Surviving The Holocaust

How did people react to the holocaust?

How would you have reacted?

Lets look at three possibilities

Surviving The Holocaust

I. Playing the Game

"Playing for Time was a made-for-TV movie. It told the story of

Fania Fenelon, a Jewish cabaret singer from Paris, and what
happened to her in Auschwitz, a concentration camp. Below: Fania
before and during time at the camp. What differences do you notice
between these two pictures?

Fanias friend, Alma Rose (before and after being sent to

Auschwitz). Alma was not a musician, but Fania refused to
play without Alma, thus saving Alma from the gas chambers.

Auschwitz was one of the worst of the various concentration camps during
World War II. Over four million Jews perished there. More than a million and a
half were children.
In Auschwitz, Fenelon was a member of a prisoner orchestra that played music
for the German officers stationed at the infamous camp. As long as the
Germans enjoyed the music and the playing, they were saved from the gas
chambers. Hence the title, "Playing for Time."
From their rehearsal room, the orchestra members had seen thousands march
to their deaths. These unfortunate victims were gassed to death and then
consumed in the furnaces. On rare occasions, some were executed by a firing
squad.
One day, while they were discussing the cruelty of some of the prison's soldiers,
a prisoner shouted: "They're monsters! They're not human!"
Fenelon answered: "But they are human. Just like you. Just like me. That's the
problem. Here we have learned something about human nature and it's not very
good news."

Questions:
1. Based on your knowledge of the Holocaust, can
you think of other ways that people survived by
playing the game?
2. What are possible advantages and
disadvantages to this approach to surviving the
holocaust?

Surviving The Holocaust

II. Keeping Life Normal

Schindlers List
SCHINDLERS LIST tells the compelling true story of the
German businessman Oskar Schindler who comes to Nazioccupied Poland looking for economic prosperity and leaves
as a savior of more than 1,100 Jews. A charming and sly
entrepreneur, Schindler bribes and befriends the Nazi
authorities to gain control of a factory in Krakow by
aryanization, which he staffs with Jewish slave - laborers,
and soon he is making a fortune. But among the Jews who
work for him is Itzhak Stern, the plant manager, who in his
benevolence sees to it that Schindler's workforce includes
the most vulnerable and cherished members of Krakow's
Jewish community.

Scene from Schinders List: Nazis Chasing Jews in the Ghetto.

Describe what you see. How might someone being chased feel?

Despite constant harassment

form the Nazis, many Jews
tried to maintain normal
lives in both the Ghettos and in
concentration camps. They did
this by holding Shabbat
services, having marriage
ceremonies, telling stories,
trading goods, and in many
other ways.

Questions:
1. In what ways might you try to maintain a
normal life if imprisoned in a concentration
camp?
2. What are possible advantages and
disadvantages to this approach to surviving the
holocaust?

Surviving the Holocaust

III. Active Resistance

Policies of oppression and genocide fueled resistance to

the Nazis in the Third Reich and occupied Europe. Both
Jews and non-Jews responded to Nazi oppression in
various ways. Organized armed resistance was the most
forceful form of Jewish opposition to the Nazis. The
largest armed uprising was the Warsaw ghetto uprising
(April-May 1943), sparked by rumors that the Nazis
would deport the remaining ghetto inhabitants to the
Treblinka extermination camp in Poland. As German
forces entered the ghetto, members of the Jewish Fighting
Organization (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ZOB)
pelted German tanks with hand grenades. It took the
Nazis 27 days to destroy the ghetto and snuff out the last
resistance.
From the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Jewish Resistance fighters captured by SS troops during

the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. 1943 (From U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)

A number of fighters resisted by escaping from the ghettos

into the forests
Uprisings occurred at three extermination camps. At
Sobibor and Treblinka, prisoners with stolen weapons
attacked the SS staff and their Ukrainian auxiliary
guards. Most of the rebels were shot, though several dozen
prisoners escaped. At Auschwitz, four Jewish women
helped Jewish crematorium workers blow up a
crematorium. All four rebels were killed.
In most Nazi satellite or occupied countries, Jewish
resistance focused on aid and rescue.

Resisters were met with harsh punishments by the Nazis.

Polish resisters are hanged in the photo below. Who might
have taken this photo? Why? (From U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Questions:
1. Why do you think these people chose to resist
the Nazis?
2. What are possible advantages and
disadvantages to this approach to surviving the
holocaust?
3. What would you do if faced with the holocaust?