The Nature of Resistance and Rescue (due Thu., Mar. 11)

[freemanjud]

Each of you has been given written material about a particular act of rescue or resistance. Read the selection you’ve been given. If you are alert to what you are reading, you should be moved by some of the acts of courage described.

In your post, identify the subject of your reading (in the heading of your post). Then, describe and discuss what the particular act(s) of rescue or resistance was, what motivated the people doing it (in your view). And respond to this: how, if at all, does your knowledge of these acts (perhaps) enrich, enhance, or modify your view of the role of the bystander? Be sure to read through the posts that precede and follow yours, and comment on at least two other acts of rescue or resistance described in those posts.

Note: We will have a test next Tuesday (March 16) on the rise of the Nazis to the Holocaust. This test will include the targeted populations; if you did not get a handout from one of the presentations, ask me at the end of class. I have some extras. If you need notes from a class, ask one of your colleagues.

[meatballeyes]

Miep Gies was the woman who helped the famous Frank family hide away. She risked a lot in helping them but said that it was her human duty to help them. She never thought about turning them in for her own good and risked much by helping them. She went to several grocery stores a day just so she could buy them enough food so that they could survuve and so she woldn't look suspicious. She said that they were always on her mind and that she felt responsible for them. She was afraid that she was going to get caught but was happy to help the Frank family hide because she didn't want anything bad to happen to them.

This story didn't modify my view of the bystander as much as i thought another story could have. The reason for this is that everyone knows about how Anne Frank was hidden away but people don't know about the many other people that were hidden away and the many people that sacrificed their lives to help all the people that needed to hide. I think thinking about how everyone in the class had a different story enriches my view of the bystander more because that means that there are about 30 other stories of people who risked their live to help people taht we don't know about. That means that there are fewer bystanders that i might have originally thought.

~Meatballeyes
"A babies gotta do what a babies gotta do" ~ Tommy Pickles

[HelloWorld4]

-Arnold Douwes, along with an intricate system of others helped to rescue at least 500 Jews, which included about 100 children. When Jews were sent to him underground her personally saw to it that they were all found homes within the same area so that he could keep them all safe and protected. He persuaded parents to let their children go into hiding so that they would not be found and persecued because they were Jewish. He personally escorted these children to their hiding places riding miles on his bike pulling them behind him. He rode in between towns to check on the children and adults that he hid, daily. Arnold Douwes even kept a diary that documented his heroic efforts. Douwes soon found himself on the Gestapo's most wanted list so he changed his appearance and continued to assist Jews, with the risk of being executed. He was arrested and was then rescued by his fellow underground members while awaiting execution.
-Douwes was an extraordinary man. His motivation was his pure respect for the preservation of human life. He had no bias against Jews and was not ready to let them die on the whim of the Gestapos. His role as a bystander shows me that not all bystanders just sit idly by. Some of them fight back and help those who need it the most, the victims.
-"thinking about how everyone in the class had a different story enriches my view of the bystander more because that means that there are about 30 other stories of people who risked their live to help people taht we don't know about. That means that there are fewer bystanders that i might have originally thought." -meatballeyes .........this is truly one of those extremely thought provoking quotes. Miep Gies sounds like an extraordinary person. Her story especially moved me (when we learned about Anne Frank) because she was a woman that risked everything she had to help an entire family. It truly shows the courage that it takes to be a rescuer.

[NCVghost]

My person was Walter Suskind, as you already gathered. He was a famous jewish aider during the Holocaust. He allowed the jews to excape from the concentration camps, by disorganizing and removing cards of victims from the Nazi files. He also allowed for the restoration of Jewish children, taken from their parents and placed in Nazi childcares to be returned to their family.
He actually smuggled them out before they were deported to the concentration camps. The Jews were forced to stay at a theatre overnight before trains could arrive to deport them. During this time, Suskind had arranged for each persons escape, and snuck them out the back door after deleting their records. With him and his aides, he was able to maneuver very efficiently. It is said that he snuck out hundreds of Jews this way.
What motivated my person was his love of life. He had a family, and he realized that these people were not going to live to enjoy theirs. It seemed that he was very much just one person who saw the world from multiple points of view. This is probably why he decided to help. He wanted to allow others to enjoy what he did.
My view of bystanders has changed to being a far more unacceptable action. Seeing what one man did, makes you wonder what would happen if more men like Suskind existed. I mean he did his part no doubt, so if others like him did their job, more would have been saved. This makes me view bystanding as being useless, as being just as bad as the violators.
The acts of Miep Gies is incredible, because she sustained an entire family that was of no way her real burden, but she took it on anyways. Douwes story is amazing because he saw to it that each person found a place to go to. That's not an easy task. These people are all great in their own way. They may have been a part of different scenarios, but they all made a large impact on one person's life. That'z what truly matterz.

