Study Guide Joe Shasha Kubryk: Teenage Spy

In the Beginning trucks. When Joe saw the Germans and their Ukrainian collaborators rounding up his Joe Kubryk (Shasha aka Shaiky) was a 14-year-old classmates, he knew he had to run for his life. who ran for his life before the Nazis could grab him He didn’t tell anyone his plans, because his off the streets and send him to his death. It was the parents—if they knew—would stop him. His summer of 1941, when Adolph Hitler, leader of the parents would never agree to go to the forests, Third Reich, the dictator of , broke his and he couldn’t take his brothers and sister with pact with Joseph Stalin, the leader and dictator of him because they were too young. He loved them the Soviet Union, and attacked. all dearly, so pulling himself away from his family was very painful. Joe was born in the Russian Ukraine, not far from Odessa, on July 1, 1926. He grew up with his adopted cousins—Rivka, 11; Shlomo, 10, and Leaving Home All Alone Yakov, 8. Joe’s father Yitzchak owned a flour mill; his mother Fanny was a housewife. In August 1941, not long after his friends were taken by the Nazis, Joe felt that it was “now or never.” He never said good-bye, though he feared he would never see his family again. His heart was breaking, but he was strong. He took a loaf Before the war, the Kubryk family of bread, and with just the clothes on his back, didn’t experience antisemitism very left when his parents were too busy to notice. much because Yitzchak did business He kept on walking until he walked far away from with local Ukrainian farmers who liked the village. him and treated him politely. In school, most of the non-Jewish kids left the After trekking about eight miles, Joe found a Jewish kids alone, but if a bully cursed Ukrainian farmer who didn’t ask questions and at him, Joe says, “I never ran away hired him as a farmhand. The man didn’t think from a fight.” He used his fists when Joe was a Jew because Joe spoke Ukrainian he had to and stood up for his people. perfectly and didn’t fit the Jewish stereotype. Sometimes he took a good beating, too. And though Joe cried himself to sleep at , “That was the way life was,” he says. he never let anyone see him doing it because he didn’t want to explain why he was crying. After the war broke out, Joe’s village was filled with Ukrainian fascists, Joe never let his co-workers know he was a Jew. who were anti communist as well as antisemitic. Joe Kubryk as a young boy in the This deception was made easier for him—because partisans. Source: Jewish Partisan They cooperated with the Germans to kill Jews. unlike most Jewish males—Joe wasn’t circumcised. Educational Foundation Archives. Joe says that before the war, many of these same Under Communism many religious practices people were jealous of their Jewish neighbors’ were forbidden, including the Jewish ritual of financial successes. Now they robbed and beat circumcision. “It’s weird, but true,” says Joe today. them with impunity. “That helped save my skin because when the Jews’ enemies wanted to make sure they had the right As soon as the Germans took over, they man or boy, they would pull down his trousers to established restrictions to persecute the Jews. check.” There was even a time when his friends On Fridays, they would entice the Jews to the defended him after someone called him a dirty market place by giving them permission to buy Jew. They said they’d seen him swimming at the food. Then, while the Jews would shop, the lake, and he couldn’t be possibly be a Jew because Germans would grab them and put them on he didn’t bear the mark of one.

1 Pinsk Brest

Pripet

Sarny Kovel LUBLIN CHELM Lutsk

Rovno

LVOV

Ternopol

Borislav

LITHUANIA Presov

BELARUS USSR POLAND

from the ghettos that were formed in the

UKRAINE surrounding cities and towns. Escaped POWs CZECHOSLOVAKIA from the Russian Army were the heart of these groups and trained everyone to fight.

