“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” - Holocaustchild

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”Slides takenfromSelf-Help in theGhettos ofWarsaw, Lodz,and KovnoBy Geoffrey BrahmerCain & Abel by Tintoretto

Everything can be takenfrom a man but the lastof the human freedoms to choose one’s attitudein an given set ofcircumstances, tochoose one’s own way.--Auschwitz Survivor,Victor E. FranklHuman Gene Map

Oneg Shabbat Archives – Emanuel RingleblumRemembrance: To record and to teach future Generations

The time has come to gather all the rabble together in ghettos and then introducesome epidemics and let them all die. --Heinrich Himmler, Nov, 1939

“About the Jews ofEurope, I have onlyone point of view - theJews have todisappear.”-- Hans Frank, Dec. 16, 1941Chief Administrator, GeneralGovernment

“Life in the Ghettoamounts to a chapterin the history ofcruelty; the deprivingof the Ghettoresidents of theirhuman image.”-- Diary of Avraham Tory,Kovno Ghetto, July 25, 1943Diary of Ilya Gerber, Kovno Ghetto

Jewish Self-Help Could Have Different SourcesJanusz Korczak& Children

Sources of Self-Help Jewish Councils(Judenrats) Grassroots Groups– (Political, Social,Religious) Smugglers Armed ResistanceImage from Yad Vashem Photo Archives

Warsaw GhettoLodz Ghetto450,000 -- 500,000November 16, 1940 – May 16, 1943About 233,00May 1, 1940 – August 31, 1944

Warsaw had a wallLodz (Litzmannstadt) didnot have a wall

In the Łódź ghetto, 95percent of all apartmentshad no sanitation service,no water facilities, notoilet facilities, no sewers.--Isaiah Trunk JudenratWarsaw Ghetto had sewers12

Ghetto Leadership DifferedLodz GhettoMordechai Chaim RumkowskiWarsaw GhettoAdam Czerniakow

Inequalities Existed in most Ghettos

Warsaw House / Tenant Committees

“There was astubborn, unending,continuous battle tosurvive. In view of theunequal forces, it wasa labor of Sisyphus.Jewish resistance wasthe resistance of a fishcaught in a net, amouse in a trap, ananimal at bay.”-- Alexander Donat, TheHolocaust Kingdom.

“The watchword of the organizedgroups of the Jewish communitywas, “To live with honor and diewith honor!”--Last letter of EmanuelRingleblum, March 1, 1944

Lately we have seen aninteresting phenomenon.In many1940housecommittees, women are2000 Self-Helpreplacingmen who areCommitteesleavingbecause they are10,000burnedoutVolunteersand tired.There are now housecommittees where womenJanuary, 1942comprise the entire1600 Committeesleadership.6000-8000Emanuel Ringleblum, June 10,1942 Volunteers

“As he trudges home, he looks into awindow facing the street. It is ahospital and surgeons are operating tosave a child’s life. “But why, why?Why save? Why, to whom, to what isthe child being brought back?Each day the profiles of our children,of our wives,acquire the mourninglook of foxes, dingoes, kangaroos.Our howls are like the cry of jackals . . . But we are not animals. We operateon infants. It may be pointless or evencriminal. But animals do not operateon their young.”From a Chronicle of a Single Day,October 1941, from Oneg Shabbatby Leyb Goldin

“I have been slowly coming to the conclusion that thewhole balance of this self-help activity is simply thatpeople die more slowly. We must finally admit toourselves that we can save nobody from death; we don’thave the means to.” --Rachel Auerbach, Feb. 2, 1942

Break up of House CommitteesGerman Labor Quotas & Body Snatching

Return to the Warsaw Ghetto:A Presentation By Geoffrey BrahmerTyphus & ParówkiDisinfection Showers

Smuggling in Warsaw GhettoKohn & Hellers

Emmanuel Ringelblum: “Three things areinvincible: the German Army, the BritishIsles, and Jewish Smuggling.”Abraham GanzweichThe 13, Control Office to CombatBlack Market and Profiteering

“Each piece of bread that we buy on the open market is soaked with Jewishblood.” --Abraham Lewin, Warsaw Diary,Tuesday, June 2, 1942

Child Smugglers in Prison, Warsaw Ghetto

The lives of the smugglers arefilled with danger. Not a daypassed when one of them was notcut down by machine-gun fire . . .But the smuggling did not stop. . .-- Study on Smuggling, Oneg ShabbatArchive, Mojzesz Passenstein

With Deportations toTreblinka, Self-Help inWarsaw Ghetto Moves toHiding, Escape andUltimately Resistance

Łódź: “Manchester of Poland”No House Committees; Virtually No Smuggling

Ghetto Money in Lodz –“Rumkies”

Rumkowski Versus the UnionsBreaking the Unions (1940/1941)

Community Flyer:Hospital Workers StrikeTerror tactics used against uswill not break the action . . .They are even arrestingstrikers’ family members.Within the last 24 hours, 35people have been arrested. . .December, 1940

Fekalists in Lodz

Stella Rein - Teacher

Elementary School in Lodz

Lodz Gymnasium Class, 1941

Lodz Schools End with Influx of JewishRefugees, Autumn, 1941

Lodz Gypsy CampNov/Dec 1941Physician LotteryDr. Dubski, PragueDr. Karol Boehm, PragueDr. Kraus, PragueDr. Vogel, PragueDr. Fiszel Altman, LodzDr. Aron Nikelburg, Warsaw

