In the Face of the Holocaust Part II

In the Face of the Holocaust Part II. Passive Bystanders

1. Present the students with audio-visual materials from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute: testimony 2—In the Face of the Holocaust. Passive (parts 1‒3: fragments of testimony by Maria Szarach, Lila Lam-Nowakowska, and Sister Maria Górska) and based on these, discuss the following issues: • Based on the testimony of Maria Szarach and Lila Lam-Nowakowska, talk about the manner in which the citizens of Warsaw reacted to the Ghetto Uprising. What were the comments that could be heard on the street at the time? • What do you think: why did people on the street proclaim their approval for the activities of the Germans, who were liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto? • What do you believe was the reason the women in the tram were commenting that “really the only good thing that Hitler did, was making it possible to rid us of the Jews”? • Why did they support the repressions in the Ghetto? • How do Maria Szarach and Lila Lam-Nowakowska understand this behavior? • Describe the behavior of these people and consider, where had it originated from? • How may have you felt, had you been in their place? • Do you know of other situations, where one group of individuals suffers, and others are indifferent or, even take pleasure in the misfortune of others? • What effect did the tragedy of the Ghetto have on Sister Andrzeja, Maria Górska, who had witnessed its liquidation? • Why does she consider the outbreak of the Ghetto Uprising as one of the most tragic events in her life?

2. Present the students picture (supplement 14) on the foil slide, showing the carousel on Krasiński Square in Warsaw, and then ask them to read a fragment of the poem by Czesław Miłosz, entitled Campo di Fiori (supplement 8). The poem may also be read out loud by the teacher or one of the students. Next, ask the pupils to attempt to answer the following questions: • Consider why Czesław Miłosz chose the carousel as the main focus of the poem. What was he trying to achieve by doing this? • Why did the author compare Krasiński Square to Campo di Fiori? What is the connection between these two places? • Imagine that you are one of the children behind the wall of the Ghetto. Talk about what you can see on the other side of the wall. • Imagine yourself as one of the children from the carousel and assess the situation

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after many years have passed. Next, together discuss: What you had thought back • Who is this aimed at, and of what are they being accused? Analyze the poem. Fill then? What are your feelings today? (ask the students to create a diary entry—one in the chart: page from the time they played on the carousel, and the next page written as an adult today—and compare the view of situation you had then and now). It hurts • Consider how the Jews on the other side of the wall may have felt, seeing the playful children on the carousel. it hurts so badly • Have you or anyone you know, were ever excluded from a group in society? If so, because what do you believe was the cause of this? • Can you remember a situation where a group rejected someone? Describe this situation. What do you believe were the emotions that the rejected person felt? The Germans The Poles What were the probable motives that drove people to reject the individual, as well the frenzy of hatred, they passionately mock us… as those who remained indifferent to the person who could have felt left out? immensity of the misery, white eagle lies helpless, the number of beatings all the while they laugh at this

3. Ask the students to read Mordechai Gebirtig’s poem, entitled It Hurts (supple- ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ment 9), and interpret its meaning. extermination of a nation indifference, mockery • Explain the title of the poem. destruction acceptance of the crimes • Interpret the following words:

responsibility It hurts it hurts so badly, when not a foreign enemy, Throughout the generations They, — only humiliation for them to their eternal shame but one who is also in slavery, spit in their own face just as we are,

a young Polish boy and Polish girl, Why does the author of the poem assess the behavior of the Poles and Germans dif- they passionately mock us… ferently? … that among the Jewish beards • Why does the behavior of the Poles hurt him more than that of the Germans? trampled in the dust, • According to you, does the thought of one of the characters in Hanna Krall’s sto- ry, entitled Hipnoza, could have been an addition to the poem? the beautiful Polish eagle, proud white eagle “…believes that the Jews had not yet dealt with their Polish issue. The German yes, lies helpless. but this was easier. It’s easier to forgive for the deaths caused, than the humiliation, which was inflicted. The issues with the Poles deal with the memory of humiliation • Who is the lyrical subject of the poem? What do we know of this subject, based and a feeling of being spurned.” on the text presented? Hanna Krall, Hipnoza, Warsaw 1989, p. 52. • What do the words “you’ve joined our common” mean?

