Ask your students what words come to mind when they think of the Holocaust. If you choose to, write them on the board as you go. Does the term “resistance” come up?

Tell students that it is a common myth that Jews went like “sheep to the slaughter” during the Holocaust. Let students know that the people they will hear from in the video were part of the resistance, a group of Jewish partisans that fought against Nazi forces and saved the lives of thousands.

Define a partisan for the class, explaining that a partisan is, “a member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy, especially behind enemy lines; a guerrilla.” A group using guerrilla tactics use irregular forms of fighting such as sabotage and hit-and-run attacks.

Play the video, Introduction to the Jewish Partisans, by Facing History and Ourselves. Open up to a class discussion about partisans with the questions below.

1. What tactics did the partisans use in order to fight?
2. How did they stay hidden?
3. Did it surprise you that there were female fighters in the resistance? Why do you think this was more common than women fighting in an official military?

Continue the class discussion with the following thoughts. Read through the two statements below to direct the conversation.

• In the video, a woman named Sonia Orbuch states that, “People did not go like sheep to their deaths. People were fighting every which way they can.”
• Ellie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author of Night, suggests an alternative to the question, “Why didn’t the Jews resist?” Instead, Wiesel explains, “The question is not why all the Jews did not fight, but how so many of them did. Tormented, beaten, starved, where did they find the strength -spiritual and physical- to resist?”

What are ways in which we as individuals can help change the narrative?

Start by asking your students, “What is resistance?”
Have students call out ways in which they think Jews resisted during the Holocaust and write those answers down on the board.

Define a partisan for the class, explaining that a partisan is, “a member of an armed group formed to fight against an occupying force.” Further this explanation by telling your students that these groups would typically use irregular, or guerrilla, forms of fighting such as sabotage and hit-and-run attacks.

More will be added to this list after reading through the resource, so make sure there is space available. Another aspect of this activity is to debunk the myth that there was little or no resistance. Filling the board with the different types of resistance will help students visualize how much there was.

Read through the resource, Jewish Partisans by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a class. When you are finished, ask students to give more examples of how Jews resisted and add these to the list you have started on the board.

Is this more or less than they expected? Let students know that this is one category of resistance, and that in later lessons they can look into resistance that took place in ghettos and in the camps.

Instruct students to take 5-10 minutes for a quick-write answering the following prompt:

“Resistance does not have to be with a gun or a bullet.” What do you think of when you read this quote? What comes to mind? (Prompt from lesson by Echoes & Reflections)

Reconvene as a class and ask people to share their thoughts.

Begin by asking students, what is an anthem? What anthems do you know? Do they all encourage resistance?

Before you begin the lesson, provide some historical context about the author of the poem by reading the passage below to the class. This context, as well as other points from this lesson plan have been taken by elirab.me/study. The full version of this lesson plan can be found here.

Hirsch Glik was born in Wilno (now Vilnius) in 1922. He began to write poetry in Yiddish in his teens and was a co-founder of Yungwald (Young Forest), a group of young Jewish poets. Glik entered the Vilna ghetto after the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. He was a participant in both the ghetto’s artistic community and the underground movement and took part in the 1942 ghetto uprising. Glik wrote the poem you will be reading right after this in early 1943. He was able to flee when the ghetto was being liquidated in October 1943 but was recaptured. He escaped once more in July 1944 and was never heard from again. It is presumed that he was captured once again and executed by the Nazis in August 1944.

Divide the class into groups of three or four. Give each member of the group a copy of the Partisan Poem. When giving them the poem, provide them the instructions below. Allow approximately 15 minutes for this initial discussion.

1. Have one member of the group read the poem aloud while the others read along.
2. Look closely at the language of the poem. What themes can you identify from it?
   *Hint* Notice the use of the present tense: “will grow” and “will come”.
3. What do you think was the author’s goal in writing this poem?

Take a few minutes for groups to share their responses.

