holocaust education poetry … education poetry exercise/activity ... listen, all who live on the...

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION POETRY

EXERCISE/ACTIVITY

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a "yad

vashem")... that shall not be cut off."

(Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

Exercise:

Each student is given a copy of the full poem Yad Layeled and also a copy of the poem

where the child victim’s name, place of residence and murder site are deleted. The task is

to complete the poem by the using data sheets - lists of Jewish first names (the Nazis

produced a list - see below) + lists of transports from stated towns to stated camps and

murder sites. Older students could research Yad Vashem's Victims Names database to

complete the project. In this way students create their own poem (descendants of families

persecuted during the Holocaust may be able to use personal details) and hopefully learn

a good deal about the Holocaust - intellectually and emotionally.

The basic aim of the exercise is to help students understand that each victim of the

Holocaust was an individual with their own identity, their own life, their own dreams,

their own loves etc. Stalin is reported to have said that "One death is a tragedy - a million

deaths is a statistic" - this exercise is designed to reclaim the victims’ names and

individuality. The information presented to the students will also highlight the importance

that Nazis gave to Jewish names (see information below + Yad Vashem's Documents of

the Holocaust document 46 pp98-99)

The exercise is primarily directed towards years 9-12. For younger students teachers can

assess student’s ability levels and research skills in relation to how much information that

students will be given and how much they will be responsible for researching via the

www. and published sources such as Yad Vashem's Encyclopedia of Jewish Life,

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust and the newly published Encyclopedia of the Ghettos

(which I understand will son be available online).

Background Information:

* Abraham J. Edelheit and Hershel Edelheit, History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and

Dictionary, Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 1994, pp.438-439.

"On August 18, 1938 the Reich Ministry of the Interior published a list in

the Reichsgestzblatt of first names that Jewish parents were permitted to use for their

male or female offspring. This document was considered to be legally binding throughout

the Grossreich. The Nazis further legislated the addition of Abraham and Sarah to the

names of all adult Jews (male and female respectively) in the Reich".

Nazi-allowed first names, males:

Abel, Abieser, Abimelech, Abner, Absalom, Ahab, Ahsja, Ahasver, Akiba, Amon,

Anschel, Aron, Asahe, Asaria, Ascher, Asriel, Assur, Athalja, Avigdor, Avrum;

Bachja, Barak, Baruch, Benaja, Berek, Berl, Boas, Bud;

Chaggai, Chai, Chajin, Chamor, Chananja, Chanoch, Chaskel, Chiel;

Dan, Denny;

Efim, Efraim, Ehud, Eisig, Eli, Elias, Elihu, Eliser, Eljekim, Elkan, Enoch, Esau, Esra,

Ezechiel;

Faleg, Feibisch, Feirel, Feitel, Feivel, Feleg;

Gad, Gadaleo, Gedalja, Gerson, Gideon;

Habakuk, Hagai, Hemor, Henoch, Herodes, Hesekiel, Hillel, Hiob, Hosea;

Isaac, Isai, Isacher, Isbeseth, Isidor, Ismael, Israel, Itzig;

Jechiel, Jaffe, Jakar, Jakusiel, Jecheskel, Jehu, Jehuda, Jehusiel, Jeremia, Jeroboam,

Jesaja, Jethro, Jiftach, Jizchak, Joab, Jochanan, Joel, Jomtob, Jona, Jonathan, Josia, Juda;

Kainan, Kaiphas, Kaleb, Korach;

Laban, Lazarus, Leev, Leiser, Levi, Levek, Lot, Lupu;

Machol, Maim, Malchisua, Maleachi, Manasse, Mordochai, Mechel, Menachem, Moab,

Mochain, Mosche, Moses;

Nachschon, Nachum, Naftali, Nathan, Naum, Nazary, Nehab, Nehemia, Niesim, Noa,

Nochem;

Obadja, Orev, Oscher, Osias;

Peisach, Pinchas, Pinkus;

Rachmiel, Ruben;

Sabbatai, Sacher, Sallum, Sally, Salo, Salomon, Salusch, Samaja, Sami, Samuel, Sandel,

Sandik, Saul, Schalom, Schaul, Schinul, Schmul, Schneur, Scholem, Sebulon, Semi,

Sered, Sichem, Simson;

Teit, Tevele;

Uri, Uria, Uriel;

Zadek, Zedekia, Zephanja, Zeruja, Zevi.

Nazi-allowed first names - female:

Abigail;

Bascheva, Baile, Bela, Bescha, Bihri, Bilha, Breine, Brieve, Brocha;

Chana, Cava, Cheiche, Cheile, Chinke;

Deiche, Devaara, Driesel;

Egele;

Faugel, Feigle, Feile, Fradchen, Fradel, Frommet;

Geilchen, Gelea, Ginendel, Gittel, Gole;

Hadassa,Hale, Hannacha,Hitzel;

Jachet, Jachevad, Jedidja, Jente, Jezabel, Judis, Jyske, Jyttel;

Keile, Kreindel;

Lana, Leie, Libsche, Libe, Livie;

Machle, Mathel, Milkele, Mindel;

Nacha, Nachme;

Peirche, Pesschen, Pesse, Pessel, Pirle;

Rachel, Rause, Rebekka, Rechel, Reha, Reichel, Reisel, Reitzge, Reitsche, Rivi;

Sara, Scharne, Scheindel, Scheine, Scheva, Schlaemche, Semche,, Simche, Slove,

Sprinze;

Tana, Telze, Tirze, Treibel;

Zerel, Zilla, Zimle, Zine, Zipora, Zirel, Zorthel.

See also Jewish Web Index re. Jewish first and surnames at:

http://jewishwebindex.com/names.htm

Thus:

Yad Layeled

I have no name

I am still in the womb

I live in Lodz

And because I am a Jew

I am going to be murdered

In Chelmno.

And her. And Him. And you.

Her name is Esther

She is six months old

She lives lives in Vilna

And because she is a Jew

She is going to be murdered

In Ponary.

And her. And him. And you.

His name is Shmuel

He is one year old

He lives in Warsaw

And because he is a Jew

He is going to be murdered

In Treblinka.


Her name is Miriam

She is two years old

She lives in Paris



In Auschwitz-Birkenau.


His name is Moishe

He is three years old

He lives in Kiev



At Babi Yar.


Her name is Goldie

She is four years old

She lives in Lublin



In Belzec.


His name is Avraham

He is five years old

He lives in Lubatrow



In Sobibor.


Her name is Tuvia

She is six years old

She lives in Brody



In Majdanek.


His name is Shimon

He is seven years old

He lives in Riga



In the Rumbula Forest.


Her name is Helena

She is eight years old

She lives in Salonika





His name is Rezso

He is nine years old

He lives in Budapest





Her name is Sarah

She is ten years old

She lives in Prague



In Theresienstadt.


His name is Jacob

He is eleven years old

He lives in Kovno



In Klooga.


Her name is Hannah

She is twelve years old

She lives in Krakow



In Plaszow.


His name is Chaim

He is thirteen years old

He lives in Lutsk



In the Lubard Fortress.


Her name is Roza

She is fourteen years old

She lives in Novi Sad



In the Danube River.


His name is Yitzhak

He is fifteen years old

He lives in the Warsaw


He is going to be killed in battle

In the Warsaw Ghetto.


Her name is Zivia

She is sixteen years old

She lives in Bielsk



In Treblinka.


His name is Hans

He is seventeen year old

He lives in Berlin



In Buchenwald .


His name is Israel

He is eighteen years old

He lives in Lvov



On a Death March in Germany.


My name is unknown

I am a child - any child

I am from everywhere and anywhere

And because I am a Jew

I am going to be murdered

Someplace, somewhere.

And her. And him. And you...

(Inspired by a visit to Yad Layeled - The Childrens Museum at Beit Lohamei Haghetaot -

Ghetto Fighters House - Upper Galilee, Israel May-June 2005 - Bill Anderson)

For Exercise:

Thus:

He is ........ years old

he lives in ........



In ........

And her. And him. And you. etc...

