Sara Fortis by Lauren Arneberg

Importance of the Partisans

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 14:17:45 UTC

Who was Sara?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 14:34:55 UTC

Sara was 100% Greek and celebrated Jewish beliefs by attending the temple on the holidays, a Jewish way of praying. When Nazis invaded the second town she lived in, she became a resistance fighter, wanting to play a significant role in fighting against the Nazi Party. She eventually became captain of her group, earning the name Kapetenissa Sarika. Sara decided to settle down with her husband after she was arrested.

Where was Sara during her life?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 14:46:01 UTC

Sara was born in 1927 in a small town named Chalkis, near Athens, Greece. She left her hometown in 1941 when Nazis invaded, fleeing to Kuturla. Then, when she became a resistance fighter, she went from village to village recruiting women. At age 18, she was involved in the Andartes movement in Greece. She emigrated to Israel a bit after this movement and settled down there.

What materials were provided? What was life like as a partisan?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 14:49:15 UTC

Not many materials were provided to the Jews; the Germans had more power. They lacked weapons and training, operating in hostile zones. Jews had to part from their families. Terror from the Nazis was always present; when joining this group, you risked your whole life.

What impact did she make?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 14:51:33 UTC

Sara's biggest impact was forming a band of female partisans to fight against the Nazi Party. By forming this group, it shows how brave she was, knowing there was more risk of dying. By having more women being in this band, there was overall more people in general to fight the Germans. If groups like hers didn't exist, more towns would have been invaded and destroyed. Her lasting impact is the amount of lives she saved from starting this band.

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-14 15:02:24 UTC

Why did she feel the need to become a resistance fighter?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 01:15:21 UTC

Sara Fortis was a very strong woman. She felt that there wasn't enough women putting in effort to fight for the Jews. Only men were fighting, but with the women on their side, they would become more powerful. Nazis invading her town's proved to her that this was a cause to fight for, not something to ignore.

Tragic Incident

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 01:19:59 UTC

Nazis felt that Sara was too strong of a fighter, so they wanted to get rid of her, which would make fighting against the resistance groups easier. When Nazis thought they found Sara, they brutally raped and murdered her, but eventually figured out it was her cousin Medi, not Sara.

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 01:45:23 UTC

Did her group fight with males aswell?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 01:55:05 UTC

On the females first mission, they threw molotov cocktails to distract the enemy so the male partisans could attack. When the males were impressed with their skills, they soon invited the women on more missions alongside them.

What kind of missions was she on?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 01:58:08 UTC

On some missions, they threw explosives and items like that. One of the more popular missions the group had was burning down Nazi houses, providing payback. When they burned down the houses, they also murdered some more Nazis.

Why was Sara arrested?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 02:13:56 UTC

When Sara found out she was targeted by the Nazis, who raped and killed her cousin, she was furious. Sara decided to get revenge and went on to kill her cousins murderer. She was arrested because of this act but shortly released after because of her duties served.

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 02:27:13 UTC

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 02:27:33 UTC

Cited Sources

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 14:24:33 UTC

“Holocaust Resistance: Female Jewish Partisans.” Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/holocaust-resistance-female-jewish-partisans. Accessed 18 December 2023.
“Sara Fortis | Holocaust Encyclopedia.” Holocaust Encyclopedia,

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/sara-fortis. Accessed 18 December 2023.

“Sara Fortis's Biography.” Facing History, 13 May 2016, https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/sara-fortiss-biography. Accessed 18 December 2023.

Where is she now?

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 14:31:12 UTC

Sara Fortis is currently 96 years old. There have been no recent documents or anything to say if she's dead or alive, but interviews from 10 years ago show her healthy.

Quotes

laurenarneberg — 2023-12-18 14:31:46 UTC

“Without them, without the Partisans, many Jews would have died or shared the fate of the Jews of Thessaloniki at Auschwitz.”
*This quote relates to how having the partisan group was a big deal because more Jews would've died without them at concentration camps.

“So we have a squad of thirteen girls; it was up to me to teach them how to behave.”
*This quote relates to Captain Sarika (Sara) being in charge as the captain, having to control everybody else to make them listen and work hard.