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FEATURED:
Teacher/Parent Guide for Defiance Tuvia Bielksi: Rescue is Resistance LESSONS & ACTIVITIES: The Ethics of War Finding Leadership Café RESIST 8 Degrees of Gevurah The Great Partisan Debate STUDY GUIDES: Women in the Partisans Introduction to the Jewish Partisans Living and Surviving in the Partisans Frank Blaichman: A Partisan Leader's Story Gertrude Boyarski: From Frail Girl to Partisan Fighter Ben Kamm: Determined to Fight Sonia Orbuch: A Young Woman with the Russian Partisans Joe Shasha Kubryk: Teenage Partisan Spy Antisemitism in the Partisans Jewish Partisans Saving Jews OTHER: Putting the Gevurah (heroism) Back into Yom Hashoah Resist Poster: 8.5" x 11" Resist Poster: 11"x 17" (with additional text)
Many Jews suffered from antisemtism in the partisans, even though
they were fighting a common enemy. Read this study guide to learn
about the role antisemitism played in and out of the partisan
units and how it differed from region to region. 
Thousands of Jews were saved by Jewish partisans. From protecting and feeding Jews hiding in the forests,
to digging tunnels under ghetto walls to bringing people out by the hundreds -- Jewish partisans risked their lives to save others. 
Read about Sonia Orbuch, a young Jewish partisan, who fled to
the forest with her family and served as a field nurse. 
At 15 Joe Kubryk joined a Russian partisan unit in the reconnaissance unit, pretending to be a local beggar, gaining important intelligence from the Germans.
Download and print a JPEF Resist poster featuring Jewish partisan,
Eta Wrobel. Print size: 8.5" x 11" Print Format: color .pdf 
Download and print a JPEF Resist poster featuring Jewish partisan,
Eta Wrobel. Print size: 11" x 17" Print Format: color .pdf |
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Use the film Defiance to talk to your students and teens about complex ethical issues through the lens of the Bielski partisans. Are there times when it is morally right to steal, to kill, even to take revenge? Should there be? Includes perspectives from classical Jewish ethics and interviews with Defiance screenwriter, Clay Frohman.
The Bielski brothers--Tuvia, Asael and Zus--commanded one of the largest and most successful Jewish Partisan units. The Bielskis managed to build an entire village inside German territory, rescuing 1,200 Jews by the end of World War II. The guide was written by Bielski biographer, Peter Duffy.
Meet inspiring young women who overcame traditional gender roles to fight the Nazis and help win World War II. Less then 10% of Jewish partisans were women, and they faced even greater challenges than their male counterparts. Accompanies the new Women in the Partisan short film, available online in the Films section.
In this lesson, students will prepare for and engage in a team debate in which they will define the various attributes of a hero using specific
examples from the experiences of Jewish partisans. The lesson aims to
create enduring understandings about heroism while familiarizing
students with the actions of the Jewish partisans.
(For grades 6 – 9)
This lesson will challenge students to understand leadership as a set of distinct activities in which anyone can participate.
The lesson employs partisan actions as a model of how to understand and exert
leadership and aims to enhance a studentÕs desire and ability to affect a positive
change in the world. (For grades 9 – 12)
This lesson will help students to discover that anyone has the potential to become a hero. In defining heroism as possible and accessible,
the value of tzedakah will be explored through a study of MaimonidesÕ Ladder,
and heroic action will be exemplified through the stories of Jewish partisans.
(For grades 6 – 9, strong Judaic content) 
Café RESIST is an experiential activity that engages students in discussions about ethical
dilemmas encountered by the Jewish partisans throughout World
War II. The discussions take place in
a relaxed "café" setting that is a contrast to the harshness of
everyday life during World War II. (For grades 9-12+)
The ethics of war are confusing; for resistance Þghters ethical
dilemmas are presented at every turnÑ-to eat and survive; people have to steal and kill
in order to survive. A Conversation in the Woods is a
short play and part of this 60 minute activity that deals with two different arguments for saving
lives, the ethics of war, and issues of resistance and revenge (9th-12th grade).
An activity based version of the lesson, "Finding Leadership" - best suited to youth groups, summer camps,
and alternative classrooms. This involves role-play with participants "interviewing" five young Jewish partisans
to explore issue of leadership vs. authority, and how young people can become leaders in their own lives.
Forty-five minutes to one hour. (For grades 9 - 12).
Find out who the partisans were and how they fought the Nazis.
Go to the Films section to view the film that compliments this
study guide. 
Not a study guide at all, but a document for communities wanting
to acknowledge the intent of Holocaust Remembrance Day as it
was started in Israel, in 1951. Includes a brief history and
reading. 
Learn how the partisans fought hunger and survived the harsh
winter cold. How did they survive? Go to the Films section to
view the film that compliments this study guide. 
Ben Kamm left the Warsaw ghetto and joined and eventually joined several non-Jewish partisan units.
One group liberated 600 Jews from a German work camp. 
Gertrude Boyarski joined a Russian partisan unit after her mother and brother were killed, and eventually was awarded one of the
Soviet Union's highest medals for bravery after she and a another woman partisan burned down an strategic Nazi bridge. 
Frank Blaichman's story is one of a courageous leader of an all Jewish platoon of 100 partisans.