[fishjumping]

Mendes was a Portugese diplomat working in Bordeaux, in France at the beginning of the Nazi invasion of that country in May 1940. There was a large influx of refugees at this time hoping to traverse Spain, reach Portugal, and then cross the Atlantic. Unofurtunately, the Portugese government had banned the passage of refugees through its territory, and Mendes was instructed not to give any more visas, particularly to Jews. 10, 000 refugees stranded in Bordeaux found themselves homeless, sitting around the main square. Mendes often walked around the city at night, and in one such instance met a Rabbi who was stranded, inviting him to the Portugese consulate. Mendes at first refused to grant entry visas to any Jews except the rabbi and his family without his governments consent, but after much pleading, Mendes had a change of heart. Mendes and Rabbi Kruger spent a whole day stamping thousands of passports with Portugese visas.

Eventually, Mendes even opened his home to refugees, who were described as "sitting on the floor and leaning against the walls outside...". Later, when a subordinate in Bayonne refused to grant visas to Jews on orders from the government, Mendes personally granted visas to even more Jews. When Spanish customs at Biarritz tried to block the refugees, Mendez was again ready and pleaded with Spanish officials, and all of the refugees were let through. Mendes saved thousands of people.

When Mendes returned to Lisbon, he was fired and eventually lost all his money, burdened with feeding a family of 13 children.
Mendes in interviews said he was motivated by his religious beliefs to intervene on behalf of the refugees, but truly an act such as this required extraordinary courage and a tremendous, unbreakable will. Reading this account only increased my sense of awareness of how easy it is to be a bystander, how typical, and seemingly reasonable and normal. The suffering this man endured because he saved people's lives was truly a terrible price to pay. On his own suffering Mendes said, "I could not have acted otherwise, and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love." Wowsers...

Walter Suskind's story was a truly amazing one as well, and I loved the quote "What motivated my person was his love of life..."...if we all loved life that much! Arnold Douwes' story was also remarkable, because of the emphasis HelloWorld placed on the "personally" part. Not only was Douwes the manager behind the elaborate scheme to hide people, but he also made sure that everything went without a hitch, by escorting the refugees himself, an act that seems more and more amazing the more I thing about it!

[jordan23]

As meatballeyes already stated, Miep Gies was the woman who risked her life on a daily basis so that Anne Frank and her family could try to survive. Her husband, Jan, was also supportive to the cause. Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, was Miep Gies' boss before the war and persecution of Jews, and she felt it was her duty to aid the family that had always treated her in a friendly and generous manner. Her main tactic for acquiring the food was to go to different stores and her husband helped by obtaining ration-cards illegally.
What motivated Miep Gies was a sense of responsibility and her stron morals. She said, "My decision to help Otto was because I saw no alternative. I could foresee many sleepless nights and an unhappy life if I refused...Permanent remorse about failing to do your human duty, in my opinion, can be worse than losing your life." That quote makes it evident that she was putting others before herself, which is one of the main charecteristics non-bystanders show. Correcting meatballeyes real quick who wrote "She was afraid that she was going to get caught but was happy to help the Frank family hide...", Miep Gies had said, " I can't remember that I was really afraid while I was hiding the families; I was too busy finding food and other supplies to find time to worry".

My knowledge of this act enhances my view of the role of the bystander because I believe someone is more likely to help others if they have a connection with them. Miep Gies had known the Frank family very well and therefore did not hesitate to help her friends.
Walter Suskind was a very brave man. It was obvious his efforts where more danger because he was actually smuggling people, not just hiding them. Arnold Douwes was also very courageous because his bike riding could easily have gotten him caught. All of these people were heros in their own right.

