The concept of the “intimate group” which originated with Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir and was emulated by many other Jewish youth movements also strengthened the girls’ status in another respect. The individual youth movement groups served as a fraternity or small family in which an emotional attraction, common to both sexes in the group, was a crucial factor. Again, it seems that the relative maturity of the girls, together with the emphasis on their emotional importance within the group, reinforced their role within the group.
Concurrently, brand new intimate category functioned like a household, which in fact had not only their “brothers” and you can “sisters” plus its “father” and you will “mommy.” These people were a man and women childhood chief correspondingly, exactly who portrayed adult figures towards www.asiame.com pupils.
These characteristics of Jewish young people direction, with the culture of your revolutionary girl, have been transferred to brand new Jewish youth communities from inside the Holocaust.
The fresh new Jewish teens movements continued a majority of their novel issues during the the first period of The second world war (1939–1942). They appear to possess been solid and you may energetic, most readily useful adjusted with the the fresh facts of your ghettos than simply mature organizations. In a number of of ghettos, their overall hobby blossomed, perhaps even surpassing compared to the fresh new pre-conflict months.
The role of women in this activity was significant from the very first days of the war and the German occupation. Just before the war some movements (Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir and Dror-Freiheit) established an alternative leadership (Hanhagah Bet), comprised mostly of women, in case the male leaders were conscripted to the Polish army. Although these alternative leaderships functioned only partially in the first chaotic months of the occupation, the promotion of women into leading roles soon became evident. The first delegates to the German-occupied area of Poland (from Vilna and Russian-occupied Poland) were women: Frumka Plotniczki, Zivia Lubetkin (Dror-Freiheit, Warsaw) and Tosia Altman (Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir, Warsaw).
Private relationship within people in the group was basically publicly discussed and you may enhanced the fresh updates of one’s people as the essential people in the latest intimate group
During this period (1940–1942) of numerous twigs of one’s young people moves were contributed by the girls, otherwise integrated females or women on local therefore the central leadership. In fact, maybe not just one ghetto leadership lacked a minumum of one important girl.
Examination of a couple of same-many years solitary-gender sets of children which mutual several activities suggests the family construction was also kept within development
The ongoing occupation and the ghettos necessitated the creation of a new functionary: an emissary or delegate (shelihah/shaliah – also referred to as kashariyot) of the central leadership. This role was filled mainly by females because of the danger of the “circumcision test” at German checkpoints. However, the delegates of the central movement who traveled illegally from ghetto to ghetto were not mere mail carriers delivering messages and underground press from Warsaw to the provinces. They had to remain at their destination for several days or weeks in order to discuss ideological and educational matters with the local leadership, oversee local educational activity, plan and lead theoretical seminars for the older members of the branch, etc. In short, they had to personally represent the central leadership, its ideas, programs and operations. The shelihah functioned much more like a high-ranking staff officer in a military organization than as an underground courier. Four major shelihot were Frumka Plotniczki, Gusta Dawidson (Akiva, Cracow), Tosia Altman and Haika Grosman (Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir, Bialystok), all of whom were in leading positions in their movements and acted as authorized representatives of the central leadership.
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