Hello, and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

I'm Mr. Marchant, and it'll be my responsibility to help guide you through all of our resources today.

My top aim is to make sure that by the end of the lesson you can meet our learning objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the Holocaust.

Where we'll be asking ourselves: What was the Holocaust? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain different types of Jewish resistance and the obstacles resistance faced during the Holocaust.

There are four keywords which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are partisan, spontaneous, kashariyot, and smuggling.

A partisan is a member of a group that secretly fights against soldiers who are controlling their country.

If something's spontaneous, it's happening naturally and suddenly without being planned.

The kashariyot were young Jewish women involved in smuggling and carrying messages between Jewish communities.

And smuggling involves taking something into or out of a place in an illegal or secret way.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and will begin by focusing on violent resistance.

Violent resistance by Jews was far from a common response to the Holocaust.

Nevertheless, there were still many instances of armed or forceful Jewish attempts to oppose the persecution they faced.

Violent resistance occurred across Europe and throughout the Holocaust, though it became more common over time, especially as awareness of Nazi intentions grew.

Ghettos and extermination camps were notable locations of Jewish violent resistance.

Violent resistance also occurred outside of these areas, particularly in more remote locations where partisans could organise.

So we'll start by thinking about resistance in ghettos.

Armed underground Jewish movements were developed in over 50 Polish ghettos.

In Warsaw, the Jewish Combat Organisation, otherwise known as the ZOB, organised a major uprising in the city's ghetto in 1943.

Uprisings also occurred in ghettos outside of Poland, such as Slonim in the USSR.

Ghetto uprisings were mostly formed to resist deportations of Jews to extermination camps.

So considering what we've just heard, how many Polish ghettos developed underground armed resistance movements? Was it less than 10, more than 25, or more than 50? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C.

More than 50 Polish ghettos developed underground armed resistance movements.

And now we can think about resistance in extermination camps.

Uprisings by Jewish inmates occurred in three extermination camps: at Treblinka in 1943, at Sobibor in 1943, and at Auschwitz in 1944.

At Treblinka, Jewish inmates seized guns and grenades from the camp armoury before attacking the camp's guards.

300 inmates escaped but many were subsequently caught and murdered.

Only 70 escapees from Treblinka managed to survive the remainder of World War II and the Holocaust.

So thinking about what we've just heard, we have a statement on the screen which says: Jewish inmates in extermination camps were unable to stage violent resistance.

Is that statement true or false? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So why is it that that original statement was false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done to everybody who said Jewish inmates were able to launch uprisings at Treblinka and Sobibor in 1943 and at Auschwitz in 1944, showing that there was violent resistance.

And finally, we can think about Jewish resistance by partisans.

Some Jews who were not imprisoned joined Jewish and non-Jewish partisan groups across Europe.

This was most common in forested and mountainous areas, where it was easy to hide.

Partisans often placed bombs on German railroads, blew up troop trains, cut telephone lines, attacked police and government posts, and seized supply trucks.

They didn't normally engage the Germans and their collaborators in open battle, but staged operations that would make it harder for those groups to continue the Holocaust and their own war efforts.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

What type of resistance were most Jewish partisans involved in? Was it air raids against German cities and towns, attacks on military outposts and communications, or open battles against German armies? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.

Partisans were often involved in activities such as attacks on military outposts and communications.

And now we can think about other forms of violent resistance by Jews during the Holocaust.

Some violent resistance was more spontaneous than the examples we thought about so far.

A young German-born Jew, Henry Wermuth, tried to assassinate Hitler.

In 1942, his mother and sister had been deported to Belzec extermination camp.

Months later, Wermuth heard rumours that Hitler would be passing nearby on a train.

That night, Henry used stones and wood to block the railway track, hoping to derail Hitler's train and kill him.

The attempt was unsuccessful but showed how varied Jewish resistance could be during the Holocaust.

So which inference is most valid based on Henry Wermuth's attempt to kill Hitler in 1942? Is it that all Jewish resistance was organised by partisan groups, that Jewish violent resistance was based on self-defense, or that some Jewish resistance was spontaneous? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct inference would be C.

Henry Wermuth's attempt to kill Hitler in 1942 shows that some Jewish resistance was spontaneous.

Wermuth, who was angry about the deportation of his mother and his sister to Belzec, saw an opportunity to kill Hitler when he heard his train would be passing close by.

But this was not something he'd been planning to do for a long time.

So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about violent resistance during the Holocaust into practise.

