“Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust” will be the topic discussed by Lou Yelgin, a Keene State College Cohen Center Fellow, on Sunday, February 19, 2023 at 9:30 AM, LIVE via ZOOM

During World War II, the majority of European Jews were imprisoned by the Nazis in ghettos before being deported to concentration camps or “work camps” where they were starved, murdered, or worked to death. Yet approximately 30,000 Jews, many of whom were teenagers, escaped the Nazis to form organized resistance groups. These Jews are known as the Jewish partisans who fought against the enemy throughout much of Europe. This presentation will describe various forms of Jewish Resistance during World War II and will provide the details of how my parents survived the Holocaust in a partisan resistance group.

Lou Yelgin is a child of Holocaust survivors.  His parents survived the Nazis as members of a partisan resistance group in the Nacha Forest near Eishyshok, Lithuania.  Lou is a Keene State College Cohen Center Fellow who graduated from KSC’s Summer Institute and Advanced Seminars on Holocaust and Genocide Studies.  Recently Lou taught a class on Jewish Resistance at Keene State College and has presented on the Holocaust at numerous high schools and middle schools throughout New England.  His research interests are Jewish Resistance and Children of Survivors.
Lou’s presentation will be followed by an open question and answer session.