by Clinton and James Patterson Partisans from the Kovno Ghetto in the Rudniki Forest of Lithuania. It all started because of Germany’s defeat in World War I. The allies forced the Germans to pay unfair war damages. Inflation made money almost worthless. People became desperate. Adolf Hitler gained favor with the German people by telling them of a glorified image of Germany and he gave them an excuse for loosing the war. He told them that the Jews stabbed Germany in the back. He said they were genetically inferior, and that they were the all-time enemy of the German people. Not everyone agreed with Hitler’s outrageous ideas, but many hoped he would solve Germany’s financial problems, and return them to their former glory. Members of the Bielski Atriad at the family camp in Naliboki Forest in Byelorussia The Holocaust is not very pleasant to talk about. The Nazis put the Jews in concentration camps and ghettos, and killed them in cruel ways. They led them to believe that they would be all right; they gave false hope to them right up to their deaths, which was either in the gas chamber or by the firing squad. The gas chambers were disguised as shower rooms, so that people would think all they were getting a shower. Even though the Nazis and their calibrators killed millions, nonetheless, some people did resist. They resisted in three different ways, armed, unarmed, and spiritual. Armed resistance was fighting the Nazis with weapons. Spiritual resistance was not letting the Nazis break you and your religious beliefs. A train that was sabotaged by French resistance fighters. Some of the resisters were teenagers. One group, called the White Rose, was from the University of Munich, they secretly published, and distributed leaflets denouncing the Nazis, and recommended that Germans sabotage Nazi plans. They were the only organized group of Germans who resisted the Nazis. Resistance fighters in ghetto revolt For example, in September of 1942, by the time the first wave of deportations and deaths in the Warsaw Ghetto had stopped, hundreds and thousands of Jews were already dead, and only 60,000 remained in ghetto. Underground groups such as ZOB thought the end was near. They collected as many weapons as they could. Weapons were expensive and were often bought from members of the Polish underground. Sometimes weapons were stolen. When a second wave of deportation came and the Nazis rounded up some 5,000 Jews, the remaining Jewish resisters started throwing homemade bombs. The Germans made a strong response and many Jews were killed because they hadn’t enough weapons to fight with. Vladka Meed One person in the resistance was Vladka Meed, she convinced non-Jews that she was not Jewish. Using false identification papers she smuggled weapons across the Warsaw Ghetto walls. She also smuggled people out of the ghetto and found places for them to hide. Vladka Meed’s false identification papers Another example of Jewish resistance was a teenager named Rosa Robota. She arrived at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1944. She helped plan a revolt in the camp. Rosa had the woman who worked in the munitions factory carry explosive powder out of the factory by scraping it under their fingernails. They gave the powder to a Russian prisoner named Borodin to construct a bomb. The Germans found out about their plans. The people got scared and set off the bombs that were hidden in the crematoriums. One of the crematoriums was blown up, during the commotion six hundred people escaped, but all were recaptured or killed. Rosa and three other young women were publicly hanged. Roza Roberta. Frank Blakhmen was sixteen years old during World War II. He came from Kamlanka, Poland. He escaped before the Germans took the Jews into camps. He and twelve Jewish men dressed as Polish officers and got weapons from a farmer named Lemenchek. They got a total of six guns . They captured calibrators and used the information they got to blow up railroads and bridges to disrupt the German lines of communication. Frank Blakhmen After the war, for most Jews who had been liberated from the death camps, it was difficult for them to talk about their experiences. In fact, most Jews would not speak out until years later. Most could not understand how there could be a God, when he allowed so many to be killed. When asked if she thought the Holocaust could happen again, Leah Harmerstein responded, "Yes, it’s possible. You see, Nazism killed not only people, it killed moral principles. Before you can kill people, you first have to kill moral principles. Then it’s possible." This whole report was based upon this book Anflick, Charles. Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny . New York: Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1999. Picture #1 - "Partisans from the Kovno Ghetto in the Rudniki Forest of Lithuania" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #2 - "Members of the Bielski Atriad at the family camp in Naliboki Forest in Byelorussia" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #3 - "A train that was sabotaged by French resistance fighters" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #4 - "Resistance fighters in ghetto revolt" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #5 - "Vladka Meed" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #6 - "Vladka Meed’s false identification papers" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #7 - "Roza Roberta" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #8 - "Frank Blakhmen" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny Picture #9 - "Book Cover" from: Resistance: Teen Partisans and Resistors Who Fought Nazi Tyranny |