KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES (TOP LEFT); GALERIE BILDERWELT/GETTY IMAGES (MIDDLE LEFT); UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES (BOTTOM LEFT); YEVGENY KHALDEI/ CORBIS (TOP RIGHT); BERLINER VERLAG/ARCHIV/DPA/CORBIS (MIDDLE RIGHT); BETTMANN/CORBIS (BOTTOM RIGHT); FAYE SCHULMAN (TOP RIGHT); JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (ALL OTHER IMAGES)
ATIVE NARRICTION NONFke fiction—
4 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE • APRIL 2016
Nonfiction
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THOUSANDS OF JEWISH TEENS FOUGHT THE NAZIS DURING WORLD WAR II. BEN KAMM WAS ONE OF THEM. BY LAUREN TARSHIS
SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM • APRIL 2016
5
writings, Hitler attacked Europe’s
and time than you—in Warsaw,
he holds his head up and keeps
Jews. He compared them to
Poland, in the 1920s and ’30s—but
walking. He quickly forgets about
vermin, calling them “subhuman”
he was enough like you and your
this man.
and “an inferior race.” These words
friends that you should be able to
Keep picturing Ben in your mind
fanned the flames of centuries-
picture him: short but strong, his
as he walks up to his spacious
old bigotry against Jewish people,
clothes rumpled from wrestling
apartment, where his four little
whose religion and rituals had
with his little brothers, his eyes
brothers happily pounce on him,
often kept them separate from the
bright blue.
where his father looks up from his
rest of the population.
Try to imagine him running
evening paper and smiles, where
“Eliminate the Jews,” Hitler
through the crowded city streets
his mother serves a delicious
proclaimed, “and you will eliminate
with his friends, zigzagging around
dinner in their cozy dining room.
all of Germany’s problems!”
finely-dressed ladies and fruit
This is where Ben’s story takes a
As Hitler’s influence spread
sellers and men with long, gray
sharp turn into one of the darkest
across Europe, many people turned
beards. You can hear him laughing
and most evil chapters in history:
against their Jewish neighbors.
with his friends and shouting
the Holocaust.
Synagogues were destroyed.
goodbyes as they all head home for
As Ben’s family is enjoying their
Jewish-owned businesses were
dinner, Germany’s leader, Adolf
vandalized or burned to the
But wait, do you hear that too?
Hitler, is plotting the annihilation
ground. By 1945, 6 million Jewish
As Ben walks by a neighbor, the
of Europe’s 9.5 million Jews.
men, women, and children would
Germany had been struggling
be dead. Nazi troops and their
dinner.
man hisses something. Brudny Zyd. Dirty Jew. Ben’s skin prickles, but he
since 1918, when it was defeated in World War I.
The Warsaw Ghetto
This photograph was taken in 1943 by a Nazi official. It shows Jewish people during the “final liquidation” of the ghetto. Most are presumed to have been murdered in concentration camps.
collaborators shot them, starved
could conceive of such horrors.
go out after 5 p.m. Anyone who
them, worked them to death, and
“Who could imagine such things?”
violated these laws could be shot
systematically murdered them in
Ben would say decades later. “Who
on the spot.
the gas chambers of death camps.
could imagine?”
humiliated, tired, and
truth is that he is used to these
bitter. Hitler and his Nazi
words. Anti-Semitism—prejudice
Party rose to power by
against Jewish people—is a fact
tapping into these feelings.
of life in Warsaw, as it is in many
Hitler declared that
European cities. Like most of
Germans were superior
about leaving Poland, but they had
Nazi Invasion
NORWAY
ATLANTIC OCEAN
GREAT BRITAIN
DENMARK
FINLAND
EAST PRUSSIA
BELGIUM LUX.
FRANCE
GERMANY
POLAND
Warsaw
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
SWITZ. AUSTRIA
HUNGARY
YUGOSLAVIA
ITALY
PORTUGAL SPAIN
ROMANIA Black Sea BULGARIA
ALBANIA
GREECE 500
0
Area controlled or occupied by Nazi Germany in 1942
with England and France, and the
German troops
Nazis controlled a vast expanse of
invaded Poland.
Europe. All the borders were closed.
With shocking SOVIET UNION
NETHERLANDS
IRELAND
nowhere to go. Germany was at war
Ben was 18 when, in 1939,
happy and comfortable, nobody
The German people felt
doesn’t glance at the man. The
The Kamm family often spoke
But in the days before World War II, when the Kamms were
N
shivers for a few moments, but
SWEDE
Ben grew up in a different place
Y
HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS (WARSAW GHETTO); JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN™ (MAP)
Why is it important to read stories of people from history like Ben Kamm?
HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES (ADOLF HITLER)
AS YOU READ, THINK ABOUT:
ou probably know a kid like Ben Kamm—the boy with big ideas and a quick smile, the one who will lead you off on an adventure and make sure you get home safely.
