Welcome to the Website of the Exhibit  
"Jews in the Resistance Movement"!

This is the Website of the exhibition "Jews in the Resistance Movement: Three Groups between Political Action and a Fight for Survival, Berlin 1939-1945." The research project and the exhibit were developed by the „Document Center for Youth under the Swastika“. Object for study of the documentary project was the three resistance groups composed of Jewish and non-Jewish men, women, and youth, all resisting the Nazi regime in their own particular ways. This Website offers information on the current site of our exhibition and findings of the project. It also assists in establishing contact with the project group and the exhibit.

The findings are also contained in a book: Wilfried Loehken and Werner Vathke (eds.), Juden im Widerstand: Drei Gruppen zwischen Überlebenskampf und politischer Aktion, Berlin 1939-1945 (Berlin, Edition Hentrich: 1993), pp. 208, 22 DM (numerous pictures), with contributions by Karsten Borgmann, Eric Brothers, Simone Erpel, Eike Geisel, Michael Kreutzer, Bodo Mrozek, Arnold Paucker, Barbara Schieb-Samizadeh, Christine Zahn.

 

Contents of  the Exhibit

The exhibit documents three resistance groups in which Jewish and non-Jewish men, women, and above all youth participated. Some of the groups directly challenged the regime, others offered resistance in the form of evading capture. Documented are the „Herbert Baum Group“, the "Community for Peace and Reconstruction," and the group "Chug Chaluzi" (Pionierkreis).

 

The Three Groups:

 

1. The Herbert Baum Group

Of the three groups, the so-called "Baum Group" is the best known. Actually, it is more accurate to speak of groups surrounding Herbert Baum among others, for these consisted of several circles of friends and political groupings that congealed about the person of Herbert Baum. The „Baum Group“ was composed of various politically-organized circles of friends whose roots were anchored in the Jewish youth movement and in the German Association of Communist Youth (KJVD).  Most of the young men and women were members of the Jewish youth organizations disbanded by the government in 1938. These were predominantly groups with a socialist or Zionist orientation, thus serving as socializers for future opposition to National Socialism. The Baum Group educated its members, disseminated leaflets, and tried to get in contact with other resistance groups. Its last action, in 1942, was in setting fire to an anti-Semitic, anti-Soviet propaganda exhibit sponsored by the Nazis. It remains a mystery how the authorities were able to so quickly apprehend participants in the arson. In reaction, the Gestapo staged an unprecedented roundup of (uninvolved) Berlin Jews. The apprehended youths of the Baum Group were charged with "high treason"; some were executed in Berlin-Ploetzensee, others were murdered in concentration camps.  

 

2. The Community for Peace and Reconstruction

Less well-known than the Baum Group is the resistance group "Gemeinschaft für Frieden und Aufbau“ (Community for Peace and Reconstruction). It operated in the small village Luckenwalde (near Berlin), its members stemming primarily from the middle classes. The group formed in September 1943 and was kept going by Jews in hiding who were active participants in the underground resistance. It is difficult to pigeonhole this organization politically, for an analysis of the motivations of group members reveals no clearly articulated set of goals. In this respect, the "Community" appears to have been a loose composition of individuals strongly influenced by the personalities of the organization's initiators, Hans Winkler and Werner Scharf, this latter having escaped from the concentration camp at Theresienstadt previous to founding the group. Resistance activities consisted of the hiding and provisioning of fugitive Jews, providing them with forged papers, and circulating chain letters encouraging both "passive and active resistance." Furthermore, the group established contact with organized prisoners-of-war.  Jewish informers, so-called "claws" assigned the task of tracking down Jews in hiding, were given death sentences by the group; although issued in deadly earnest, these sentences were never carried out. As late as 1944, three different pamphlets were being widely circulated by the group. Although an energetic organization, one is struck by its naiveté insofar as it drew up member lists and issued membership cards thus violating the first rule of conspiratorial plotting: anonymity. The Community for Peace and Reconstruction was also eventually rounded up by the Gestapo, however, the end of the war prevented any exections. Six members of the "Community" were murdered in concentration camps.

Photo: "Community for Peace and Reconstruction." 1943 in Luckenwalde. Eugen Herman Friede in a Hitler Youth uniform in hiding place by Winkler family.

 

3. "Chug Chaluzi" (Pionierkreis)

In February 1943, when the so-called "Factory Action" was to have deported all the remaining Jews in Berlin, the teacher Jizchak Schwersenz founded an illegal group which, in the tradition of the Zionist youth movement, was named "Chug Chaluzi" (Pionierkreis).  Goal of the group was to seek escape routes out of Germany and keep its members safely undercover until liberation by the Allied powers. Here lies the difference with the other resistance groups -- the Jews of Chug Caluzi were primarily concerned with saving the lives of children and youth through the Berlin underground network. Following the successful escape of Jizchak Schwersenz to Switzerland, the group was subsequently led by Gad Beck. No hope was placed in the efficacy of resistance in the classic sense; that is, the forceful combatting and eventual overthrow of the National Socialist system as attempted by Stauffenberg on 20 July 1944. "Resistance" for this group meant to "resist" in the sense of surviving. As a matter of fact, although some group members did fall victim to the Nazis, the vast majority succeeded in surviving the war, primarily through the assistance of non-Jews.

Photo: Chug Chaluzi. Jizchak Schwerserz with his pupils as part of a work party at Wannsee, June 1942.

 

We Are Seeking Sponsors!

At present the exhibit is only in German. For the future, it would be desirable to have an English or Hebrew version so that the exhibit could be shown in the U.S.A. or Israel. But as of now we lack the funds. For this reason we are seeking sponsors who would be able to support our activities. If you would like to help us or you have information concerning possible sponsors, then you can contact the „Document Center for Youth under the Swastika“. We are a registered non-profit organization in which professional historians and pedagogues do voluntary work. For further information: mail.