Jacques Lusseyran

Jacques Lusseyran
Faces of Courage: Young Heroes of World War II.


http://www.dogpile.com/search/web?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=27&q=Jacques+Lusseyran&ql=

Sally M. Rogow.

Vancouver, BC: Granville Island Publishing, 2003.

162 pp., pbk., $16.95.

ISBN 1-894694-20-1.



Subject Headings:

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)-Juvenile literature.

World War, 1939-1945-Jews-Rescue-Juvenile literature.

Jewish children in the Holocaust-Juvenile literature.

Teenagers-Europe-Biography-Juvenile literature.



Grades 6-10 / Ages 11-15.



Review by Harriet Zaidman.



** /4













excerpt:





The following Monday, Karl was arrested and put in a green paddy wagon with twenty other prisoners. Rudi and Gerhardt were arrested a few days later. They were in the same jail, but they were not allowed to see one another. Despite the rough treatment and the cruelty of the guards, not one of them betrayed the others.?



Helmuth stood up in the courtroom. “You have sentenced me to die, even though I have committed no crime. But I must tell you that your turn will come. Germany will lose the war.” Karl was amazed at his courage.



Everyone was silent as the four boys were led out of the courtroom. Karl, Rudi and Gerhardt were sent to slave labor camps in Poland and Russia. Helmuth Heubner was seventeen years old when he was executed by guillotine. He was the youngest resistance fighter to lose his life in Ploetzensee, the infamous Nazi center of death. (Pp.131-132).





Personal stories of resistance and sacrifice inspire young adults. Teens think about how they, themselves, would react to situations of stress, war, terror and other abnormal situations; role models put their imaginings into concrete perspective. Faces of Courage is a collection of short stories about resisters in World War II. Three of the stories are based on accounts of real people; nine are based on accounts of how many people, young and old, acted under the Nazis including Jews, Christians, Gypsies (Rom) and the disabled. The smallest act of resistance was punishable by death, and many died because they dared to defy barbarism. Whether the story is an actual account or not, the example set by the ordinary heroes of these stories is inspiring. It’s hard to distinguish between the stories that are true and those that are not. The postscripts to the fictional accounts are as sad and plausible as those of the true stories.



But each shines the light on young individuals or groups whose humanity overcame their fear of tyranny and death. It’s almost unimaginable that people procured printing machines to produce anti Nazi leaflets and newspapers and then distributed them clandestinely, but brave souls knew that their countrymen needed a banner under which to rally. Individuals acted alone or combined secretly to help others by hiding them, feeding them, guiding them to safety. Disguising the truth and lying became polished skills to prevent information from leaking out when neighbours or family could not be trusted. People displayed bravery that they never would have shown in other times, their courage a testament to their fundamental convictions of brotherhood and opposition to racism and brutality.



“I’ve come to deliver your chickens,” he said to the man who opened the door.



The man nodded. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said and took the chickens. Yojo went back to the wagon, brushed the hay to one side and lifted the blankets. The pilots shivered as they climbed out of the wagon. Their clothes were wet. Fred turned to Yojo, grabbed his hand, shook it and made a victory sign.



Inside the house, a woman gave them towels and dry clothes. After a dinner of spicy stew and bread, the man in charge of the safe house spoke to the pilots in English. He took their pictures for fake French identity cards....Yojo and the pilots were also given thick woolen socks, sweaters and climbing boots with heavy spiked soles. (p.72)





Enough praise can never be awarded to those who resisted the Nazi terror, and that’s why this book will be part of the growing body of literature that reminds us about these brave people. Faces of Courage can be used as part of a classroom unit about the World War II and the Holocaust. The writing style is occasionally too earnest and the dialogue slightly artificial, but teens will ignore these faults because the content will touch their souls. Each story can be used as a starting point for historical research and discussion. The cover of the book shows three youths standing in a village square, defiantly facing Nazi soldiers. The pen and watercolour sketch is not appealing, considering the high level of illustration that is being produced these days. The rough quality of the drawing chosen seems inadequate to the material. A woman and girl who stand at the bottom of the sketch have a more modern appearance than one would expect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lusseyran
Jacques Lusseyran From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Jacques Lusseyran (1924-1971) was a blind French author and political activist.