HUNGARY In all, there were approximately 3,000 people ROMANIA involved in partisan activity in Joe’s region. Every partisan group was a unit that conducted its own actions—spying and sabotaging German supply The shaded area in the upper map is The Partisans Find Joe lines on railroads and bridges. They went after the approximate area where Joe collaborators who gave Germans information, Kubryk’s partisan unit was active. Map drawn using 1937 borders Near the end of 1941, Russian partisans came and punished those who killed Jews and other scavenging for food at Joe’s farm, and he heard innocent people. one of them speak the Jewish language, Yiddish. Curious, he asked them who they were. “Russian Eliezer Lidovski, a Jewish commander from partisans,” came the reply. “Who are you?” Baranowich, formed the junior secret service, the Condrezweytka Maladoyogie, a few months When they heard he was Jewish and alone in after Joe arrived. Joe and the other teenagers the world, they said, “You are one of us,” and took then began serious training to fight against the him to one of three camps in the dense, jungle- Germans and their collaborators. like forest of Drohobicz, near Lvov (Lemberg). Joe was brought to Kopakof, the commander-in-chief of the partisan brigade who appointed Joe as his Teen Spies in Training aide-de-camp/valet. It became Joe’s job to serve The training involved courses in spying—learning his meals, shine his shoes, clean his revolver and how to recognize guns, artillery pieces and take care of other basics. officer’s insignia to determine a man’s rank. The The people in the forest came from all different boys and girls learned how to track and mark a walks of life. There were dentists, doctors, trail and how to behave if they were caught. If shoemakers, tailors, farmers, storekeepers—people they gave up information, thousands could die. who came from hamlets and large cities, isolated So they were “toughed-up” in training, taught farms and the best universities. Some had escaped secret codes and the rules of espionage.

2 The teens were taught to leave information at person’s life. “If three of us were on a mission to More Information “drops”—pre-determined, secure places in a barn, the same village and had separate assignments, on the Jewish haystack or other location. All the information we each had to do our jobs because otherwise partisans the junior agents gathered was left at those innocent people would die. We created a code spots; then it was gathered by partisans and to signal if the mission needed to be aborted— The Jewish Partisan relayed back to commanders at the base. if other kids could get it done differently, they Educational Foundation recommends these would try; if they couldn’t, we would send a When training was over, the student spies were resources for further message to our supervisors. Necessity made us tested in the field. Older partisans dressed like information. smart,” says Joe. “If we were successful, great; Nazis hid where teens were sent to scout out but not every mission was—about 80% were.” a territory. Each young spy was “captured” by Books “Nazis.” Joe remembers: “You were caught Jewish Resistance in between a hammer and a nail. If you spilled Mission, Not Impossible Occupied the beans the Germans would shoot you—or the by Reuben Ainsztein partisans would kill you for betraying them. I was The Junior Secret Service was vital to the The Jewish Resistance caught by one of the ‘Nazi’ partisans who loaded resistance. The goal of the adult partisans was by Lester and Lazar Eckman his gun, put it in my mouth and said he would to kill Germans and prevent military, medical shoot me if I didn’t confess to being a spy. He and food supplies from getting to the eastern insisted I was a partisan. I said it wasn’t true, front. The teens were their secret weapon. They Films spied on German troops with impunity by posing that I was just a kid who worked in the village, The Partisans of Vilna, a and if he wanted to, he could come with me and as beggars asking for food, and as they moved film by Aviva Kempner. I’d introduce him to my boss.” through the area, platoon by platoon, they Available for rental in VHS counted men, checked equipment, saw who the in some independent video ranking officers were and where stores. they were camped. The following short films The soldiers would chase them are available online at: off like a flock of annoying www.jewishpartisans.org/ students/films crows, but the teens always returned. Eventually they wore Introduction to the Jewish the Germans down; they were Partisans given food, and got close enough Partisans Through the to get information. In the late Eyes of the Soviet afternoon, one of the partisans, Newsreel dressed as a village farmer, would Living and Surviving in come and collect it from a drop. the Partisans: Food, Joe Kubryk (front row with white pants) and the partisan unit he fought with. Source: Jewish Partisan Educational Messages were written on color-coded paper. Winter, Medicine and Foundation Archives. Date unknown. Yellow paper meant you continued your mission. Shelter Red meant partisans were planning a military Of approximately 120 teens, 15 to 20 passed and action and you needed a password to get through Web Sites were promoted to the Junior Secret Service. Those any checkpoints for safe passage. Jewish Partisan Educational who didn’t make it were assigned housekeeping Joe and his fellow Jewish partisans also went into Foundation: duties and tasks at the campsite. The new agents the ghettos of Rovno and Brody in the Ukraine www.jewishpartisans.org were organized into an expeditionary force sent to help young Jews escape. There, the Jews were Simon Wiesenthal Center: into surrounding areas to gather information being systematically rounded up for slave labor to http://motlc.wiesenthal.com about troop movements and supplies. be shot in the neighboring woods. They would get The United States through the ghetto gates by posing as Ukrainian Only group leaders carried pistols, and Joe was a Memorial leader. He kept a small pistol tucked into his boot, thugs who would tell the Germans they were Museum: so that if he were caught, he could kill himself, going to rob and beat up Jews. But once they http://www.ushmm.org/ as required. There had been talk about getting got in, they would organize the people and slowly outreach/jpart.htm poison suicide capsules for the teen agents, but smuggle them out by leaving the ghetto with one Kopakof, the commander, ruled against it. or two Jewish prisoners hidden among them. The Germans would sometimes reward them with a Joe says most teenagers today don’t really know loaf of bread for “beating” up Jews. In this way, what it means to take responsibility for another Joe’s group saved 100-200 Jewish lives.

