Anika Walke
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199335534
- eISBN:
- 9780190251581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199335534.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The chapter focuses on the implications of living through occupation and genocide in Minsk, emphasizing individual and collective strategies of youth trapped in a ghetto of up to 55,000 people. ...
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The chapter focuses on the implications of living through occupation and genocide in Minsk, emphasizing individual and collective strategies of youth trapped in a ghetto of up to 55,000 people. Following several female and male adolescents, the chapter demonstrates that multinational relationships of Jews with former classmates, neighbors, or strangers, especially in response to the precarious situation of orphaned teenagers in a context of ongoing violence, were essential for people’s survival. Especially for orphans who were trapped in the ghetto of Minsk, struggling to find food, dealing with constant humiliation and violence, and coming to terms with previously unsuspected antisemitism and anti-Jewish attitudes among neighbors and strangers, the support networks organized by party members, union activists, or individual helpers, as well as strong bonds among ghetto inmates, proved crucial.Less
The chapter focuses on the implications of living through occupation and genocide in Minsk, emphasizing individual and collective strategies of youth trapped in a ghetto of up to 55,000 people. Following several female and male adolescents, the chapter demonstrates that multinational relationships of Jews with former classmates, neighbors, or strangers, especially in response to the precarious situation of orphaned teenagers in a context of ongoing violence, were essential for people’s survival. Especially for orphans who were trapped in the ghetto of Minsk, struggling to find food, dealing with constant humiliation and violence, and coming to terms with previously unsuspected antisemitism and anti-Jewish attitudes among neighbors and strangers, the support networks organized by party members, union activists, or individual helpers, as well as strong bonds among ghetto inmates, proved crucial.