Lusseyran was born on September 19th, 1924, in Paris, France. He became totally blind in a school accident at the age of 8. He soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships, particularly with one boy named Jean. At a young age he became alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and decided to learn the German language so that he could listen to German radio broadcasts. By 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, he had accomplished this task. Germany invaded France in 1940. In the spring of 1941, at the age of 17, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with 52 other boys. He was put in charge of recruitment. The group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 he organized and participated in a campaign to drop pro-resistance leaflets on trains, and claimed to carry tear gas canisters to stop people from interfering, though he never used them.



On July 20, 1943, Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a member of his resistance group. His knowledge of German helped him understand more of the situation than most French prisoners. He was sent to Buchenwald with 2000 other French citizens, where, because he was blind, he did not have to participate in forced labor as most other prisoners did. Soon most of his childhood friends and fellow resistance operatives were arrested, and he met some of them in the concentration camp. Lusseyran helped to motivate a spirit of resistance within the camp, particularly within the French and German prisoners.



In April 1945, he was liberated, surviving German massacres of the concentration camps in which some of his friends were killed. Many of his friends had died during the course of the war, including Jean. After the war, Lusseyran taught French literature in the United States and wrote books, including the autobiographical And There Was Light, which chronicles the first 20 years of his life. He died together with his third wife Marie in a car accident in France on July 27, 1971. He is survived by his four children.



[edit] BooksAgainst the Pollution of the I: selected writings of Jacques Lusseyran. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1999. ISBN 0-930407-46-6.

And There Was Light: autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, blind hero of the French Resistance. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1998. ISBN 0-930407-40-7.

[edit] External linksStories of the teenage resistance
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http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm
 
Lesson Plan
 
Lesson Plan for


Faces of Courage: Teenagers Who Resisted

by

Sally Rogow, Ed.D.



Objectives:



Develop an understanding the importance of resistance in the face of oppression.

Develop an understanding of discrimination and exclusion.

Recognition of the many young people who bravely resisted the Nazis and who risked their own lives to rescue others.



Teaching Strategy:



Edelweiss Pirates and Annaliese



Present and discuss the enormous pressures imposed on German young people to conform to Nazi doctrine.

Discuss the issue of bullying and why it was so common in Nazi Youth groups for conformity.

Discuss the differences in Nazi attitudes towards girls and boys and the pressures on young German girls to conform.

Discuss how the Nazis violated the rights of their own people with their policies.

Discuss how racial propaganda was used to perpetuate the idea of "Aryan" superiority.

Louise and Jacob



Discuss what life was like in hiding with no adults to provide food or shelter?

Discuss the importance of personal identity in survival. How did these young people maintain their Jewish identity?

Discuss the realities of hiding and the importance of being part of a group.

Discuss how the Nazis used the men of the occupied countries as laborers in Germany and other occupied lands.

Discuss how Jacob's determination in a hostile environment helped him to survive.

Jacques Lusseyran and Jean:



Discuss the difficulties of organizing effective resistance in France in World War II.

Present information about French collaboration with the Nazis.

Present and discuss what the Nazi occupation meant for the people in Paris.

Karl and Noni:



Present background information.

Nazi racial and genetic theories made outcasts of young people with disabilities. Thousands were murdered by starvation, poisoning and gassing in Germany's psychiatric hospitals and institutions in which many people with disabilities were forced to live. Use your judgement in describing the euthanasia program.





Discuss attitudes towards people with disabilities and how exclusion and discrimination isolates people with disabilities.

Yojo



Discuss the reasons why Gypsies were persecuted by the Nazis.

Explore the role of Gypsies in the Resistance movement.

Explore the reasons why so little attention is being given to the persecution of the Gypsies by the Nazis.

Maria



Explore the importance of the Greek Resistance.

Discuss the status of women in Greek society.

Explore Nazi attitudes towards the Greek people.

Explore the role of young people in the Greek resistance.

Kirsten



Explore how the rescue of the Jews helps to mobilize the Danish resistance.

Explore the reasons for the determination of the Danish people to rescue the Jewish population.

Discuss the role of the Danish church and government leaders in the rescue of Jewish people.



Questions for Discussion:



Why was it so difficult to organize resistance during the Nazi occupation?

Why were bullies so dominant in Nazi Youth groups?

