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Title [en]
Jewish Couriers: The Forgotten Heroes of the Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust
Abstract [en]
How was information disseminated and received in and between ghettos in Nazi-occupied Poland? Was knowledge sharing inside and outside the ghettos an act of resistance? This three-year project aims to answer these questions by investigating the role of Jewish couriers in establishing contacts and networks between Jewish communities in Eastern Europe between 1939 and 1943. It examines documents produced in five major ghettos (Warsaw, Cracow, Vilna, Bialystok and Grodno) to determine how the couriers obtained and disseminated information about the Holocaust across occupied Poland. The project will also answer the following research questions: What impact did the knowledge have on Jews in the above-mentioned ghettos? What role did Jewish couriers play in establishing the underground movement and organizing resistance? Most of the scholarly works on Jewish resistance are concerned with forms of armed struggle (Arad 1980, Gutman 1994). This project challenges this restrictive view of what constitutes ‘resistance’ and suggests widening the scope beyond direct combat. It broadens our understanding of survival and resistance in the context of Nazi genocidal policies. This gender-inflected research will explore the missions, challenges and accomplishments of couriers. It also recognises the influence of social and cultural backgrounds and addresses the importance of the age, education and social milieu of the couriers.
Publications (5 of 5) Show all publications
Szymańska-Smolkin, S. (2025). Fabrics of Resistance: The Contributions of Female Jewish Couriers in the Second World War. In: Dragana Stojanović; Lily Halpert Zamir; Batya Brutin (Ed.), A Space of Her Own: Women in the Holocaust. Paper presented at Women in the Holocaust, Belgrade, Serbia, October 10-12, 2023. (pp. 173-189). Paper presented at Women in the Holocaust, Belgrade, Serbia, October 10-12, 2023.. Warsaw: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Fabrics of Resistance: The Contributions of Female Jewish Couriers in the Second World War
2025 (English)In: A Space of Her Own: Women in the Holocaust / [ed] Dragana Stojanović; Lily Halpert Zamir; Batya Brutin, Warsaw: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju , 2025, p. 173-189Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

In her book The Days of Destruction and Revolt, author Zivia Lubetkin, co-founder of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB) and a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, acknowledges the contributions of female couriers in organizing Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. She asserts that without their efforts, the resistance groups would have been unable to perform all of their activities across the German-occupied zone: “Lonka Kozibrodska, Tema Schneiderman, Havka Folman, Rysia, and Frania Beatus from Dror, Tosia Altman from Hashomer Hatzair, Soyka Ehrlichman from Gordonia, Hela Schipper from Akiva, and others, served as liaisons between the ghettos and the various provinces. They risked their lives scores of times as they traveled from place to place. After each mission, they rested for a few days and then set out once more. One cannot possibly describe this work of organizing Jewish resistance, or the uprising itself, without mentioning the role of these valiant women.”

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Warsaw: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, 2025
Keywords
Holocaust; female Jewish couriers; Jewish resistance against Nazi; kesher; Underground resistance movement
National Category
History
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-55804 (URN)978-86-82324-95-9 (ISBN)
Conference
Women in the Holocaust, Belgrade, Serbia, October 10-12, 2023.
Available from: 2024-12-06 Created: 2024-12-06 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved
Szymańska-Smolkin, S. (2024). Chajka Klinger. Warsaw: Polin Virtual Shtetl
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Chajka Klinger
2024 (Polish)Other (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, pages
Warsaw: Polin Virtual Shtetl, 2024
National Category
Humanities and the Arts
Research subject
Historical Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-55802 (URN)
Available from: 2024-12-06 Created: 2024-12-06 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved
Szymańska-Smolkin, S. (2024). Chasia Bornstein-Bielicka. Warsaw: Wirtualny Szetl
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Chasia Bornstein-Bielicka
2024 (Polish)Other (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, pages
Warsaw: Wirtualny Szetl, 2024
National Category
Humanities and the Arts
Research subject
Historical Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-55801 (URN)
Available from: 2024-12-06 Created: 2024-12-06 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved
Szymańska-Smolkin, S. (2024). Heroines of the Bialystok Ghetto: The Significance of Integrating Female Narratives into the History of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust. In: : . Paper presented at 15th Dialogforum Mauthausen "Women in the Holocaust", organised by the Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre & Mauthausen Memorial, 13-14 September 2024, Mauthausen, Austria.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Heroines of the Bialystok Ghetto: The Significance of Integrating Female Narratives into the History of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust
2024 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
National Category
Humanities and the Arts
Research subject
Historical Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-55805 (URN)
Conference
15th Dialogforum Mauthausen "Women in the Holocaust", organised by the Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre & Mauthausen Memorial, 13-14 September 2024, Mauthausen, Austria
Available from: 2024-12-06 Created: 2024-12-06 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved
Szymańska-Smolkin, S. (2022). Avihu Ronen, Skazana na życie. Dzienniki i życie Chajki Klinger. Michał Sobelman, Warszawa: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2021, 1020 s. [Review]. Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, 18, 678-684
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Avihu Ronen, Skazana na życie. Dzienniki i życie Chajki Klinger. Michał Sobelman, Warszawa: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2021, 1020 s.
2022 (Polish)In: Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, ISSN 1895-247X, Vol. 18, p. 678-684Article, book review (Other academic) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Warszawa: Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badan nad Zaglada Zydow, 2022
National Category
History
Research subject
Historical Studies; Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-51173 (URN)10.32927/zzsim.982 (DOI)
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 21-PR2-0003
Available from: 2023-03-11 Created: 2023-03-11 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorSzymańska-Smolkin, Sylwia
Coordinating organisation
Södertörn University
Funder
Period
2022-01-01 - 2024-12-31
Keywords [sv]
Östersjö- och Östeuropaforskning
Keywords [en]
Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:2961Project, id: 21-PR2-0003_OS

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