Holocaust Education: Poetry "Where the Cobbler was a poet..." 'Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live on the land, Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and the children of the next generation.' Bible: Old Testament, Book of Joel v2&3. Poetry in Holocaust education Poetry and the Holocaust There has been much debate on whether a literary response to Auschwitz/The Holocaust is possible – or indeed desirable. This is a very fruitful debate for students to enter. On a personal note I know that I personally have used writing poetry to cope with family tragedy and to deal with emotionally challenging experiences – such as visits to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka etc. I am reminded of the famous Dr Johnston who defined the function of literature as enabling us better to enjoy life, or better to endure it (later echoed, perhaps by John Lennon's – 'Whatever gets you through the night'). I have used Holocaust related literature - and in particular Holocaust related poetry - extensively in all of my teaching on the Holocaust. There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, I would suggest that a really effective poem can be worth many volumes of learned historical discussion when it comes to really engaging with the Holocaust In 1949 Theodor Adorno a leading German Literary critic, responding to the horror of Auschwitz/the Holocaust famously stated that - 'After Auschwitz it is barbaric to write poetry'. In a similar vein George Steiner, a famous literary critic argued that - 'The world of Auschwitz lies outside speech as it lies outside reason. In the presence of certain realities [ghettos, death camps] art is trivial or impertinent'. The Yiddish poet Aaron Zeitlin who lost his wife and family in Warsaw also felt that silence was the proper response to the Holocaust – “ Were Jeremiah to sit by the ashes of Israel today, he would not cry out an ekhah, a lamentation. The Almighty himself would be powerless to open his well of tears With the lost millions of his people, He too, would maintain a deep silence. For

even an outcry is now a lie, even tears are mere literature, even prayers are now false”. Fortunately many writer/survivors of the calibre of the poet Paul Celan ("Death Fugue”), Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel ignored such critics and have created a wealth of literature that has immeasurably added to our understanding of the Holocaust and which provides a veritable treasure trove of materials for Holocaust educators. It should be noted that in the ghettos and Camps a high status was often given to writers – people who could tell the world what had taken place – and that efforts were made to ensure that writers survived. It is also arguable that being a writer helped people survive and to cope after the war. A number of famous survivor writers, most famously Primo Levi took their own lives after the war when they could no longer write... The poems in this unit comprise both primary historical sources which were written at the time by victims of the Holocaust and secondary historical sources which were written after the war by people who were not themselves victims. The aim of the unit is twofold – to introduce students to using literary responses to a historical event – the Holocaust - and to use a series of questions relating to these literary responses to help students understand various aspects of the Holocaust and reflect on issues relating to the Holocaust. The unit is perhaps more directed towards older secondary students year 15-18 but teachers are encouraged to select/adapt the suggested questions and to create their own questions to suit the age and ability of their students. Depending on time restrictions students can either work through the poems/questions individually or each student can select one or two poems to work on and share their responses with the rest of their class. Using Holocaust poetry chronologically with each poem linked to a series of questions/exercises provides a flexible framework for teachers to create their own unit based on this model – they can delete poems/questions and they can add poems/questions that they feel will be more effective the particular class that they are teaching. In the body of the text we have 10-12 sections each of which starts with: A) An introduction to the period covered by the poem which follows. B) The Poem C) Questions and activities relating to the poem. D) Notes on the author of the poem. E) A brief chronology of Holocaust related events during this period.

F) Notes on further reading, relevant websites etc. G) Teachers Notes/Advice Sections B – Poems and C Questions and Activities 1-6 appear below: 1. Who are the Jews. Written in Pencil in the Sealed Freightcar Here in this carload I am Eve With my son Abel If you see my older boy Cain son of Adam Tell him I... Dan Pagis: Survivor poet. Questions/Activities: 1. Where are the characters - Eve, Abel, Cain and Adam mentioned in this poem taken from? 2. Who wrote the "Old Testament"?

3. Where was the "Old Testament" written? 4. What is monotheism? 5. Where did the Jewish people build their nation/kingdom in Old Testament times? 6. How long did Jews live in this are? 7. What religion was Jesus Christ? 8. Why did the Jews leave their land and when did this take place? 9. Where did the Jews go when they left Israel? 10. Write a short story or poem about some aspect of the history of Jews and the land of Israel 2. Diaspora - The Vanished World Elegy in honour of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising April 19, 1943 No more, no more Jewish townships in Poland, in Hrubieszcrow, Karczew, Brody, Falencia. Vainly would you look for lighted candles in windows, And listen for chanting from a wooden synagogue. The last scourings, the Jewish rags have vanished, They sprinkled sand over the blood, swept away the footprints And whitewashed the walls with bluish lime, Like after a plague or for a great feast day. One moon shines here, cool, pale, alien, Nowadays my kinsmen, the bardic Jewish boys, Will not find outside the town, on the highway, when the night lights up The two gold moons of Chagall. Those moons are now orbiting another planet, They have flown away, frightened by the grim silence. They are no more, these townships where the cobbler was a poet The watchmaker a philosopher, the barber a troubadour. No longer does the wind weave the old Hebraic theme with Polish airs and Slavonic pain: those villages and orchards

where old Jews still mourned Holy Jerusalem. They are no more, these townships, they passed like a shadow And this shadow shall lie across our words, Till they embrace like brothers and join anew, Two nations which supped full of the same suffering. Antoni Slonimiski 1895-1976 Jewish-Polish poet. Questions/Activities: 1. What is an elegy? 2. What was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising? 3. Who fought in the Uprising and what age were most of those who fought? 4. Was the uprising successful? 5. Why does the poet "honour" the Uprising? 6. Why are their no more Jewish townships in Poland? 7. Who was Chagall? 8. What is meant by "the two gold moons of Chagall" and why are they now "orbiting another planet? 9. How would you describe a township where the cobbler was a poet, the watchmaker a philosopher and the barber a troubadour? 10. What is meant by: (a) Hebraic theme? (b) Polish airs? (c) Slavonic pain? 11. Why will the wind no longer an old Hebraic theme with Polish airs and Slavonic pain? 12. Why did old Jews still mourn Jerusalem?

13. What does the poet believe Polish people and Jewish people should do in the future and why does he think that they should do this? 3. Pre-War Germany: Anti-Semitism/Oppression The Burning of the Books When the Regime commanded that books with harmful knowledge Should be publicly burned on all sides Oxen were forced to drag cartloads of books To the bonfires, a banished Writer, one of the best, scanning the list of the Burned, was shocked to find that his Books had been passed over. He rushed to his desk On wings of wrath, and wrote a letter to those in power. Burn me! He wrote with flying pen, burn me. Haven’t my books Always reported the truth? And here you are Treating me like a liar! I command you: Burn me! Bertolt Brecht, 1933 Questions/Activities: 1. Who was Berthold Brecht? 2. What is the "Regime" mentioned in the poem? 3. What did the Regime see as "harmful knowledge"? 4. Do you know of any regimes which still burn or in some other ways destroy access to some books? 5. Why would the regime burn the books "publicly"? 6. Why was the "Writer" upset that his books were not selected for burning? 7. List some of the main writers whose books were burnt?

8. Select one writer whose books were burnt at this time and write a short biography of the his/her life and work. 9. What is censorship? Is censorship ever justified? 10. Give examples of instances of inappropriate censorship and instances of appropriate censorship. 11. Are there any books that you have read that you think should have been burnt? The Mastersingers of Nuremberg The Mastersingers of Nuremberg sang of the aryan race in this quaint and ancient place in the dark valley of the Pegnitz beneath the looming Franconian mountains. In this quaint and ancient place the tone deaf sang their songs, the songs of hate. The master race composed lawless laws and everyone danced to their tune. In this quaint and ancient place the outlaws made the laws stomped justice under jackbooted foot stamped a swastika on each new discordant law. In this quaint and ancient place Jews were robbed of nationality, of votes, of wives, of husbands, of lovers, of jobs, of possessions, of cars, of phones, of cats and dogs, of budgies and canaries. In this quaint and ancient place racial laws sang of injustice, master race singers bellowed Horst Wessel's bloody marching songs at stricken faces, stripped of all but their pride, their dignity and their songs of love.