3 Who Do You Trust? Questions

There were enemies to hide from, and not every 1. What do you think are some “friend” could be trusted. There were Ukrainian of the characteristics that farmers who supported the Russian partisans, would make a successful and there were Ukrainians who formed units partisan? Does Joe embody to fight for Ukrainian self-determination and these traits? How? Use to murder all Jews—as well as any Poles, Russians examples from the text to support your answer. and Ukrainians who didn’t believe as they did. “There were Ukrainian military forces completely outfitted by the Nazis,” says Joe, “who were 2. The Condrezweytka worse than Germans themselves. Sometimes the Maladoyogie, the junior secret service, was primarily Germans let you go, sometimes they even gave Joe and the junior spies provided information on train composed of young teens. Do you a piece of bread, but the Ukrainians would schedules and routes to the partisans who would then you think the partisan and destroy enemy tracks. Source: USHMM Archives torture and kill without a second thought.” commanders had the right to use young children in their It was hard to know who was who, and he was caught in crossfire between German missions? Why or why not? sometimes the Junior Secret Service had to troops and Ukrainian nationalists. He still has the bullet and shrapnel inside him and scars kill people or be killed. Joe’s unit constantly 3. What are some of the moved around the assigned region because on his hands and arms. Because there was no challenges Joe encountered as it wasn’t safe to stay in one place for too long. medication in the forests, they used old folk a Jew in the partisans? Describe At times the Russian leadership in Moscow remedies to treat his wounds—a leaf found in the strategies he used to sent them to other areas. Sometimes the the woods and urine. He forced himself not to respond to these challenges. high command made wrong decisions, said succumb to disease, overcame his injuries and Joe, “But then, no one is 100% perfect.” continued to fight. 4. “There were enemies to hide from and not every friend could As a result, Joe was honored many times by his be trusted.” Make a list of Joe’s Ambush and Sabotage commanders, who respected his heroism and his enemies. Does anyone on this ability to get results. He was so good at what he list surprise you? Why? The junior spies also provided information to did, that at one point he was asked to work for saboteurs who mined bridges and railroads to the partisan group of Tito, the man who later disrupt German military activity. They tracked became the dictator of Yugoslavia. train schedules and identified which trains needed to be blown up. The partisans blew up the trains as they crossed designated bridges, and were Antisemitism Among often able to salvage guns, food, and military the Partisans equipment from the wreck. On their way back from missions, non-Jewish If and when the Germans did venture into the partisans killed Jews in their units and then told forests, partisans armed with guns and hand the commander that the Jewish partisans died in grenades, stationed in the treetops, dispatched action. It happened more than once, so Joe asked, them immediately. When the Germans failed to “How do bullets know the difference between rid the forest of partisans with infantry, they tried Jews and non-Jews?” with bombs. But the bunkers, called , were built six to ten feet below ground and Commander Lidovsky told him, “Next time kill withstood the attacks. When the bombs hit the those who kill the Jews.” forest canopy, tree branches were sheared off Joe did as he was told and was brought to the and the bombs’ force was deflected. When they commander to explain. He reported that Jewish went off, they exploded into little pieces of metal partisans were being killed by their comrades. but the zemlyankas were usually deep enough to After an investigation, 18 antisemitic partisans protect the partisans from shrapnel. were hung on 18 trees deep in the forest for During one bombardment, Joe was caught above murdering Jewish partisans. Signs pinned to their ground. He was wounded and permanently lost bodies declared why they were dead. After that, his hearing in one ear. Once, in Drohobicz, he the killing of Jewish partisans by their “comrades” was hit by grenade shrapnel and a bullet when suddenly stopped.

