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Beyond Courage Teachers' Guide
Beyond Courage Teachers' Guide
Resistance Calendar
As you move through the year, you can refer to this Resistance Calendar and feature one of the stories in the book that takes place during that month. You will notice that certain dates are exact; others list only the month, because historians have been unable so far to pinpoint their exact dates. Some additional details not found in the book are included here per the authors research.
JANUARY
OcTOBER
October 14, 1943: More than three hundred sixty-five Jews rose up and attempted escape from the Sobibor death camp. October 7, 1944: Sonderkommandos blow up Crematorium 4 in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
NOVEMBER
Beyond CouRage
The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust
by
November 10, 1938: David Zwingermann and Horst Lwenstein rescue twelve undamaged Torah scrolls.
DEcEMBER
doReen RappapoRt
January 30, 1943: Ernst Fontheim goes underground in Berlin. January 1944: Sarika Yehoshua organizes her all-girl partisan unit.
FEBRUARY
December 18, 1942: The boys in Theresienstadts Home One inaugurate their secret magazine, Vedem. December 1944: Israel Cohen observes Hanukkah in Kaufering IV labor camp.
March 17, 1944: One hundred Jews escape from the Koldichevo labor camp.
APRil
April 19, 1943: Three resisters stop the 20th transport from Brussels to Auschwitz. April 19, 1943: Warsaws Jews begin their twenty-seven-day uprising.
MAY
In this stirring chronicle, Doreen Rappaport brings to light the courage of countless Jews who organized to sabotage the Nazis and help other Jews during the Holocaust. Under the noses of the military, Georges Loinger smuggles thousands of children out of occupied France into Switzerland. In Belgium, three resisters ambush a train, allowing scores of Jews to flee from the cattle cars. In Poland, four brothers lead more than 1,200 ghetto refugees into the forest to build a guerilla force and self-sufficient village. And twelve-year-old Motele Shlayan entertains German officers with his violin moments before setting off a bomb. Through meticulously researched accounts some chronicled here in book form for the first time Rappaport illuminates the defiance of tens of thousands of Jews across Nazi-occupied Europe whose weapons were courage, ingenuity, the will to survive, and the resolve to save others or to die trying.
Vocabulary
Before students read the book, be sure they are acquainted with the following words. Distribute this list to the class and have students find the definitions, or divide the list and have small groups work together on finding definitions for their portion. Aryan collaborator concentration camp death camp deportation forced emigration ghetto Holocaust Jewish Council Kindertransport Kristallnacht labor camp Nazi partisan pogrom shtetl transit camp Zionist
in any of them? Students may share from their journals if they would like.
May 18, 1942: Resisters attack the Soviet Paradise exhibit. May 20, 1943: Jewish partisans rescue fifteen girls from the Convent of the Nursing Sisters of the Blessed Sacred Heart in Brussels.
JUNE
discussion Questions
Part One: The Realization
1. Why did the author begin the book in Germany? How did Jews in Germany react to the events described in this section? Why were some of the decisions they had to make very difficult? What do you think you would have done in their place? 2. How was Kristallnacht a turning point for the Jews? For the Germans? 3. Why do you think the author chose the title The Realization for this opening section? Would you have chosen a different title? If so, what would your title be?
June 1944: Marianne Cohn writes her poem of defiance, I Will Betray Tomorrow, Not Today.
JUlY
July 1942: The CDJ ( Jewish Defense Committee) is organized. It begins activities in September 1942. July 1943: Vitka Kempner and two compatriots blow up a German troop train.
AUGUST
This teachers guide was written by Betty Ann Ross, former coordinator at the Educational Resources Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York, in consultation with Doreen Rappaport.
August 1943: Seven hundred members of the Bielski encampment evade German forces.
SEPTEMBER
Responsive Writing
Ask students to write a journal as they read the book, noting their thoughts and feelings about what they are reading. The students should not just be summarizing what they read but articulating their own personal responses. Encourage them to consider the different types of resistance described in the book. Ask them to explore such questions as, Which forms of resistance were new? Do you think you might have participated
September 26, 1943: Two hundred fifty Jews escape from the Novogrudok labor camp.
1. Just because a historical event took place and is documented in textbooks and on film does not mean that it was inevitable, that it had to happen. This concept is sometimes overlooked. The Holocaust took place because individuals, groups, and nations made decisions to act or not to act. Why didnt world leaders help sooner? What could they have done? How could that have changed the course of history? Have students explore these questions by researching the similarities and differences in the way world leaders responded to the wars in Bosnia, Darfur, and Rwanda and the 2011 uprisings in Egypt and Libya. Invite students to present their findings to the class. 2. Have students make their own videos illustrating what they would like people to remember about what they learned about resistance during the Holocaust. 3. Beyond Courage focuses primarily on Jews who organized themselves to resist, but as mentioned in some of the stories told in the book, some Christians also participated in resistance activities. Go to the Righteous section of the Yad Vashem website and research Christians who helped Jews. 4. In some ways the Holocaust was a unique event. In other ways it resembles situations at other times in other places during which huge numbers of people have died and/or been killed. Many people believe that the lesson we must learn from studying the Nazi Holocaust is that we each have the responsibility to resist injustice and make the world a better place for all people. For example, according to its charter as quoted on its website, Doctors Without Borders provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict. They do so irrespective of race, religion, creed or political convictions. What are some other organizations with goals focused on bettering the world? Have students research different organizations and create a visual display that shows what each organization does, its goals, how it raises money, how funds are used, and what sort of results it has produced. 5. In her introduction, Doreen Rappaport writes, I will continue my journey by adding other resistance stories to my website. I hope you will consider this book a first step in your own journey of exploration and discovery, and I invite you to continue traveling with me at www.doreenrappaport .com. People she suggests further for research include Gisi Fleischmann, Hanka Folman, David Gur, George Kadish, David Knout, Shulamit Gara Lack, Anny Latour, Faye Schulman, and Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel. 6. Visit a Holocaust memorial or center in your city or see if there is an educational arm that will visit your school and share its programs. Inquire about interviewing survivors. If you dont have a center, you can contact the U.S. Holocaust Museum and ask if they know of someone you could interview by Skype or e-mail.
nonfiction
The following questions can be used as discussion or writing prompts to encourage students to delve deeper into the book and to consider the many different components of nonfiction writing.
interpreting Photographs
Photographs tell stories, too. Study the photographs on pages 2, 3, 58 (top), 104, 168, 169, 176, and 177. 1. What events do these photographs describe? What would you guess was each photographers intention in taking the picture? Was that intention achieved? 2. Why do you think the partisans had themselves photographed in the midst of such life-or-death situations? 3. The Germans spent a lot of time photographing the war with the intention of documenting their victories. Look at the photograph on page 77, taken during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Some people believe this is an image of defiance despite the fact that the uprising failed to save Warsaws Jews. Why might they think that? What do you think?
Further Investigation
There is extensive bibliographical material, including websites, at the end of the book that can be used to expand the study of the Holocaust and resistance to it. These suggested projects are designed to encourage students to do their own investigative work and research.