Northwood Holocaust Memorial Day Events Speak Up Speak Out Teachers’ Resource Pack Monday 1st February to Thursday 4th February 2010 2014 Edition ‘.. and the bush was burned with fire Photograph courtesy of Weiner Library, London but was not consumed’ Exodus 3:2 NHMDENHMDE Resistance Resistance and and Rescuers Rescuers in in the the Holocaust Holocaust ContentsContents •• President President Barak Barak Obama’s Obama’s Holocaust Holocaust Memorial Memorial DayDay address address In In Washington, Washington, 2009 2009 •• Notes Notes for for Teachers Teachers •• PowerPoint PowerPoint Presentation; Presentation; Resistance Resistance and and RescuersRescuers in in the the Holocaust Holocaust •• Lesson Lesson plans: plans: •• around around Rescuers Rescuers •• student student research research project project on on Resistance Resistance in in the the Holocaust Holocaust •• Significant Significant datesdates in in the the HolocaustHolocaust •• Glossary Glossary •• Websites Websites •• Acknowledgements Acknowledgements WeWe hope hope this this pack pack will will enable enable your your students students to to prepare prepare for for their their visitvisit to to this this event. event. If If you you wish wish to to download download further further copies copies of of this this materialmaterial please please visit visit www.northwoodhmd.org.uk. www.northwoodhmd.org.uk. If If you you have have further further questionsquestions please please call call tel: tel: 08456 08456 448 448 006 006 fax: fax: 01923 01923 820357. 820357. WeWe look look forward forward to to seeing seeing you you and and your your students students .in in 2010. 2010. 0845608456 448006 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] [email protected] ©© ©2012/13 2009 2009 NHMDE NHMDE NorthwoodNorthwood Holocaust Holocaust Memorial MemorialDay Events Day 2010 Events 2010 PresidentPresident Obama’s Obama’s 2009 2009Holocaust Holocaust MemorialMemorial Day Address Day Address That is theThat question is the questionof the of the righteousrighteous – those who – those would who would do extraordinarydo extraordinary good at good at extraordinaryextraordinary risk not for risk not for affirmationaffirmation or acclaim or oracclaim to or to advance theiradvance own their interests, own interests,but but because itbecause is what itmust is what be done.must be done. They remindThey us remind that no us one that is no one is born a saviorborn or a saviora murderer or a murderer– – these arethese choices are we choices each havewe each have the powerthe to powermake. toThey make. teach They teach us that nous one that can no makeone can us intomake us into bystandersbystanders without our without consent, our consent,and that weand are that never we are truly never alone truly – alone – that if we thathave if thewe couragehave the tocourage heed that to heed “still, that small “still, voice” small within voice” us, within us, we can formwe cana minyan form afor minyan righteousness for righteousness that can spanthat cana village, span aeven village, a even a nation. nation. Their legacyTheir is legacyour inheritance. is our inheritance. And the question And the questionis how do is we how honor do we honor and preserveand preserveit? How do it? we How ensure do we that ensure “never that again” “never isn’t again” an empty isn’t an empty slogan, orslogan, merely or an merely aspiration, an aspiration, but also abut call also to action? a call to action? I believeI believe we start we by start doing by doing what wewhat are wedoing are todaydoing –today by – by bearingbearing witness, witness, by fighting by fighting the silencethe silence that is thatevil’s is evil’s greatestgreatest co-conspirator. co-conspirator. 08456 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] © 2010 NHMDE 08456 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] © 2012/132010 NHMDE NHMDE NHMDE Resistance and Rescuers in the Holocaust Notes for teachers It is important when teaching the Holocaust to give accurate information about this catastrophe, which saw the annihilation of 10 million innocent people, including up to 2 million children Last year the Northwood Holocaust Memorial Day Events programme encouraged students to look at Kristallnacht and think about the effect this had on the Jewish communities in Germany. We wanted the students to “Pass on” the personal testimony they had heard from a Survivor and to tell their friends and family about the horrors of this dark period in history. Our pack looked at life for all Holocaust victims in pre war Europe and how Jews and Gypsies were targetted for destruction, whilst many other groups were killed because they did not fit Hitler’s view of an Aryan race. This year we are looking at the Holocaust from the point of view which includes understanding the thinking and background behind the Perpetrators, Bystanders and Rescuers. We want students to Ask, Answer and Act about what they have heard and learnt and understand about their own personal responsibility. The