Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest third-place high school winner: ‘True Heroism’ by Jaxon Hutson

Jaxon Hutson won third place in the high school division of the 2024 Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest for “True Heroism.” The tenth-grader at East Valley High School was advised by Lori Jacobsen.

‘True Heroism’

The subject of this essay is a very important event in history, one that is both terrifying and soul crushing to the highest degree, the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the genocide of peoples deemed inferior by the Nazis. While there were multiple groups persecuted, the group that was by far the most affected were the Jews. The things that the Nazis did to the Jews were unspeakable. They invaded, imprisoned, tortured, and killed an unimaginable number of regular people, people like you, me, and nearly everybody else. More specifically, this essay is about sharing the stories of two people who made incredible efforts, risks, and sacrifices to fight against the Nazis, these were Tema Sznajderman and Frank Blaichman, who were just 19 and 16 years old respectively.

Our first hero, Tema Sznajderman’s resistance started when she and her soon-to-be husband Mordechai Tenenbaum were arrested in Warsaw, Poland in 1936. They were likely arrested for bolstering the fighting spirit of the Jews that lived there and were being oppressed. Sznajderman and Tenenbaum belonged to a group called He-Halutz-Dror. This group was devoted to going to Palestine to live in and tend to the land there. Tenenbaum’s father died in 1938 and a little while later he decided to go live in a He-Halutz commune. In 1939 the home of Sznajderman’s family was caught in a bombing by the Germans. Her sister Bella and her stepmother were killed, and since her father had died earlier, she went to live in the commune as well. Together the people of the commune exited Warsaw and ended up in Vilna; there they sought to help the people who were trying to escape to Palestine. Traveling was arranged for people who would be able to travel legally, but many of the people who were desperate to leave didn’t have the necessary legal documentation to do so. Sznajderman began forging papers and letters to get many people out of the war zone and into safety.

When the Germans secured control, the Vilna ghetto was made. Sznajderman managed to avoid being put into this ghetto due to her blue eyes, blonde hair, and her pseudonym Wanda Majewska. Then, instead of using this as a means to save herself, she used it to infiltrate and collect information on multiple ghettos, an action for which she would more than likely have been killed if she was found out. After acquiring this information, she spread it to the world in an effort to do what she could to get some help. Eventually Sznajderman and Tenenbaum were married, and for a time, Tenenbaum too went to ghettos protected by his new last name, Tamaroff. But in time, Tenenbaum was captured and put in the Bialystok ghetto. Sznajderman continued her work and visited him in the ghetto. In the January of 1943, Sznajderman started to bring her intel to the Jewish Fighting Organization. In the process of doing this she was captured and killed in Warsaw, laying her life down for her cause.

Another hero was Frank Blaichman, whose defiance also started in Poland after its invasion by the Germans in 1939. Soon enough, in his town of Kamionka the Nazi’s had made restrictions on the Jews; they couldn’t travel without special papers and an armband with a yellow Star of David on it for easy identification. Blaichman decided that the wellbeing of his family was more important than following these unfair rules, so he used his bike and the Polish words that he had picked up throughout his life to buy and sell commodities to support them. He was forced to labor in growing fields for the Germans two days a week. However this didn’t stop him. He paid someone to do it for him; another act of defiance.

Eventually, the Jews were to be moved into a ghetto in Lubartow, so Frank hid out in the woods and found a kind farmer who took him in. This farmer told him that the Jews weren’t put into a ghetto, but onto a train that likely went to a concentration camp. Later, he heard of other Jews living in the forest and he joined them. This place was anything but safe; they could be found at any moment, so Blaichman thought that they should organize some sort of army. However, they couldn’t make an army without weapons, so Blaichman impersonated a Polish police officer in order to secure guns for the group. Suddenly, the worst happened, they were discovered by the Germans and in the aftermath of the ensuing extermination attempt there were only 22 survivors, with one of these survivors being Blaichman. After this, the group decided to hide in small villages where the farmers would allow them onto their property and give them food. Later, his group joined a team of refugees who had weapons and knowledge of how to use them. This more powerful group could now sabotage the Germans, which they did by attacking army patrols and assets. Blaichman rose through the ranks to become the youngest platoon commander in this army. He was even trusted enough to protect the upcoming Polish prime minister on his way to collaborate with the Soviets.

We as people have much to learn from heroes like these. One of the most important lessons to learn here is that we should not let ourselves and others be subjugated, that we can’t stand for oppression and tyranny. These two people worked hard and sacrificed much to not only stand up for themselves, but for others too, and I find that truly admirable. I can appreciate the rejection of unjust authority, as I also strive to go against authoritarian rules and restrictions (though it is granted that I can’t really do anything about politics until I am of the legal age and capacity to be involved.) These heroes have been a testament to the need to fight back for the good of other people, and I will try my utmost to follow in their footsteps. The selfless actions of these heroes are very inspiring. But most of all, I hope that these people can be an inspiration to all of humanity, and I hope that in doing so any tragedies like the Holocaust can be averted.