“When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” ― Elie Wiesel

Holocaust = Concentration Camps ALL Jews went to Concentration Camps All non-Jewish Germans were Nazi supporters No one helped the Jews Jews did not fight back Holocaust happened only in Germany Holocaust Survivor means Concentration Camp Survivor

KEY TERMS Resistance-the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument. Partisan-a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person. Ghetto- During World War II, ghettos were city districts (often enclosed) in which the Germans concentrated the city and sometimes regional Jewish population Holocaust-destruction or slaughter on a mass scale

RESISTANCE: People, Groups and Events Tuvia Bielski (Jewish) Oskar Schindler and Chiune Sugihara (Non-Jews) White Rose (German Non-Jews) and Zegota (Polish Non-Jews) Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Polish Jews)

“I knew what I took upon myself and I was prepared to lose my life by so doing.” Hans Scholl, leader of The White Rose resistance group at his execution in 1943.

TUVIA BIELSKI * Served in WWI in German army * Served in WWII for Polish Army until Nazi occupy Poland then fled * Led Polish Jewish group called Bielski Partisans * Saved 1200 Jews hiding in Polish forest for 2 years * Built school, hospital, and shelter * Some sabotage activities (railroads, roads used as supply routes) * Survived war and moved to New York * Passed away in 1987 (81 years old)

OSKAR SCHINDLER German Industrialist Member of Nazi party Opened a factory in Poland that was VERY successful Factory included Jewish employees Spent his fortune in bribery, gifts to German officials to save 1200 Jewish employees Schindler’s List Dies in Germany (66 years old) and buried in Israel Oskar Schindler

CHIUNE SUGIHARA Japanese diplomat to Lithuania in 1939 Assigned to be Japan’s “eyes and ears” to report on Germany’s movements Spent 18-20 hours a day handwriting the visas Issued travel visas for 6,000 Jews to travel to Japan Returned to Japan and continued diplomatic work Died at age of 86 years old Chiune Sugihara

Irena Sendler Irena Sendler Polish nurse and social worker Head of the children’s section of the Zegota Smuggled approximately 2,500 Jewish Children out of the Warsaw Ghetto Provided them with false identity documents and shelter outside the Ghetto. With the exception of diplomats who issued visas, Sendler saved more Jews than any other individual during the Holocaust. Arrested by the Gestapo, she was tortured and sentenced to death, but she evaded execution. Died in 2008 at the age of 98 Irena Sendler

WHITE ROSE Sophie Scholl University of Munich non-Jewish students led by brother and sister-Hans and Sophie Scholl White Rose represented purity and innocence in face of evil. Non-violent resistance 1942-1943 Distributed a series of 6 leaflets calling for change and warning Germans against the evil of Hitler’s government . Leaflets were distributed in Munich and other areas of country via couriers Graffiti campaign “Down with Hitler” Captured in 1943 and executed via guillotine

ZEGOTA Polish Catholic activists to aid Jews. Only organization of its type during war. Operated mostly in Warsaw, Poland Gave food, money, false identity papers, placed children in foster homes and orphanages Saved up to 50,000 Jewish lives in Poland 700 members executed for aiding Jews. Members of Zegota in 1946

FIGHTING BACK IN THE CAMPS SOBIBOR UPRISING- After many months of planning, prisoners overtook camp, 300 escaped and 50 former prisoners survived the war. AUSCHWITZ UPRISING- Women prisoners smuggled gunpowder out of factory where they worked. The collected explosives were to be used in destroying the crematoriums and begin the uprising. 450 prisoners were killed once the plans were discovered. One of the crematoriums was destroyed by the resisters.

On this day, in 1938, The Reich Ministry of Education banned all Jewish children from attending public schools. This law is one of a series of anti-semitic legislation stemming from the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935. Children were already in the process of getting expelled from schools prior to this day, but by 1938, an acceleration of discriminatory laws officially revoked the rights of Jews attending schools altogether. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in the first six years of the Nazis regime, up to 400 legal restricts were imposed upon Jews. . “The teacher asked, ‘Are there any Jews in this class?’ I raised my hand very proudly because, yes, I was proud of being a Jew…I looked around, there was one other person in the class, [who] also had their hand up, so I didn’t realize how many Jews were in the class. It never even occurred to me because they were all my friends. The teacher said, ‘You two get your things together and go home. Jews are not allowed in public school in Germany anymore.’ I didn’t know what she was talking about. I didn’t understand.” – Herbert Kohn, recounting his experience in 1933 of being expelled from school

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising “To live with honor and to die with honor” Emmanuel Ringleblum, Warsaw Ghetto Historian