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 his parents survived the Holocaust in a partisan resistance group.

Lou Yelgin's Bio:
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. After being liberated by the Soviet Army, they emigrated to the U.S. in 1949, rebuilt their lives, and raised two children in the Boston area.
Throughout his youth, Lou heard his parents tell about their Holocaust experiences. Since his parents tended to socialize with other Holocaust survivors, Lou heard many different survival tales that ranged from the concentration camps to being sheltered by a Christian family. These stories fueled his interest in the Holocaust and a responsibility to retell the stories to future generations.
Lou is a Keene State College Cohen Center Fellow who graduated from KSC’s Summer Institute and Advanced Seminars on Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He has taught classes on Jewish Resistance and the Holocaust at Keene State College, OLLI Adult Learning, and at numerous high schools and middle schools throughout New England. His research interests are Jewish Resistance and Children of Survivors.

12:00 pm - Light lunch
12:30 pm - Discussion

Open to all and free to attend, however, donations are welcome to help support programs like this one and other similar programming.