effectiveness of both political and spiritual resistance by Jews during the Holocaust is little understood. The general belief is that Jews did little to resist but the evidence shows just the opposite. The Jews resisted in considerable numbers and resisted against a regime dedicated to their destruction. Jews in the undergrounds and partisan communities demonstrated enormous courage under almost impossible odds. Spiritual resistance, as well, tells a story of unarmed, defenseless Jews unwilling to give up their faith, refusing to allow their will to be broken by German aggression. While spiritual resistance saved few lives, it still enabled Jews to sustain an identity and courage in the midst of the horror of mass shootings, gas chambers and crematoria. Rescuers are those who, at great personal risk, actively helped members of persecuted groups, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust in defiance of Third Reich policy. They were ordinary people who became extraordinary people because they acted in accordance with their own belief systems while living in an immoral society. Thousands survived the Holocaust because of the daring of these rescuers. Although in total, their number is statistically small, Rescuers were all colossal people and held the conviction that what one person did could make a difference Whether they saved a thousand people or a single life, those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust demonstrated the possibility of individual choice, even in extreme circumstances. However, these and other acts of conscience and courage saved only a tiny percentage of those targetted for destruction. The vast majority of the world’s citizens stood by and did nothing. 08456 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] © 2012/132010 NHMDE NHMDE NHMDE Resistance and Rescuers in the Holocaust 1 Power Point Presentation: Resistance and Rescuers in the Holocaust Jewish partisans in Naliboki Forest, near Novogrudok. Poland, 1942 or 1943. Europe on the eve of war, 1939 Rescue The only country to save every Jew and every Gypsy, was Bulgaria. The citizens of Bulgaria did not exclude people because of their religion or ethnicity. Bulgaria was alone in this concept although the Danes saved most of their Jews. The Nazis could not have carried out their plans without the collusion of the citizens of the countries they invaded. The historian Yitzhak Arad wrote; “A big segment of the local public was animated by anti-Semitism, profited by illicit gains from abandoned Jewish property and favoured or was apathetic toward the extermination of the Jewish community. Those who might have been ready to assist the Jews were intimidated by the likelihood of punishment . Very few overcame their fears and extended help.” 08456 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] © 2012/132010 NHMDE NHMDE NHMDE Resistance and Rescuers in the Holocaust 2 Rescuers Rescuers came from every religious and ethnic background: Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, atheist, Jewish or Buddhist. Some European churches, orphanages, and families provided hiding places for Jews, and in some cases, individuals aided Jews already in hiding (such as Anne Frank and her family in the Netherlands. In France, Belgium, and Italy, underground networks, run by Catholic clergy and lay Catholics saved thousands of Jews. Such networks were especially active both in southern France, where Jews were hidden and smuggled to safety to Switzerland and Spain, and in northern Italy, where many Jews went into hiding after Germans occupied Italy in September 1943. Nicholas Winton Some individuals saved hundreds of people. Nicholas Winton, a 30-year-old clerk at the London stock exchange, visited Prague, in late 1938 and saw that children needed to be rescued. He managed to set up the organization for the Czech Kindertransport in Prague in early 1939, before returning to London, where he persuaded the Home Office to let the children in. For each child, he had to find a foster parent and a £50 guarantee, which in those days was a small fortune. He also had to raise money to help pay for the transports when contributions by the children’s parents couldn’t cover the costs. In nine months of campaigning as the war crept closer, Nicholas Winton managed to arrange for 669 children to get out on eight trains, from Prague to London. The last train never made it, as war was declared and all borders were closed. No-one knew his story until 1988 when his wife discovered documents in the attic. He was knighted by the Queen in 2002 but remains very modest about his humanitarian efforts. 08456 448006 www.northwoodhmd.org.uk [email protected] © 2012/132010 NHMDE NHMDE NHMDE Resistance and Rescuers in the Holocaust 3 Refik Veseli In the fall of 1943, Refik Veseli, a sixteen-year-old Albanian photography student, received permission from his parents to hide Mosa Mandil and his family, Jewish refugees from Yugoslavia, in the Veseli home in the mountain village of Kruja.