JEWISH PARTISAN LEGACY HONORED AT NYC GALA

Jewish partisans who rose up against the Nazis through physical and spiritual defiance will come together for the largest gathering of resistance fighters in recent memory.

The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) gala on November 5^th will recognize the actions of partisans such as Motke Ginsburg who blew up 17 trains loaded with Nazi soldiers, bombed a hydro-electric plant, and killed 60-plus Nazi soldiers during an ambush. His soon-to-be-wife, Judith, jumped from a train heading for the Majdanek Concentration Camp and served as a combatant, eventually joining the Bielski Brigade, which rescued more than 1,200 Jews from extermination.

“As with all Holocaust survivors, the number of partisans is dwindling,” notes Mitch Braff, JPEF founder and board member. “JPEF wants to celebrate their miraculous stories of courage in the face of evil so we may honor the Jewish partisan legacy and continue to educate the world through their stories.”

JPEF brings Jewish resistance stories to more than one million students annually through a multimedia and interactive educational curricula. Learning about these partisans and their accomplishments transforms perceptions about the Jewish experience during the Holocaust.

The gala event will honor Elliott Felson, son and nephew of partisans Don and Stan Felson, as well as Matthew Bielski, grandson of partisans Sonia and Zus Bielski. As JPEF board president, Felson brought worldwide recognition to partisans as a driving force in Holocaust education.

“I am proud of our achievements, and of the millions of young people we are empowering through the Jewish partisans,” he said.

Bielski, chairperson of JPEF’s 3G (third generation) group, spearheaded the effort to collect information about adult grandchildren of partisans living all over the world.

“I want to share my grandparents’ most important lesson with kids today,” he explains. “Never give up!”

Other second and third generation partisan descendants will share stories of family members, including Eta Wrobel who helped organize an all-Jewish partisan unit of nearly 80 people. Her unit set mines to hinder German movement and to cut off supply routes. Asked after the war about her heroism, she said, “The biggest resistance that we could have done to the Germans was to survive.”

GALA DETAILS

November 5, 2017

Guastavino’s, 409 East 59^th St. New York City

Cocktails at 5:00pm; Dinner at 6:00pm
Tickets

For more information, contact Sheri Rosenblum, Director of Development & Outreach, at sheri@jewishpartisans.org. 

This Month in Jewish Partisan History: Łachwa Ghetto Uprising

By the 1930s, Łachwa, Poland (now southern Belarus) had a majority Jewish population, which, in April 1942, was confined to a ghetto so cramped 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 fully 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, Łachwa was informed that local farmers were ordered by the Germans to excavate large pits outside the town. At first, 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 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 decided 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.”

Łachwa lost the majority of its population that day. A number of survivors, however, were able to join 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. He was later 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.