Critical Thinking/Discussion Questions - Elizabeth Limor
Click the link below to explore a PowerPoint about Elizabeth Limor:
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Elizabeth mentions in her interview that when living in Skarżysko and working in “HASAG”, a munitions factory, her future husband deliberately broke many of the machines to disrupt the work of the factory. How does this action challenge the notion that acts of resistance had to be violent in order to be effective?
- On January 17th, 1945 Elizabeth wakes up in the Czestochowa concentration camp, goes out for roll call, and finds out that the Nazis have fled. Realizing that she and the others are free, they cross the iron gates which state “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work makes you free”). How does this statement illustrate the Nazi belief that Jews were to be treated as sub-humans?
- Elizabeth Limor and her husband Irvin helped each other to survive in the slave labor camp. She credits never being alone as a factor in her survival. Based on the testimony and film describe how their experiences during the war impacted their lives following liberation. In what ways would it have been positive to marry a survivor? In what ways would it make your marriage more challenging?
- In her book Memoirs: Before, During, After, Elizabeth describes how her husband Irvin led the resistance effort in the munitions factory. It was common during the Holocaust for a group, even a whole community, to be punished for a single individual's violation of the rules. Discuss whether you think it was right to risk bringing such retribution down on one's relatives and friends by challenging the forces of law and order in this case.