The German Teens Who Sang and Danced Their Nazi Resistance

By Abby Sher for Jewniverse

In a time of rising authoritarianism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and fear, a group of young people insisting on their freedoms expressed themselves through dance.

Donning checkered shirts, shorts and stockings, and signature edelweiss floral badges, this group of teenagers in Nazi Germany called themselves the Edelweiss Pirates.

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Song Of Life

Lauren Ishay for Fresh Ink for Teens

Childhood came, only to so quickly disappear
Time rolled unremittingly on, with each passing year
But my time of youth, always remembered oh so well
And in the remembering there is a story to tell

My days of being young were mostly happy and carefree
Blissfully ignorant of life, were my friends and me
From chasing butterflies and picking flowers at 3 years old
To a trip to the doctor discovering my first cold

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A March To A Fresh Perspective

Eva Schottenstein for Fresh Ink for Teen

I heard music. I heard people sing prayers overflowing with emotions while marching through some of the most unholy streets imaginable. I heard children sing songs to mourn the deaths of their soldiers — their brothers, fathers and uncles — who all died fighting for their rights to their homeland. I heard crying, and not just sad crying. I heard crying that sounded like it was coming from people who had nothing left inside of them. I heard silence, and that was the first time that I understood what it meant for silence to be loud. I saw, I heard and I witnessed the historic recollection of inhumane acts of hate, discrimination, genocide and dehumanization; the shame of the German nation.

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My Kind Of Jew

by: Gabi Friedman for Fresh Ink for Teens

When I was very little, I would go to a prayer meeting, or minyan, with my dad every morning. I remember munching on rye bread and bagels at the small breakfast afterwards while my dad talked with the others in attendance. My mom says that the sweets they fed me for breakfast at the shul ruined any hopes she had of convincing me to eat a regular, healthy breakfast. I remember, too, when I first began to realize that not everybody was Jewish. My mom absolutely forbade telling the other girls in my kindergarten class that I knew Santa wasn’t real. I can’t remember if I listened or not.

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