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4. Have the students fill in the chart below, once they have watched Andrzej Waj- Character/ Characteristic behavior or state- Attitudes and feelings da’s film, entitled Wielki Tydzień or after reading Jerzy Andrzejewski’s book Holy Person ments Week: A Novel of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Włodek ...became pale, with furled • horror Karski eyebrows, as if in anger... An example of a completed chart: Piotrowska “And maybe she’ll deny that she’s • hostility a Jewess?” • anti-Semitism Character/ Characteristic behavior or state- Attitudes and feelings “Who could even touch you?” Person ments “Get back to the Ghetto, you’ll find your Housekeeper Afraid, she opens the gate • fear, anxiety Srul there.” Woman in the “For which sins does a person have • both anger and com- basement to suffer so much?” passion 5. Ask the students to read the letter of farewell by Szmul Zygielbojm to the “ Why don’t you sit down?” Moves President as well as Prime Minister of Poland (supplement 3), and discuss with a chair toward Irena. • assistance them the following issues: Malecki Irena’s suffering was not his own... • helplessness ...at that time, it was more of an • terror • Who is Szmul Zygielbojm blaming for the mass extermination of the Jewish anxiety and fear than a genuine love • humiliation people? for these helpless people, cornered • shame • Do you agree with his opinion about the indirect, yet collective responsibility of from all sides... • shared responsibility the world for the mass murder of the Jews? ...entangled in them [feeling] was • compassion • How does the author of the letter assess the activities undertaken by the Polish particularly painful and humiliating • assistance government to inform the world’s public opinion about the Holocaust? awareness of vague and the unspe- • In what manner does Szmul Zygielbojm justify his deed? What does he want to cified responsibility for the atrocities accomplish by doing this? What are his dreams for the Jews of Poland? and crimes, which with the tacit con- • For what does he appeal to the President and Prime Minister of Poland? Find out sent of the whole world the Jewish if this appeal was met with a reaction by the world. people were subjected to for several • Describe the emotions that were felt while writing, or drafting this letter. Write years. Did he have the right to these down in a visible place (on the chalk or whiteboard, large format sheet of pa- expose a similar danger? per). People ...there was a group of people • interest • Why in your opinion, did Szmul Zygielbojm decide to express his feelings in the standing, safely watching the battle. • indifference form of a letter? • interest on the basis of Upon hearing the news of the dead sensationalism 6. Provide students with the basic knowledge about activities of the Polish Jew, they started to gather and Government in Exile to inform the world about the Holocaust (for example, Jan watch this attracted more and more Karski’s missions). people to look at the site of the battle Also, characterize the actions of Polish and foreign diplomats, whose goal was to from up close. save Jews (for example, Henryk Sławik, Raoul Wallenberg, and Chiune Sugihara). Boy wearing “Look, Heniek! Do you see that dead • interest on the basis of the overalls Jew?” sensationalism 7. Carry out a class discussion on the subject of the possibilities and limitations of organizing successful actions by the international community to help Jews. Put The boy’s “It’s great how he’s hanging, isn’t • interest on the basis of forth the various ideas, which were presented to the Allies by Jewish institutions friend it?” sensationalism (such as, the bombing of the railway tracks leading to Auschwitz or dropping leaflets on Germany, informing the population of the mass extermination of Jews).

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In the Face of the Holocaust Part II. Passive Bystanders

• In your opinion, was everything possible done to save the most human lives? • If we consider the contemporary world, can you say that the governments of today are doing everything in their power to work against the crimes of genocide? • Do you know of any examples of genocide and crimes against humanity? How does international public opinion react to such deeds? • Find information on this topic at home, and then carry out a debate in class: Who, today, most often offers help? What are the roles of international organizations and NGOs in working against genocide? In what way do such organizations operate if such crimes are being committed?

Boat-shaped swings and a carousel on Krasiński Square, near the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto. Jan Lisowski took the photograph in April of 1943. His fiancée is standing in the foreground. On the left, a carousel set up on the corner of Długa Street and Krasiński Square, in the middle boat-shaped swing in which boys are sitting, on the right the large carousel is standing.