[FacingHPupil]

This is an account of a nun by the name of Anna Borkowska, who helped Jewish refugees. What she did was she in 1941 she invited a group of 17 Jewish refugees to take refuge in her convent for a while, even though this was considered to be illegal at the time. These people knew her as “Ima”, which means mother. She was a good-hearted woman and she never saw these people as a burden to them. In order to prevent discovery of suspicious neighbors she gave the refugees duties of nuns and they also helped in cultivating the nearby fields. At the convent Anna housed some people that were very important people like Abba Kovner, who was the “moving spirit” for the Vilna underground movement. A former Jewish refugee said that the convent of Mother Anna Borkowska was one of the only places where someone brotherhood and human compassion. Anna wanted to return with Kovner to the ghetto because she believed that he was fighting a holy war and she wanted to be a part of that. Instead Kovner told her that it would help them more if she was able to smuggle them weapons, and that is exactly what she did. People began to get suspicious of the things that Anna was doing for the refugees and in 1943 she was arrested and the convent was closed. After the Holocaust Kovner moved to Israel but he lost contact of Anna. Trying to find her he was misinformed that Anna was no longer living. Almost forty years later Kovner found out that Anna was still alive and he met with her in 1984 a Yad Vashem medal of “Righteous Among the Nations”. Anna questioned Kovner and because she felt that she did not deserve the medal but Kovner replied to her saying it was because she was an angel.
This act of resistance really moved me because Anna in this case was selfless. The acts that she performed for the refugees were totally out of the good of her heart. She never asked them for anything in return not even money. Many other bystanders would have hesitated because they may have thought of the consequences that might have been in store for them if they were found out.

[FacingHPupil]

The accounts of Miep Gies and walter Suskind were similar to the account Anna Borkowska beacsue they all performed selfless acts. One can say that they were all doing this betterment of humankind. Like walter they wanted others to be able to live their lives like they desreved and not like animals that were not worth living at all.

[cocacola]

Ms. Freeman spoke briefly about this resistance movement in class a few days ago...
Previous to 1943, the Gestapo had not been siezing those Jews who were married to non-Jewish Germans, especially if these were Germans important to the Nazi party for some reason or another. However, after Stalingrad, Hitler called for "Total War", which involved completely ridding Germany of all its Jews. Thus, many Jewish men with non-Jewish wives were abucted and taken to an administration building at Rosenstrasse to be held before being taken to camps. Infuriated, hundreds of women gathered outside with food for their husbands inside. They protested outside for days, holding hands, singing, and chanting for their husbands to be released. The protest grew to 600 women, even though Goebbels had closed the local train station in an attempt to quell the protest. However, these brave women would not give up. Eventually, Goebbels was forced to give in to save face with the German people, and over 1,000 Jewish men, who were husbands and fathers, were released.
The courage of these women is amazing. Despite being threatened by soldiers and reprimanded at gunpoint, they held their ground. Their love and devotion for their husbands motivated them to protest their deportation. It is amazing how much will power they had... This account gave me hope for the human race again. After reading so many accounts in the vein of David Cash, I was beginning to think that the brave and humane were a dying breed in this world. I was also inspired by the fact that these protesters were all WOMEN, in a culture where women were thought to be valuable only as baby makers.

In reading meatballeyes/jordan's posts, I was inspired even further. Reading Anne Frank at the age of 11 or so was one of my first exposures to the Holocaust, and I was always amazed by Miep Gies and her undying devotion and courage. What she did for the Frank family was so selfless and so amazing. I was also inspired by the account of Mendes. As a political figure, he was risking much more and was much more in the public eye than other resisters, but nevertheless he bravely saved thousands of lives. Inspiring...