Bill Anderson Questions/Activities:

1. Who were the Mastersingers of Nuremberg? 2. What is meant in the poem by the "aryan race"? 3. What is meant by the term "master race? Who considered themselves to be the master race? 4. Why are the songs in verse two described as "songs of hate"? 5. Why does verse two refer to "lawless laws"? 6. The poem states that "everyone danced to their tune" - whose tune and what made people comply? 7. Who are the "outlaws" in the poem? 8. What is the swastika and why is it mentioned in the poem? 9. The new laws as described as "discordant" - why? 10. Verse four details some of the oppressions suffered by the German Jews - what series of Laws made this persecution "legal"? 11. Was it really made illegal for Jews to have pets or is the writer using "poetic license"? 12. Who was Horst Wessel and why are his songs referred to as "bloody"? 13. How did the Jews respond to the injustices inflicted on them? 14. Can you think of any other instances when laws were used to oppress people? 15. What can people do to try to stop oppressive laws being enacted and how can they fight against such laws if they have already been enacted? Kristallnacht Night of broken glass the harvest of hate like seeds broadcast lies germinating on the pavements,

crunching underfoot as wide-eyed sightseers see the sights, the fruits of the crystal night. Night of broken glass, glass shattered by the ton lives smashed by the weight of ancient and modern hatreds, the panes of glass broken and scattered on the pavement reflect life and death a mirror into the future. Night of broken glass and shattered lives. The sharp edges of racism lie naked and shining bright. All can see the cuts, the deep and ragged scars, no one with eyes to see needs a crystal ball to see through this glass darkly. Questions/Activities 1. How did the glass get broken? 2. Who broke the glass and why did they do so? 3. Was the Nazi Government involved in the attack on the Jewish community on Kristallnacht? 3. What other acts of destruction and repression took place on this night? 4. The German Police and Fire Brigade did nothing to either stop the violence on Kristallnacht or to provide any assistance for the victims – what lessons do you think German Jews would have taken from this dereliction of duty? 5. What were the main targets for anti-Semitic attacks on Kristallnacht? Why were these particular targets selected for attack? 6. What was the most significant reaction of German Jews to Kristallnacht?

7. Did the majority of the German population actively support the attack on the Jewish population on Kristallnacht? 8. On Kristallnacht German Jewish men were imprisoned simply for being Jewish – how significant is this in terms of the increasing persecution of the Jewish population? 9. Write a paragraph explaining the reasons why Kristallnacht is seen as a critically important event leading up to the Holocaust. Refugee Blues Say this city has ten million souls, Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes: Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us. Once we had a country and we thought it fair, Look in the atlas and you'll find it there: We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now. In the village churchyard there grows an old yew, Every spring it blossoms anew: Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that. The consul banged the table and said, "If you've got no passport you're officially dead": But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive. Went to a committee; they offered me a chair; Asked me politely to return next year: But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day? Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said; "If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread": He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me. Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky; It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die": O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind. Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin, Saw a door opened and a cat let in: But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay, Saw the fish swimming as if they were free: Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away. Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees; They had no politicians and sang at their ease: They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race. Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors, A thousand windows and a thousand doors: Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours. Stood on a great plain in the falling snow; Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro: Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me. March 1939 W H Auden Questions/Activities: 1. The poem was written in March 1939 - read the poem and research historical events in Europe at this time and explain who it is that there is "no place for" in the poem? 2. Why is there "no place" for them? 3. What is a refugee? 4. What is meant by the term "blues" in the poem? Who invented the Blues and why? 5. Research whether there are any people today for whom there is "no place". 6. Research and describe the work of any organisations which attempt to help refugees. 7. Define the following terms and describe why they were of importance to refugees: a) Counsel b) Passport

c) Committee 8. Why does the writer say that 'If you've got no passport you're officially dead"? 9. What do you understand by the word "Jew"? 10. Who was Hitler and why did he say that Jews "must die'? 11. Was it only Jews that Hitler wished to kill? 12. Why does the writer talk about a dog and a cat in the eighth verse? 13. Why does the writer talk about fish in verse nine? What do the fish represent? 14. Why were the birds in verse ten able to "sing at their ease"? 15. In verse eleven why does the writer describe a huge building? 16. The final verse of the poem refers to 10,000 soldiers - what are these soldiers doing and why? 17. Why do you think Auden wrote this poem? 18. Research W H Auden and write a short account (300 words) of his life and work. 19. Using information from the poem and from your research write a short story (300 words) or a poem based on "Refugee Blues". First They Came for the Jews First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Niemoller Questions/Activities: 1. Who are "they" in the poem. 2. Why are "they" coming for "the Jews"? 3. Who is the "I" in the poem? 4. In what ways could the narrator of the poem have "spoken out"? 5. Research and describe a situation in which people "speaking out" has made a real difference. 6. What is a communist and why were "they" coming for them? 7. Have you or anyone you know personally ever spoken out to try to protect someone from harm/oppression? 8. Research and describe the work of any organisations which "speak out" for people who are being oppressed. 9. Who are trade unionists and why were "they" coming for them? 10. Research a particular trade union either in Australia or overseas and state whether it is now or ever has been subject to oppression. 11. Why does no one "speak out" when "they" come for the narrator of the poem? 12. What lesson is the writer of this poem trying to teach? 13. This poem was written many years ago - does it have any relevance to us today and if so why? 14. Research the life of Pastor Niemoller and write a short biography (500 words). 15. Write a short story or a poem based on Pastor Niemoller's life and/or his poem 4. Ghetto Life and Death

On the Anniversary of the Ghetto Theater 1 ... We walled ourselves in And live apart. From your freedom outside, do not smile at us, Do not pity - For us, even death can blossom into wonder. How can we sit together With you in one place? Your hatred for us will poison you like mice, Our wounds - love will heal. As long as the outside is yours - Ours is the ghetto, here we will lie And from God's heart, we will knead a redeemer And polish a melody ... 11 Perform, Jewish actors, in tatters and in walls, Where life shrivels like hair caught fire, When red drops of you loved ones are seething on stones, And alleys convulse like half-slaughtered hens And cannot arise, fly away, flee ... Perform, friends! Let us think: it's a shtetl of yore, They celebrate a wedding at an autumn graveyard With Jewish singing and dancing light, I a joyous circle around the bride and groom! Perform! From your mouth, let Yiddish sound, Pure and clean as the ghost of a slaughtered child, Harsh and hoarse as the voice of our rifle and gunpowder, Performing tomorrow Over the rooftops ... And you, melancholy fiddlers, Who stole out at night Into the lurking outside, Shuffling past houses, Evading patrols, Creeping to your ruined old home

And digging up your fiddles Planted before your march into the ghetto - You play too! Pluck out the deepest tones! Let them carry above your bones And stray far, where a Jew still shimmers ... Where a heart still trembles, waiting for good tidings. Let them carry over fields, over front lines, Pure and clean as the ghost of a slaughtered child, Harsh and hoarse as the voice of our rifle and gunpowder, Performing tomorrow Over the rooftops ... Abraham Sutzkever, Vilna Ghetto, December 31, 1942. Questions/Activities: 1. Read the poem "On the Anniversary of the Ghetto Theater" by Abraham Sutzkever 2. What is a ghetto? 3. Why did the Nazis force Jews into ghettoes? 4. What is the poem about? 5. Did the people in the ghetto really 'wall themselves in"? 6. Sutzkever seems to say that it is better for Jews to be in the ghetto - why does he say this? 7. What is a shtetl? 8. Sutzkever urges his fellow Jews in the ghetto to "perform" - to sing, dance, act, make music, celebrate - why does he do this? 9. What does Sutzkever mean when he says that Jews will be "performing tomorrow over the rooftops"? 10. Resistance to oppression can take many forms - list the ways that people can resist oppression. 11. Where is Vilna and why was it an important centre of Jewish life in eastern Europe? 12. Who was Abraham Sutzkever? What happened to him during the war?

13. Who was Abba Kovner and why is he an important figure in Jewish history? 14. Write a poem and/or a short story about life in the ghetto? 15. Do any ghettoes still exist today? The Butterfly He was the last. Truly the last. Such Yellowness was bitter and blinding. Like the sun's tear shattered on stone. That was his true colour. And how easily he climbed, and how high, Certainly, climbing, he wanted To kiss the last of the world. I have been here seven weeks, 'Ghettoized'. Daisies call to me, And the branches also of the white chestnut in the yard. But I haven't seen a butterfly here. That last one was the last one. There are no butterflies here, in the ghetto. Pavel Friedmann age 17, Terezin, 4 June, 1942 Questions/Activities 1. In this poem the butterfly is symbolic - what is a symbol? 2. What do you think the butterfly symbolises to the writer? 3. Why does the writer describe the butterfly as being "the last. Truly the last"? 4. Why did the writer see the yellowness of the butterfly as being "bitter and blinding"? 5. The writer believes that the butterfly wanted to "kiss the last of the world"? 6. The writer is in Terezin/Theresienstadt - where was this place and what was its function? 7. What does the writer mean when he says that he has been "ghettoised"?

