Exercise 3: Forms of resistance

The goal of this exercise

• First, appreciation of oral history and forms of resistance in constructing a (new) historical narrative;
• Second, by discussing how and why Roma resisted, this exercise focuses on the voices of Roma, re-framing them from being victims to acting agents.
   

Methods

The exercise builds on Roma testimonies, interviews, and discusses forms of resistance during the Holocaust. The suggested form of class discussion, with the teacher moderating and addressing questions. First, the teacher is advised to discuss what resistance means and how it manifests. This exercise consists of a class activity (see below) and a research activity (see below).
 

Class activity

Resistance during the Holocaust may come in many forms:

• Cultural and Spiritual Resistance
• Active/Armed Resistance
• Partisans
• Rescuers helping the persecuted [1]

Although we often tend to think about resistance narrowly as a fight for one’s life, yet in the context of the Holocaust, it is imperative to recognize resistance in a broader meaning, as “sets of activities motivated by love or by conscious attempts to defy the Nazis and save [lives]”[2]. Below you will find examples of two forms of resistance from Roma: 1) attempts to save others; 2) cultural resistance.

1. Attempts to save others:
    

“József Kazári shared the story of his heroine, Ibolya Nyári, who saved his life: ‘…I noticed…that the Germans were coming and taking the men away [from Komárom]. Then I noticed there was this girl from Badacsonytomaj – God bless her I say to this day…this Gypsy gal with her big loose skirt, she was sitting on me and they couldn’t see me…I crouched down and she spread it over me, covered me with her skirt’ (Bársony and Daróczi 2008, 131). Similarly, many survivors vividly remembered individuals whose acts made their time at the concentration camp a bit more bearable, or who simply diverted their attention from the horrors that surrounded them. Sárközi Mária recalled the care of Aunt Mariska, whom she knew from before the deportation to Auschwitz: ‘They took us to the place where corpses lay. Aunt Mariska…threw her coat over our heads, so we wouldn’t see the corpses. She said: ‘Don’t even peek that way…!’ Then we understood to what sort of place they had taken us’ (Rona 2011, 142).”[3]

 

2. Cultural resistance:
 

Songs also helped Roma persevere in the dire conditions. Some songs demand supernatural forces or Almighty God to punish the Germans and Hitler and contain elements of resistance, hope and bitterness. Consider the following song (original text in Hungarian):[4]

 

In Hungarian

In English

A komáromi gettó szoba Tudja aztat minden roma Sírva mondja a családjának Jaj, de büdös a gettó szoba. Én a gettóban raboskodom Erről tudják, hogy ott lakom, Műrostos az egész tagom. Jaj Istenem tégy egy csodát, A Hitlerből egy szarvasmarhát Kötelet is a nyakára Úgy hajtsák ki a Fő utcára. Én a gettóban vagyok Lenyírták az én hajamat Jaj Istenem mit csináljak Szaladjak-e vagy megálljak? Ha szaladok agyonlőnek Ha megállok agyonvernek

The ghetto room in Komárom Is well known by all the Roma We cry to our families Oh, how stinky our room is. I am a prisoner of the ghetto, I live there and they must know My whole body is worn out. Oh God, make a miracle come true,  Make Hitler into a bull With a rope around his neck, To drag through the city’s Main street. I am in the ghetto still, With all my hair cut down to skin, Oh God, what am I to do, Should I run or should I stop? If I run, they’ll kill for sure, If I stop, they’ll beat to death.

Class discussion

The first example illustrates well that even at times of cruelty and intimidation, Roma nevertheless kept their humanity and helped each other the way they could. Small acts of love, protection of small children, sharing some comfort and alike helped endure the dire conditions.

The song in the second example shows not only how discursively Roma imagined revenge, but also how the trauma of the Holocaust was carried on from generation to generation through Roma culture—through songs and poems that were recited and sung by those who have not witnessed these atrocities themselves.

Class discussion may evolve along these questions:

• What did you learn about resistance through the two examples above?
• Why do you think cultural forms of resistance helped Roma survive?
• If you had a chance to meet a Roma Holocaust survivor, what questions would you ask?
   

Research activity in class

Please visit the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture’s website and look at the “Heroes” section and the Interactive Map of the Roma Resistance Project. Here you will find stories of resistance and short biographies of those who resisted during the Holocaust—brave Roma who challenged the authority and fought for their survival. In pairs or individually, select one biography and prepare notes based on these questions:

• Why did you choose this biography and what did you find the most interesting about their life?
• What form of resistance did they engage in?
• Why are these biographies an important source of our historical narrative?
• Is it challenging the earlier understanding of Holocaust history you had? If so, how?
• How do we recognize invisible forms of resistance?

Based on the website, students can get acquainted with the resistance movement in the country of the chosen hero (in the online edited book, organized by countries), the sites of resistance in the country of the selected hero based on the interactive map, and other information. Having conducted sufficient research, students are expected to present their findings about the selected hero in class. While presentations are taking place, the teacher is collecting various forms of resistance on the board in the following table:
 

Form of resistance	Actions of resistance	Reason for resistance

The table is filled collectively in class with various forms of resistance that emerge from the biographies selected by the class. For example, a cultural form of resistance can take many actions, such as songs or poems, and the reasons may be for symbolic punishment of the oppressor.