THE MYTH  Jews did not fight back. THE TRUTH  Resistance was carried out in every German occupied country.  Ghettos  Concentration camps  Killing centers

You have actively decided to fight back against the Nazi Regime… what do you need? With a partner, make a list of the things necessary to fight back.

 Food  Weapons  Plan  Plan B  Communication  Money  Training  Medical  Manpower  Organization  Hideout, haven, and headquarters  Goal (and consensus about the goal)  Leadership  Followers (committed, loyal, healthy, trained)  Knowledge (of the enemy’s resources, plans, etc.)  Help (inside and out)

 With a partner, come up with some things, conditions, beliefs, realities that would delay people from fighting back?

 Hope:  Americans/Russians are coming soon  Resettled, maybe will be better  Deception:  Signs at camp entrance:“Arbeit Macht Frie” “Work Makes You Free.”  Signs before gas chambers: “Put your name on your luggage so you can get it later”  Lack of information:  Knowledge: What do you know, can you accept it  Denial:  “Night”  That didn’t/couldn’t happen  German Policy of Collective responsibility:  Risk punishment of self and others you may or may not know  Fear:  Of collective responsibility

Jewish Resistance:

 Jewish prisoners in Sobibor devise plan for revolt  Alexander “Sasha” Pechersky  October 14, 1943  SS officers killed  Prisoners fled

 Results:  300 prisoners escaped ▪ Only about 50 survived WWII  100 recaptured/shot  11 SS Officers killed  Shortly after, Nazis close extermination center

 Survivor of Sobibor  Describes uprising   1. What does she say about why they planned?  2. What are your reactions to her determination to escape?

Jewish Resistance

"They will consider it a victory if the enemy's forces are weakened a bit, and finally they will consider it a victory if they can die with weapons in their hands."  Polish Home Army newspaper, 29th April 1943

Jewish families arrested by Nazis during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland

SS officers walking through the destroyed Ghetto after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

German Resistance

 Watch the trailer for “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.”   1. What was Sophie accused of doing?  2. What do you think happened to Sophie and her brother?

 Peaceful resistance  Leaflets  University of Munich  February 18, 1943  Sophie and Hans caught  Trial

“What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare to express themselves as we did.” - Sophie Scholl “One day there will be another kind of justice! One day they will go down in history!” - Robert Scholl

 Sophie, Hans (among other White Rose members) found guilty of treason  Executed by guillotine  Do you think this is a fair punishment for the type of resistance they performed? Why or why not?

German Resistance

Schindler with some of the Jews he saved

"The persecution of Jews in occupied Poland meant that we could see horror emerging gradually in many ways. In 1939, they were forced to wear Jewish stars, and people were herded and shut up into ghettos. Then, in the years '41 and '42 there was plenty of public evidence of pure sadism. With people behaving like pigs, I felt the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them. There was no choice.“ - Oscar Schindler, 1964

"I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more.“ - Oscar Schindler

 In your own words, write one paragraph about why Schindler said he did what he did.

"He drank, yes, he drank. He liked women. He bribed. But he bribed for a good purpose. All of these things worked. If he were not this kind of person he probably wouldn't have succeeded. Whatever it took to save a life he did. He worked the system extraordinarily well. He was a true human being in the best sense of the word.. His actions in those circumstances were absolutely extraordinary and I know of no one who has matched them."

"In spite of his flaws, Oscar had a big heart and was always ready to help whoever was in need. He was affable, kind, extremely generous and charitable, but at the same time, not mature at all..“ - Emilie Schindler

"He could have taken the money and gone to Switzerland... he could have bought Beverly Hills. But instead, he gambled his life and all of his money to save us...“ - Poldek Pfefferberg, Schindlerjew

"What people don't understand about Oscar is the power of the man, his strength, his determination. Everything he did he did to save the Jews. Can you imagine what power it took for him to pull out from Auschwitz 300 people ? At Auschwitz, there was only one way you got out, we used to say. Through the chimney! Understand ? Nobody ever got out of Auschwitz. But Schindler got out ! " - Abraham Zuckerman, on how Schindler got 300 Schindler-women released from Auschwitz

“The man rose to an occasion. Why the story is remarkable is that he did something when it appeared that the Germans were winning, and he did it over a long period of time, about four years, and he did it in the worst area, Poland, and he did it openly... He did it for strangers.” - Irving Glovin, Schindler’s attorney

 In your own words, write one paragraph about what kind of man Schindler was based on the quotes.