Then, starting on October 12,
swiftness and
1940, all the Jewish people in
brutal efficiency,
Warsaw and its surrounding towns
the Nazis and
were rounded up and forced to
Polish police
move into one tiny area of the city.
persecuted
The area, which became known as
Warsaw’s
the Warsaw ghetto, was surrounded
Jews. Many
by a 10-foot wall topped with
Jewish-owned
barbed wire and broken glass.
Allied country
businesses were
Neutral country
seized. Jews
of Jews through the streets. Ben
Armed police herded hundreds
Warsaw’s 350,000 Jews, Ben doesn’t
to everyone else. He also
dwell on the petty hatreds of
offered up a scapegoat for
were not allowed
looked with sorrow at those around
ignorant people. The man’s words
all of Germany’s problems:
to set foot in
him—women holding tight to their
are like the cold wind that blows
Jewish people.
public parks
babies, men in business
or libraries, or
suits, teachers from his
off the nearby Vistula River. Ben
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In his speeches and
SCALE OF MILES
Mediterranean Sea
The Rise of Hitler Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to power in Germany in 1933. By 1942, the Nazis dominated most of Europe.
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7
Partisans in what was then Poland (now part of Belarus)
The Rebel Fighters As millions
large numbers of Jewish families
partisan group in a forest 100 miles
ghetto to find food for
who had escaped the ghettos.
away. With his family’s blessing,
his family. There were
The most famous partisan group
Ben snuck out and joined up.
holes in the wall and
was commanded by the Bielskis,
tunnels that led to the
three Jewish brothers who had
with the partisans. He had to
back to Warsaw and was shocked
other side. With his
fled the Nowogrodek ghetto in
learn to shoot, to fall asleep on
by what he found in the ghetto.
blond hair and blue
Belorussia (now Belarus) after the
the cold forest ground, to endure
Orphaned children begged in the
eyes, Ben blended in
Nazis murdered their family. The
days in rain-soaked clothing,
streets. The dead lay slumped in
easily with the rest of
brothers fought German troops
and to ambush Polish policemen
doorways. His family was living in
the Polish population.
and ran sabotage missions, though
and steal their weapons. Danger
despair, sharing their single room
Plus, he had an aunt
their focus was protecting a
lurked everywhere in the hostile
with three other families. Each
on the outside. None
community of around 1,200 Jewish
countryside, where Poles could
week, the police rounded up more
of her neighbors knew
men, women, and children.
earn rewards for turning in Jews to
people to work as slave laborers.
the Nazis.
None returned. There were terrible
she was Jewish, and
of Jewish people were being murdered in death camps, Jewish partisans like these built secret forest compounds and launched attacks on Nazis.
Stories about partisans like Warsaw ghetto, offering a glint of
him. His bravery and skill soon
where Jews were being murdered in
hope to boys like Ben. One day,
earned him the respect of the most
gas chambers.
Ben’s aunt told him about a Polish
experienced fighters.
were crammed into the
were slowly starving. They could
ghetto. Ben’s family
do nothing, it seemed, except wait
moved into one small
for death.
people, including thousands of Jews, were fighting back against
Ben as conditions in the ghetto
the Nazis. They were called
known musician carried only his
became increasingly deplorable.
partisans. Like characters out of
violin. No one was permitted to
One day, a policeman drove
Robin Hood, they operated from
bring more than a few belongings.
through the streets with a smile on
bases hidden deep in the thick
Ben saw a sneering policeman
his face, firing his gun. He killed a
forests of Eastern Europe. Some
shove an old woman who lagged
pregnant woman. An epidemic of
were hardened fighters. Others
behind the crowd. The policeman’s
typhus swept through the crowded
were teenagers—mostly boys but
eyes were filled with disgust. Ben
apartments, killing thousands.
a few girls as well. They blew up
gripped his youngest brother’s
Bodies piled up in the streets.
factories, sabotaged railroads,
Each resident was allotted a
stole weapons shipments, and
and resentment. The Nazis and
tiny ration of food that was barely
upset the flow of supplies to
their sympathizers, he realized, did
a tenth of what a person should
German troops.
not see them as humans. He felt
eat each day. Like many young
In several partisan forest
like an animal—a helpless animal.
people, Ben soon learned tricks
camps, fighters also protected
As a result of our many attacks on the Germans in the area of our camp, a German assault was to be expected any day. Information reached us that the Germans knew where we were. ... We packed our belongings, filled our knapsacks, and fastened our blankets on top of them. The cooking gear and other things were loaded on carts and we moved out. The night was cloudy and the sky full of rain. The damp penetrated into the very marrow of our bones. The dry, bare branches of the young trees waved and bent hither and thither. Our thoughts were black too. Many of us had been lost in our wanderings from forest to forest, from base camp to base camp. They had fallen, and who knew what awaited us at the next base? By day the snow began to melt. Long pools of water stretched along the sandy paths. We had many kilometers to go. Our feet sink in the mud as though it were soft dough. You want to rest and there is no place to sit. Everything is wet and damp. Now we have found a kind of hillock from which the water has run off. The people sit down, rest, eat their fill, and then continue on their way. In this way we crossed forests, fields, and roads until we reached Brozova Forest, in Stara Huta. ... We found a dry hill, stretched out on our knapsacks, SHUTTERSTOCK
The Conditions Rage at the Nazis burned inside
fanciest shoes and dresses. A well-
hand, his heart pounding with fear
This excerpt comes from a journal kept by an unknown partisan fighter.
