Faith, Resilience and Audacity: The True Story of Bais Yaakov Girls in the Death Camps

In the center of Krakow stands an odd-looking statue. Not of an ancient king, or respected noble, but of a gnarled, writhing dragon, mouth wide open, poised to pounce.

Its presence is based on an ancient legend of a smoke nostriled dragon who would gobble beautiful maidens off the Polish streets in the time that King Krak ruled until residents were afraid to venture outside. All that changed when a daring prince went into battle with the dragon and succeeded in returning calm to the region. The statue of the dragon placed in the center of the city memorializes this act of courage and heroism¹.

While this legend is fiction, the dragon in Krakow in the 1930s was startlingly real. Only it was in the form of so-called freethinkers who shed vestiges of Judaism from impressionable young girls, and later, in the form of black-booted Nazis who loathed their very breath.

Pearl Benisch titled her book ‘Vanquish the Dragon’ in this vein, because her story, which includes countless acts of unthinkable heroism, prevailing dignity over bestiality, and humanity under inhumane conditions, is the story of a girl and her friends fending off dragons at every turn.

‘Vanquish the Dragon’ takes us on a journey from Pearl’s idyllic childhood in Krakow, through her family’s brutal murder, her subsequent escape, her labour in Plashow and finally, to the place that words can’t describe – Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Right before Pearl and her friends’ deportation to Auschwitz, Pearl describes the scene iconic to every death camp at the time. A final selection to determine who may still live and who for whatever reason, be if they appear to be old, sick or frail- will meet their end.

A mass of wretched human beings, ordered to strip their clothes and stand in rows in the center of Plashow, Pearl does not describe her hopelessness, her fear, she describes only the panic that spread across the rows of shivering women.

Panic, not because who knew what the future would bring, who knew if these were their last moments on earth, but because there were a few older women amongst them. 

How would they pass inspection? Is this where their treacherous journey would end? At the hands of cold-blooded, smirking Nazis waving them away for a ‘health inspection’?

And so, Pearl describes how her friends helped the terrified older women comb their hair so they should appear younger. How a piece of red paper was passed around, its ink to be used as ‘makeup.’ The younger girls tried to reassure the older women by enveloping them in their youth: ‘You look young, you’ll pass for sure – he’ll think you’re twenty.’²

This was no act of delusion, no words of frantic girls lulling themselves into false beliefs. It was the act of another heart beating for another, of reassurance in the darkest of times, of selflessness at a time when only selfishness would have been warranted.

And as Pearl stood there huddled with hundreds of bare bodies, truncheons raining down upon them and watching how her friends, her people were selected for death, she whispered.

‘You beasts in human skin, you’ve robbed us of our families, our homes, and everything we possess. What you really want, I know, is to claim our dignity. You violate our innermost values. You strive to extinguish the spark of holiness in our souls. You will never succeed, for even stripped of clothing we are still proud to be princesses of God. Enslave our bodies as you will, our spirits remain free.’³

It is in Auschwitz-Birkenau – The largest of the death camps where about 1,000,000 Jews were murdered⁴ that Pearl and her friends’ prevailing dignity, humanity and above all, faith, shine through. In the place where the brutality of man stood in stark contrast to the quiet struggle of young girls – stripped of their innocence but conquesting to maintain their human dignity⁵. 

It is where Pearl gives us a glimpse into our ‘wretched, tortured, haunted, yet great people’⁶ of her friends singing ‘V’taher Libenu’ in shadowy corners⁷. Supporting each other, strengthening each other and even managing some black humor in the blackest place on earth.

‘Our people have lived through bitter times. We’ve been beaten, tortured and killed. Pharoah, Haman, the Romans, the Crusaders – they all sought to destroy the Jewish people. They failed. Great nations come and go, but the Jewish people exist forever. Am Yisrael Chai!’

While man plunged into the deepest pit of evil and became worse than beasts, there were human beings who became greater than angels⁸.

Chanuka in Auschwitz

“Chanuka: Where would we get candles? Suggestions poured forth: We could easily make wicks by extracting threads from our garments, margarine could be melted down for oil. And then, we had a visitor, a plumber friend who handed Rivkah – the leader of our group – a small package. We held our breath as the package was opened. It contained matches and candles. Our personal Prophet Elijah had brought us a genuine treasure⁹.

Later that night Pearl and her friends crowded around the hearth, not forgetting that they were endangering their lives, and watched as Rivkah recited the first blessing: ‘Blessed are You, our Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us With His commandments and commanded us to light the Chanukah candles.’ the tiny flame flickered across the long, red brick hearth, in the dim dungeon that was Auschwitz, a flame was kindled to dispel the gloom¹⁰.

Now came the second blessing ‘Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who did wonders for our forefathers in those days, at this time.’

‘In our times too, God will do wonders for us.’ Pearl whispered to her friends.

Finally, Rivkah recited the last blessing, ‘Shecheyanu’, heralding the beginning of the eight-day Festival of Lights. ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this moment’ Rivkah mounted the hearth and addressed the weeping group of girls. 

‘Girls, we share the same bunks, the same pain, the same torture, the same deathly darkness, but today is Chanuka, when miracles can happen’.

‘Our people have lived through bitter times. We’ve been beaten, tortured and killed. Pharoah, Haman, the Romans, the Crusaders – they all sought to destroy the Jewish people. They failed. Great nations come and go, but the Jewish people exist forever. Am Yisrael Chai!’¹¹

And in the place that can only be described as hell on earth, Pearl and her friends drew strength from the timeless promise of an everlasting people. 

¹ _{https://krakow.travel/en/artykul/115/the-legend-of-the-wawel-dragon}

² _{Benisch, Pearl. Vanquish the Dragon, p.281}

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⁴ _{https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/final-solution/auschwitz.html}

⁵ _{Vii – introduction}

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⁸ _vii

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