8. What do you think that the writer means when he says that daisies and the white chestnut tree "call to me". 9. The writer says that "there are no butterflies here in the ghetto" - what does he mean by this? 5. The Camps By The Waters of Death By the waters of the Bug At Belzec, at Sobibor, at Treblinka There we sat and wept when we remembered Zion and faced our deaths. By the waters of the Warta At Chelmno in the van There too we sat and wept when we remembered Zion and faced our deaths. By the waters of the Sola At Auschwitz-Birkenau There by the birches we sat and wept When we remembered Zion and faced our deaths. By these waters Our oppressors asked us for songs To torment us for amusement: "Sing us the Songs of Zion." How can we sing the Lord's Song In a blood-soaked alienated land? We shall sing a song of remembrance and vengeance. We shall remember always, till the Day of Days, we shall weep and we shall mourn, and we shall rebuild and thrive

and we shall survive. If I forget thee O Jerusalem Let my right hand forget its cunning my tongue cleave to its palate. If I remember you not, Zion of my prayers and dreams. if even unto death I set not Jerusalem above my greatest Joy let darkness engulf the world. Questions/Activities

1. Where is the Bug river and why is it mentioned at the start of the poem? 2. What were Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinks?

3. What Nazi SS leader is linked to all three?

4. “There we sat and wept when we remembered Zion”. What is the

original source of these words? Why does the writer allude to this source throughout the poem?

5. What was Chelmno? Why does the writer use the expression “Chelmno in

the van”?

6. What was Auschwitz-Birkenau? Why does the writer mention birch trees?

7. Why did the Nazis demand that their Jewish captives sing? What was the Jewish prisoners reaction?

8. What is meant by “The Day of Days”?

9. Is this a poem about a defeated and demoralized people?

Riddle From Belsen a crate of gold teeth, from Dachau a mountain of shoes,

from Auschwitz a skin lampshade, Who killed the Jews? Not I, cries the typist, Not I, cries the engineer, Not I, cries Adolf Eichman, Not I, cries Albert Speer. My friend Fritz Nova lost his father - a petty official had to choose. My friend Lou Abrahms lost his brother. Who killed the Jews? David Nova swallowed gas, Hyman Abrahms was beaten and starved. Some men signed their papers, and some stood guard, and some herded them in, and some dropped the pellets, and some spread the ashes, and some hosed the walls, and some planted the wheat, and some poured the steel, and some raised the cattle. Some smelled the smoke, some just heard the news. Were they Germans? Were they Nazis? Were they human? Who killed the Jews? The stars will remember the gold, the sun will remember the shoes, the moon will remember the skin. But who killed the Jews? William Heyen Questions/Activities: 1. What is a riddle? 2. Research Belsen - Who built it? When was it built? Where was it? What was it? Why would a crate of "gold teeth" be put in a crate there?

3. Research Dachau - Who built it? When was it built? Where was it? What was it? Why would a "mountain of shoes" come from there? 4. Research Auschwitz - Who built it? When was it built? Where was it? What was it? Why would a "skin lampshade" come from there? 5. Who was Adolf Eichman, what did he do and why is he infamous? 6. Who was Albert Speer, what did he do and why is he infamous? 7. In verse four it says that "David Nova swallowed gas" - explain what actually happened to him and why. 8. Holocaust historians often divide people involved in the Holocaust into three groupings - Victims, Perpetrators and Bystanders. Read the poem carefully and then make a list of all of the individuals (Eichmann, Nova etc), occupational groups ("some herded them in", some signed the papers etc) and other groups (Nazis, Germans etc) and note whether they are best described as Victims, Perpetrators or Bystanders - you might find it best to make a table to display your results). 9. Write a short story or poem based on the experiences of either a Victim a Perpetrator or a Victim. 10. Who killed the Jews? Shoah To think of the children, is enough to dampen dead eyes. Their whimpers, and cries echo down to us as they fearfully, tearfully, waited at the transit stops, hell’s ante-rooms. The death camps did indeed suffer the little children to come unto them Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz - Birkenau... And think of the women always first chosen

of the chosen ones - on the ramps where the select made their selections. To be with child or with children was sentence of death. Yiddishe mamas so grossly over represented in the chambers of death and oven ashes; Victimized even amongst victims even unto death. Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz-Birkenau... Lament for the men who wore the Pink Triangle punished for love by the Masters of Hate. Lament for the men and women of the Left who fought the rancid fascist creed and paid in full. Lament for the lost innocence that inflicts us still and for the memories. Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz-Birkenau... If you were to lick the heart of the beast you would be poisoned. If you were to consume its soul you would die from the inside out. If you were to embrace its dark attractions you would be doomed. Give the beast a name recognize its force repel its blood seductions. What then is the beast but that which we do not and must not know ? Within and without the beast as darkly hopeless

as a poor man’s dreams. The beast, a loudspeaker amplifying the inaudible whispers of the racist soul. Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz-Birkenau... Sleep dear Hans on mattress soft and warm gently slumber on cushion shorn and shaved in camp long ago and far away sleep on the crimes of your forefathers and when you awaken to face the new day and leave your innocent imprint on the evidence to slowly regain its shape as if you had never lain there and the evidence the unburnt portion buried within did not and never had existed. Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz-Birkenau... God counted the tears Of all the women, all the children, all the men, a river of tears flowing into a salt sea a Dead Sea, a sea of the dead. Sobibor. Chelmno. Majdanek. Treblinka. Belzec. Auschwitz-Birkenau... Bill Anderson Questions/Activities:

1. What are ‘transit stops’ (transit camps) and why are they called in the

poem ‘hell’s ante-rooms”? 2. Where does the phrase ‘suffer the little children’ originally come from? 3. What do Sobibor, Chelmno, Majdanek, Treblinka, Belzec and Auschwitz-

Birkenau have in common? 4. Why were women ‘always the first chosen”? 5. What does the expression ‘Yiddishe mamas’ refer to in the poem? 6. Who were the ‘men who wore the pink triangle’? Why did the Nazis

persecute them? 7. Who were the ‘men and women of the left’? Why did the Nazis persecute

them? List some of the men and women of the left who were persecuted by the Nazis.

8. What were the ‘dark attractions of racism’? 9. Why do you think G_d counted the victims tears?

The Burning Children In the staring dead eyes of the burning children we see ourselves mirrored and judged. They are entitled to be harsh judges, these eyes, doubly innocent, wise beyond their years. The eternal flames which light these eyes will judge our words and our deeds. Our excuses and our weaknesses. will melt under their blazing gaze. If we have a spark of humanity we will never dishonour the memory of these children, these judges of the flames. Bill Anderson

Questions/Activities:

1. Why do we see ourselves ‘mirrored and judged’ by the eyes of the ‘burning children’?

2. Why are the child victims entitled to be ‘harsh judges’? 3. Why are the child victims described as a being ‘doubly innocent’? 4. Why are they ‘wise beyond their years’? 5. Why did the Nazis attempt to murder all Jewish children? 6. Why does the author use the expression ‘external flames’? 7. How would we today ‘dishonour’ the child victims?

A Cartload of Shoes The wheels hurry onward, onward. What do they carry? They carry a cartload Of shivering shoes. The wagon like a canopy In the evening light; The shoes - clustered Like people in a dance. A wedding, a holiday? Has something binded my eyes? The shoes - I seem To recognize them. The heels go tapping With a clatter and a din. From our old Vilna streets They drive us to Berlin. I should not ask But something tears at my tongue Shoes, tell me the truth Where are they, the feet? The feet from those boots With button like dew -

And here, where is the body And there, where is the bride? Where is the child To fill those shoes Why has the bride Gone barefoot? Through the slippers and the boots I see those my mother used to wear She kept them for the Sabbath Her favourite pair. And the heels go tapping: With a clatter and a din, From our old Vilna streets They drive us to Berlin. Abraham Sutzkever Translated by David G. Roskies Questions/Activities:

1. Why are the shoes described as ‘shivering’? 2. What is the significance, in relation to Jewish ritual, of the word ‘canopy’

and the simile relating to ‘dance’? 3. Why does the writer ‘seem to recognise the shoes’? 4. Where is Vilna? Why is Vilna important in Jewish history and to the poet? 5. What other famous Jewish writers and anti-Nazi militants came from or

worked in Vilna? 6. What does the does writer mean when he writes ‘They drive us to Berlin’? 7. ‘Where are the feet’? 8. Write a paragraph about Abraham Sutzkever’s poetry and his activities in

the Jewish resistance. God Fled God wasn't dead in Auschwitz, Treblinka and the rest. He fled. In shock and horror at what some of those he had made in his own image were doing.

