Nice article on Aron Bell (Bielski)

Link to article.

Aron is also on the JPEF website talking about his brother Tuvia Bielski in a video interview given to us by the filmmakers at Great Projects. Go here to see excerpts from the video interview.

Mondays at JPEF

This Monday, the JPEF staff and crew gathered thoughts and ideas and began to map out our e-Learning, Pictures of Resistance and Educational workshop development.

'Pictures of Resistance' Opening Reception in Palo Alto - Exhibit runs through August 12

The opening reception of "Pictures of Resistance", the Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman, at the Oshman Family JCC Taube Koret Center for Jewish Life was a great success with a mixture of teens, educators, seniors, and the general public in attendance.

(Pictured above  at exhibit opening reception: JPEF Special Projects Director, Jan Greenfield; Jewish partisan Mira Shelub; Executive Director of the Taube Center for Jewish Life and Culture, Shana Penn.)

The exhibit will continue to run until August 12th in Palo Alto, in which many groups including members of the  Russian community, Chabad, JFCS seniors group and more will be coming out to view the exhibit.

The exhibit is shown by appointment. To make an appointment, contact David Kaplan, Development Manger, at JPEF at (415) 563-2244 or contact Jennifer Landucci, of the Oshman Family JCC at (650) 223-8699.

"Pictures of Resistance" at the Oshman Family JCC Taube Koret Center for Jewish Life  is sponsored by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.

The production of the exhibit was made possible through the generous contributions of Thomas and Johanna Baruch, the Epstein/Roth Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Purjes Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman, Family Foundation, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, the Holocaust Council of MetroWest, and Diane and Howard Wohl.

JPEF e-Learning Behind the Scenes Video Part 1

This is an unedited clip from our most recent e-learning shoot. An edited short will be posted in next few weeks.

http://vimeo.com/13369602

Bringing Bielski Memoir to Print

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Eric Herschthal

The Jerusalem Post recently published a lengthy story about a newly discovered manuscript by Tuvia Bielski, the leader of the Polish Jewish brigade that rescued 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust, the largest such rescue in history. To the public, it was a revelation. But it was not to Jonathan Brent, the director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which holds the manuscript.  

Brent has known about the manuscript since he arrived at YIVO a year ago, as had the archivist who originally discovered it two years ago during the digitization process of the center’s somewhat disorganized archives. But only recently was it confirmed that the work was indeed by Bielski. 

“People [at YIVO] had a suspicion from the beginning that this manuscript was by Tuvia,” Brent said.  But it was only after The Jerusalem Post reporter, Marjorie Backman, was tipped off about the document that the final process of confirmation was begun. 

“It was only because of Marjorie’s efforts that we were able to confirm” that the memoir was indeed written by Tuvia Bielski, Brent said.

To be sure, the fact that Bielski wrote a memoir about his time as a partisan fighter in the forest — recently the subject of the film “Defiance,” starring Daniel Craig as Tuvia — was not unknown. Peter Duffy, a former New York Times reporter who wrote a book about the brigade, “The Bielski Brothers,” used a shorter, though also unpublished, version of his memoir for his research. 

But as Duffy said: “Apparently [YIVO] gave me what they knew they had at the time” — he began his research in the late-1990s — “so I know very little of what’s in this newly discovered piece.”

The newly discovered manuscript — about 60 hand-written pages longer than the one Duffy used, which was 333 pages — had been sitting in YIVO’s archives, untouched, for more than 50 years. It was one of 3,000 Holocaust testimonials held by YIVO, but since the center’s catalogue was not digitized until 2008, it was nearly impossible to find. You would have needed to sort through thousands of documents to stumble upon it. And apparently no one did — until 2008.

“It was discovered through a process,” Brent said. Not long before Brent arrived at YIVO last summer, an assistant archivist was sorting through the newly digitized testimonials and saw that they had not one, but two, possible Bielski manuscripts. “When I got to YIVO, I was told of the [new] Bielski manuscript and that this other one might be connected to the first,” Brent said. 