Story of Dr.Daniel WeiskopfHiding & Resistancein Lodz Ghetto

Dr. DanielWeiskoptHans Biebow

Story of RachelHerschenbergMidwife of Lodz

Anna Toronczyk, Rachel’s Twin

SalomeaHerschenbergKape

The Midwife from LodzNew Birth is Symbol for Rebirth of Nation “In a filthy, well camouflaged cellar mymother examined the heavily bleedingwoman, removed the retained placenta by anungloved and not too clean hand. She waitedtill the bleeding stopped, checked the baby,and then returned to the camp alone. “Sally, .it’s a healthy and beautiful babyboy. I am concerned about the sterility .Imust see her (the mother again.) The Nazis took away from us the rights to bepregnant and to bear children. I’m fullytrained to deliver babies, and babies are thepromise of life. . . . They are the symbol of therebirth of our nation.”From The Midwife from Lodz, essay/memoir byDr. Salomea KapeRachel Herschenberg52

Lodz Cemetery, Murder Pits Prepared forJewish Clean Up Crew, but saved byRussian Army who liberates Lodz onJanuary 19, 1945 .

Lodz Cemetery Pits, Photo taken July, 2011

Grave of Daniel Weiskopt, Lodz CemeteryPhoto taken July, 2011

KovnoGhettoAugust 18, 1941 –August 1, 1944Large Ghetto: 27,500 peopleSmall Ghetto: 2,500 people

MartyrdomLet us walk with heads heldhigh. Let no one think athought that woulddisqualify his sacrifice. . .The fire that consumes ourbodies is the fire that willrebuild the Jewish people.”-- Rabbi Elchonon WassermanRav Elkchonon Wasserman

Leadership of Kovno Jewish Council(Established August 4, 1941)AvrahamGolub (Tory)SecretaryLeibGarfunkelDeputyChairmanDr. ElkhananElkes,ChairmanYakovGoldbergHead of LaborOfficeZvi LevinCouncilAdvisor

Ghetto Workshops“Work for Life” PharmacyLaundry Pottery shopTailoring Metal ShopsSaddlery CarpentryToy factory

Pharmacy Department: Smuggling Medicine, Links withJewish Underground / Partisans

Rabbits and Razor Blades

Resistance in SongThe Jewish BrigadesJewish brigadesIn patches we parade.Our troubles we bear,We never despair!Just because we do not whimperWhen you beat us black and blue,Do not think that broken bodies,Mean a broken spirit, too.--Avron Akselrod, Sept. 1941From the Diary of Ilya Gerber

Sixty years later, it seems to me thatamong my memories, the mostaudible (and visible) form ofresistance in the ghetto was music.--from Courage was My Only Option: TheAutobiography of Roman Kent

EzrahCharitableSocietyFounded by 2 womenMiriam ShorMrs Krumer“Jews, donate for the poor and for the naked the oldwinter clothing and shoes you no longer need! Donot stint! Give generously!”

Nazi Decree: May 7, 1942Any Jewish woman found to be pregnantwill be put to death immediately.

Kovno Medical Department Perform births whenpregnancies are illegal Hide Typhus cases Will not give out names ofdentists in ghetto Establish Secret Asylum forMentally Disabled Establish Secret Orphanage inHospital Hospital used for secret prayermeetings and holidaycelebrationsDr. Moses BraunsDirector of Jewish HospitalBy Josef Schlesinger

Prohibitions AgainstEducation & Schools(Aug / 1942)Shmuel Rosental, Teacherin Secret School

The CourageousTeacher, Mrs. SegalHitler has promised that therewill be no more PurimFestivals . . . Mrs. Segal(teacher) pays no heed to bansand prohibitions. Although theJewish School has beenofficially closed on orders fromthe Germans, this order has yetto reach this courageous anddistinquished educator.--Diary of Avraham Tory,March 21, 1943

Book Aktions: Hiding Books in Kovno Ghetto

Attempting to “Remove” People from Historyand the Importance of Jewish Cemeteries

Rabbi Ephraim Oshry

Can one cook on the sabbath? Should the critically ill fast onYom Kippur? Are marriages of conveniencesanctified? Can one entrust a Jewish childto non-Jews? Can one risk life to joinpartisans? Can one risk life for prayer &sabbath?Rabbi Ephraim Oshry

Jewish Self-Help at Liberationand Beyond

Rescuing Hidden Children in Lithuania

Miriam, Dr. Joel and Dr. Elkhanan Elkes

“Apartfrom seeing her husbandand children, two objectssustained her in captivity.One was a piece of bread,which she always hid abouther person; the other was abroken piece of comb. Shekept the bread in casesomeone needed it more thanshe; and no matter what,morning and night, shewould comb her hair toaffirm her person.”-- From Dr. Elkhanan ElkhananElkes in the Kovno Ghetto: ASon’s Holocaust Memoir

What we were unable to cry and shriek outto the world, we buried in the ground . . . Iwould love to see the moment in which thegreat treasure will be dug up and screamthe truth at the world . . . May the treasurefall into good hands, may it last into bettertimes, may it alarm and alert the world towhat happened . . We may now die inpeace.-- David Graber, Age 19, Oneg ShabbatArchives, Last Will and Testament

Tension and anxiety among us haveincreased to an indescribable level . . . Will we be liberated, will we behuman again?. . . If we survive . . .We willremember the holy ones, the pureones, the guiltless heroes. We willremember our fathers, our relatives,acquaintances who were murdered,who starved to death and sufferedindescribable torment. . . . . Wewillremember. . .--Diary of Unknown Boy, InHebrew, Lodz Ghetto, July 31, 1944

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” Cain & Abel by Tintoretto. Everything can be taken from a man but the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in an given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.--Auschwitz Survivor, Victor E. Frankl Human Gene Map. OnegShabbat Archives –Emanuel Ringleblum Remembrance: To record and to teach future Generations. The time has come to .