[superrecidivist]

My piece focused on the same Abba Kovner mentioned in FacingHPupil's post. I have always found ghetto resisters to be interesting because they have come to terms with the fact that they will die fighting for "for our ancestors, for our murdered children, [and] to avenge Ponar" Ponar was a death camp where other residents of the ghetto had been killed. I quote from the Vilna Partisan Manifesto, which is chilling and makes one realize how the resistance fighters understood that they a. would die and b. could only hope to assassinate a handful of the thousands of the "assassins" who were forcing Jews to their deaths.
It's clear from the Manifesto that there were many in the ghetto who were in denial about their chances for survival, and thought that by hiding they might be able to live. The Manifesto says "Do not take refuge or hide in the bunkers, for then you will fall into the hands of the murderers like rats."
The handout I received also talked about a man named Jacob Gens, who was head of the Jewish council (Judenrat) and who opposed the resistance because he thought that the ghetto could be saved through work and that any resistance would lead to collective punishment. He persuaded many other ghetto prisoners to his point of view. Soon after, Vilna was liquidated and more than 4,000 ghetto residents were slaughtered at Sobibor and Ponar. A few hundred resistance memebers, including Kovner, escaped and joined fighting groups in the forests (like we learned about in class yeserday). While reading this, I wondered what it would be like to live as a resistance fighter, constantly expecting death and fighting against impossible odds.
Of the people who posted before me, I found Mendes to be great because he was was willing to put his career on the line to act (as very few others did) and he opened his home. I also liked reading about Anna Borkowska because on top of harboring refugees, she aided the resistance fighters, which was extremely difficult and risky.

[IrishGirl]

My story was very moving. It was about an Aryan man who wintenessed day in and day out the awful burings and horrors which occured in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Germans would march into the Ghettos, shooting people and then burning them. Those who made it out of the ghetto were shot as soon as they came to fresh air. There were points in time when those inside the Ghetto would try to fight back, and considered themselves at least partially successful when they saw so many German casualties. This only angered the Germans more, however, and more attacks were done. A line which relates to this post was

"Aryan Warsaw watched the Jewish resistance with amazement and observed its toll of hated Germans with grim pleasure; but scarcely ;ifted a finger to help

Out of fear, the bystanders did nothing to help the Jewish. They were happy to see resistance, but would not help to particiapte in it. Vladka Meed felt a deep guilt for this, and felt very badly for the unfortunate, but still would not help. Knowing what I know about bystanders, this passage really made me think. Would I have been like Vladka and felt awful for these people, but not done anything to help? Or would I have spoken out and did my best to save whoever i could. They did write an appeal to avenge the crimes of Dachau, Treblinka, and Auschwitz, but no apparent action was described. Meatballyeye's story was interesting on Miep Gies because she helped to hide the Franks, a famous Jewish family. It is people like her who I admire. They risked so much for others. People like her are truly wonderful, kind caring people. I only wish I could say I would do the same as she. Superrecidivisit's person, Jacob Gens was interesting. He thought it would be a good idea to just work hard and do what the Nazis said. This makes sense. It is too bad things did not work out this way. Great articles. Very thought-provoking and moving.

[candyland]

Armin T. Wegner, interestingly enough, was one of the only photographers whose images of the Armenian genocide. So he had seen the horrors of one genocide, and didn't want this to happen in his beloved country.
Wegner, an author, was living in Germany in 1933, and after the boycott of Jewish stores and the dismissal of Jews in civil service jobs and the arts, he wrote a letter to Hitler. The newspapers would not print it, so he sent it directly to Hitler.
In this letter, Wegner protests strongly about this boycott- against jobs taken from people who have worked so hard to get them. He discusses how the Jewish community gives so much to the country of Germany, and that "Germany became great in the world is due in part to the achievements of its Jews." He goes on to discuss Einstein, Ehrlich, and many others who did so much for humanity.
Wegner has foresight enough to see that the Germans would lose this battle, that the Jews would persevere like they had for so many centuries, and all the German people would obtain from the battle would be shame and disgrace. He condemns the government that "degrades itself by abandoning helpless people to the hatred of the frustrated masses," and that it is ridiculous to blame Jews for the countrys problems. He ends by ordering Hitler to stop thes horrendous crimes, for "even if Germany may be able to do without the Jews, it cannot do without its honor and virtue!"
Wegner was arrested by the Gestapo by this, beaten until he was unconscious, and sent to a concentration camp. He amazingly survived=, and never returned to Germany. Wegnber loved his country too - it was obvious in the wording of the letter -its sad that he was forced to seperate himself from the nation he loved so much. I think that even though Wegner didnt actually save anyone, he did something even better- he stood up for the Jews when everyone looked the other way. I always kind of got the feeling that the people who hid the Jews sometimes looked down on them - in Maus the farmer's wife definitely did. Wegner recognized them as equals, which I thought was really brave. He wasnt a bystander, I dont think. He took a stand, which he was then punished for.
I loved the story of the Rosenstrasse Protest - those women were really brave. It just disturbs me that they only protested for the 1000 men to be freed - imagine if all Germans against the Holocaust had proteseted - it might have stopped the Holocaust. Mendes's story was really important - it showed that people can be humane...but Arnold Douwes was my favorite because he from the start, recognized that this was wrong and dedicated so much effort to working against it.

