Resistance

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1, Chapters 1-11

Reading Check

1. What does Chaya smuggle out of the Tarnow Ghetto?

2. What is the name of the organization carrying out resistance work that Chaya becomes a part of?

3. Who replaces Meriam in Chaya’s cell?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When and why is Chaya separated from her family?

2. What does Chaya’s work as a courier involve?

Paired Resource

“The Female Couriers During the Holocaust”

• An article on the Yad Vashem website (the World Holocaust Remembrance Center) detailing how the courier system sprung up during the Holocaust, and the dangers risked by the young girls who carried out the work
• Connects to themes of Varying Responses to Oppression and The Interplay of Community and Heroism During Wartime
• Teacher-appropriate (not student-facing)

Part 2, Chapters 12-20

Reading Check

1. What, according to Esther, is the mission Chaya and she must embark on?

2. Who helps Chaya and Esther escape the train?

3. What is a szmalcownik?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do the women inside Lodz attack Esther?

2. Why do Avraham, Sara, and Henryk refuse to fight the Nazis?

Paired Resource

"The Lodz Ghetto"

• A 6-minute video by Yad Vashem providing an overview of the Lodz ghetto, including insight into why a youth resistance movement was not possible inside this ghetto
• From what you have seen of Lodz in the video, as well as what you have read of Chaya and Esther’s experience in the ghetto, why do you think mobilizing a resistance movement inside Lodz failed?

Part 2, Chapters 21-30

Reading Check

1. Where do Chaya and Esther safely shelter for one night on their way to Warsaw?

2. Why do the Gestapo tie Esther out in the yard?

3. Who agrees to help the girls reach Warsaw safely?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Chaya and Esther praise Wit?

2. Why do the partisans refuse to join the Warsaw Ghetto in fighting the Nazis?

Paired Resource

"The Jewish Partisans"

• A 7-minute video detailing how and why the Jewish partisans fought against the Nazis, with short accounts from real survivors who engaged in conflict during this time
• Connects to the theme of Varying Responses to Oppression and Reconciling Faith and Morality in the Context of Violence
• Is there any difference between the aims and the kind of violence carried out by the partisans and those of Chaya and Esther? Think about Chaya and Esther’s conversation about God’s law, as well as the partisans’ refusal to fight in Warsaw, while you answer.

Part 3, Chapters 31-39

Reading Check

1. With whom does Chaya reunite in Warsaw?

2. What work does the ZOB assign Chaya and Esther?

3. On what date does the fighting between the Germans and the Warsaw Ghetto commence?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Tamir and Rachel want to relocate Esther outside the ghetto?

2. At the end of the first day of fighting, why does Esther comment that they are finally free?

Paired Resource

"The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising"

• A Holocaust Encyclopedia article on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website that details the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, including its background and aftermath
• Connects to themes of Varying Responses to Oppression and The Interplay of Community and Heroism During Wartime
• The people inside the Warsaw Ghetto prepare to fight the Germans with almost complete certainty that they will all die in the process. Keeping in mind what you have read in the book, as well as historical details surrounding the event, what do you think motivates their fight? Would you call their actions heroic? Why, or why not?

Part 3, Chapters 40-49

Reading Check

1. Who requests the Warsaw Ghetto to surrender at the beginning of the second day of fighting?

2. Who sends the ZOB a fresh supply of weapons?

3. What do Chaya and Yitzchak decide to do after escaping the Warsaw Ghetto?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is the BBC broadcast that Chaya listens to in the bunker a significant one?

2. Why does Chaya think that Mr. Pilzer’s act is heroic?

Recommended Next Reads

A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen

• A middle-grade novel by the same author, about a young girl’s experience of family separation in a divided, post-WWII Germany
• Shared topics include war-related conflict, stealth and deception, and family separation.
• Shared themes include Varying Responses to Oppression.
• A Night Divided on SuperSummary

White Bird: A Wonder Story by R. J. Palacio

• A middle grade graphic novel about a young, Jewish girl’s experience of surviving the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied France, with the help of her classmate and his family
• Shared topics include the Holocaust and family separation.
• Shared themes include Varying Responses to Oppression and Reconciling Faith and Morality in the Context of Violence.
• White Bird: A Wonder Story on SuperSummary