In 2022, USC alum Aliyah Blank and her father became the first people in her family to visit Prienai, Lithuania, her grandmother’s hometown, since her grandmother was forced to flee during the Holocaust. The pair ate a meal at the site of the restaurant that Blank’s family owned before German Nazis and Lithuanian contributors killed more than 90% of the Jewish people living in Lithuania.

The trip to Lithuania kick-started Blank’s research into the resistance of Jewish people who were forced to live in the Vilna and Kovno ghettos there. On Thursday afternoon, Blank’s research culminated in a lecture to roughly 30 people, hosted by the Center for Advanced Genocide Research at Taper Hall. Her project was supplemented by the Beth and Arthur Lev Student Research Fellowship, which funds student research using the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive.

The Vilna and Kovno ghettos were operational for roughly two years, beginning in 1941. Blank — who graduated in Spring 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in law, history and culture — said it is important to study resistance efforts during the Holocaust to change the perception of Jewish people from “being passive to active fighters.”

“When some people think about Jews in the Holocaust, they’re under the impression that the Jews were complicit in their oppression and ultimate execution,” Blank said during her lecture. “Jews were never sheep taken to the slaughterhouse.”

Blank said some of her family history was lost due to the Holocaust. For instance, she knows that her grandmother’s grandfather, who was killed after being unable to escape Lithuania, is pictured in one of her group photos, but she does not know which figure is her relative. She was only able to find out about her great-great-grandfather’s death after seeing his name on a Holocaust memorial.

“While I may never learn anything about his death or have images of who he was, I can pay my respects by researching and honoring the lives of others,” Blank said. “The actions taken by Jews of Lithuania, whether big or small, by many or by few, remind us that resistance does not always mean grand gestures. Often it is about preserving one’s values, identity and life.”

Blank said 95% of the roughly 160,000 Jewish people living in Lithuania before World War II died before the ghettos were disbanded, with about 80% of the total killed before the ghettos were created. She referred to the ghettos as a “temporary holding ground” with “abhorrent” living conditions that she said forced Jewish people to hide their illnesses, live with nine other people in one bedroom and bathe in the water used for cleaning dishes.

Before World War II, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimated that around 7% of the Lithuanian population was Jewish. Now, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research estimates the population at less than 0.2%.

“It was not just a literal extermination but an extermination of everything related to Jewish life, the religion, traditions, customs, culture and everything else,” Blank said. “When people discuss the Holocaust, Lithuania is not at the forefront of the conversation, a country of only two million people. It’s tiny, and yet the impacts of Nazism have left it scarred forever.”

Through the testimonials in the Visual History Archive as well as her supplemental research, Blank found that Jewish people living in the two ghettos resisted the conditions by creating medical systems, continuing religious ceremonies and bringing books, including many for children, into the ghettos, among other acts.

Births were also forbidden in the ghettos, which Banks said forced pregnant Jewish women to make “painful choices” while imprisoned. She said more than 50 abortions may have taken place per month to avoid punishment, while others defied the ban and hid their pregnancies to “stand in for” their dead family members.

“Both paths, birth or abortion, carried enormous risk, and both were acts of defiance against a system designed to erase Jewish life,” Blank said.

Jordyn Blume, an attendee and friend of Blank, said she was proud of her friend’s work and, as a Jewish person, was inspired by the lecture.

“Growing up, I had a lot of Holocaust education, so some of the more negative things I did know,” said Blume, a junior majoring in human biology. “But, about the resistance, it’s nice to know that Jews definitely were standing up for themselves.”

Dylan Arseo, a student worker at the Center for Advanced Genocide Research and a senior majoring in history, said studying genocides can allow people to gain a greater understanding of current events and contextualize history. He said the lecture was especially important because resistance efforts typically don’t receive as much focus as deaths, especially in a smaller country like Lithuania.

“When most fields tend to look at it, they look at sort of the really dark side of it, which I understand … but the resistance side of it gives you some hope and how you can understand these events,” Arseo said. “It’s important to see that.”

Blank concluded her presentation by saying studies on armed resistance during the Holocaust only tell a “sliver” of the story, because smaller acts were also important to the preservation of Jewish culture and many lives in the ghettos.

“Resistance is not always about success. It is about doing it, even if that act did not change the outcome. It’s still a powerful statement against a system designed to strip people of their humanity,” Blank said. “Resistance was everywhere, even when it was not recognized as such.”