But Ben would soon learn that he dared. Tens of thousands of
Ben stayed in the
“Who Knew What Awaited Us?”
Jewish Fighters he could do something after all—if
But Ben’s rage had toughened
DIARY
FAYE SCHULMAN (PARTISANS IN POLAND); JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (ALL IMAGES)
school, little girls wearing their
rumors about Nazi death camps,
suspicion.
help, though, Ben and his family
to leave.
his family was in trouble. He rushed
Ben without attracting
room. The gates to the Rebel fighter Jerachmiel Berman in Lithuania
partisans, Ben received word that
the Bielskis spread through the
Some 400,000 Jews
Nobody was allowed
Ben struggled to adjust to life
A few months after joining the
she managed to help
Even with his aunt’s
ghetto closed.
Terrible Rumors
for sneaking out of the
rested, and set about putting up a shelter of branches. THIS EXCERPT WAS WRITTEN IN 1943 IN AN AREA THAT WAS THEN PART OF POLAND (NOW UKRAINE). IT HAS BEEN PRESERVED BY YAD VASHEM, A HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM IN ISRAEL.
What does this help you understand about the partisans’ experience?
SOURCE: DOCUMENTS ON THE HOLOCAUST: SELECTED SOURCES ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWS OF GERMANY AND AUSTRIA, POLAND, AND THE SOVIET UNION, EDITORS: YITZHAK ARAD, ISRAEL GUTMAN, ABRAHAM MARGALIOT, YAD VASHEM PUBLICATIONS, 1999. USED WITH PERMISSION.
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9
with Germany’s surrender. By then, Ben was 24 years old, and little was left of the laughing boy who once sprinted through the peaceful streets of Warsaw. His entire family was dead. The Nazis had “liquidated” the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, first burning down buildings, then taking the surviving 49,000 men, women, and children by train to death and forced labor camps. Most were killed in gas chambers.
The End of the War By the time the war ended in 1945, more than
Hitler committed suicide. Many
60 million people had died. Many cities in Europe were left in ruins, such as Warsaw, pictured here. It would take years to rebuild.
of the men who helped murder Ben’s family and friends were
Warsaw ghetto for two days,
former Soviet general. Their group
sneaking in and out to steal food
eventually grew to 1,600 fighters
for his family. He considered taking
operating from a large compound
moved to America, where he built
his brothers back to the forest
in the forest. The compound
a happy family and a successful
with him. But many in the ghetto
became like a town, with cobblers
life. Before his death in 2010, he
believed the war would soon be
who repaired shoes and
spoke at length about
over, that the Soviet army (now at
musicians who provided
his experiences. You
war with Germany) would crush
moments of joyful
can see him on video,
Hitler’s troops and free them from
escape.
his eyes still bright,
As for Ben, he married and
Ben volunteered for
his voice strong,
believed the younger boys would
dangerous missions
his handsome face
be safer in the ghetto.
blowing up cargo trains
shockingly free of
For the rest of his life, Ben
carrying supplies to
would break down in tears when
German troops. Often,
he recalled the moment he left
he and his fellow
to rejoin the partisans. He would
partisans discovered
never see his family again.
Jews hiding in the
Luck and Sorrow For the next two years, Ben fought with a legendary band of partisans commanded by a
This photo of Ben Kamm was taken in 2002. He is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren.
bitterness. The rage and sadness were still smoldering inside him, of course, but he also had a strong sense
forests. “We took them with us,”
of his own good fortune. “I can’t
Ben said. “Old, young, children.
forgive people who killed innocent
We took them with us, and they
babies, innocent women, innocent
survived the war.”
people,” he said. “I was lucky I’m
In 1945, the war finally ended
alive and can tell the story.”
WRITING CONTEST Imagine that a statue is being put up to honor Ben Kamm. Write a speech to be read when the statue is unveiled to the public. Be sure to explain who Ben was and why we should remember him. Support your ideas with details from the text. Send it to PARTISANS CONTEST. Five winners will each get Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus. GET THIS ACTIVITY ONLINE
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HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS (WARSAW); JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (BEN KAMM)
their ghetto prison. Ben’s parents
executed for their crimes.
