Questioning the “sheep to the slaughter” myth…
Clip: 1/27/2025 | 1m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Children were among the most tragic victims in the Holocaust.
Children were among the most tragic victims in the Holocaust. Professor Michael Berenbaum of American Jewish University speaks zof Janusz Korczak, a physician who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto and died with the children when they were transported to Treblinka. Do we say he went to his death as sheep to the slaughter?
Questioning the “sheep to the slaughter” myth…
Clip: 1/27/2025 | 1m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Children were among the most tragic victims in the Holocaust. Professor Michael Berenbaum of American Jewish University speaks zof Janusz Korczak, a physician who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto and died with the children when they were transported to Treblinka. Do we say he went to his death as sheep to the slaughter?
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"Resistance: They Fought Back" provides a much-needed corrective to the myth of Jewish passivity.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[train rattling] [train whistle blowing] The Nazis were single-minded about killing off children with as much cruelty as possible, as early as possible.
Janusz Korczak, the leader of an orphanage who went with his orphans to Treblinka, he was offered the opportunity to survive.
Korczak was the equivalent of Mr. Rogers.
Non-Jews flocked to hear his radio broadcast.
Are we gonna say that he went like sheep to the slaughter?
Gonna say the teachers that stayed with their students, the doctors that stayed with their patients, the mothers that stayed with their children and didn't abandon them, did they go like sheep to the slaughter?
Or did they take care of those they were responsible to unto their last breath?
[children yelling] DREIFUSS: Those children didn't have anybody else to take care of them.
The Jewish children, uh, during the Holocaust were maybe the most miserable victims, if one can even class within this horrible victimhood.
And the fact that somebody is walking with them until the end, even when it's a bitter end, this is something that has its importance.
[children yelling] <end subtitles>
The Evolution of Armed Resistance
Video has Closed Captions
Kovner wrote a Manifesto, the first published call for Jews to fight back. (2m 54s)
Jewish Partisans in the Forest
Video has Closed Captions
Many groups of Jews escaped the ghettos to fight in the forests, denying these areas to Germans. (3m 26s)
Video has Closed Captions
Even in Nazi death camps, Jews rebelled. (1m 46s)
Video has Closed Captions
Few Jews had access to weapons in the Warsaw Ghetto, but they resisted nonetheless. (3m 41s)
The Role of Women in the Resistance
Video has Closed Captions
Women played an outsized role in the Jewish resistance, risking their lives daily. (5m 36s)
Video has Closed Captions
During the Holocaust Jews did not go to their deaths as sheep to the slaughter; they fought back. (30s)
Video has Closed Captions
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the first armed battle against the Germans. (5m 2s)
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