Interview with Jewish partisan commander Frank Blaichman

JPEF: What do you think is important about Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah?

Blaichman: People who wanted to remember the Holocaust created Yom HaShoah. They knew that they had to teach future generations the important lessons from the Shoah—so that it would never happen again.

JPEF: What lessons would you like to share with Jewish and non-Jewish youth today?

Blaichman: Jews should never forget that they are Jews. The day we were liberated, we thought that Fascism and Nazism were buried. Today, we see that antisemitism is still all around us. It is important for us to remember—and youth should be taught—that Jews fought and will continue to fight against antisemitism, bigotry, and oppression.

JPEF: As a Holocaust survivor and a Jewish partisan, you have many days of personal reflection and remembrance. How is Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah different?

Blaichman: I am very grateful that there is a day to remember what happened during that time—it is a good thing that the memory stays alive for generations.

JPEF: Any further reflections about this memorial?

Blaichman: Most importantly that Jews can defend themselves. The only way we survived as partisans was that we had the courage to fight back. Growing up in Poland, we were never taught how to survive. We had to have courage—early on we accepted our fate. It is important that people know that when I was fighting as a partisan, it was as a Jew—I am a Jew, I was fighting as a Jew, and I survived as a Jew. Jewish students, especially, should be proud to be Jewish and know that there were Jews who fought back and survived.

To learn more about Frank Blaichman, please visit his biography.

To download the study guide Frank Blaichman: A Partisan Leader's Story please visit JPEF's RESIST Curriculum.

Photo source: JPEF Archives

Interview with Jewish partisan and photographer Faye Schulman

JPEF: You must have many days of personal reflection and remembrance. How is Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah different?

Schulman: This is the day when most people remember the Shoah. For me, it is not that different than any other day because I think about it all the time. Every day is Yom HaShoah.

JPEF: What lessons would you like to share with young people today?

Schulman: That there was a resistance and Jews did not go like lambs to the slaughter. Jews resisted—they fought back!

JPEF: What do you think is important about Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah?

Schulman: I think it is important for future generations, not those of past generations who remember it quite clearly. As I said already, for me one day is not any different than the other—it is my responsibility to remember it and speak about what happened every day.

To learn more about Faye and the photography exhibit, please visit

Faye Schulman's biography and Pictures of Resistance

Photo source: A Partisan's Memoir, Second Story Press, p. 139

Upcoming JPEF Educator TeleForum Relates Jewish Partisan Life Lessons to Today's Headlines

Register Now for the Thursday, March 18th Conference Call

President Obama accepts the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Source: http://www.media.cleveland.com/

When: Thursday, March 18th from 3:30-4:15 PM (PST)

Confronting Evil: A discussion about the present and the past.

This forum - first in a proposed series - will help educators connect the life lessons of the Jewish partisans with recent world events and your students' lives.

The call will discuss the remarks made by President Obama during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. In his speech, he talked about the need for a forceful response to al-Qaeda: “Evil does exist in the world…To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism—it is a recognition of history…" In addition, we will also discuss this topic from the Jewish partisans perspective. JPEF interviewed Simon Trakinski, a Jewish partisan from Lithuania, shortly after the September 11 tragedy in which he said, “When you fight evil, you can’t be a saint….how can you preserve your principles and solve the problem?” In that context Trakinski went on to say, "Evil will only recognize stronger evil."

How does a society deal with this kind of "evil"? How do people negotiate with those who want to kill them in the first place? Can there even be negotiations? These, amongst other questions will be discussed.

For more information and to register, please e-mail RSVP@jewishpartisans.org.

If you would like to suggest a future topic, please contact David Kaplan, Development Manager, via e-mail at davidk@jewishpartisans.org

JPEF Video for Slingshot

JPEF was fortunate enough to be acknowledged as one of the top 50 most innovative Jewish organizations for four years by Slingshot, a program of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. When we received recognition of this in October, we were also awarded a $40,000 grant and given a Flip camera to record programs and happenings for a midterm grant report -- vs. having to write one. This is the product of those Flip clips and takes the viewer to Zurich, Tennessee, California, Florida, and Washington DC where we ran programs that will ultimately affect tens of thousands of people. Having a little film/video background we had to edit it a little, add a little music. FAR from polished, but will give a five minute glimpse of what we have been up to from Oct 2009- Feb 2010.