Had he not given them a world of unsurpassed beauty? Had he not given men women and women men? Had he not given them the ability to love to make music, art, poetry? Had he not given them the sun, the wind, the rain the sea, the stars and the flowers? Had he not given them babies, delightful children and a glimpse of the divine? And yet, and yet they committed this abomination this crime without a name. No God was not dead he was horrified, he was in shock. He wept, turned away and God fled. But only for a time. Later, too late for too many, he returned, reasserted his authority And good triumphed - as it must. Questions/Activities:

1. Have people argued that G_d is dead? 2. Why have ‘Auschwitz, Treblinka and the rest’ been linked to the death of

G_d debate? 3. Why, according to the writer, did G_d flee? 4. Why is the ‘crime’ referred to as ‘a crime without a name’? Who first used

this term? 5. How does the writer explain G_ds apparent absence during the

Holocaust? 6. Why is G_d’s return described as being ‘too late for too many’? 7. Do you think that the Holocaust challenges belief in a just and

compassionate G_d? A Letter in the Night Somewhere, among the ruins of my town, wanders my only daughter, her eyes cast down. She is in rags, she is hungry and she shivers perhaps you will meet her near the river and she is lonely and she is hungry and she cries and she knows it can't be otherwise. She walks slowly, stealthily like a thief in the yard where we used to live but the yard is a desert of stone and she freezes and she is hungry and alone and lonesome she stands close to the wall in the yard where she once lost her ball. And she hides in a basement, like a lair and she is full of anxiety and despair the wind is blowing and fear is creeping and she is lonely and hungry and she is weeping. The sky is lead and the river is ice and she knows it will not be otherwise but she still is going to the station and she asks there for "information" and she searches the train on the track and she hopes that her mother and I shall come back. And she comes once, and she comes twice and she comes back many times and she is lonely and hungry and she cries and she knows it can't be otherwise. Shivering passengers are walking by fast but she is standing and sticks to the last

the wind is blowing and snow flakes dance my only daughter should you meet her per chance in the wind, in the frost, in the snow tell her that still today I cry for that little girl who was burned in an oven in Auschwitz long, long time ago. Stanislaw Wygodzki (1907-1992): Auschwitz survivor) Questions/Activities:

1. Who is writing the letter noted in the title of the poem and who is he writing it to?

2. What religion are the father and daughter in the poem? Why is their religion important in relation to the subject of the poem?

3. Why is the daughter ragged, hungry and shivering? 4. Why is the daughter lonely? Where are her family and friends? 5. Why does the daughter walk slowly and stealthily? 6. Why is the basement she hides in described as a ‘lair’? 7. Why does the daughter keep returning to the railway station? 8. Does the father really believe that his daughter is still alive? 9. Research the life of the writer, Stanislaw Wygodzki (1907-1992), and write

a paragraph about his life and work. Wedding Dress In Majdanek, Lublin, they clothed me in mockery. They threw at us our camp clothes, most of us were cast verminous rags, but I, I who had just lost my lover, my husband, my joy, my life, was thrown a wedding gown, a plumed hat and high-heeled dancing shoes. Is it not enough that

they murder us? What possesses these people? Why do they feel the need to add the spice of mockery to their feast of murder? Is nothing sacred to them, nothing Beyond the Pale? Is my love, our love and the sacred ceremony that joined us together - a mere joke to these monsters? They have cleaved my love and I apart, made of me a widow who had been a lover and now, and now, they try to make a mockery of the love we shared. They mock themselves they cannot have known what we knew our love is not mocked our love mocks them, our love defeats their hatred, deflects their mockery. I will walk in my wedding gown with head held high, I defy them. I have known love and I will wear their mocking garments with pride, in memory of my love. They can kill us but they cannot destroy the love that we had - the love that we have. Let them do their worst. I will walk down their aisles of death and mockery in my wedding dress with dignity and pride

- they have taken from me and mine something that they have never had. Bill Anderson. Questions/Activities:

1. What was Majdanek? Where is Lublin? 2. Why did the Nazis make the woman wear a wedding gown? 3. Why did the Nazis feel the need to humiliate Jewish prisoners. 4. Who does the woman prisoner believe is being ‘mocked’ by this act? 5. How does she react to being forced to wear a wedding gown? 6. Can her reaction be described as a form of resistance?

Death Marches March for your life! March to your death! Right, left, right, left, right, left... March from Hell towards - not safety, not home, but rather a new an unknown Hell. March, stagger, stumble and briefly crawl - before a bullet, bayonet or a descending rifle butt ends all your travels, all your travails. March for your life! March to your death! Right, left, right, left, right, left... The war is all but over, the Lords of hatred have been put to flight, are running scared. But still the unrelenting war against the Jews continues. The hatred, the hardships, the dying, the killing, march ever onwards, ever westwards leaving a trail of blood and tears - towards the land of their evil birth. March for your life! March to your death! Right, left, right, left, right, left... The tattered and starved remnants of Europe's Jews,

survivors of mass shootings, the ravages of the starving ghettos, the horrors of the camps marched with death a constant companion. Did ever a people face such a hard road? March for your life! March to your death! Right, left, right, left, right, left... Questions and activities:

1. What were the death marches? 2. What do the death marches tell us about the priorities of the Nazis in the

closing days of the war? 3. Did the fact that the Nazis had clearly lost the war and faced imminent

defeat lead to an improvement in their treatment of Jews? 4. Who are the ‘Lords of Hatred’ referred to in the poem? 5. Why does the writer use the expression ‘march for your life’? 6. Research one particular death march and write a short description of the

march.

6. Liberation: The Aftermath How? How will you fill your goblet On the day of liberation? And with what? Are you prepared, in your joy, to endure The dark keening you have heard Where skulls of days glitter In a bottomless pit? You will search for a key to fit Your jammed locks. You will bite The sidewalks like bread, Thinking: It used to be better. And time will gnaw at you like a cricket Caught in a fist. Then your memory will resemble An ancient buried town. And your estranged eyes will burrow down

Like a mole, a mole... Abraham Sutzkever, Vilna Ghetto, February 14, 1943. Questions/Activities:

1. Does the writer see the ‘day of liberation’ as being a day of pure joy? 2. What other factors influenced survivors emotions on being liberated? 3. What problems does the writer foresee survivors facing after being

liberated? 4. Does the writer believe that survivors can simply move on and rebuild their

lives? 5. Is it significant that the poem was written in Vilna Ghetto in 1943? 6. Re-write the poem in prose in your own words

Why the Jews? For the millions of Jews facing, persecution, starvation, death a final question had to be: Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? For the Jews awaiting slaughter at Babi Yar in the Ukraine a final question had to be: Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? Pagans would answer - because you claim that there is one and only one God that all other Gods are false. Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? But Jews are not evangelical they do believe in one God but have never imposed their belief on others. Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? Some Christians would answer

- because you killed our Lord and for this you must pay. Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? But Jesus was a Jew - a Rabbi, the early Christian Church was a Jewish sect, Christianity is a child of Judaism. Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? A racist would answer - because it is in the blood, you are different, inferior, an enemy of all mankind. Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? But as a wise survivor once said, "there is only one race - the Human Race". The question remains Why me? Why us? Why the Jews? Why? Why? Why? Questions and activities 1. Why the Jews? Some possible more general questions/themes that might be used in the classroom when teaching Holocaust poetry: * What is the function of poetry?

*Why do people write poems? *What subjects are suitable for poems - make a list * Are any subjects/experiences that are not suitable for poetry? * Why did the Nazis burn books? * Is censorship ever justified? * Why would people risk their lives to write or even read a poem? * What is the relationship between poetry and resistance/freedom? * List as many examples as you can of cultural resistance * Can beauty arise from horror - from mass murder? * Why did the Nazis use euphemisms to describe their violent actions against Jews and others? * Were the victims of Nazi crimes - in ghettos and concentration camps dehumanised? * Nazi literature - did the Nazis develop a literature - a culture - of their own?

THE JAGER REPORT

Mass Murder By Shooting During the Holocaust

The aim of this unit is twofold:

1. To introduce students to the central role that mass shootings by the Einsatzgruppen,

Police Battalions etc played in the Holocaust

2. To give students experience studying and analysing contemporary "primary"

documents - in this instance the Jager Report, an important and infamous Nazi document

written by a perpetrator

The unit is designed for senior school students and tertiary students

A. BACKGROUND NOTES:

*When they think of the Holocaust, most people think of the concentration camps. In fact

Nazi genocide began not in the camps or in the gas chambers but with four small groups

of Nazi murderers known as the Einsatzgruppen.

*The Einsatzgruppen were formed by Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer-SS, and Reinhard

Heydrich, head of Reich Security. They operated in the areas occupied by the German

armies and they had the cooperation - at times enthusiastic co-operation - of German

army units (Wehrmacht) and of local militias.