[Senters24]

Arie van Mansum was born in 1920, and moved to Holland as a young boy. He was from a working family, members of the Reform Church of the Netherlands. His town was 90% Catholic, with about 80 to 90 Jewish families in it. Arie did not know them. When he was 19, he was his church’s representative to help decide on a solution to German refugees. But, they were unable to make a decision before the war broke out.
When the war broke out, Arie was a door-to-door wall paper salesman. His friend asked him if while on his business route he would distribute an underground newspaper, Free Netherlands. He once was asked if he would help a Jewish family move into hiding. He agreed, and was asked to do so more and more. He once was asked to find a hiding place for a family. He did so, but the son of the family, Fritz, looked “too Jewish”, and therefore could not go with the family. He moved in with Arie and his family instead. Through Fritz, Arie came into more contact with Jewish families in need of hiding places. Arie found them spots, and helped them get food. He forged food stamps for them, and at one time he was asking the food-stamp office for 250 cards. He would often kidnap Jewish orphans who were put together in a nursery. He would find them places to live, with various families in Holland. Once, he took an 11 day old baby, which his mother took care of until the war ended five years later. His sister, Margarete, helped him.
In October of 1943, he was sent to prison for six months of solitary confinement. He was then sent to a concentration camp. He was liberated by the Allies, but again arrested in 1945 and sent to another camp until the war was over.
Arie considers this span of 5 to 6 years, the best time of his life. Helping people has brought him so much joy. He says that after liberation and the end of the war, he would see people he helped and cry. Arie moved to Canada. He no longer liked Holland. He did not like that the people who did nothing, the bystanders, moved up in society and politics. He told a story of a police officer who sent a family away, “doing his duties”, and was made a member for the regular police force. He says “I guess I have helping in my blood.” He does not like to speak of his acts though; he does not want to brag or people to think he is. He has received a medal from Yad Vashem (by the way, who is that?) and has a tree in honor of him in Israel. He says, “I did what everyone should have done.” He does not consider himself courageous, and says that if someone asked him if he could do it before he did, he would deny it. The man is truly a hero.

[sampson]