But it was not until late this May that Backman, a freelance writer for the Jerusalem Post, pressed YIVO to finally verify that the memoir was actually hand-written by Tuvia. In order to verify that it was authentic, Backman called Tuvia’s son, Robert Bielsky, who lives in New York, to vouch for his father’s writing. 

“It’s no different,” Bielsky said in a recent interview.  

A partial translation of both the newly discovered manuscript and the known one — both written in Yiddish — further verified that both documents were by Bielski. Brent suspects that the newly discovered manuscript is an unedited version of the known memoir.

But now the hard part starts. Brent would like to publish the new Bielski manuscript in translation under YIVO’s imprint, in collaboration with Yale University Press. But first he needs approval from Bielsky, who holds the intellectual property rights. In addition, Bielsky holds dozens of his father’s private letters that, for scholars, could provide critical information about Tuvia’s story.  Since the Jerusalem Post story was published, Brent has been courting Bielsky carefully, and plans to meet with him sometime in the coming weeks to discuss publishing. 

“For me, it’s a priority,” Brent said. “But these things take time.”

Article taken from the Jewish Week

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/bringing_bielski_memoir_print

Pictures of Resistance Comes to the Hamptons This Summer

Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman

July 24 - August 6, 2010

The Hampton Synagogue

Edelstein Hall of the Kaylie Center

154 Sunset Avenue

Westhampton Beach, New York 11978

Program at the synagogue sponsored by Shelley Holm

Saturday July 24:

Seudah Shlishit, following 7:15 pm Mincha

Dr. Jill Vexler, Exhibition Curator

Monday, July 26, 7:30 pm

Screening of Broken Promise (an Award-winning Slovakian film about the Jewish partisans).

followed by discussion with

Jan Lauren Greenfield, Director of Special Projects, JPEF

You can view the rest of the Hamptons Synagogue Summer Brochure here.

JPEF Films New E-Learning Module in San Rafael

Today is the first day of filming for our new e-Learning module. Below are production photos.

Pictures of Resistance to exhibit at Palo Alto JCC

Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Faye Schulman To exhibit at Oshman Family JCC, Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto

 from July 14 – August 12,  2010. 
Opening reception Thursday July 15, 6-8 pm

Click here to view exhibit information on the Oshman Family JCC's website.

Faye Schulman became a war documentarian at grave risk to her own life. During World War II there were approximately 20,000-30,000 Jewish boys and girls who escaped the German ghettos and work camps and formed and joined organized, armed resistance groups. These resistance fighters were called partisans. Faye Schulman was one such partisan.

After the ghetto was liquidated and her family murdered she escaped. Faye Schulman was with the Russian Molatava partisan brigade, whose encampment was near her hometown, of Lenin (formerly Poland) from 1942-1944. Along with serving as a doctor’s aid, Schulman also took photographs, developing and printing the two-inch negatives beneath blankets in the forest. Faye Schulman was one of the only – perhaps the only -- Jewish partisan photographer who captured Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

"Pictures of Resistance” has exhibited in ten 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

“Often we hear of Jews as victims, but the stories portrayed in the exhibit spoke of Jews as heroes," said Brandeis graduate student Jessica Levine. "It gave me a new, different Holocaust story to tell, one of resistance and resilience. It made me feel proud to be a Jew."

The exhibition is curated by Jill Vexler, Ph.D. who has extensive experience with Holocaust-related exhibitions, including Letters to Sala: A Young Woman's Life in Nazi Labor Camps,  Remembering Luboml: Images of a Jewish Community, and Oswiecim, Ospitzin, Auschwitz: Portrait  of Memories, the permanent exhibition at the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oswiecim, Poland. A filmed interview with Ms. Schulman discussing specific photographs as well as a Teacher/Student Study Guide will be available on the JPEF website, www.jewishpartisans.org. 

For more information about the exhibit contact Jan@jewishpartisans.org

Oshman Family JCC Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life   3921 Fabian Way Palo Alto, CA 94303

The exhibit at the Oshman Family JCC is sponsored by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund

The exhibit is made possible through the generous contributions of 

Thomas and Johanna Baruch, the Epstein/Roth Foundation, the Koret 

Foundation, the Purjes Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman

Family Foundation, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, 

the Holocaust Council of MetroWest, and Diane and Howard Wohl.