Why did the French government collaborate with the Nazis?

Why do you think everyone knew about the American pilot in the small French farming village?

Why were the families of children and young people with disabilities so powerless during the Nazi era in Germany?

Do you think attitudes have changed towards people with disabilities?

What is the importance of learning about rescuers and resistors?

Are these stories relevant to changing attitudes about people with disabilities?

Why is so little known about resistance groups in Germany?.

Terms



"Euthanasia", defined as "Mercy killing"..It was the euphemism for the mass murder of thousands of people with disabilities in Nazi Germany.





Thinking skills

Comprehension of the nature of discrimination based on race, religion or physical or mental disability or difference.

Understanding of the plight of resistors in Germany and countries occupied by the Nazis.

Understanding the risks of joining organized resistance groups.

References:



Dornblaser, Irene L. Land That I Love: The Escape of a Nazi Youth. Columbus, Ohio, Warthurg Press, 194



Hoffman, Peter, The History of the German Resistance. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.1988.



Lusseyran, Jacques, And There was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind hero of the French Resistance. New York, Little Brown and Co. 1963.



Perrault,G. and Azema, P. Paris Under the Occupation. New York City:The Vendome Press, 1989



Peukert, D. (1987) Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in Everyday Life. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.



Rings, W. Life With The Enemy: Collaboration and Resistance in Hitler's Europe 1939-1945, 1982. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1092



Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, Isabel Fonseca. Vintage Books, Division of Random House, NY, 1995.



Gypsies of the World: A Journey into the Hidden World of Gypsy Life and Culture, Neboojsa Bato Tomasevic and Raijko Djuric, NY Henry Holt. 1988



Crossing, Jan Yoors, NY Simon and Shuster, 1971



Gypsies An Illustrated History, Jean Pierre Ligeois, Al Saqi Books, London, England, 1986



Harrington, Lyn, Greece & The Greeks, Thomas Nelson, New York, 1962

Hart, Janet, New Voices in the Nation: Women and the Greek Resistacne, 1941-1964. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1996



Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of Jews, by Ellen Levine, Holiday House, New York, 2000

The Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress, Leo Goldberger,(Ed.) NY: NYU Press.1987







Faces of Courage:Teenagers Who Resisted

Jacques Lusseyran




Jacques Lusseyran was only seventeen years old when he organized the "Volunteers of Liberty" (Voluntaires de la Liberte) an underground resistance group of university and secondary school students. The "Volunteers" became part of the "Defense de la France", a major underground resistance network affiliated with Charles De Gaulle and the free French government. The Germans occupied Paris from June 14, 1940 until August 25, 1944.



Blinded in an accident when he was eight years old, Lusseyran was a brilliant student and courageous leader who led a double life as resistance fighter and brilliant student until his arrest by the Gestapo and internment at the Buchenwald concentration camp.



The story of Jacques Lusseyran is based on historical accounts of the French resistance and his own autobiography.



Jacques and his family were living in Toulouse when the German army marched up the Champs Elysee, took over the center of the city and threw Paris into chaos. Thousands of people crowded the roads trying to leave and those who remained were relieved that there was no destruction, bombing or shooting. Jacques' father, an engineer, was ordered to return to Paris in September 1940.



The family settled in an apartment on the Boulevard Port-Royal in the Latin Quarter, a part of the city known for centuries as the place where poets, writers, and artists lived, worked and met with one another in the cafes that lined the streets. After the Nazi occupation, the city was wrapped in a silence, broken only by the ringing of the church bells. The familiar sounds of automobiles, buses and trucks had vanished along with the lively chatter that made the streets of Paris so lively. The silence made the streets seem wider and the houses taller.

Jacques Lusseyran

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#jacques


Jacques Lusseyran was only seventeen years old when he organized the "Volunteers of Liberty" (Voluntaires de la Liberte) an underground resistance group of university and secondary school students. The "Volunteers" became part of the "Defense de la France", a major underground resistance network affiliated with Charles De Gaulle and the free French government. The Germans occupied Paris from June 14, 1940 until August 25, 1944.



Blinded in an accident when he was eight years old, Lusseyran was a brilliant student and courageous leader who led a double life as resistance fighter and brilliant student until his arrest by the Gestapo and internment at the Buchenwald concentration camp.