* Full name of the Einsatzgruppen - Operational Squads of the Security Service and the

Security Police - The Einsatzgruppen operated as a task force of mobile killing

units. The fundamental structure of the Einsatzgruppen was established during the

Anschluss , the incorporation of Austria into the Reich in March 1938. These were

intelligence units of the police accompanying the invading army. They reappeared in the

invasion of Czechoslovakia, in March 1939, and of Poland, on September 1 of that year.

*We should note that The Nazis began murdering Jews - and others - from the first day of

the invasion of Poland and Einzatzgruppen units and men who would later be members

of the Einzatsgruppen were involved in these murders.

* Martin Gilbert - The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy

p.154

"In the twenty-one months before Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union - 22 June

1941), as many as thirty thousand Jews had perished. [BEEN MURDERED] Of these, ten

thousand had been murdered in individual killings, in street massacres, in punitive

reprisals, in outbreaks of savagery in the ghettos, and in labour camps. Twenty thousand

had died of starvation in the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos..."

* In spring 1941, in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Einsatzgruppen

were re-formed as military units - but not to fight as soldiers - They were organized for

murder. Early in May 1941, the men - all volunteers - who had been chosen as

candidates for the Eastern Front Einsatzgruppen were assembled in the training school in

Pretzsch (a town on the Elbe River, near Leipzig). Many of them had previously served

in the SS detachments in Poland. Many trainees came from the SS leadership school in

Berlin. The commanders of the Einsatzgruppen and the commanders of the

Sonderkommando and Einsatzkommandos (sub-units of the Einsatzgruppen) were

chosen by Himmler and Heydrich. Most of these handpicked leaders were lawyers. A few

were physicians or educators and most had earned doctoral degrees.

*The training that SS recruits received before their arrival in Pretzsch, prepared them

very well for the new mission of the Einsatzgruppen. The SS was meant to be the living

embodiment of the Nazi doctrine of the superiority of Nordic blood, and of the Nazi

conception of a master race. SS candidates were thoroughly examined and checked.

They were asked for the political reputation record of their parents, brothers and sisters,

the record of their ancestry as far back as 1750 and their physical examination and any

records from the Hitler Youth. Last, but perhaps most important, was a certification from

the race commission. This examining commission was composed of SS leaders,

anthropologists, and physicians. The very process of selection and acceptance gave the

new member a sense of superiority. Only pureblooded Germans in good health could

become a member. He must have been of excellent character, had no criminal record, and

been well versed in all National Socialist doctrines. The members had to be ready and

willing tools, prepared to carry out tasks of any nature, however distasteful. Absolute

obedience was therefore the necessary foundation stone of the SS. Obedience had to be

unconditional. Every SS man was prepared, therefore, to carry out blindly every order

that was issued by the Fuhrer.

{Note, however Police Battalion 101 one of MANY Police Battalions which murdered

Jews - and others - - had almost no training - They have been described as -

"ORDINARY GERMANS"

- see Daniel Goldhagen - "Hitler's Willing EXECUTIONERS: ORDINARY GERMANS

AND THE HOLOCAUST, AND Christopher Browning, "Ordinary Men: Police

Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, 1992. See Booklist

*When Germany invaded Soviet Russia the Einsatzgruppen followed behind the

Wehrmacht murdering Jews - and others - in vast numbers.

SEE MAP P. 29 HANDBOOK:

Einsatzgruppe A started out from East Prussia, and its units rapidly spread out across

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Einsatzgruppe B had Warsaw as its starting point. Some of its units passed through Vilna

and Grodno on the way to Minsk, where they arrived on July 5, 1941.[13] Other units

belonging to Einsatzgruppe B passed through Brest-Litovsk, Slonim, Baranovichi, and

Minsk, and from there proceeded to southern Byelorussia: Mogilev, Bobruisk, and

Gomel, advancing as far as Briansk, Kursk, Orel, and Tula. Along their route, in all the

places through which they passed, they murdered masses of people

Einsatzgruppe C made its way from Upper Silesia to the western Ukraine, by way of

Krakow. On September 29 and 30, Sonderkommando 4a, commanded by Paul Blobel,

perpetrated the mass slaughter of 34,000 Kiev Jews at Babi Yar.

Einsatzgruppe D was attached to the Eleventh Army. During its advance, it carried out

massacres in the southern Ukraine and in the Crimea Jewish prisoners of war were

separated from the rest and put to death at an early stage, in the advance transit camps.

The Einsatzgruppen first promoted pogroms by inciting already existing ant-Semitism

and age-old grievances against the Jews by the local population. Many were killed by the

locals, as the Einsatzgruppen assisted and watched.

The method that the Einsatzgruppen employed was to shoot their victims in ravines,

abandoned quarries, mines, antitank ditches, or huge trenches that had been dug for this

purpose.

* Martin Gilbert p. 155 - again - has noted that:

"... the slaughter in the East began from the first day of the German invasion of the Soviet

Union. Helped by Lithuanian, Latvian and Ukrainian policemen and auxiliaries, the

Einzatzgruppen moved rapidly behind the advancing German forces. An eye-witness

later recalled how, at the frontier village of Virbalis, Jews 'were placed alive in anti-

tank trenches about two kilometres long and killed by machine guns. Lime was thereupon

sprayed upon them and a second row of Jews was made to lie down. they were similarly

shot.' Six more times a new line of Jews were driven into the trench. 'Only the children

were not shot. They were caught by the legs, their heads hit against stones and they were

thereupon buried alive.'

Note Inga Clendinnen - Reading the Holocaust – p. 68:

"It is not difficult for soldiers to kill unarmed civilians."

*To which I would add - it is not difficult even for an armed civilian to kill unarmed

civilians - an Australian example?

Martin Bryant - Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia - small, weedy, mentally disabled (IQ

of an 11 year old) murdered 35 people and injured many more because he had a semi-

automatic rifle...

* We should note that the

*The Einsatzgruppen performed their murderous work in broad daylight and in the

presence of the local population. Only when the Germans began their retreat was an

effort made to erase the traces of their crimes. This was the job of Sonderkommandos : to

open the mass graves, disinter the corpses, cremate them, and spread the ashes over the

fields and streams.

The killing by shooting, especially of women and children, had a bad effect on many of

the Einsatzgruppen member's mental state, which even heavy drinking (of which they

were given a generous supply) could not suppress. A few committed suicide and some

asked for transfer to other units.

EINZATZGRUPPEN Units began experimenting with methods that would ease the

burden on the shooters [THE FEELINGS OF THE VICTIMS WERE ON NO

CONSEQUENCE]. Some units experimented with using quick lime Other experiments

such as alternating victims with wood in piles then burning the piles was attempted but

found to be too time consuming. After trying to dynamite the victims and burn them alive

in their homes and barns proved unsatisfactory a solution was found in the form of gas

vans (heavy trucks with hermetically sealed vans into which the trucks' exhaust fumes

were piped). Within a short time, these trucks were supplied to all the Einsatzgruppen.

The carbon monoxide from the car's exhaust would be channeled into the sealed cabin, in

which the victims stood. The gassing process took between fifteen and thirty minutes.

During this time, the van was driven from the loading site to prepared graves. The

shootings continued, augmented with the gas vans. The gas vans led to the construction

of the gas chambers at the concentration camps. Note Chelmno + Treblinka - two Soviet

Tank Engines. With the construction of the camps with gassing facilities, the

Einsatzgruppen would soon be out of the business of killing Jews. From the beginning of

1942 onward, the Einsatzgruppen increasingly turned to fighting Soviet partisans and

operating within concentration camps.

* By the spring of 1943, when the Germans began their retreat from Soviet territory, the

Einsatzgruppen had murdered at least 1.25 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of

Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Soviet nationals, including prisoners of war.

B. THE JAGER REPORT

The "Jager report" was written by a commander of one of the "Einsatzgruppen" which

were involved in the mass murder of Jews - men, women and children and a large

number of non-Jews who, for a variety of reasons, were considered enemies.

To fully understand the scale, and extent of these mass murders note the vast number of

victims - 137,346. Note that this horrific total relates only to the murders committed by

just one Einsatzgruppen over a period of just five months, in just one area... This report

highlights very clearly the plan to kill all the Jews, except those who were needed -

temporarily - to work.

There are many documents about the Einsatzgruppen massacres in the Soviet Union, but

the "Jager report" is one of the most detailed and most widely known. The authenticity

of this report has never been disputed.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The Commander of

the security police and

the SD

Einsatzkommando 3 Kauen [Kaunas], 1 December 1941

--------------------------

|Secret Reich Business! | 5 copies

-------------------------- 4th copy

Complete list of executions carried out in the EK 3 area up to 1 December 1941

Security police duties in Lithuania taken over by Einsatzkommando 3 on 2 July 1941.