Speak up. We cannot afford to be silent any longer.

The first place winner of the 10th-12th grade category for our First Annual Youth Writing Contest was Loren Miller, a senior from North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in New York.


Loren's essay focuses on the dangers of indifference. "Silence, in fact, is deafening," she says. 

"We cannot hear the soft hum of tattoo machines, quietly stripping people of their identities.  Nor can we hear the longing of a mother’s empty arms for the child she will never see again.  Or the sound of an inmate’s heart, beating furiously as he stands, ghost-like, through interminable roll calls. We cannot hear the hush that came over the gas chambers once the work was done, like a fleeting calm after the storm. Nor can we hear a Nazi’s unspoken acquiescence.  And we cannot hear the world community’s silence--until it was 11 million lives too late."

Using the stories of the Jewish partisan, Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi, Loren's words conjure shocking and moving imagery. 

"Jewish partisans like Eugenio seized the moment, dropping what was left of their previous lives to be reborn into fighters against tyranny, oppression, discrimination, and prejudice. In Eugenio’s words, 'I want them to be remembered as those who make the right choice at the right time.'"

Not only did this essay meet the contest's guidelines, it exemplified the inspiration between the student and the partisan, which then resonated with the readers and judges.


Congratulations, Loren!

Winning essayist Loren Miller (left) and her educator Julie Farkas (right)

Hundreds stop by JPEF booth to celebrate Israel in the Gardens

JPEF had the wonderful opportunity to participate in Israel in the Gardens at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Hundreds of people came out to celebrate Israel and the Bay Area's Jewish community with great music, food and dance. Rabbis, grade school teachers and educators of all kinds read through our educational materials, and kids grabbed handfuls of stickers of Eta Wrobel's RESIST portrait.

It was great to hear so many enthusiastic responses about our upcoming 'Pictures of Resistance' photography exhibition in Palo Alto. It was excellent to see so many fresh faces who were eager to learn about the Jewish partisans, and JPEF's role in sharing the stories and life lessons of these unsung heroes. Thank you to Israel in the Gardens for having us, and thanks to everyone who stopped to talk to us!

JPEF team members Rachel & Pat at our booth

Acts of valor, even those from long ago, still inspire today

Avery Lubin, an 8th grader at North Shore Academy Middle School was chosen as the second place winner in our First Annual Youth Writing Contest. His personal reflection on the life lessons of the Jewish partisans can be found below

Although it is hard to put myself in the position of those who lived through the Shoah, I can reflect upon their heroic deeds and try to incorporate their lessons into my life.  

Picture above is Jewish partisan Abba Kovner, who inspired Avery's winning essay.

Many people bemoan the apathy of today’s youth, viewing them as self-centered and disinterested in the world at large. The youth of Iran’s recent protests contradict that view. Their actions, as well as those of the heroic youth of the resistance movement, are praiseworthy. Liberty and freedom must be preserved at all and any cost. Acts of valor, even those from long ago, still inspire today. 

Winning essayist Avery Lubin with educator Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin

JPEF is Proud to Announce the Winners of Our First Annual Youth Writing Contest

JPEF is proud to announce the winners of our First Annual Youth Writing Contest.

From 500 entries representing 15 states across the country in public, private, Jewish and parochial schools the six top essays were chosen as winners: three from 8^th-9^th grades and three from 10^th-12^th grades. The students wrote about what the life lessons of the Jewish partisans meant to them. The life lessons are:

• Stand up to tyranny, oppression and discrimination…early.
• Question authority.
• Young people can make a difference.

View the contest poster and guidelines here.

Many of the students wrote about their own personal experiences about the life lessons (listed above). The subjects ranged from Darfur to helping children with disabilities.


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

"I was impressed by the caliber of the writing entries and the tremendous enthusiasm shown by the students and teachers from all over the country," stated Paul Orbuch, JPEF Board Co-Chair.