The story of Jacques Lusseyran is based on historical accounts of the French resistance and his own autobiography.



Jacques and his family were living in Toulouse when the German army marched up the Champs Elysee, took over the center of the city and threw Paris into chaos. Thousands of people crowded the roads trying to leave and those who remained were relieved that there was no destruction, bombing or shooting. Jacques' father, an engineer, was ordered to return to Paris in September 1940.



The family settled in an apartment on the Boulevard Port-Royal in the Latin Quarter, a part of the city known for centuries as the place where poets, writers, and artists lived, worked and met with one another in the cafes that lined the streets. After the Nazi occupation, the city was wrapped in a silence, broken only by the ringing of the church bells. The familiar sounds of automobiles, buses and trucks had vanished along with the lively chatter that made the streets of Paris so lively. The silence made the streets seem wider and the houses taller.



Ever since he lost his sight in an accident when he was eight years old, Jacques relied on sounds to bring him information and create images in his mind. Without sight, Jacques learned to concentrate his attention to sounds, touch and smell. His family encouraged his independence and never isolated him. He mastered Braille reading and

writing in six weeks and returned to his school his friends. When his family lived in Toulouse, he was as much at home on country roads and mountain hikes as he was on the streets of Paris.



Life in Paris in the autumn of 1940 had become a struggle; food shortages forced housewives to stand in lines for hours waiting to purchase their share of the meager food supplies. The fuel shortage caused constant cold and Paris clocks were turned to Berlin time. Logic seemed to have vanished along with the hustle and bustle of the streets.



No one was talking about the occupation. People turned away from one another when the words "Nazi" "Gestapo", "torture" or "killings" were mentioned. Jacques wondered if people were simply afraid to talk or

afraid to face the reality of the occupation. But like other boys, he was eager to get on with his life. Blind students were required to take a special exam to prove they could keep up with their studies A good student and well prepared, Jacques passed the exam and was accepted to the Louis Le Grand Lycee, a well known secondary school in the Latin Quarter. Impatient to begin his studies he had to wait a month before the lycee opened. The new fascist government had closed all the schools in Paris.



Jacques spent his time rediscovering the Paris streets with his friends, Jean and Francois. His parents gave him the two small rooms in the back of their apartment. A long corridor separated the rooms and this gave Jacques the privacy he needed to study and meet with his friends. Jacques arranged his furniture and stacked his Braille books

neatly against the walls.



The school opened in October and school life resumed in a normal fashion, in spite of the new rules imposed by a government eager to conform to Nazi ideology. The principal read announcements from Marshall Petain and other government officials over the loudspeaker.

Jacques walked to the lycee with Jean and Francois every morning, and could never understand why he attracted so much attention. Groups of other boys seemed always to be trailing behind him and when he reached the school, the concierge greeted Jacques by shouting, "It's the Lusseyran parade".




Enrolled in philosophy, psychology and history classes, Jacques found his history class to be the most interesting. His history teacher commanded Jacques' attention with his rapid speech and warm resonant voice. He told class about the war and Hitler's ambitions. One by one, the Germans occupied Austria, France, Holland, Denmark and Norway. Hitler's plan was to make all of Europe subservient to Germany and 85% of the agricultural and industrial production of France was being sent to Germany.



Incidents of Nazi brutality were becoming more and more obvious and they were happening to people Jacques knew. Francois was almost in tears as he told Jacques of Mr. Weissberg's arrest. Weissberg was Francois' good friend and tutor and when he arrived for his weekly biology lesson, Weissberg's rooms were empty. The concierge told Francois that the Gestapo had arrested Weissberg that morning. Weissberg was Jewish. Soon after Jacques heard about other Jewish friends who were taken away by the Gestapo.



The French police were acting like Nazis, there were book burnings, arrests and racial laws. Paris newspapers were censored and carried only German news. Some boys at Louis Le Grand joined Nazi youth clubs and boasted that the Nazis were good for France. Jacques' school was closed for a month after a demonstration by university and lycee students. Twenty students were shot and killed.



It was freezing cold in his little room; Jacques felt his fingers stiffening and had to stop reading. The frightening events that were happening around him dominated his thoughts; something had to be done to arouse the conscience of the French people. The idea of forming a resistance group of young students took shape in his mind.



