ALEXANDER KIMEL - HOLOCAUST UNDERSTANDING & PREVENTION

HEROISM

In the ghetto, during those trying times, there were quite a few cases of heroism, quiet heroism never recognized, never brought to the attention of the public. A Holocaust Survivor recalls:

"The Yom Kippur action in the ghetto of Rohatyn lasted two days. The first day was quite unnerving, many shots were fired, the second day was more quiet; the Germans were waiting quietly for the Jews to emerge from the hiding places. A friend of mine, spent the first day in the bunker and on the second day after spending over 30 hours in the cellar without food or water, he and another woman volunteered to go out to check out the situation. They opened the camouflaged trap, locked the main entrance door to building, and carefully looked out through a window.

Suddenly there were shouts and knocking at the entrance doors, the Germans were breaking into the building. The woman run to the bunker entrance and jumped with her head down, hurting herself. My friend was preparing to jump, when the German shouts grew louder, the door was knocked open... "What shall I do, ..if I jump all the bunker will die. I of don't jump I will die" He quickly closed the trap door to the bunker, and quietly walked out to meet the Germans. Fortunately for him the Germans were alone without an Ukrainian escorts. The Ukrainian being the local people, were at ease in recognizing the Jews, not so the Germans. He decided to play the role of an Ukrainian searching for Jews. In broken German he advised them that the Jews in this building were resettled, joined them for a short time, bid them good bye and hid in attic. It was a quiet heroism, one of many that occurred in the ghetto.

Ringelblum describes the selfless behavior of two Jewish girls, Chajke and Fumke, who blessed with aryan looks, served the community by taking on dangerous assignments, instead of trying to save themselves.

"The heroic girl, Chajke and Fumke- they ..boldly travel back and forth through the cities and towns of Poland. They carry "Aryan"papers identifying them as Poles or Ukrainians. One of them wears a cross, which she never parts with except when in the Ghetto. They are in mortal danger every day. They rely entirely on their "Aryan" faces and on the peasants kerchief's that covers their heads. Without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, they accept and carry out the most dangerous missions.

Self-sacrifice- a Holocaust survivor remembers:

"In our neighborhood a bunker was discovered by the Germans during an action, the Germans were afraid to go into the bunker, they were calling the victims to come out or they will burn the bunker. The bunker was a piggyback type, which means that the entrance to main bunker was from a trap door in the first bunker. It is improbable that the Germans would have found the main bunker, but the burning and especially the smoke would kill all. One father volunteered to go out and to surrender, thus savings his family and his neighbors. I don't know if his sacrifice and heroism was is not equal of heroism shown on the battlefields.

kimel@systec.com