Source: Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

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A fragment of a poem by Czesław Miłosz A poem by Mordechai Gebirtig Campo di Fiori It Hurts ... I thought of the Campo di Fiori It hurts In Warsaw by the sky-carousel it hurts so badly... One clear spring evening Not the frenzy of hatred that burns in the enemy, To the strains of a carnival tune. not the immensity of the misery The bright melody drowned and not the number of beatings. The salvos from the ghetto wall, Not the star of Zion And couples were flying on the arm of a Jew High in the cloudless sky. a sign, showing they are Jewish, because, this will be for them— At times wind from the burning for them—until they die— Would drift dark kites along throughout the generations— And riders on the carousel only for them, Caught petals in midair. humiliation. That same hot wind It hurts Blew open the skirts of the girls it hurts so badly, And the crowds were laughing when not a foreign enemy, On that beautiful Warsaw Sunday. but one who is also in slavery, ... just as we are, Warsaw, Easter, 1943 a young Polish boy and Polish girl they passionately mock us… Source: Czesław Miłosz, Poems, Volume 1, Collected Works, Krakow 2001. …that among the Jewish beards trampled in the dust, the beautiful Polish eagle, proud white eagle lies helpless. All the while they laugh at this, while the Jews are ridiculed, you’ve joined our common— As though they, to their eternal shame spit in their own face...... while—we are—in captivity. And that hurts, it hurts so badly...

Source: From the collection of Jerzy Ficowski, courtesy of Elżbieta Ficowska and Anna Teodorowicz-Ficowska.

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The farewell letter by Szmul Zygielbojm, the Jewish representative in the Polish Natio- And I truly believe that this kind of Poland will emerge, and that the world will be the same. nal Council in London, who, after having written it, committed suicide in protest against the inaction of the world’s governments towards the extermination of Jews. Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, I trust that you will direct my words to all of those for whom they are me- ant and that the Polish Government will immediately begin the proper diplomatic and propaganda activities, 11 May 1943 to save the remnants of the still living Polish Jews from mass murder. To His Excellency The President of the Republic of Poland I bid farewell to everyone as well as everything that has been dear to me and that I have loved. Władysław Raczkiewicz President of the Council of Ministers Szmul Zygielbojm General Władysław Sikorski

Mr. President, Source: Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki, Kto ratuje jedno życie... Polacy i Żydzi 1939–1945, London 1968, pp. 213–214. Mr. Prime Minister,

I am taking the liberty of addressing to you, Sirs, these last words of mine, and through you to the Polish Government and the people of Poland, and to the governments and people of the Allies, and to the conscience of the whole world:

The latest news that has reached us from Poland makes it clear beyond any doubt that the Germans are now murdering the last remnants of the Jews in Poland with unbridled cruel- ty. Behind the walls of the ghettos the last act of this tragedy is now being played out.

The responsibility for the crime of the murder of the whole Jewish nation in Poland re- sts first and foremost on those who are carrying it out, however, it indirectly falls also upon the whole of humanity, on the peoples of the Allied nations and on their governments, who up to this day have not taken any real steps to halt this crime. By looking on passively upon this murder of millions tortured children, women, and men they have be- come partners to the responsibility. I am obliged to state that although the Polish Govern- ment has greatly contributed to raising awareness of this in world public opinion, never- theless this was not enough; it did not take any action to achieve anything extraordina- ry, which would match the dimensions of the tremendous tragedy that is taking place in Poland.

Out of nearly three and a half million Polish Jews as well as around 700,000 Jews, who have been deported to Poland from other countries, there were, according to the official figures of the underground “Bund” transmitted by the Representative of the Government, only about 300,000 still alive in April of this year. And the murders continue without end. I can- not continue to live and be silent while the remnants of Polish Jewry are being murdered, the same people who I am representing.

My comrades inside the Warsaw Ghetto lost their lives with weapons in hand, in their last heroic battle. I was not permitted to die like they did, together with them, but I belong with them, in their mass graves.

Through my own death, I wish to express my most profound protest against the inaction with which the world watches and allows the continued destruction of the Jewish people. I know how little human life means, especially today. But, since I was unable to achieve this while alive, perhaps through my own death I will succeed in arousing those who could have and now must act so that , perhaps at the very last moment, the handful of Polish Jews, those still alive, can be saved from most certain mass murder. My life belongs to the Jewish people of Poland, so I give it up for them. My desire is that this small amount of individuals, who are the last ones of the several million Polish Jews, will survive with the Po- lish masses to be liberated, to breath the freedom and justice of Socialism both in the coun- try as well as the world, for all their martyrdom and inhuman pain that they have suffered. © 2007 Shoah Foundation Institute and Auschwitz-Birkenau State Memorial © 2007 Shoah Foundation Institute and Auschwitz-Birkenau State Memorial

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