Kurt Gerstein was a German SS who attempted to expose the horrors of the holocaust. I found this man's story to be a very conflicted one. Gerstein graduated from college in 1931 and was very interested in religious matters, at times even considering to become a pastor in the protestant church. Ironically in 1933, only three months after Hitler's rise to power, Gerstein joined the Nazi party and then enlisted in the SA. In 1935, during the Nazi's attempt to infiltrate the Protestant Churches, Gerstein was expelled from the Nazi party due to his religious convictions. In 1936, Gerstein was arrested and imprisoned after a search of his house revealed thousands of pamphlets slandering the Nazi anti-church policies, all ready to be mailed out. He lost his job, and over the next four yaers petitioned for readmission tot he Nazi party. In 1941 Gerstein joined the SS, who were glad to recriut an intellectual and "repentant sinner". Gerstein was assigned to the SS Hygiene Department and worked at concentration camps to improve decontamination facilities and killing methods (he was even promoted to lieutenant).
It was recorded in 1941 that Gerstein was sure that the collapse of the Nazi regime was coming and that there would be a day of judgement when the ruthlessness of the Nazi party would be exposed and punished. Apparently an awful experience during a trip to the Belzec camp in 1942 had him shook, and "had a decisive effect on his state of mind." (whatever that means) While in the SS, Gerstein transported hundreds of kilos of prussic acid and zyklon-b pellets. He also bore witness to thousands of people being marched in and dragged out of the gas chambers. Now you might think Kurt was a bad guy, but people argue against this due to several post-war memoirs and personal testimonies... On a train headed for Berlin after the visit to the Belzec camp, Baron Von Otter (a sweedish diplomat) remembers when he was approached by Gerstein, "an SS who had a queer look in his eyes". Von Otter testifies that Kurt had pulled him aside on the train and begged him to relay a message of alert to Allies and government about his accounts of the atrocities he had witnessed-the confession of what he witnessed was punishable by death. Gerstein "seemed utterly desperate" and until 1945, all of his attempts to expose the horrors of the Nazi party seemed to be in vain. He even met with the Vatican Nuncio Orsenigo in Berlin during confession, who also dismissed his witness account. Friends and family account for Gerstein's total disorientation and say that he was "utterly convinced of the historic impotace of his mission". Through several of his confidantes, we are convinced that he believed he was working from the inside, he felt he knew too much and had to tell someone before he died or was killed, something had to be done. Despite the fact that from 1943-44 he was even promoted to full lieutentant for the excellent carrying out of his duties, Gerstein had high hopes that his reports to the Swedish and Vatican diplomats would not fall on deaf ears. When the concentration camps were shut down, Gerstein surrendered along with all the other Nazi officials on April of 1945 to the French army. Kurt was thrown into prison in Paris, and after being shocked at being imprisoned as a Nazi criminal along with all the others, Gerstein was found in his cell in July of 1945 having killed himself.
A shocking and unusual story, one is torn on whether to take mercy and appreciate the little that Gerstein did to help, or condemn his efforts along with the other atrocities he was being tired for... the courts have recognized Gerstein's passing the news to foreign sources were acts of resistance and at great risk to himself, but were confused at why then would he let himself become part of the machine, a tool of organized mass murder...
The ambiguity of the good in Gerstein makes his case a very debated one. while reading gerstein's sentiments, i am only confused at his choice of actions. he was resisting, yet complying at the same time. i felt proud of his bold confessions to the random people he thought would listen and help him, but disgusted at his ironic continuation of his voluntarily SS work. Gerstein cannot at all be put into the "bystander" category, because he did more than most would ever do. but i also do not believe he should not be exhalted in the same way Anna Borkowska and Miep Gies should be because Anna and Miep were in their own ways, victims of the circumstances of the war, and despite their hardtimes, committed themselves to helping others and aid their suffering.

[lampshade101]

Vilna was home to the first Jewish fighting organization called the United Partisan Organization FPO. Vilna was a ghetto for Jews in which the population had fallen from 60,000 to 20,000 by 1941 due to unhealthy living conditions and deportation of the Jews to death and work camps. The idea for resistance was first pushed by Abba Kovner, a Zionist youth activist. He tried to take away the Jews' hopes so that they would realize that the ghetto would only lead to their deaths no matter what, it was just a matter of time, so they might as well fight the Nazis and "die with honor". One important point about Kovner was that he realized the Nazis plan from the beginning to rid Europe of all its Jews. The group was officially formed on January 21, 1942 and after itds original leader committed suicide when he was arrested by the Nazis, Kovner became the FPO commander on July 6, 1943. When the Nazis began liquidating the Jews in Sept of 1943, the FPO issued a manifesto to the remaining 14,000 Jews to begin a resistance. It was encouraged by the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Although the manifesto was very persuasive with things like "We will not offer our heads to the butcher like sheep." and "Jews, we have nothing to lose! We shall save our lives only if we exterminate our assassins." and "Anyone who passes through the ghtetto gate will go to Ponar! And Ponar means death", and "For our ancestors! For our murdered children!... Attack the murderers!", it did not get many foloowers. The leader of the Jewish Copuncil in Vilna, Jacob Gens, would not allow the storage of smuggled arms in the ghetto because he still had hope that they could survive without resistance and that the Nazis would not kill them if they worked. By not resisting, 4000 Jews were sent to work camps in Estonia where they were later killed, and 4000 were sent to Sobibor, where all were murdered. Kovner and the few hundred memebers of the FPO escaped and joined Partisan groups in the Rudniki and Naroch forests.
I think knowing they were going to die no matter what, gave the resistance fighters the courage to face death make their own choice as to when they would die. Dying on their own terms rather than at the hands of the Nazis would give the Jews back some of the pride and honor and inner strength that the Nazis had worked so hard to strip from them. These acts modified my view of the bystander by making me see that even if the Jews died fighting the Nazis, they at least died on their owns terms which I completely admire and honor them for and definitely resisting does not make you a bystander, even if you dont win. However, gens was a bystender and almost a helper of the Nazis. Even though he felt that they could just work and be saved, which may hav just been a honest mistake u can't blame him for, he should never have not allowed weapons to be hidden. He didnt have to join the resistance himself, but he shouldn't have stood in the way of others or convinced them they were safe, because they weren't. His idea may have cost those 8000 people their lives or at least most of them.
I thought Irishgirl's post was interesting about people being glad to see the resistance but not being brave enough to help them themselves, and its true , you do wonder who you would have been during this time. We all like to think we would have resisted, but maybe we would have just stood by and watched, thinking, well someone else is doing something about it so its ok.
NCVghost's story about Walter Suskind moved me because helping Jews sneak out of camps by stealing cards was a BIG help and a huge risk and it was nice to see an example of someone human sing his own experience like having a family to place himself in the shoes of the victims and realize that what was happening was wrong and had to be stopped.