So what violent Jewish resistance was there to the Holocaust? I want you to include as many of the following words as part of your answer: uprising, partisan, and spontaneous.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I asked you what violent Jewish resistance was there to the Holocaust? And your answer may have included: Violent Jewish resistance occurred across Europe in both ghettos and extermination camps, uprisings were organised by underground networks.

For instance, in 1943, an uprising at the Treblinka extermination camp allowed 300 inmates to escape, 70 of whom survived the rest of the war.

There was also violent resistance from partisan groups, especially in forested and mountainous areas, who attacked Nazi outposts and launched sabotage operations.

Some resistance was more spontaneous and even individual: for example, Henry Wermuth attempted to derail a train carrying Hitler after his mother and sister were deported to Belzec.

So really well done if your own response looked something like that model which we've just seen.

And so now we can move on to the second part of our lesson where we're gonna think about nonviolent resistance.

Nonviolent resistance by Jews was more common than violent resistance during the Holocaust.

This resistance included efforts simply to survive, but also to resist attempts by the Nazis and their collaborators to degrade Jewish people, isolate them and destroy their culture.

A critical part of Jewish nonviolent resistance were the efforts made simply to remain alive.

Even before the Nazis adopted the idea to murder all of Europe's Jews as part of the Final Solution, Nazi persecution had placed considerable threats to Jewish lives.

For instance, ghettos received limited supplies of food that made starvation a serious issue for the Jews imprisoned within them.

Jews resisted this by organising smuggling networks, which could bring food and other goods into ghettos despite the risk that any smugglers caught by the Nazis would be executed.

In the Warsaw ghetto, 80% of food supplies were obtained via smuggling, helping the ghetto's large Jewish population to survive.

Children were particularly involved in smuggling operations as they could fit through narrow passageways, which helped them get in and out of ghettos.

Other activities prohibited by the Nazis were also resisted nonviolently.

As part of the attempt to destroy the culture of Jewish communities, Nazi officials banned formal education in many of their ghettos.

Children were also often forced to labour in factories despite their age, which also made schooling difficult.

Nevertheless, secret schools and libraries were still set up by Jews.

After a ban on schooling was introduced in the Lithuanian Kovno ghetto in 1942, some Jewish children continued to receive a secret education in their homes, and even in stables located within the ghetto.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of everything we've heard so far.

Why were children often used as smugglers in Jewish ghettos? Was it because children could fit through narrow passageways, because children were not punished by Nazi authorities, or because children had nothing else to do in ghettos? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was A.

Children were frequently involved in smuggling operations in Jewish ghettos, especially because they were small enough to be able to fit through narrow passageways and holes in the walls that allowed them to get in and out of the ghettos.

Let's try another question.

This time I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.

After a ban in 1942, secret, blank, was set up by Jews in Kovno ghetto in Lithuania.

So what's the missing word? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was schools.

After a ban in 1942, which was part of the Nazis' attempt to destroy Jewish culture, secret schools were set up by Jews in Kovno ghetto in Lithuania.

Nonviolent resistance also focused on challenging the isolation which the Nazis used to try and make Jews easier to control.

For instance, the term kashariyot has been used to describe young Jewish girls who moved between different communities, including Jewish partisans and those imprisoned in ghettos during the Holocaust.

The kashariyot pretended not to be Jewish, assuming fake identities which allowed them to carry letters, documents, and newspapers between isolated Jewish groups.

These actions were important for supporting individual Jewish communities and their ability to resist the Nazis.

Furthermore, the kashariyot also helped to support violent resistance by Jews.

For instance, from late 1942 onwards, Feigele Peltel, who was just 21 at the time, helped the Jewish Combat Organisation, otherwise known as the ZOB, prepare for a major uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.

Peltel crossed the walls surrounding the ghetto several times to smuggle in letters, guns, grenades, and other weapons.

Feigele also found hiding places for Jewish women and children outside of the ghetto, and provided Jews already in hiding with money, food, clothing, documentation, and medical care which could help them.

So let's check our understanding of what we've just heard.

We have a statement that reads: The kashariyot contributed to both nonviolent and violent resistance.

Is that statement true or false? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our answers.

So why is it that that original statement was true? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the kashariyot supported nonviolent resistance by helping to overcome the isolation of some Jewish communities.

They also helped support violent resistance by smuggling weapons, as Feigele Peltel did before the Warsaw Uprising.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about nonviolent resistance into practise.

I want you to study the photo shown on the screen.

How does the photo represent Jewish resistance during the Holocaust? You should refer to details in the source and your own knowledge as part of your answer.

