in Memphis, Tennessee. Barb Gelb, Temple Israel’s Director of Education, reported, “Everyone’s reaction has been positive – just blown away by the exhibit. Many people have never heard of partisans before. Our students have learned so much and our teachers have learned so much, especially from the training workshop. Our sisterhood had an amazing presentation. We are thrilled to be able to participate in this.” While in Memphis received some press including this article in the Commercial Appeal.

Some of the most exciting things with the exhibit have been happening overseas. This summer at version of the exhibit was translated into Polish and is showing at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Poland.

( Curator Jill Vexler in Poland with "Pictures of Resistance" )

A new donor brought JPEF to Zurich, including Aron Bell (last surviving Bielski brother) and our photo exhibit. The exhibit was made just for this one night's screening and showing, and brought in from Poland where we had it fabricated, then driven 12 hours to Zurich for the evening. Mitch ran a Q& A to a sold out crowd of 500 people and then a private tour of the exhibit with many key people in the Zurich Jewish community. We now have a second copy of the exhibit to begin touring the US in 2010!

("Pictures of Resistance" on display in Zurich, Switzerland)

Future exhibitions will be in Palm Beach Gardens, Miami, Atlanta , South Africa and Toronto. Toronto is Faye’s “hometown” and she will no doubt the star of the 2010 Yom HaShoah programming built around this exhibit.

In Israel, Faye explained to me how she came to live in Toronto. After the war people simply put their names on lists in the DP camps. Whatever place was willing to take you first is where you went. Faye is somewhat of a community treasure and local hero in Toronto, however she confided in my how she always wanted to live in Israel. JPEF is so honored to have been able to bring “Pictures of Resistance” to both of Faye’s “hometowns”. Yom Heuledit Sameach Faye!

Pictures of Resistance was made possible by: Thomas and Johanna Baruch, the Epstein/Roth Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & culture, Diane and Howard Wohl, and the Holocaust Council of MetroWest.

Citizens of Denmark Foiled the Nazis' Deportation Plan on Rosh Hashana

Their mission was supposed to be easy – armed with a list of addresses, small teams made up of men from the SS and one Danish guide were supposed to fan out across Copenhagen and northern Zealand. They were tasked with rounding up Denmark's 8,000 Jews who would be at home with their families observing Rosh Hashanah. They planned to send the entire population to Nazi extermination camps across Europe.

The second day of Rosh Hashana fell on October 1st, 1943, roughly a month after the resignation of the Danish government – the last political obstacle between the citizens of Denmark and Hitler’s plans to implement the “Final Solution” and eliminate all Danish Jews.

In most cases, however, the round-up teams found empty houses and apartments waiting for them. The entire Jewish population had been warned days in advance to go into hiding and to spread the word about the planned deportations. By the time the SS began knocking on doors, most of the country’s Jews were either in hiding or on their way to the coast. Most eventually made it safely across the Øresund strait into neutral Sweden.

The majority of Denmark’s Jewish population escaped Nazi persecution, and their casualties were the lowest in all of occupied Europe. How were the Danes so successful in such a blatant act of resistance against the Nazis?

“A model protectorate”

Because of the tolerant and inclusive climate, Jews had enjoyed in Denmark since the Napoleonic Wars, Danish society, by and large, considered Danish Jews to be Danes, first and foremost. Danish Jews were granted full citizenship rights almost a hundred years prior to World War II. The Danish monarch, King Christian X, defiantly insisted on visiting the central synagogue in Copenhagen even after Hitler came to power in Germany, becoming the first Nordic monarch to visit a synagogue. (However, the popular tale of the king wearing the yellow star in solidarity with Danish Jews is a myth¹.) As a result of such a social climate, the people of Denmark, and the Danish Underground, naturally rallied together to hide and smuggle their fellow citizens without any friction. Many smugglers did not charge for passage, and even the Danish police helped in the rescue effort.