(The Wilna [Vilnius] area was taken over by EK 3 on 9 Aug. 1941, the Schaulen area on 2 Oct. 1941. Up until these

dates EK 9 operated in Wilna and EK 2 in Schaulen.)

On my instructions and orders the following executions were conducted by

Lithuanian partisans:

4.7.41 Kauen-Fort VII 416 Jews, 47 Jewesses 463

6.7.41 Kauen-Fort VII Jews 2,514

Following the formation of a raiding squad under the command of SS-Obersturmfuhrer Hamman and 8-10 reliable men

from the Einsatzkommando. the following actions were conducted in cooperation with Lithuanian partisans:

7.7.41 Mariampole Jews 32

8.7.41 Mariampole 14 Jews, 5 Comm. officials 19

8.7.41 Girkalinei Comm. officials 6

9.7.41 Wendziogala 32 Jews, 2 Jewesses, 1 Lithuanian

(f.), 2 Lithuanian Comm., 1 Russian

Comm. 38

9.7.41 Kauen-Fort VII 21 Jews, 3 Jewesses 24

14.7.41 Mariampole 21 Jews, 1 Russ., 9 Lith. Comm. 31

17.7.41 Babtei 8 Comm. officials (inc. 6 Jews) 8

18.7.41 Mariampole 39 Jews, 14 Jewesses 53

19.7.41 Kauen-Fort VII 17 Jews, 2 Jewesses, 4 Lith.

Comm., 2 Comm. Lithuanians (f.),

1 German Comm. 26

21.7.41 Panevezys 59 Jews, 11 Jewesses, 1

Lithuanian (f.), 1 Pole, 22 Lith.

Comm., 9 Russ. Comm. 103

22.7.41 Panevezys 1 Jew 1

23.7.41 Kedainiai 83 Jews, 12 Jewesses, 14 Russ.

Comm., 15 Lith. Comm., 1 Russ.

O-Politruk 125

25.7.41 Mariampole 90 Jews, 13 Jewesses 103

28.7.41 Panevezys 234 Jews, 15 Jewesses, 19 Russ.

Comm., 20 Lith. Comm. 288

Total carried forward 3,384

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sheet 2

Total carried over 3,384

29.7.41 Rasainiai 254 Jews, 3 Lith. Comm. 257

30.7.41 Agriogala 27 Jews, 11 Lith. Comm. 38

31.7.41 Utena 235 Jews, 16 Jewesses, 4 Lith.

Comm., 1 robber/murderer 256

31.7.41 Wendziogala 13 Jews, 2 murderers 15

1.8.41 Ukmerge 254 Jews, 42 Jewesses, 1 Pol.

Comm., 2 Lith. NKVD agents, 1

mayor of Jonava who gave order

to set fire to Jonava 300

2.8.41 Kauen-Fort IV 170 Jews, 1 US Jewess, 33 Jewesses,

4 Lith. Comm. 209

4.8.41 Panevezys 362 Jews, 41 Jewesses, 5 Russ. Comm.,

14 Lith. Comm. 422

5.8.41 Rasainiai 213 Jews, 66 Jewesses 279

7.8.41 Uteba 483 Jews, 87 Jewesses, 1 Lithuanian

(robber of corpses of German soldiers) 571

8.8.41 Ukmerge 620 Jews, 82 Jewesses 702

9.8.41 Kauen-Fort IV 484 Jews, 50 Jewesses 534

11.8.41 Panevezys 450 Jews, 48 Jewesses, 1 Lith. 1 Russ. 500

13.8.41 Alytus 617 Jews, 100 Jewesses, 1 criminal 719

14.8.41 Jonava 497 Jews, 55 Jewesses 552

15-16.8.41 Rokiskis 3,200 Jews, Jewesses, and J. Children,

5 Lith. Comm., 1 Pole, 1 partisan 3207

9-16.8.41 Rassainiai 294 Jewesses, 4 Jewish children 298

27.6-14.8.41 Rokiskis 493 Jews, 432 Russians, 56 Lithuanians

(all active communists) 981

18.8.41 Kauen-Fort IV 689 Jews, 402 Jewesses, 1 Pole (f.),

711 Jewish intellectuals from Ghetto

in reprisal for sabotage action 1,812

19.8.41 Ukmerge 298 Jews, 255 Jewesses, 1 Politruk,

88 Jewish children, 1 Russ. Comm. 645

22.8.41 Dunaburg 3 Russ. Comm., 5 Latvian, incl. 1

murderer, 1 Russ. Guardsman, 3 Poles,

3 gypsies (m.), 1 gypsy (f.), 1 gypsy

child, 1 Jew, 1 Jewess, 1 Armenian

(m.), 2 Politruks (prison inspection

in Dunanburg) 21


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Sheet 3


22.8.41 Aglona Mentally sick: 269 men, 227 women,

48 children 544

23.8.41 Panevezys 1,312 Jews, 4,602 Jewesses, 1,609

Jewish children 7,523

18-22.8.41 Kreis Rasainiai 466 Jews, 440 Jewesses, 1,020


25.8.41 Obeliai 112 Jews, 627 Jewesses, 421


25-26.8.41 Seduva 230 Jews, 275 Jewesses, 159

Jewish children 664

26.8.41 Zarasai 767 Jews, 1,113 Jewesses, 1 Lith.

Comm., 687 Jewish children, 1 Russ.

Comm. (f.) 2,569

28.8.41 Pasvalys 402 Jews, 738 Jewesses, 209


26.8.41 Kaisiadorys All Jews, Jewesses, and Jewish

children 1,911

27.8.41 Prienai All Jews, Jewesses, and Jewish

Children 1,078

27.8.41 Dagda and 212 Jews, 4 Russ. POW's 216

Kraslawa

27.8.41 Joniskia 47 Jews, 165 Jewesses, 143

Jewish children 355

28.8.41 Wilkia 76 Jews, 192 Jewesses, 134

Jewish children 402

28.8.41 Kedainiai 710 Jews, 767 Jewesses, 599


29.8.41 Rumsiskis and 20 Jews, 567 Jewesses, 197

Ziezmariai Jewish children 784

29.8.41 Utena and 582 Jews, 1,731 Jewesses, 1,469

Moletai Jewish children 3,782

13-31.8.41 Alytus and

environs 233 Jews 233

1.9.41 Mariampole 1,763 Jews, 1,812 Jewesses, 1,404

Jewish children, 109 mentally sick,

1 German subject (f.), married to a

Jew, 1 Russian (f.) 5090


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Sheet 4


28.8-2.9.41 Darsuniskis 10 Jews, 69 Jewesses, 20

Jewish children 99

Carliava 73 Jews, 113 Jewesses, 61

Jewish children 247

Jonava 112 Jews, 1,200 Jewesses, 244


Petrasiunai 30 Jews, 72 Jewesses, 23

Jewish children 125

Jesuas 26 Jews, 72 Jewesses, 46

Jewish children 144

Ariogala 207 Jews, 260 Jewesses, 195

Jewish children 662

Jasvainai 86 Jews, 110 Jewesses, 86

Jewish children 282

Babtei 20 Jews, 41 Jewesses, 22

Jewish children 83

Wenziogala 42 Jews, 113 Jewesses, 97

Jewish children 252

Krakes 448 Jews, 476 Jewesses, 97


4.9.41 Pravenischkis 247 Jews, 6 Jewesses 253

Cekiske 22 Jews, 64 Jewesses, 60

Jewish children 146

Seredsius 6 Jews, 61 Jewesses, 126

Jewish children 193

Velinona 2 Jews, 71 Jewesses, 86

Jewish children 159

Zapiskis 47 Jews, 118 Jewesses, 13

Jewish children 178

5.9.41 Ukmerge 1,123 Jews, 1,849 Jewesses, 1,737


25.8-6.9.41 Mopping up in: 16 Jews, 412 Jewesses, 415

Rasainiai Jewish children 843

Georgenburg all Jews, all Jewesses, all

Jewish children 412

9.9.41 Alytus 287 Jews, 640 Jewesses, 352


9.9.41 Butrimonys 67 Jews, 370 Jewesses, 303

Jewish children 740

10.9.41 Merkine 223 Jews, 640 Jewesses, 276

Jewish children 854

10.9.41 Varena 541 Jews, 141 Jewesses, 149

Jewish children 831

11.9.41 Leipalingis 60 Jews, 70 Jewesses, 25

Jewish children 155

11.9.41 Seirijai 229 Jews, 384 Jewesses, 340

Jewish children 953

12.9.41 Simnas 68 Jews, 197 Jewesses, 149

Jewish children 414

11-12.9.41 Uzusalis Reprisal against inhabitants who

fed Russ. partisans; some in

possesion of weapons 43

26.9.41 Kauen-F.IV 412 Jews, 615 Jewesses, 581

Jewish children (sick and

suspected epidemic cases) 1,608

Total carries over 66,159

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Sheet 5


2.10.41 Zagare 633 Jews, 1,107 Jewesses, 496

Jewish children (as these Jews were

being led away a mutiny rose, which

was however immediately put down;

