Alice Herz Sommer

Today, February 23rd 2014, Alice Herz Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world passed at age 110. She survived the Theresienstadt concentration where she performed in over 100 concerts for prisoners and guards. She was a beloved piano player and her story continually inspires me. Although she suffered many losses and trials, she continually saw the world and all it has to offer in a unique and beautiful way.

Here are a few quotes from this amazing woman: 

"We had to play because the Red Cross came three times a year. The Germans wanted to show its representatives that the situation of the Jews in Theresienstadt was good. Whenever I knew that I had a concert, I was happy. Music is magic. We performed in the council hall before an audience of 150 old, hopeless, sick and hungry people. They lived for the music. It was like food to them. If they hadn’t come [to hear us], they would have died long before. As we would have."

"I look at the good. When you are relaxed, your body is always relaxed. When you are pessimistic, your body behaves in an unnatural way. It is up to us whether we look at the good or the bad. When you are nice to others, they are nice to you. When you give, you receive."

"I have lived through many wars and lost everything many times- my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet life is beautiful and I have so much to love and enjoy. I have no time nor space for permission and hate. I have had such a beautiful life. Life is beautiful, love is beautiful. Nature and music is beautiful. Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love."

Links for further research: 

1. https://sfi.usc.edu/profiles/alice-herz-sommer

White Rose Group: Sophie Scholl

Hey all! So, for the past few months, I have been planning this Holocaust Education and Awareness assembly with a teacher at school. Today, was one of our weekly meetings and one thing we discussed was highlighting resistance against the Nazis. I thought we should discuss the White Rose Group.

The White Rose were a group of college aged youth who gathered in secret and distributed leaflets that revealed information the Nazis didn't want leaked among the German citizens. Such examples included mass murders of Jews and a variety of other groups and the defeat at Stalingrad. Two of the most famous members were Hans and Sophie Scholl. Hans, Sophie and six other members gave their life to fight for what they believed to be true. They were each beheaded by the guillotine and there operations lasted from June 1942 until February 1943.

" Stand up for what you believe in even if your standing alone".- Sophie Scholl

White Rose Group. 

A few excerpts from pamphlets: 

“Isn't it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes– crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure– reach the light of day?”

—1st leaflet of the White Rose

“Since the conquest of Poland, 300,000 Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way… The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!”

—2nd leaflet of the White Rose.

Here are links for further research:
1.  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html
2. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007188
3. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html
4. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rosepic.html

Kashariyot

The Kashariyot were a group of women who worked for the Jewish Resistance. The went on secret missions through German-occupied territories. They are known for smuggling secret documents, weapons, underground newspapers, money, news on the Germans, medical supplies, forged identity cards, ammunition and other Jews out of ghettos. 

"The Kashariyot were a lifeline-a "human radio" for news and information, a trusted contact for supplies, resources and a personal inspiration for hope and resilience."

Here are a few links for further research: 

1. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kashariyot-couriers-in-jewish-resistance-during-holocaust

2. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/18/couriers.asp

Mala Zimetbaum

Mala Zimetbaum was the first woman to escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was born January 26th, 1918. It is speculated that Mala was rounded up on July 22nd, 1942 during an SS effort to hunt down Jews. She was then sent on a train to Auschwitz where one of the 230 individuals that were selected out of a group of 1,048. She was given the number 19880. Mala was fluent in multiple languages and was soon assigned the position as an SS translator and runner. Then, Mala met and fell in love with Edward (Edek) Galinski.  Saturday June 24th, 1944, the lovers fled Birkenau. Edek was dressed in a SS uniform which was given to him from a compassionate SS guard and Mala dressed as a woman prisoner being led to work. 

On July 6th, the couple was captured and returned to Auschwitz where they were put in separate cells on the infamous Block 11. After interrogation and torture, neither Mala or Edek gave one another up and both were sentenced to public executions in Birkenau on September 15th, 1944. 

"Mala Zimetbaum, Symbol of Solidarity, died heroically in the Auschwitz concentration camp, September 15th, 1944."

"I Shall die a heroine, but you shall die like a dog!" - Mala's final words to a blockfuhrer. 

Here are a few links for further research: 

1. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zimetbaum-mala

2. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/MalaZimetbaum.html