Queen Esther, our Heroine of Purim, Foreshadows Jewish Partisan Experience

The dramatic story of Purim, filled with deception, betrayal, and murder, as well as a beautiful woman’s heroism and the implausible victory of the Jewish people against all odds, provides a timely and unique perspective on the Jewish partisan experience of modern history.

Applying the lens of the Purim story to contextualize the Jewish partisans deepens our overall understanding of Jewish history. The King’s initial attraction to Esther allowed her to use her beauty as a shield to hide behind. When, after becoming Queen, she decides to reveal her Jewish identity, her bravery in undeniable. “I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16) Keeping Esther’s bravery in mind, it is easy to draw a parallel to the incredibly courageous acts of the partisans.

Like Esther, many Jewish partisans during World War II were in life or death situations, which forced them to hide their identity as a Jew. For first person testimony from partisans which invokes the Purim story, spend some time on Norman Salsitz’ bio on the JPEF website which describes his experience hiding his identity. You might also be interested in the clip from Eta Wrobel called “Eta’s beautiful hair saves her life” which can be found here

Faye’s Last Day in Israel...Jerusalem

We had one day after the Lion’s Conference with Faye before she left Israel – possibly for the last time. She wanted to go to the Wall in Jerusalem, so we hired a car and took her there for one last adventure before she left.

We got to the Wall and Jan Greenfield (our Israeli staff person) and she covered the heads in scarves and to me they suddenly looked related. Faye talked about being here 15 years ago with her husband, before he died, and how much going to Israel, especially Jerusalem, meant to her.





Throughout the entire day trip she marveled how Israel has changed with so many more buildings and people. As we walked the streets I heard a couple people stop and point to Faye saying, “That’s the Jewish partisan photographer.” She had become famous.


On the way back to Tel Aviv and the airport, we stopped her at the Jewish partisan memorial. The Israeli soldiers there were honored to meet Faye and wanted to pose with her in a picture.

Her trip here was amazing on so many levels. She touched over a thousand people at the Lion’s conference and made many friends for JPEF. I am humbled how this woman, turning 90 later this week, did this to help us tell her story, and the story of all Jewish partisans.

She taught me a lesson about how independent she is—shattering any myths I might have had on the so-called “elderly”. When I asked her if we could arrange a ride home for her when she arrived in Toronto after a 12 hour flight, carrying luggage, and passing through quite a few time zones, she told me she did not want to bother anyone, and besides, “Once I get to Toronto I can get home myself. I’ll just take a taxi.”

Faye with Tzipi Livini and the Governor of Michigan! What a Week!

Jan Greenfield, our Israeli staff person and myself connected with hundreds of people personally throughout the conference and at our table, which was a constant hub of activity. We had three phenomenal events that put us over the top.

First, there was our workshop. We were told that because of the timing (Saturday at 2:15pm) with many people out for Shabbat, we might only get 5-10 people. 130 showed up! We had to bring in more chairs—twice. People were turned away at the door. Faye had the whole room hanging on her every word.

Next we had a private reception at the hotel room of Diane and Howard Wohl for a dozen of her friends. Just as we started the governor of Michigan, Jennifer M. Granholm, came in to hear what Faye had to say. On meeting the governor again in the elevator she thanked me for introducing her to Faye, and took some material. Looks like we have a good shot to get into their schools now as well.

With barely an hour for Faye to rest, we then took a taxi to the Port of Tel Aviv to the exclusive Hanger 11, where the evening’s event was taking place—a gala dinner with 1,400 people – honoring women soldiers of Israel. Faye had to rehearse with the event director and their staff before the guests came. The opening ceremony included young Israeli folk dancers who got the whole Lions crown on their feet.

The keynote speaker was Tzipi Livni, sitting at the next table. When Livni arrived it was a media event with dozens of cameras and her security detail. One of the only requests for the whole week Faye made of me was to get a photo of her with the foreign minister. It took some pushing through the crowd, but we got it.

When it was Faye’s turn to speak, she was introduced with her photographs projected on the walls around the 140 tables. The visuals were spectacular. In her speech, she insisted she thank JPEF and me personally (I tried to dissuade her on the latter) for all the work we do—people clapped. When she was finished speaking Brigadier General Yehudit Grisaro came up with another woman soldier from the IDF and Faye literally passed the torch to the general, who passed it to young soldier. They held hands and the entire audience shot up giving them a loud and long-standing ovation.


After the dinner there was dancing and Einat Sharuf, a well known Israeli singer, performed. People took this opportunity to get a photo with Faye or speak with her. She touched many lives this week. (More photos on our Flickr account soon to follow).