The winners were:

Lower Division (8^th-9^th Grades):

First place: 9^th grader from Manhattan High School for Girls, NY

Second place: 8^th grader from North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School, NY

Third place: 8^th grader from Tecumseh Junior High School, IN

Upper Division (10^th-12^th Grades):

First place: 12^th grader from North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, NY

Second place: 11^th grader from Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island, NY

Third place: 11^th grader from Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island, NY

JPEF’s Writing Contest allowed “young people to think deeply about a piece of history that has only recently come into the public spotlight. In doing so, young people across the country have reasoned that the stories of the Jewish partisans are relevant to their own lives and critical to their understand of the Holocaust," commented David Monblatt, JPEF Advisory Board Member.

The top ten essays reflected on the stories of:

Gertrude Boyarski

   

Don Felson

Bernard Musmand

Sara Fortis

Eugenio Gentili-Tedeschi

Frank Blaichman

Abe Asner

Tuvia Bielski

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 35 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 Rachel at Rachel@jewishpartisans.org.


The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California. JPEF is the only organization in the world solely focused on bringing the history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans to educational and cultural institutions across the globe.


The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation

Writing Contest Entries -- Inspiring

As we get closer to the finish line of our writing contest, we are now down to 35 semi-finalists for lower (8th - 9th grades) and upper (10th-12th grades). The quality of the writing is amazing.

I wanted to pull some quotes to share from the lower finalists (upper finalists by Friday)...

"Before I knew about the partisans, I thought that only people of importance could make a difference, that a person like me is invisible to the world. But the partisans experience made me aware of the influence young people can have."

-8th grader, Indiana

"The partisans must never be caught!" The women hurry form 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.

9th grader, New York

"The thought of fighting for what you believe in, no matter what the consequences, is hard to understand. It makes me wonder if such a decision was to be made by me, what I would do. I always think I would stand by my beliefs, but you can never be sure until it happens. If death could be a consequence, would I do it? Would I stand up for the rights of myself and others, or stand down and only hope that others will do it for me?"

-8th grader, Tennessee

"I pledge to do my part to make a difference in our world."

8th grader, Kansas

Bielski Partisan with Clothing from Forest

Sheila Garberman was with the Bielski partisans when she was 12 years old. I met her when I was partipating in a video conference with over 100 high school students in Southern New Jersey. Here is a photo of Mrs. Garberman with the blouse that she has had for over 65 years -- made from a piece of a Russian parachute in the forest by a fellow partisan. She was an orphan at the time -- her family killed by the Germans and their collaborators. Mrs. Garberman brings this incredible artifact to the scores of classes she speaks to in her community and it was an honor to share the morning with her.

During the same presentation with the students, only one out of 100 ever heard of the Jewish partisans before our program (this is normal for most schools, and we strive to change this through our work). We sent the school copies of "Defiance" on DVD for them to review before our video conference call along with our teacher materials. The conversation with the students was fascinating, but most of all, I was touched the the elegance and grace of by Mrs. Garberman and the story of her blouse.

Greetings from Dayton!

Mitch Braff, Executive Director, just led a fantastic workshop last night where the feedback was some of the best we have ever had. Firstly, 100% of the educators will use the material and 100% would recommend the class and materials. Here are two quotes from educators that sought me out after the class to share their enthusiasm:

"I thought it was the best workshop I have ever been to."

"Our table did not want to leave. We said, "No, the four hours can't possibly be up already!"

We have four new trainers for our 'Teaching with Defiance" trainings, and will be teaching later this month in Portland, Maine with one of our new trainers. This will make five TWD workshops in a thirty day period -- a record for us.

Another great quote from a student essay...

What matters is that I am standing up for something that counts. I am doing the right thing whether other people are doing it or not. I will be a partisan like Simon Trakinski and stand up and help whoever I can.

Find out more about JPEF's youth writing contest here.
Deadline for entries is May 10.
Find out more about Simon Trakinski here.

Liev Schreiber Speaks at JPEF Event

Tony Award winning actor Liev Schreiber was the guest of honor at a JPEF event this week in New York. Schreiber played Jewish partisan Zus Bielski in "Defiance" with Daniel Craig, and most recently stared in the Broadway revival of "A View From the Bridge" with Scarlet Johansson.