4 There was still discrimination against Jewish bullet in my rear end. They could have hit me in More information people who wanted to join the partisans. Though the heart or head instead. It wasn’t an easy life, on Joe Kubryk everyone who could fight was welcome, only Jews and if I had to do it again I don’t know if I could. To see a video of Joe and hear needed to bring firearms with them or they could I tried to be like a rock. I didn’t even cry most of him speak in his own words go to not join. Joe went to Lidovsky and they decided the time, though I knew my parents, my brothers http://www.jewishpartisans.org/ to grab some guns and hide them for the Jews. and sister were dead. I had to save myself. It was bios/kubryk/video.html When a Jew needed a weapon, they gave him really tough.” one, thus allowing him to join a partisan group. Ask A Partisan In 1945, Joe escaped from the Ukrainians to the Polish side of the frontlines and was with Ask a panel of the Soviet Army when they came upon Auschwitz, partisans any the notorious death camp. There they found 7,000 question you like and get a dying prisoners and evidence of the murder of personalized answer on-line. hundreds of thousands of men, women and Or read questions and answers children. He cannot forget what he saw there, from others. Go to and it still sometimes wakes him up at night. http://www.jewishpartisans.org/ students/activities/aap/

Joe’s New Life Sources After the war, Joe worked for the , the Resistance During the clandestine illegal immigration of Jews to Holocaust. Pamphlet, United Palestine under the British Mandate. The British States Holocaust Memorial Museum. didn’t want to upset the Arabs and refused to allow survivors of to settle there, Jewish Resistance in Nazi so Joe helped smuggle thousands of them into Occupied Eastern Europe. Reuben Ainsztein, London, Joe Kubryk, 2003. Source: Jewish Partisan Educational what became the State of Israel. He smuggled Foundation. 1974. himself in, too, after being caught three times and sent to British camps in Cyprus. The Catastrophe of European Jewry. Eds., Y. Gutman, L. The Beginning of the End Joe fought in Israel’s War of Independence and Rothkirchen, , Israel, 1976. The German defeat in Stalingrad on February 2, worked for the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, 1943, marked the beginning of German’s military before moving to America, where he became a Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, San Francisco, decline. As they retreated they made prime targets successful businessman. 2004 for the partisans in the woods. Joe was eventually Joe and four others are the only surviving assigned to the KGB, the Russian secret police, to For a complete list of sources members of more than 100 people in his extended for all the material found work against the Ukrainian fascists. One of his family. He and his wife Rachel, a Holocaust in this study guide, please jobs was to search for Jewish children who were survivor from Warsaw, have two sons, one named consult our website: given to local families during the war and bring after his father, and the other after his brother— www.jewishpartisans.org/ sources them back to their Jewish communities. Some Shlomo and Yitzchak—and three grandchildren. people were willing to let the children go, while others tried to prevent the children from leaving. Joe explains, “My story is a very difficult story to Jewish Partisan If a village refused to give back Jewish children, tell. No matter how long I sit and talk, no matter Educational Foundation or would try to kill the partisans, Joe and his how much I describe, you will not be able to 2107 Van Ness Avenue group would punish the village. imagine or fit it into your head. No matter how Suite 302 many books you read, it is not going to give you San Francisco, CA 94109 Joe faced death many times. He never knew what the exact picture, because there is no way you would happen. “You hope and pray that you’re 415-563-2244 (tel) can understand it unless you lived it. All you can 415-563-2442 (fax) going to be a lucky guy, that you’ll come back do is try to learn something about your own lives [email protected] from a mission in one piece. But there were never from the one that I lived.” guarantees. I was shot in the fingers and got a

THIS STUDY GUIDE MADE POSSIBLE BY THE CONFERENCE OF JEWISH MATERIAL CLAIMS AGAINST GERMANY-RABBI ISRAEL MILLER FUND FOR SHOAH RESEARCH,DOCUMENTATION AND EDUCATION,THE RICHARD AND RHODA GOLDMAN FUND,RITA J.& STANLEY H. KAPLAN FOUNDATION,INC., AND THE JPEF GEVURAH SOCIETY ©2006 Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation Revision no: 7.04 5