Knowing his friends as well as he did, Jacques was not surprised that Jean and Francois readily agreed and they began to organize a resistance group made up students from Louis le Grand and the university. In school the next say, they spoke with trusted classmates.



A few days later, ten boys crowded into Jacques' room, and the next week 52 boys showed up. The student resistance group called the "Volunteers of Liberty" became a reality.



From now on there was to be no turning back and no giving in to fear. Jacques warned the boys to say nothing about the meeting, even to their families. Gossip was dangerous and would give them away. No more than three boys would meet with one another at any one time. A Central Committee was formed to keep the students in touch with one another. Their task was to inform the French people about the brutality of Gestapo arrests, the persecutions and torture of captured resistance fighters and the arrests of Jewish people. News of the War was to be gathered by listening to forbidden radio broadcasts from England and Switzerland. The "Volunteers of Liberty" planned to write and circulate a secret paper that they called "Le Tigres". Before they could begin, more students had to be recruited.

Jacques was elected to the Central Committee and went to the first secret meeting with Francois. The meeting was held in an old apartment house in a working class section of the city, the old building was chosen because there were always people coming in and going out and the arrival of strangers was not likely to arouse suspicion. Jacques was to be responsible for interviewing everyone who wanted to become a "Volunteer". The other boys trusted his ability to judge people.




The "Volunteers" sent word out about the secret resistance group to the lycees and university. Students who wanted to join were watched for several days or sometimes weeks by one of the original 52 members. Those who were considered trustworthy were told "to visit the blind man."



Jacques conducted the interviews in his rooms. Two short rings and one long ring of the doorbell told him that a perspective volunteer had arrived. The rules were strict. No one was interviewed if he was not expected or did not appear within five minutes of the specified time. No one was given Jacques' name. Forced to rely on his instincts, Jacques knew he was not infallible and was constantly on guard. It was too easy to be trapped by an informer or spy. He planned the interviews carefully and discussed nothing of importance for the first 10 minutes. Sometimes he conducted the interview in the dark because he forgot to turn on the light.



Taking his time, Jacques listened intently to the words and the silences. Elaborate explanations and well-rehearsed speeches aroused his suspicions. He knew they covered lies and deceit. He also knew that anger was a difficult emotion to disguise. If Jacques considered a boy trustworthy, he gave his name to the Central Committee and he was admitted to the "Volunteers of Liberty". At first, only young students between 17 and 19 appeared, but after a few weeks, older students from the university began coming. Jacques interviewed 600 young men in less than a year



The Volunteers did not think of themselves as a professional group, they were simply young students eager to liberate their country from the terror of Nazism. They wrote, mimeographed and distributed their bulletin, "Le Tigres", to houses all over Paris. One boy watched the exits while the other went from floor to floor, carrying his shoes in his hands and slipping the paper under doors.



The French government no less than the German characterized the Resistance as a gang of terrorists. Denouncing them was seen as a civic duty, for which informers received money. Jacques and the other leaders were aware of the dangers; resistors who were caught were arrested and punished severely. It was also disappointing that so few of Jacques' classmates were willing to join the Volunteers, only 6 boys of the 90 enrolled in the elite classes at Louis Le Grand joined. In every class, there were 2 or 3 boys willing to report them to the police. Some of the

teachers were also Nazi collaborators and they had to be careful never to talk about their activities at school. There were many narrow escapes.



Surveys, discussions, choosing articles for the bulletin and frequent Central Committee meetings kept Jacques busy. Meetings were never held in the same place. Always by Francois or Jean, Jacques traveled on the routes set up for safety. Schoolwork occupied his daytime hours, but at 5 PM, Jacques became a resistance fighter and

sometimes did not return home until 11 PM.



Keeping up his grades while devoting so much time to the "Volunteers" took all his energy, but he succeeded and graduated from Louis Le Grand in the Spring of 1941. He enrolled at the University and planned to take the special exam to qualify for "Ecole Normale Superieur", the highest institution in the French educational system. The Vichy government and its Nazi racial laws, declaring students with disabilities to be ineligible, dashed his hopes Disappointed and angry, Jacques wanted to fight the ruling, but he knew that he would put the "Volunteers" in jeopardy by calling attention to himself, so he put his ambitions aside and decided not to appeal the ruling.