Germany was reluctant to pressure the Danes for several reasons. First, the Nazis hoped to promote occupied Denmark as an example of a “model protectorate” to the world. Second, Danish meat and dairy provided sustenance to over 3 million Germans. Upsetting this balance would have had negative political consequences for the Reich. Even ideologically-committed Nazis saw the need for moderation, although increased activity by the Danish Resistance, and the grim news from the Eastern Front, made moderation untenable to Hitler by mid-1943. Although the orders came from the very top, at first the Gestapo did not allocate enough manpower for the mission, and the unenthusiastic German army and navy units called in to support them often turned a blind eye to escapees.

The effort to rescue Denmark's Jews was successful, due in large part to the efforts of ordinary citizens, but prominent public figures also made significant contributions. Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German maritime attaché, and a secret moderate, had lived in Scandinavian countries for many years and enjoyed a warm relationship with Denmark’s elites. On September 28th, he leaked word of the planned deportations to the leader of the Social Democrats, and the news spread across all levels of civil society. Nobel physicist Niels Bohr played a part - he petitioned the king of Sweden to make public his offer of asylum to Danish Jews shortly after he himself was smuggled into Sweden en route to the US to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Though it is uncertain how this plea factored into the decision, Sweden announced its offer of asylum on the 2nd of October.

In the end, the Nazis managed to deport only around 450 Jews; most were sent to Theresienstadt, where they remained until the end of the war. Because of pressure from Danish authorities, and frequent visits from the Red Cross, the Nazis accepted packages of food and medicine for the prisoners. More importantly, they were persuaded not to deport the Danes to the Auschwitz extermination camp – a fate that would have meant certain death. An estimated 120 Danish Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust.

The entire Danish Underground was awarded the status of “Righteous Among The Nations”. In 1971, Yad Vashem honored Duckwitz with the same title.

---

1. The myth originates in pro-Danish PR campaigns of the time to counter criticism that Denmark did not adequately resist the occupation – even though to do so militarily would have been tantamount to national suicide. The effort enlisted the help of Edward L. Bernays, father of modern PR, godfather to the term "Banana Republic", and a highly controversial figure in his own right. (It is said that Nazi arch-propagandist Joseph Goebbles was an ardent student of Mr. Bernays and had memorized many of his books, despite the fact that Bernays himself was Jewish.)

FAQ: "Why didn't the Jews fight back during the Holocaust"... They did!

One of the most common questions that students, and those who are not aware of the Jewish partisans, ask is "Why didn't the Jews fight back during the Holocaust?" The reality, of course, is that they did!

Here's a brief clip of what we learned during a July 16 teacher training workshop, co-presented by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and Classrooms Without Borders Pittsburgh PA.

For more information on teaching about the Jewish partisans, visit http://www.jewishpartisans.org/content/resist-curriculum.

How JPEF is Sharing Jewish Partisan Lessons Virtually During this Time

While we all have practicing Social Distancing, JPEF has been busy finding new and innovative ways to reach more educators and students than ever. Here are some of our recent accomplishments and the impacts we are making.

Allen Small

More than 1,000 people joined us for our live virtual Yom HaShoah V'HaGevurah commemoration in April, featuring a keynote address delivered by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, a Q & A with Jewish partisan Allen Small, and the beautiful singing of Cantor Shira Ginsburg. Hundreds more from throughout North America, Israel, South Africa, and Europe watched the 30-minute broadcast available here.

Daniel Branstetter, a 12th grade student at Pittsburgh's Winchester Thurston School was impressed by the message of religious tolerance that Jewish partisan Allen Small delivered. "This meant so much coming from a man of such moral clarity; particularly since he had to endure such difficult circumstances in his youth." 

Last month, we trained more than 148 classroom teachers using JPEF's educational materials during online seminars. Ninety-nine percent of these educators stated that they will teach about the Jewish partisans using JPEF resources. Together, they will reach more than 32,000 students over the next 3 years. We will train another 100+ teachers in May and June.

In April, we also introduced JPEF's curricula to teachers in Kamloops, British Columbia during an educator in-service day, and brought our nine E-Learning professional development courses to the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn).