[eatsbacon,jello]

The White Rose was a student resistance group that opposed the National Socialist party. They printed and distributed leaflets calling for popular uprising and an end to Hitlers reign. The group risked their lives for a cause, to awaken the by-standing German masses, and eventually the three founders were caught and executed 3 of the founders. The pamphlets were ponted criticisms of the imperialist, war mongering, murdering practices of Hitler and the Nazi government. They accurately predicted Germany's eventual defeat and called upon the students and the industrial workers to rise up, while their was still time. Although the material doesnt state this it seems that the movement didnt gain much momentum and that the majority remained brainwashed by-standers. had there been a popular uprising, the Nazi's would have faced not only a two front war but also a war from within. If it wouldnt end the war, it certainly would have shortened it.
The students who founded and were part of the white rose were the only german group to speak out against nazi genocidal policies. They had a profound understanding of the role of by-standers in Germany.
Kurt Gernstien's story was very interesting. Although not a perfect exemple of courage and resistance, he is the intermediate resister, the half bystander, half resister.
I didnt know about that detail of how the White rore got its name, thanks whoever it was that wrote that.

[littlebopeep]

Ms Freeman must have something against me because my selection was so vague...I have no last names and I feel rediculous saying this but I'm only 75% positive this resistance occurred in Minsk. This excerpt describes an encampment in Minsk that became a safe haven for Jews during WWII. The inhabitants of this small village shared what little they had with the Jews and families of Polish peasants they were harboring. I was slightly disappointed by my selection because it wasnt very informative and left me wanting a lot more. Perhaps if the excerpt had been longer it would have been better. This didnt real alter my opinion of bystanders too drastically but it did slightly change my view on the rescuers. In most of the other accounts, the rescuers seemed to be selfless heroes, while the rescuers in my account complained that there were already too many in the village as it was and they only were letting two particular men in because they were skilled in a certain trade. Upon reflection however, it didnt make me think less of the rescuers because in my opinion they were just responding realistically.
I enjoyed the selection on the White Rose because I remembered reading about them in the Holocaust Museum. What stood out in my mind was the fact that they were only college students and I was also impressed that one of its leaders was a woman and that all the students were willing to die for their cause. I also liked how the group got its name: I seem to recall something about the girl wearing a white rose on her lapel so when theyd meet outside in public, people in the White Rose would know she was a member. Being so close to their age, I cant imagine having the courage to stand up for what I believe in facing certain death.
I also loved the story of the women who stood wailing outside of the administration building at Rosenstrasse and refused to be silenced until their husbands were released. It was such a powerful piece and not your typical account of rescue.