After the students have had some time to go over the poem, tell them that the poem (albeit not the exact wording) was also used as a song, or anthem amongst the resistance. The song, Zog Nit Keynmol, translating as “Never Say” and, to this day considered the anthem of Holocaust survivors.

Listen to the song as a class. Watch the video from beginning till 2:38 (when the English ends) unless you would also like to have the class listen in its original form, Yiddish.

Have the groups discuss the questions below after listening. Allow an additional 5-10 minutes for this section.

1. What do you consider when you compare the poem to the song?
2. Can you think of any reason why the poem was translated into a song?

Come back together as a class. Open up a class discussion with the questions below:

1. This song has been adopted by others as a protest song. How relevant is this poem to the world today? Is it effective as a protest song?
2. When and how does a poem or song become an anthem? Is it considered as such at the time? What impact can an anthem have on a movement?

Begin by asking students what they know about ghettos. Ensure students know the basics, that ghettos were typically closed off parts of a city where Jews were forced to live.

Ask if they can list off any health or emotional challenges that could be faced by living in one.

Read through the resource, Life in the Ghettos by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a class. Scroll through the images and videos in the left hand corner to show the class. Find the video titled, “Gerda Weissmann Klein describes her birthday celebration in the Bielsko ghetto” and watch that as a class.

Ask the students how their initial list matches up to the reality of what they learned from life in the ghettos.

Have the students list some examples of how people tried to maintain “normal” life in the ghettos.

Tell the students they will now have the chance to go back into the reading and write down a few notes using the 3Ps method- writing down something they find a) Powerful b) Puzzling and c) Propelling.

In order to familiarize yourself, and your class with this model, please look over this guide: 3Ps: A Critical Reading Guide.

Allow the students to pair up in groups of two or three to go over what they wrote down for their 3Ps. As they do so, provide them with the following instructions:

Go over your notes from the reading, try to answer one another’s puzzling sections.

Then discuss the following questions:

1. What were the Nazis’ intentions in closing Jews in the ghettos?
2. The Germans wanted to concentrate Jews into the larger cities and establish ghettos near railroad junctions. What do you think was the purpose of gathering the Jews in certain central locations? Why did the Germans want to establish ghettos near railway transports?

If time permits, come back together as a class to share what was discussed. Make sure to let students know that if they are unable to find clarity for something in the ‘puzzling’ notes to bring it up to you to be discussed.

Write the word “ghetto” on the board. Have students share what they know about the word and record their responses. Follow this discussion by sharing the history of the word.

US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia states that the term “ghetto” originated from the name of the Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy. In 1516, Venetian authorities compelled the city’s Jews to live in this quarter. Following Italy’s example, local authorities and even the Austrian emperor ordered the creation of Jewish ghettos in Frankfurt, Rome, Prague, and other cities.

This lesson is adapted from The Ghettos by Echoes & Reflections, the full unit can be found here.

Play the video testimonies for Joseph Morton and Ellis Lewin. While they watch, encourage your students to listen for specific examples of how ghettos during the Holocaust differ from their understanding of what is referred to as a “ghetto” today. It could be beneficial to take students to the resource, Life in the Ghettos by USHMM and scroll through the photos and watch a few of the brief videos.

Open up into a class discussion with the questions below:

1. In their testimonies, Ellis Lewin and Joseph Morton share some of their early feelings and experiences in the ghetto. How does Ellis say his life changed after being forced into the ghetto? What does Joseph share about his observations of life in the ghetto?
2. Based on the testimonies you just watched, how were ghettos during the Holocaust different from your understanding of what a ghetto is today?
3. How do you think Ellis, Joseph and other ghetto survivors would feel about the use of the term today?
4. What images have begun to emerge for you about ghetto life after listening to these two testimonies?
5. How do you think Ellis and Joseph felt sharing these memories? How did you feel listening to them?