"JPEF presented an amazing professional development session and gave me materials that I can immediately use in the classroom. Teaching my students about the Jewish partisans will be inspirational. Learning that so many Jewish partisans were teens will show my students they have the power to make change at any age,"  raved Christine Yamaoka, a teacher at Valleyview School, Kamloops, British Columbia.

During this time we have visited virtual classrooms and engaged students in a more comprehensive study of the Holocaust — one that includes remarkable examples of Jewish resistance. We are devoting time to enhancing our Jewish Partisan Community website with new biographies of Jewish partisans. (Note: Please share your family's story today.)  And, we are excited about developing a new classroom study guide for our film Survival in the Forest: Isidore Karten and the Partisans, which will be available this summer.

All of JPEF's online resources, films, lesson plans and study guides are all available for free download here. Please share them with the students and educators in your life.

Our ability to continue pursuing our mission under new circumstances has been made possible through the dedication of JPEF's board of directors, staff, partner organizations, educators, donors, and champions.

We thank everyone for their ongoing support and for helping JPEF continue to empower young people through the legacies of the Jewish partisans, encouraging them to speak out early, and to stand up against antisemitism and oppression in all its forms. We could not achieve our incredible impacts without this help.

Donation to the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation can be made online here.

Jewish Partisan - Harry Burger, born on May 10, 1924

Harry Burger was born on May 10, 1924 in Vienna, Austria. The son of a textile merchant, Harry enjoyed an affluent and comfortable upbringing. As a child growing up in a large house, he was left to his own devices a great deal, which helped form his defiant and independent character.

The family lived in Vienna until 1938, when Germany annexed Austria and the German Nuremberg laws were put into effect there. Harry remembers the day he was barred from entering the building of his Jewish school:

“I went to school the next possible day and at the door they were waiting for me and the other Jews and says, ‘You don’t belong to this school anymore. You get out and you go to the next block or two and there’s a public school, and that’s where you’re gonna go.’ So not thinking of nothing, we went up there and I went in. They took me to a classroom and about 30 kids jumped on me and beat the heck out of me.”

As the Nazis continued with their campaigns of persecution in Austria and other occupied territories, the Burger family made plans to escape to France. They escaped through Italy (travelers did not require permits to enter an ally of Germany), where the borders were more porous.

Their hopes for a safe, quiet life were dashed when France was conquered by Germany in 1940. While trying to get a visa to Cuba, Harry’s father was arrested and detained for many months, only to be sent to Auschwitz in the end. Meanwhile, Harry and his mother remained in Nice.

In the summer of 1940, rumors of an impending German invasion were in the air. But instead of the German army, Nice and the surrounding areas in the southeast of France were occupied by the Italians – a gift from Hitler to Mussolini. The Italians were not nearly as abusive to Jews, and life under the Italians was good.

As the war progressed, Italy experienced humiliation on the battlefield and growing discontent at home. The occupation of southeastern France did not last, and the Italians eventually returned across the Alps. Harry, his mother, and 700 other Jews took the opportunity to follow them into Italy, but the Nazis were not far behind. When they arrived at an Italian fort, Harry learned the Nazis were en route to collect the Jews. Harry and his mother escaped capture, while more than 350 of the others were taken by the Nazis.

Right around this time, Italy withdrew from the war, Mussolini was deposed as a leader and the Germans were “coming to the rescue of their allies” by occupying the northern half of the country. Harry and his mother were living in a barn on the Italian-French border when he spotted a group of Italian soldiers. They told them they were leaving for the mountains because the Germans have occupied the town, and Harry asked if he could join them.

“I said to him, ‘Is there a chance that I can join you?’ And he says, ‘Sure.’ And he motioned to one of his guys and he came with a rifle and he gave me the rifle and says, ‘You know what that is?’ I says, ‘Yeah, it’s a rifle.’ ‘You know how to shoot it?’ ‘No. No idea.’ He showed me. He handed it to me and says, ‘You are now a Partisan.’”

In this fashion, Harry Burger became a partisan in the First Alpine Division, where he used his fluency in German to interrogate captured soldiers. As was the case with many Italian partisans, Harry was given a nickname – Biancastella, after the last name of the officer with whom Harry had to exchange his civilian clothes. The officer needed civilian clothes to go into town and find out the latest war news; unfortunately, the officer never returned, and Harry was left with his uniform – and his ID card.