[shortygrl]

Jan Zwartendijk was a Dutch businessman, turned diplomat, living in Lithuania who issued 2,200 visas to Jews to the Dutch island of Curacao by going through Japan. Thousands of Jews were able to escape the Holocaust because he gave them these visas allowing them to go to Japan, where they could then get a transit visa to Curacao, but most ended up just staying in Japan. He saved thousands of Jews because he knew it was the right thing to do, even if it could cost him his life. He wanted no glory or fame for this, he even denyed it for many years after. All he wanted to know was that the Jews he helped had gotten safely out of Lithuania. He did all this in about a week, with only the help of two other people stamping the visas. The really sad thing is that while he was doing this, helping thousands of Jewish refugees, the US was denying all the visas of Jews. He is considered a hero everywhere because of what he did, he risked his own life for thousands of others out of the kindness of his own heart.

Reading this story definitely gave me hope about people in general, especially hearing about how so many people knew about the Holocaust and did absolutely nothing. It proves that not everyone is a bystander and there are some that actually want to do good. It also proves how mcuh one person can do, so there really is no excuse for being a bystander.

Two other stories that really stuck out to me were of Walter Suskind and Anna Borkowska, a nun. They were both extraordinary people who risked their own lives for others, like Zwartendijk did. They didn't do it for fame, honor, or money, they simply did it to help the Jews. They saw people in need and helped them. They were very courageous and amazing people and i definitely agree that Anna Borkowska is a saint.

[Abe Lincoln]

Rosenstrasse Protest

As you probabbly know already from other posts, this was a protest conducted by spouses and children of jewish men who had been imprisoned. This protest started small then quickly grew to be substantial enough to grasp the attention of some news organizations and, more importantly, Goebbels and the Nazis. The protesters faced warning shots and still returned quickly to resist and correspond with the me inside te camp. These women realized that their nonviolent actions were very hard to disrupt and when more realized that they could pass notes in to their husbands more came to the site and a group of resistance began to form.

this is a very inspiring story that makes me seriously consider th potential that exists to change things when done so in a non violent manner. Take the following excerpt from the text: "Five years earlier Gandhi had been asked about the Nazis.'Unarmed men, women and children offering nonviolent resistance,' he predicted, 'will be a novel experience for them.'
This quote is very interesting because it considers how powerful the nazis would be without their force, and as the women proved, the answer is not very.

The stories of Arnold Douwes and Arevas Mamovan are very inspiring because these people did not just not turn peopl ein but they were very active n giving all the assistance that they could which a lot of the time endangered theirselves. It really makes one see the power and the difference that one person can make.

[isers85]

In Venissieux, a French town, all the Jews who had come to France after 1936 were rounded up, 1,200 of them. Among them 800 children were torn from their parents, who were shipped off to camp. George Garel and several others were already involved in secret resistance activities, and they helped falsify papers for some children to show that they were younger than they really were, and under the cut off of 16 years. The children were given to a Mgr. Gerlier, connected to the church, and were hidden in Christian homes when they were supposed to be deported. Garel saw that the Germans were a greater threat, and began placing Jewish children with non-Jewish families. He did this in cooperation with the archbishop and then bishop.

Garel was offered other positions within the resistance, but he chose always to work to save children. His work saved hundreds of children. The people of faith seemed motivated by their religion, and thought it was only the "christian" thing to do. Garel seems to have jsut decided that his life was worht risking for an unknown number of young undevelopped lives.

The nun Anna Borkowska's story is incredible, because she seems to have brought so much compassion to her resistance work, and I am sure that the Jews she interacted with were in desperate need of that. Also, the "let our husbands go" protest is a powerful story, but I feel kind of sad wishing that more protests of that nature had occurred, more public pressure had been mounted...maybe things would have been different. I also have always found ghetto resistance fighters inspiring. The attitude in Warsaw, "we may die but we will take them out too," must take incredible spirit and courage even after the ghetto conditions tried to crush that. I've known a lot about Warsaw particularly for a long time, and I always remember a phrase something like, "One band of partisan fighters in the Warsaw ghetto held off the Nazis longer than the entire country of Poland..." Willpower is a mindblowing force sometimes.

All these stories are moving. So much evil and terror went on during the Holocaust, but there are also stories that show the best and most tremendous parts of human nature coming out under such horrific circumstances.


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"can music save your mortal soul"