Schreiber shared his experiences about making "Defiance" and other insights about playing the famous partisan leader, his work, and growing up in New York to the capacity crowd with JPEF board member, Jonathan Kushner (pictured with Schreiber) as moderator. Before Schreiber spoke, Steven Holm and Charlie Blaichman, both sons of Jewish partisans spoke about growing up with father's and mother's who were both in partisan groups in Poland during World War II. JPEF Board co-chair Elliott Felson, whose father was also a Jewish partisan, spoke about JPEF programs and introduced a new video by JPEF.

JPEF will be honoring the Blaichman and Holm families October 4, at the JPEF 2010 Annual Dinner in New York. For more information, email David Kaplan, davidk@jewishpartisans.org.

"Pictures of Resistance" Yom Ha'Shoah event at Brandeis University

Brandeis community members gather to view "Pictures of Resistance"

On April 14th, 2010 "Pictures of Resistance" opened to a full house at Brandeis University for its Boston debut. This rare collection of images by the only known Jewish partisan photographer gave attendees a rare look into the world of the Jewish partisan resistance fighters who resisted the Germans and their collaborators during WWII. The photos were presented alongside the stories behind each of the images – stories of heroism, bravery, camaraderie and loss – as recounted by the partisan photographer herself.

Brandeis also brought in Zvi Bielski, son of the Zus Bielski, who showed a multimedia presentation about his family. Bielski recalled his childhood growing up in the famous, and sometimes infamous family of resistance fighters that were immortalized in the recent Hollywood film Defiance. "Growing up I had no idea the Jews actually lost the war. Sure, I knew relatives had died in the war, but I figured they all died fighting the Nazis like my dad and uncles had." The Bielski brigade saved over 1,200 individuals whose offspring today number in the tens of thousands. Bielski regaled the audience with these stories of his family's heroism, of rescue and survival against the toughest odds, eliciting audible reactions from the audience throughout the evening. Some were even moved to tears.

"Often we hear of Jews as victims, but the stories portrayed in the exhibit spoke of Jews as heroes," said Brandeis graduate student Jessica Levine. "It gave me a new, different Holocaust story to tell, one of resistance and resilience. It made me feel proud to be a Jew."

- prepared for JPEF by V. Judah Khaykin former JPEF Staff and
Brandeis-Genesis Institute Fellow

Quote from student essay

Here is a quote from a recent entry of JPEF's youth writing contest:

A significant factor in my appreciation and admiration of the young partisans came from an organized movie night for teens, where I saw the movie Defiance. I learned that even a minority has a chance of success, and that nothing can be declared impossible, without a real attempt.  When the lights came back on, I looked around me at all of the teenagers seated in the theater. I was struck by the realization that people like us had fought for what was right, in spite of the dangers and hardships. It was the commitment of the young partisans that ultimately contributed to the final victory. 

 The contest deadline is quickly approaching (May 10), but please feel free to pass along the information found at www.jewishpartisans.org/contest to educators and students.

Fantastic Article about Jewish Partisan Woman in Tablet Magazine

Sonya Oshman was a Bielski partisan and has an incredible story. Her material is not on the JPEF site, not yet anyway, but this is a vivid piece on her by Gila Lyons for Tablet Magazine. The story covers the escape from the Novogrodek work camp in Poland (now Belarus) which is the topic of JPEF documentary narrated by Tovah Feldshuh, "A Partisan Returns: The Legacy of Two Sisters".

Link to story here.

See the film on our "Defiance" Page, here.

Mitch Braff interviewed for The Jewish Chronicle

Executive Director, Mitch Braff was interviewed for the article: They Fought Back. The article shares the story of Poland-born Jewish partisan, Moshe Baran, and how JPEF works to integrate stories like Baran's into educational and cultural organizations. 

“Many young people tell us they feel proud after learning about the partisans,” said Braff. “They no longer see their ancestors only as victims.”

  
Read the article by Justin Jacobs at the Jewish Chronicle here.

