At the book launch event for Heroines of the Holocaust: Reframing Resistance and Courage in Genocide, hosted by the Ghetto Fighters’ House, Dr. Daniela Ozacky Stern delivered a compelling presentation titled “Heroines of the Forest: Jewish Women Partisans and the story of Chaya Shapira Lazar.”
Drawing from her published chapter in the anthology, her talk illuminated the extraordinary and often overlooked stories of Jewish women who escaped the ghettos of Lithuania and Belarus to become active guerrilla fighters in the surrounding forests.
Ozacky Stern centered her presentation on the deeply personal narrative of her grandmother, Chaya Shapira Lazar. In September 1943, during the final liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto, Chaya made the courageous decision to flee alone into the wilderness, leaving her family behind. Navigating extreme physical perils, she successfully reached the Rudniki forest, where she joined partisan units.
The presentation explored the complex realities faced by female partisans, who had to balance traditional support roles with active combat, sabotage, and intelligence missions while constantly proving themselves under intense scrutiny. Ultimately, Ozacky Stern’s lecture highlighted how these women defied passive victimhood, reclaiming their agency, dignity, and a vital place in the history of Holocaust resistance.
Watch the book launch:
