Partisans
By: Samantha Duffy
What is a Partisan
A partisan is a group of persons that helped the jews and fought against the Nazis in World War 2. They helped the Jews that were going to die or didn't think the war would end.
How They helped the jewish culture
Most partisans were jewish so they knew the jewish culture and how to keep it alive. The partisans that weren't a jew would do the things the jews did to be respectful. They fought against the nazis, so they weren't rude to the jews about their religion.
Important Partisans
Ben Kamm
Ben Kamm is the boy that the class read in the scholastic scope article. He joined the partisans and tried to help his family escape, before they died.
Norman Salsitz
Norman would change himself to not look "jewish". He would die his hair with bleach, like most jews did because they didn't want to be caught.
Leon Senders
Leon Senders was a radio operator. He would get the news on the polish, english, and german, and tell it to the partisans so they would know what was going on. He was considered a spy
Lifestyle
Food
Some of the partisan groups being so big, they didn't have a lot of money to get food. Surprisingly, it was also very hard to get food. The partisans would have to not look like a jew. Sometimes when they were in the woods, they would only eat snow, until they found some type of dead animal on the ground.
Housings
Zemlyanka's were what most of the jews lived in. A zemlyanka is an underground house. These were very helpful because the Nazis or normal citizens could not find them when they were in the woods.
Weather
The weather was a blessing and a curse. Were World War 2 was taking place, it was cold and snowy and rainy. It was a good thing because the equipment the Nazis used on the jewish sometimes wouldn't work, or when partisans went to shut down a machine the Nazis would think it was the weather. The snow would help the partisans find out were the Nazis were, but it would also help the Nazis find out were the partisans were. They would find out were the partisans were hiding by tracking down their foot prints.