Harry Burger - aka "Biancastella" - in the mountains

Initially, the First Alpine Division was under-equipped, however they eventually received Allied support in the form of airdropped munitions and clothing. One of First Alpine’s most important tasks was to sabotage German electric capabilities. Northern Italy had an electrically powered train system, meaning the destruction of local electric plants seriously hindered German mobility.

After the war, Harry was reunited with his mother and returned to France. He stayed in France for five years working as a photographer. In 1950, Harry immigrated to the United States, eventually finding photography work with two prominent television networks. Harry has one child and four grandchildren.

Visit www.jewishpartisans.org for more about Harry Burger, including seven videos of him reflecting on his time as a partisan. Harry's book about his time in the partisans - Biancastella - is available on Amazon.

Harry Burger with fellow Jewish partisan Enzo

Honoring the Memory of Sol Lapidus (z''l), Born May 10, 1921

With an explosion akin to thunder, the train splintered into a thousand pieces, instantly killing the German soldiers inside. In the aftermath of the deafening explosion, no one noticed a group of men silently crawling back through an open field near the tracks, then vanishing into the nearby woods, the growing twilight reducing their movements to shadows.

One of those individuals was Solomon (Sol) Lapidus, a Jewish youth from Belarus, on his first assignment from headquarters. He was given instructions to place dynamite in such a way as to destroy the third car – his careful follow-through ensured that the train tracks located on the bridge were also devastated. His reputation for precision on assignments spread up the chain of command, and Sol became well-known throughout partisan groups as a demolitions expert.

Lapidus was born on May 10, 1921, in Minsk, Belarus. His mother was a Russian teacher, and his father ran the printing department for a newspaper. His immediate family spoke only a little Hebrew. In childhood, his main exposure to Jewish culture came from his grandfather, with whom he attended services every Shabbat. He was the middle child in a family of many siblings. His oldest brother, a well-known musician, was drafted into the army to entertain troops all over the world, and once performed for the Queen of England in London.

Lapidus did not come to be a demolitions expert through sheer talent alone. Like many other Polish children, before the war, he attended camp every summer. However, since Poland knew that a war was bound to break out sooner or later, many of their camp activities actually provided youth with specific military training. He chose to learn demolition by cable, which came in handy for his first assignment as a partisan.

Sol and his wife after the war

Lapidus was drafted into the Red Army on May 10, 1941, his twentieth birthday. Less than two months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded. The German offensive was quick and powerful, and despite the assurances of Stalin’s propaganda, it overpowered the Soviet forces in the western regions. Much of the Red Army scattered throughout the countryside – later regrouping as partisan units. For three weeks, Lapidus ran from the German soldiers with only the clothes on his back, headed east towards Smolensk. He was eventually caught and put in a POW camp in the woods near the Russia-Belarus border.

He languished in the prison camp with hundreds of Red Army POWs until August of 1941, when he and a group of others, including his commanding officer, managed to escape with the aid of local peasants, who provided wire cutters and instructions on which direction go in order to escape. Hours before dawn, Lapidus crawled on his stomach to the relative safety of the woods with seventeen others. During his escape, he found himself in the middle of the crossfire between the Wassof partisan group and the Germans and was wounded. Although he had only the use of a straw to cleanse his bullet wound, he recovered without complications.

Escaping deep into the woods, Lapidus went on to join the Chokulov partisan group, hiding his Jewish identity because of the anti-semitism that existed within the ranks. The partisan life was primarily a means of survival, but the group also participated in a number of attacks on railroads and other targets, earning Lapidus respect within the partisan ranks for his demolition expertise.

Lapidus’s partisan encampment was located near the forest where the Bielski partisans had set up camp. Because the Bielskis sometimes worked with the Soviet partisans, Lapidus had a chance to visit the camp, where he met Tuvia Bielski for the first time in September of 1942. They quickly became friends, and Lapidus valued the kinship that an all-Jewish partisan unit provided him – after all, he could not even reveal his Jewish identity to his own otriad.