150 Jews were shot immediately; 7

partisans wounded) 2,236

4.10.41 Kauen-F.IX 315 Jews, 712 Jewesses, 818

Jewish children (reprisal after

German police officer shot in ghetto) 1,845

29.10.41 Kauen-F.IX 2,007 Jews, 2,920 Jewesses, 4,273

Jewish children (mopping up ghetto

of superfluous Jews) 9,200

3.11.41 Lazdijai 485 Jews, 511 Jewesses, 539


15.11.41 Wilkowiski 36 Jews, 48 Jewesses, 31

Jewish children 115

25.11.41 Kauen-F.IX 1,159 Jews, 1,600 Jewesses, 175

Jewish children (resettlers from

Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt am main) 2,934

29.11.41 Kauen-F.IX 693 Jews, 1,155 Jewesses, 152

Jewish children (resettlers from

from Vienna and Breslau) 2,000

29.11.41 Kauen-F.IX 17 Jews, 1 Jewess, for contravention

of ghetto law, 1 Reichs German who

converted to the Jewish faith and

attended rabbinical school, then 15

terrorists from the Kalinin group 34

EK 3 detachment in Dunanberg

in the period 13.7-21.8.41: 9,012 Jews, Jewesses and Jewish

children, 573 active Comm. 9,585

EK 3 detachment in Wilna:

12.8-1.9.41 City of Wilna 425 Jews, 19 Jewesses, 8 Comm. (m.),

9 Comm. (f.) 461

2.9.41 City of Wilna 864 Jews, 2,019 Jewesses, 817

Jewish children (sonderaktion because

German soldiers shot at by Jews) 3,700


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sheet 6




17.9.41 City of Wilna 337 Jews, 687 Jewesses, 247

Jewish children and 4 Lith. Comm. 1,271

20.9.41 Nemencing 128 Jews, 176 Jewesses, 99

Jewish children 403

22.9.41 Novo-Wilejka 468 Jews, 495 Jewesses, 196


24.9.41 Riesa 512 Jews, 744 Jewesses, 511


25.9.41 Jahiunai 215 Jews, 229 Jewesses, 131

Jewish children 575

27.9.41 Eysisky 989 Jews, 1,636 Jewesses, 821


30.9.41 Trakai 366 Jews, 483 Jewesses, 597




6.10.41 Semiliski 213 Jews, 359 Jewesses, 390

Jewish children 962

9.10.41 Svenciany 1,169 Jews, 1,840 Jewesses, 717






25.10.41 City of Wilna 1,776 Jewesses, 812 Jewish children 2,578








Jewish children 171

19.11.41 City of Wilna 6 POW's, 8 Poles 14

20.11.41 City of Wilna 3 POW's 3

25.11.41 City of Wilna 9 Jews, 46 Jewesses, 8 Jewish

children, 1 Pole for possession of arms

and other military equipment 64

EK 3 detachment in Minsk from

28.9-17.10.41:

Pleschnitza 620 Jews, 1,285 Jewesses,

Bischolin 1,126 Jewish children and 19

Scak Comm.

Bober

Uzda 3,050

--------

133,346

Prior to EK 3 taking over security police duties, Jews liquidated

by pogroms and executions (including partisans) 4,000

-----------

Total 137,346

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today I can confirm that our objective, to solve the Jewish problem for

Lithuania, has been achieved by EK 3. In Lithuania there are no more

Jews, apart from Jewish workers and their families.

......

The distance between from the assembly point to the graves was on average

4 to 5 Km.

......

I consider the Jewish action more or less terminated as far as

Einsatzkommando 3 is concerned. Those working Jews and Jewesses still

available are needed urgently and I can envisage that after the winter

this workforce will be required even more urgently. I am of the view

that the sterilization programme of the male worker Jews should be

started immediately so that reproduction is prevented. If despite

sterilization a Jewess becomes pregnant she will be liquidated.

(signed) Jager

SS-Standartenfuhrer

Excerpted from ------------------------------------------------------------

Klee, Ernst, Dessen, Willi, and Volker Riess, eds. The Holocaust as Seen

by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. (Forward by Hugh Trevor-Roper) The Free

Press, A division of Macmillan, Inc. 1988. ISBN 0-02-917425-2 pp. 46-58

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

C. QUESTIONS/EXERCISES/RESEARCH PROJECTS

Questions:

1. Using a photocopy of a detailed map of Lithuania and the information in the Jager

Report trace the progress of Jager and his men in Lithuania.

2. Jager's unit was for a time based in 'Wilna'(the capital of Lithuania) - you will also see

this city spelt Vilna and Vilnius. Why does the name of the same city have three different

spellings?

3. In the earliest murders recorded in the report there are more Jewish men murdered than

Jewish women and children – why might this be the case? Did this imbalance continue

over the period covered by the report and if not - why not?

4. On 31.7.41 at Utena a 'robber/murderer' was shot - why is this Nazi murder ironic?

5. On 18.8.41 at Kauen-fort 1V 711 'Jewish intellectuals' from the Ghetto were murdered

'in reprisal for a sabotage action'.

a) Who would the Nazis consider 'intellectuals'? (Make a list)

b) What actions might the Nazis define as 'sabotage'?

c) Comment on the number of Jews murdered for this act of resistance.(see also

Wilna,2.09.41; Kauen-F.-1X, 4.10.41 and Wilna 25.11.41).

d) What does this report suggest about the argument that 'Jews went like lambs to the

slaughter' during the Holocaust?

6.

a) On 22.8.41 at Dunaberg '3 gypsy (m.), 1 gypsy (f.), 1 gypsy child' were murdered.

Who were the 'gypsies' and why did the Nazis want to murder them?

b) On the same day at Aglona 269 men, 227 women and 48 children who were 'mentally

sick' were murdered. What do you think happened on this day? How does this mass

murder of 'mentally sick' people link to the Nazis euthanasia campaign and racial ideas?

7. 1.09.41, Mariampole. '...one German subject (f.) married to a Jew' was murdered. Why

was this woman murdered? What Nazi Law had she broken?

7. On 26.9.41 at Kauen-f.1V 412 Jews, 615 Jewesses and 581 Jewish children labeled

'sick and suspected epidemic cases' were murdered. Why were so many people said to be

sick? Why did the Nazis murder them?

8. What happened at Zagare 0n 2.10.41?

9. 4.10.41 - Kauen-F.1X.

a) Comment on the extent of the 'reprisal' the Nazis inflicted on this date.

b) What is the policy behind this type of 'reprisal' called?

c) Do you think that such reprisals would be effective in reducing resistance?

10. 29.10.41. Kauen- F. 1X – What is meant by ‘mopping up ghetto of superfluous

Jews’? Why did the Nazis often use euphemisms?

11. 25.11.41. Kauen-F. 1X – What does Jager really mean when he writes ‘resettlers’?

Why were Jews from Western Europe transported to Eastern Europe to be murdered?

12. 29.11.41- Kauen-F.1X. What was a 'Reich German' and why was the Reich German

murdered?

13. In his concluding comments Jager states that in relation to the few surviving 'working

Jews' all the men should be sterilized and any of the women who become pregnant should

be 'liquidated' (murdered). Why is Jager so determined to stop Jews reproducing?

Exercises:

A). Write an essay on the topic 'Why did the Nazis murder the Jews?' In your answer you

should cite the work of prominent Holocaust historians on this subject including Yehuda

Bauer, Lucy Dawidowicz, Daniel Goldhagen, Martin Gilbert and Christopher Browning.

B). Discuss the extent and scale of Jewish resistance to the Nazis. Note in particular the

difficulties that faced those Jews who attempted to resist.

C). Discuss the fate of non-Jewish victims of the Nazis.

D). Examine and assess the various historical analysis of the actions of Police Battalion

101.

E). Examine the links between the mass killings of Jews in 1941 and the mass murders

committed at Chelmno and the other mass murder camps.

`