Lastly, divide the class into groups of three to five to discuss the following questions:

1. Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi head of the SIPO (security police) writes, “For the time being, the first step toward the final solution is the concentration of the Jews…” What do you think Heydrich meant by “for the time being”?
2. Discuss the difference between physical and economic segregation.
3. When people describe a neighborhood today as a “ghetto,” how is it different from the Nazi ghettos? Are there any similarities?

If time permits, open into a class discussion.

Ask the students if any of them have ever read Diary of Anne Frank or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. What sort of things do people write in diaries?

Watch the 16 minute video, The Ghettos by Yad Vashem. Take about 5 minutes having students go around and give examples of what sort of challenges people faced. Then ask, how did people try to maintain a sense of dignity or humanity?

Ask students to reflect on what they just watched and discussed. How did hearing the testimonies and diary entries help paint a picture of what life was like in the ghettos? Provide 10 minutes for students to write and reflect.

If time permits, have students share their reflections.

Ask the students what kinds of problems they thought survivors might have faced when they were finally liberated. Lead a short discussion, based on previous knowledge of the war and the Holocaust, about the difficulties in rebuilding people’s lives.

Read the resource, Survivors and the Displaced Persons era by ‘The Holocaust Explained,’ The Wiener Holocaust Library with the class, including the accompanying images. You can stop reading at the section titled, ‘German-Jewish Communities Outside the Camps.’ Take time to answer questions to the best of your ability and clarify if necessary. Ask students to take notes on key facts that stood out to them about why survivors felt they could not return to their home countries, or the antisemitism they continued to encounter.

As a class, discuss the reasons why many people may have chosen not to move back to countries such as Poland or Hungary at the end of the war.

Lead a discussion with students about what the word “home,” “country,” or “citizenship” means to them, and how difficult it would be to have lost these things. Make sure to discuss how difficult it was to feel as if you could not go back to where you were before because you might be injured or worse, but how other countries did not want you, either.

Explain to the students that the aftermath of WWII and the liberation of people from concentration and death camps was the beginning of a difficult period of recovery for around 6 million refugees and displaced persons. Jewish refugees in particular faced much discrimination by authorities, and had a difficult time re-building their lives.

Split the class into 4 groups, assigning a section of Nate Leipciger’s post-liberation story to each group. Allow each group 15 minutes to read through their assigned text and list out events detailed, as well as specific things that stood out to them in the story, to be presented to the rest of the class.

Allow 5 minutes for each group to present each section of the story in chronological order, beginning with group 1 and ending with group 4.

Use the remaining 10 minutes to discuss with the class the reasons why Nate Leipciger and his father chose to rebuild their lives outside of Poland, as well as what aspects of the story stood out to them. If there is any time remaining, ask the students whether or not knowing the whole story made it difficult to understand what happened. Explain that often families were separated from each other at different points of the war, so that they may know one part of the story but be unaware of others. This made it very difficult to reunite with other members of the family who survived, or to figure out what happened to those who did not.

Explain to the students that after WWII ended and liberation from the camps a very difficult period of recovery began for around 6 million refugees and displaced persons. Jewish refugees in particular faced much discrimination from authorities, and had a difficult time re-building their lives. Discuss how complex the process was for emigrating, but even though it took years, many Jewish survivors were determined to do it.

Watch the source video with the class (suggested start time at 23:30). Tell students that the woman is named Raye David, a Holocaust survivor that ended up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after the war.

As a class, lead a discussion based around the following questions:

1. Why did Mrs David insist that they could not return to Vilnius?
2. Why do you think Mrs David’s family thought getting married and starting a family was one of the most important things that she should do once they arrived in their new home in America?
3. Besides starting a family, what were some other important things that she focused on as she settled into her new life, such as the education of her husband David?
4. What is the reason that Mrs David says she does not hate the Germans/Nazis, and what does she say about the difference between forgiveness and hatred?
5. How did Mrs David cope with her experiences, and how has it shaped her outlook on how she wants to/has lived her life?