Lapidus remembers Tuvia as someone who valued the integrity of every member of his group and did not discriminate against anyone based on their gender or age. He had innate leadership abilities and knew how to raise the morale of his partisans. “[Y]ou're not doing it for yourself, you're taking nekamah¹ for someone else who got killed,” Tuvia once told his group. The two met at least once a week and collaborated on many joint operations.

Inspired by his love of performance arts, Lapidus organized an entertainment group made up of a dozen partisans who sang, danced and played music for nearby partisan camps. The Soviet command granted them permission to perform; the presence of partisan entertainers in the region could easily be turned into beneficial propaganda. The performances were lengthy affairs lasting one and a half to two hours. The entertainers’ reputations preceded them; they became so famous that wherever they went next, a platform stage would be awaiting them, built by the hosting otriad.

Lapidus’s younger brother fought with him in the partisans. Unfortunately, on one occasion, his brother became separated from his group during a mission and was killed by enemy crossfire. Deeply affected by this incident, Lapidus withdrew from assignments and instead used his demolition expertise to train peasants who had recently joined as partisans.

Lapidus met his wife Ruth towards the end of the war at a concert in Lida. He already had a girlfriend whom he planned to marry, but quickly ended it after meeting his future wife, falling for her beauty and good nature. Ruth had been in Asner's partisan group, but later she joined the Bielski group. When Lapidus got sick with typhus, and his doctor passed away leaving him without the proper care, Ruth nursed him back to health and saved his life.

Looking back on his time as a partisan he states “[we] prove[d] that we are people that survive[d] because we [fought] for it, not [because] somebody else was fighting for us.”


Lapidus received many medals of honor for his bravery as a partisan, including the Order of Lenin, one of Soviet Union’s most prestigious honors. He immigrated to the United States, with Ruth where he became a successful businessman and raised his children.

Solomon Lapidus (z''l) passed away in December 2017. May his memory be a blessing.

Learn more about Sol, and watch his video testimony on JPEF's website.

1. A Hebrew word meaning 'vengeance'.

RECAP: JPEF's virtual Yom HaShoah Commemoration on April 22

On April 22, the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation hosted a special virtual commemoration of Yom HaShoah v'HaGevurah. Over 600 people joined us live on Zoom, with hundreds more joining in on Facebook Live from countries such as Canada, Israel and South Africa. Rewatch our stirring event where we remembered those we lost and those who fought back during the Holocaust.

During the event, we:

• Remembered Those Lost During A Special Ceremony.

• Celebrated the Perseverance and Resilience of the Jewish Partisans.

• Learned How They Took Care of One Another During Challenging Times.

• Heard the First Hand Real Life Experience of A Teenage Jewish Partisan.

The gathering FEATURED:

Keynote address by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, renown Holocaust Scholar.

Q&A Session with Jewish Partisan, Allen Small, who fought the Nazis and their collaborators as a teenager.

Email questions for Allen Small to events@jewishpartisans.org, or tweet your questions to @jpeftweets.

Wednesday, April 22nd
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM – PST
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM – CST
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM – EST
(Via Zoom)

To maintain the security of our virtual commemoration, we will email your zoom link 2 hours in advance of the program.

Hymn of the Partisans (Kog Nit Mol Zeyn) Sing A Long, led by Cantor Shira Ginsburg.

About Allen Small

Allen Small

As the German Army liquidated the town of Ivie, Poland, during the summer of 1941, 14-year-old Allen Small's mother told him to hide in the attic. Escaping execution, he went on the run and soon became a partisan fighter with the Stalinskaya Brigade.

When the war ended, Allen was drafted into the Soviet army, but in 1946, aided by a Zionist organization, he snuck into the American Zone. At a DP camp in Munich, he ran into a childhood friend, Leon Bakst, who had also survived the war as a partisan.

The reunion of these partisans, 65 years later, is the subject of in JPEF's film, "The Reunion," narrated by Liev Schreiber: http://www.jewishpartisans.org/films.

On January 15, 2020, Allen celebrated his 92nd birthday.