JPEF Launches Youth Writing Contest

JPEF's writing contest for 8th - 12th grade students is now open! Those interested in submitting an essay are asked to write about these life lessons of the Jewish partisans:

Young people can make a difference
Stand up to tyranny, oppression, and discrimination...early
Question authority

The winner of the most compelling essay- and his/her teacher- will both win an iPod Touch, loaded with all of JPEF's films and the movie Defiance, starring Daniel Craig.

Please visit www.jewishpartisans.org/contest for more information, including a complete list of the contest guidelines.


This is a wonderful opportunity for students to reflect upon the life lessons of the Jewish partisans. If you are an educator, JPEF encourages you to promote this contest in your classroom. If you know an educator, please pass this information along to them.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Rachel at writingcontest@jewishpartisans.org.

Teacher Tips for Remembering the Jewish Partisans on Yom HaShoah

Remembering the 20-30,000 Jews who fought back against the Germans as partisans is a profoundly meaningful way to pay tribute to the 6 million Jews who ultimately perished in the Holocaust. To this end, JPEF provides a double-sided supplement for remembering resistance on Yom HaShoah called “Putting the Gevurah Back into Yom HaShoah.” (www.jewishpartisans.org/resist)

Ilona Shechter, a teacher at Gideon Hausner Day School in Palo Alto and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Mandel Fellow, has organized many memorials during her career. She shared with JPEF staff the following tips for Jewish partisans-centered activities:

Show the JPEF Short Film Introduction to the Partisans

“If you only do one thing,” states Shechter, “show this film (available free at JPEF’s website at (www.jewishpartisans.org/films.) I have shown the film to (as young as) 5^th grade and they loved it. For them, Holocaust meant death and dying and destruction. Watching Jews blowing up trains; this was the absolute best. The kids have responded very well to it. They asked very intelligent questions: Where did the Jewish partisans get all their supplies from? Who helped them and who didn’t?”

Teach new partisan material incrementally

Shechter continued, noting that incrementally adding new partisan material each year makes for highly effective lessons. She stated, “When the students get into 8^th grade, I show them all the rest of the films. Today I showed them [JPEF’s] ‘Women in the Partisans.’ You could have heard a pin drop on the carpet. It’s an excellent teaching tool.” Ilona also recommends using the accompanying study guide when showing the film.

Hold candle lighting ceremonies in the classroom

“A simple, effective observance is to light 6 or 12 candles for the 6 million Jews (and the 6 million others considered “undesirable” by the Germans) who perished. Students take turns lighting candles, each remembering a different group: ‘This is a candle we light for the Jews who died in the death camps of Poland…This is a candle we light for the Jewish partisans who fought in the forests of Europe,’ etc.”

Talk with your students

A little information can stimulate a class-worth of conversation. Shechter shared, “A young teacher in Montana showed JPEF film clips to his class the first year he did it (taught about the partisans.) There was this stunned silence in the classroom. He said ‘What’s the matter?’ The class answered, ‘I bet there were more like that, but most didn’t get the opportunities, or realized that they were all going to be killed.’ That was a profound thing for kids to say. To realize that most Jews were starving and deprived and would have fought back if they could.”

Post pictures

“There’s nothing like having pictures of 12 and 14 year old partisans up in school, showing what young people can do…that age really was not material,” states Shechter. For printable photos, go to the homepage of JPEF’s website and click on image galleries under the Explore tab. You can also click the Image tab on any partisan profile.

Use Poetry, Music, and Memoirs

“A lot of poetry- poetry written by partisans- and memoirs, songs, and music…There’s a whole CD on partisan songs-playing music while partisan poetry is read…..You could do an entire Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah entirely on partisans. It could be very effective.” Begin your search for this material by Googling “Jewish partisans song poetry memoir.”

Also, review a short poem about a Jewish women partisan on the last page of the Women in the Partisans study guide on the JPEF website, www.jewishpartisans.org/women

Final Thoughts

Ilona Shechter articulated why she feels it is important to teach about the partisans and other resistance by concluding, “On Yom HaShoah, most people forget about the Gevurah (strength or heroism.) Everyone talks about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But there was more. It blows people away when they see that.”