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![Russian partisans, one of them photographer Faye Schulman, gathering together in the forest, Naliboki Forest, Belarus, December 1944. The Molotava Brigade was a partisan group made up mostly of escaped Soviet Army POWs. The woman pictured is Faye Schulman, a Jewish woman who fled into the Naliboki forest with her camera equipment and joined the Molotova Brigade. For two years in the forest she photographed the partisan's activities, worked as medical aid and participated in the partisans raid's.](/sites/default/files/styles/standard_hero_article_460_361_1x/public/2022-11/Faye_Schulman_with_Russias_partisans_%2836645181980%29.jpg?h=da8abf78&itok=bFahFnZW)
Explore the Partisans
Subject
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
9–12Language
English — USPublished
In this lesson
Overview
These video testimonies, interview transcripts, and primary source documents provide a window into the lives of the Jewish partisans—the women and men who fought in organized resistance groups across Europe during World War II.
Students are encouraged to use the resources here and on the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation website to curate a museum exhibition dedicated to the Jewish partisans. See our lesson Creating Student Projects to implement this project-based learning activity in your classroom. Once students are assigned a partisan, they can begin exploring!
Materials and Downloads
Documents
Jewish Partisans in the Resistance
Resistance Is...
Frank Blaichman’s Biography
![A young, white, mustachioed man wearing a uniform and a hat tilted to the side](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Jewish_Partisan_Frank_Blaichman_FH227676.jpg?h=ad641f7c&itok=o047HoPK)
Ethical Dilemmas in a Time of Genocide
![Frank Blaichman](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanFrankBlaichman_FH227676.jpg?h=b7adbb76&itok=W5DrfvFu)
Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
The Holocaust in Poland
![Frank Blaichman](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanFrankBlaichman_FH227676.jpg?h=b7adbb76&itok=W5DrfvFu)
Jewish Partisans in Occupied Poland
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
Vitka Kempner’s Biography
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
Leaving Home
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
The Role of Gender Among the Partisans
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
Joining the FPO
![Three Jewish partisans (Vitka Kempner, Abba Kovner, and Rozka Korczak) stand in the street during World War II.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/VitkaKempnerandFellowJewishPartisans_FH227679.jpg?h=21f1724e&itok=xW4AGH7h)
Jewish Life in Lithuania Before the Holocaust
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
The Holocaust in Lithuania
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
Jewish Partisans in Lithuania
![Black and white photograph of Vikta Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka.jpeg?h=81b78760&itok=g3zdrN1I)
Sonia Orbuch’s Biography
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
Sara Fortis’s Biography
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Sara Trains Her Army of Women
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
The Importance of the Partisans
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
The Partisans of Evia
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Call Me Captain Sarika
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Protecting the Girls from the Men
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
The Women Partisans Burn Down a House
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Jewish Life in Greece Before the Holocaust
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
The Holocaust in Greece
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Jewish Partisans in Greece
![Sara Fortis](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanSaraFortis_FH227677.jpg?h=830dc38c&itok=BXMUAYRu)
Bielski Brothers’ Biography
![Tuvia Bielski](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanTuviaBielski_FH227678.jpg?h=f922ae5d&itok=-Uq8w1oa)
The Vilna Ghetto Manifesto
![Russian partisans, one of them photographer Faye Schulman, gathering together in the forest, Naliboki Forest, Belarus, December 1944. The Molotava Brigade was a partisan group made up mostly of escaped Soviet Army POWs. The woman pictured is Faye Schulman, a Jewish woman who fled into the Naliboki forest with her camera equipment and joined the Molotova Brigade. For two years in the forest she photographed the partisan's activities, worked as medical aid and participated in the partisans raid's.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/Faye_Schulman_with_Russias_partisans_%2836645181980%29.jpg?h=da8abf78&itok=iIIsrJbR)
Jewish Life in Belarus Before the Holocaust
![Jewish Partisan Asael Bielski](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanAsaelBielski_FH227680.jpg?h=baad20d7&itok=YYV6FPms)
The Holocaust in Belarus
![Jewish Partisan Asael Bielski](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanAsaelBielski_FH227680.jpg?h=baad20d7&itok=YYV6FPms)
Jewish Partisans in Belarus
![Tuvia Bielski](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_JewishPartisanTuviaBielski_FH227678.jpg?h=f922ae5d&itok=-Uq8w1oa)
Media Resources
Introduction to the Jewish Partisans
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_635.jpg)
Life in the Forest
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1389.jpg)
Power and Responsibility
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1413.jpg)
Protecting Jews
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1412.jpg)
Joining the Partisans
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1381.jpg)
Partisan Life
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1380.jpg)
Life on the Front Lines
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1364.jpg)
Killed as a Fighter, Not Because I Am a Jew
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1371.jpg)
Jewish Partisan Frank Blaichman
![A young, white, mustachioed man wearing a uniform and a hat tilted to the side](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Jewish_Partisan_Frank_Blaichman_FH227676.jpg?h=ad641f7c&itok=o047HoPK)
Partisan Sonia Orbuch after World War II
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
Vitka Kempner and Fellow Jewish Partisans
![Three Jewish partisans (Vitka Kempner, Abba Kovner, and Rozka Korczak) stand in the street during World War II.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/VitkaKempnerandFellowJewishPartisans_FH227679.jpg?h=21f1724e&itok=xW4AGH7h)
Jewish Partisan Sara Fortis
![Formal full body photo portrait of a young white woman in uniform](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Jewish_Partisan_Sara_Fortis_.jpg?h=d5886ffc&itok=f9CoYGVF)
Jewish Partisan Tuvia Bielski
![Photo portrait of young white man with a moustache](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Jewish_Partisan_Tuvia_Bielski_FH227678.jpg?h=bb13e0a0&itok=dQ3ZwllD)
Jewish Partisan Zus Bielski
![A photo portrait of a young, clean-shaven, white man in uniform](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Jewish_Partisan_Zus_Bielski_FH227681.jpg?h=d7a3162c&itok=SlrapV3l)
Tuvia Bielski Saving Jewish Lives
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_618.jpg)
The Bielski Brothers: An Introduction
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_629.jpg)
Importance of Arms
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1533.jpg)
Will to Survive
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1538.jpg)
Thwarting the Nazis
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1542.jpg)
Every Day the Impossible: Jewish Women in the Partisans
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1539.jpg)
Living and Surviving in the Partisans: Medicine
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1535.jpg)
Living and Surviving in the Partisans: Shelter
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1534.jpg)
Living and Surviving in the Partisans: Winter and Night
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1541.jpg)
Living and Surviving in the Partisans: Food
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1536.jpg)
Explore the Partisans
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