So pause video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked how does the photo represent Jewish resistance during the Holocaust? And your answer may have included: The photo shows three young boys.

Two of the boys are helping to pull the third through a hole in the wall of a ghetto.

This represents Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, as the boys were likely involved in smuggling.

Young children were often used as smugglers in ghettos because they were able to squeeze through narrow passageways, bringing much-needed supplies into ghettos.

Smuggling was necessary because of the limited food supplies provided to Jews by Nazi authorities and represented resistance as it helped many more people in Jewish ghettos to avoid starvation than would've been the case otherwise.

So really well done if your own response looked something like that model answer, especially as you made sure you were referring to both details from the source and your own knowledge.

And now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today, where we are going to think about obstacles to resistance.

Several factors helped to discourage Jewish resistance, both violent and nonviolent, during the Holocaust.

These obstacles included, but were not limited to: military strength, location, trust, and concern for friends and family.

So we'll think about each of these factors in turn.

So let's start by considering military strength as an obstacle to Jewish resistance.

Armed resistance faced almost impossible odds.

Most Jews lacked military training and access to weapons, and individuals were often weakened by terrible living conditions, such as the starvation-like conditions they often faced in Nazi camps and ghettos.

Jews were also quite isolated from one another, which made it hard to coordinate resistance most effectively.

And the Nazis and their collaborators ultimately commanded strong, well-trained and well-supplied armies with immense firepower.

That meant resistance was always most likely to be put down and crushed.

So I want you to change one word to correct the following sentence: Most Jews had significant military training and experience by the time the Holocaust began.

So consider which word appears to be incorrect in this sentence and what should it be changed to? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the incorrect word was had, and that it should've been changed to lacked: Most Jews lacked significant military training and experience by the time the Holocaust began.

Location was also an obstacle to Jewish resistance.

It was easiest to hide and resist in forested or mountainous areas.

These landscapes were difficult for the Nazis and their collaborators to monitor effectively.

However, in places like Poland and many areas of the USSR, where the majority of Jews lived, the local landscape often consisted of open and flat fields.

These landscapes provided few opportunities for Jewish partisans or escapees to hide, and therefore made resistance very difficult.

So thinking about what we've just heard, we have a statement on the screen that reads: The landscape of Poland and the USSR made Jewish resistance more challenging.

Is that statement true or false? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So why is it that that original statement is true? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done to everybody who said Poland and the USSR had many fields, creating flat, open landscapes where it's difficult for Jews to hide.

So in this way, the landscapes of those countries made resistance for Jews more challenging.

Trust was also an obstacle for Jewish resistance.

Jews who resisted did not know if they could trust non-Jews, even if they were not Nazis.

Antisemitism, fear of punishment, and the potential of rewards all encouraged non-Jewish hostility towards Jews.

In Poland, it's likely that as many non-Jewish Poles turned Jews in as hid them during the Holocaust.

In 1943, 22 Jewish inmates who escaped from Sobibor extermination camp were killed by the Polish Home Army, those were the resistance forces of Poland fighting against the Nazis, and also by ordinary Poles, showing the extent of antisemitism in some groups that didn't identify with nor support the Nazis themselves.

So thinking about what we've just heard, I want you to change one word to correct the following sentence: After an uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, 22 Jewish escapees were killed by Nazis.

So consider which word appears to be incorrect and what should it be changed to? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the incorrect word in our sentence was Nazis and that it should have been changed to Poles: After an uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, 22 Jewish escapees were killed by Poles, showing just how hard it was for Jews to figure out who they could and couldn't trust during the Holocaust.

And finally, we'll think about the impact, a concern for friends and family.

Jews knew that the Nazis frequently responded to resistance with collective punishments.

So that means punishing not just those who had resisted but also everyone around them as well.

And this might put the loved ones of any resisters at risk.

Feigele Peltel's experience was quite typical insofar as she only became a kashariyot after all her immediate family had been deported.

This may have been because there was now no longer anyone around her who would be at risk if she resisted.

All Jews who survived the Sobibor Uprising were killed afterwards, again showing that collective punishment that the Nazis were willing to inflict, and it deterred some of us from resisting.

And there were some Jews who wished to remain with their families and support or protect them, rather than go off and flee or fight separately, which might leave their families vulnerable and by themselves.

All of these were ways in which concern for friends and family helped to discourage Jewish resistance.

So thinking about what we've just heard, what influenced the timing of Feigele Peltel's decision to join the kashariyot? Was it that she heard about deportations for the first time, that all of her family were deported, or that she was sent to a ghetto? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Feigele Peltel only made the decision to join the resistance after all of her family had already been deported by the Nazis.

Gad Beck was a German-born Jew who became involved in Jewish resistance to the Holocaust in 1940.

Gad's experiences helped to demonstrate so many obstacles which Jewish resistance to the Holocaust encountered more broadly.

As far as the Nazis were concerned, Gad Beck was only partially Jewish, and mischling; his mother was not classified as a Jew by the Nazis, as she had only converted to the religion.

Gad's mischling status had still left him vulnerable to many forms of Nazi persecution but helped to protect him from deportation for many years.

However, in 1942, Gad's Jewish boyfriend, Manfred Lewin, and his family were taken to a detention centre in Berlin, ready for deportation to Auschwitz.

In an attempt to save Manfred, Gad borrowed a Hitler Youth uniform and persuaded a German commander that he needed Manfred for a short time.

The couple were able to walk away together.

However, Manfred refused to flee with Gad, explaining, "That my family needs me.

If I abandon them now, I could never be free." Manfred returned to the detention centre.

He and his family together were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered.

By 1943, Gad had become more involved in organised Jewish resistance, taking on a leading role in a group called Chug Chaluzi.

In Berlin, Gad helped to arrange safe houses, deliver money, and assist Jews who were attempting to escape Germany.

Gad found that in resistance activities, he was able to turn to non-Jewish LGBTQ+ people who he knew and gain their help in supplying food and providing hiding places.

However, in March 1945, Gad was betrayed and reported to the German authorities, who arrested him alongside several of his friends.

Thankfully for Gad, his arrest in the late stages of the war meant that he was not sent to an extermination camp, and he was freed by the Soviet Union's Red Army in April, after they conquered Berlin.

So let's think about those experiences of Gad Beck that we've just heard about.

Why did Gad Beck's boyfriend, Manfred Lewin, choose not to escape with him in 1942? Was it that Manfred did not want to leave his family behind, that Manfred was scared of possible German punishment, or that Manfred was too physically weak to escape? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A.

Even though Gad Beck had managed to create an opportunity for Manfred Lewin to escape deportation, he refused, in 1942, and told Gad this was because he did not want to leave his family behind.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about obstacles to resistance into practise.

I want you to explain two ways in which Gad Beck's experiences demonstrate some of the obstacles facing Jewish resistance to the Holocaust.

You may wish to use the following sentence starters: One obstacle which Gad Beck's resistance to the Holocaust faced was.

For example.

Jewish resistance was sometimes limited by similar concerns.

because.

And, for instance.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to explain two ways in which Gad Beck's experiences demonstrate some of the obstacles facing Jewish resistance to the Holocaust.

And your answer may have included: One obstacle which Gad Beck's resistance to the Holocaust faced was concerns for family and friends.

For example, in 1942, when Gad managed to help his boyfriend, Manfred Lewin, escape deportation to Auschwitz, Manfred refused his help as he did not feel like he could abandon his family.

In many other circumstances, Jewish resistance was limited by similar family concerns because many Jews were discouraged from violent resistance for fear of the punishment their family and friends might face as a result.

For instance, Feigele Peltel only became a kashariyot in Poland after all her immediate family had been deported.

So well done if part of your answer looked like that model.

And your answer may also have included: Another obstacle which Gad Beck's resistance to the Holocaust faced was trust.

For example, in Berlin, Gad found that in resistance activities, he was able to turn to non-Jewish LGBTQ+ people and gain their help in supplying food and providing hiding places for Jewish people.

However, in March 1945, someone betrayed Gad and several of his friends, leading to their arrest by German authorities.

Jewish resistance was limited by similar trust issues because individuals could not always be sure that those they expected support from would really help them.

For instance, when some Jewish inmates escaped from Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, 22 of the escapees were killed by Poles.

So really well done if your own response look like that model which we've just seen.

And that means we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning about Jewish resistance to the Holocaust.

We've seen that Jews resisted the Holocaust both violently and nonviolently.

Jews of all backgrounds, from children to adults and including both women and men, were engaged in resistance.

Violent resistance included uprisings in ghettos and Nazi camps, partisan actions, and more spontaneous individual acts.

Nonviolent resistance often focused simply on surviving, such as through the smuggling of food into ghettos.

And factors like a lack of military strength and concerns for loved ones discouraged and limited the effectiveness of Jewish resistance.

So really well done for all of your effort during today's lesson.

It's been a privilege to help guide you through our resources as we thought about resistance to the Holocaust, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future as we continue to think about the Holocaust and how different groups responded to it and experienced this period.