Examples Of Jewish Resistance

Throughout the Holocaust, Jews organized resistance movements in ghettos, concentration, and extermination camps. Although they had virtually no weapons and faced one of the largest arsenals in the world, the Jewish people fought for their honor and freedom. Without any hope victory and in the face of death, resistance fighters found the courage to take on evil in its purest form. Their efforts must not go in vein; to them we must accord our respect. This is a brief testimony of their fight against the Nazi regime.

Non-violent resistance began to evolve as the Jews were transported to the concentration camps. Upon their initial arrival in the concentration camps, inmates attempted to aid each other in various ways, such as by giving those that were extremely malnourished extra food or attempting to lessen the workload on those that were weaker by taking their place; these acts, although not aimed directly against the SS, were simply keeping one another alive. These acts can be considered under Bauer’s definition of resistance in that the groups’ motives in sustaining themselves as a whole was in direct opposition to the central idea of the SS to break down and destroy the Jewish population. These acts also helped lead to the later active, armed resistance in that they helped to keep inmates alive and maintain their strength, as well as providing them with a will to resist.

Therefore, the external and internal conditions of the ghettos and concentration camps made it extremely challenging for Jewish resistance. Despite these horrific conditions, the creation of a Jewish military organization, fighting in Partisans bands, the death camp revolts, and the ghetto uprisings negate the argument that the Jews of Europe of were passive before the darkest period in modern history, the Jewish genocide. As a whole, the Jews did not accept their death mutely, as sheep to the slaughter.

Examining any issue pertaining to the Holocaust is accompanied with complexity and the possibility of controversy. This is especially true in dealing with the topic of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Historians are often divided on this complex issue, debating issues such as how “resistance” is defined and, in accordance with that definition, how much resistance occurred. According to Michael Marrus, “the very term Jewish resistance suggests a point of view.” Many factors, both internal such as differences in opinion on when or what resistance was appropriate, as well as external, such as the lack of arms with which to revolt, contributed to making resistance, particularly armed resistance, extremely difficult. When considering acts

As I mentioned at the beginning, Jewish partisans are placed into two categories: Eastern and Western. There was no major resistance in Germany, due to the fact that everything was highly scrutinized by Hitler’s

There were many different resistance efforts throughout the Holocaust. On 12 September 1942, the town was assaulted by about 150 partisan soldiers who killed thirty SS officers, soldiers, and police. They broke through the wall, evacuated the 30 Jews remaining and burned the ghetto to the ground before retreating into the surrounding woodland.

“You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog, And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine” (Shakespeare 34). Groups and people have helped resist during the Holocaust which helped the affected people and it may be important for young people to learn from these responses.The Armee Juive were a French Jewish partisan group during the Holocaust who participated in the 1944 uprising and smuggled money from Switzerland to help Jews escape and hide into neutral Spain. The Jewish resistance groups were the most direct form of Jewish opposition against the Nazis during the Holocaust. Attacking the German military trucks and trains, the Armee Juive conducted missions to sabotage Nazis and rescue Jews. The warsaw ghetto uprisings where hundreds of Jews fought against Germans and disobeyed them is an example of a resistance effort that was employed during the Holocaust.

Many people know of the Holocaust and its outcome, but what of its resisters? Resistance in this time was risky because of the dangers of the Nazis finding, torturing, and killing the resisters. Despite these dangers, man people would still resist, armed, unarmed, and verbally. Many of the resisters were not caught because they were indirectly affecting the progress of the “Final Solution” as it was referred to. One such way was to convince others to resist and fight while you get others to aid in the fight. Another was displayed by Yvett Farnoux when “She was in charge of finding safe houses and food for resistance fighters, their families, and Jews in hiding” (Davison).

During the Holocaust their were many groups of resistance, but one in particular was the underground who used resistance to fight the Germans. This group faced many challenges but still fought hard to protect their culture. The underground used armed resistance to receive supplies, resists the Germans that try to kill them, and to get the community not to be passive while facing obstacles like making kids and women smuggle supplies, risk families lives, and trying to meet in private to plan.

Jewish people fought against the Nazis, and did not always use violence. They used spiritual resistance to rebel without actually fighting. One example of spiritual resistance is the cultivation of secret libraries kept in many ghettos throughout Germany and Poland. One author states “Germans forbade religious services in most ghettos, so many Jews prayed and held ceremonies in secret … In Warsaw alone, in 1940, 600 Jewish prayer groups existed.” (“Spiritual Resistance”). These peaceful prayer groups where a form of unarmed resistance as they were going agains the Nazi’s orders, but not fighting

If there is any matter of defining Jewish resistance during the Holocaust it is with a quote by Maya Angelou, “You may tread me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I’ll rise”. Though these words are not from a Jew, it is still implied to their resistance. On the year of 1933, during World War II, Nazis forced Jews to relocate themselves into the ghettos. While in the ghettos, Nazis made every effort to dehumanize Jews in forms of extermination, liquidations, shootings, and many unexplained cruelties. Once the community had enough they reacted with resistance. In order to maintain their humanity, Jews used armed and unarmed resistance.

Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jews, were “inferior” and a threat. The Germans sent millions of Jews to concentration camps where they then exterminated them in cruel ways. However, there were resistance groups throughout Europe who fought against the Nazi’s rule in a variety of ways. Some people resisted the Nazi’s rule by helping Jews as well as attacking the Germans. During the Holocaust, there were many resistance groups that fought against the Nazi’s rule including the Bielski Group, White Rose Group, Polish Żegota Organization, and Jewish Defense Committee.

They survived because of hiding places, fake identities, and because of the help of loving people. Because of these ways of survival, they faced constant fear and danger. They lived a life in the shadows and for some of them it was the end. Others survived for they had God on their side. Jews suffered many hard times in their hiding places but they discovered an even better and stronger hiding place for them and their descendants.

During World War II, many chose to stand against the Nazi’s either passively or actively due to tyranny and oppression. Despite the many who chose to act out against them, actively using warfare tactics, the remainder of citizens opted for a more subtle, passive type of resistance. In “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “Resistance During the Holocaust,” the main people passively resisted. People can best respond to conflict by passively resisting because of human worth, survival, and to preserve a culture. Citizens should passively resist because they value their own human worth.

While Hitler kept Jews in the concentration camps, there were some Jewish and non-Jewish people that tried and stop this brutality or help the Jews. They knew what hitler was doing with the Jews and his plans.They tried to do something to try and help the people. Some of them where The White Rose society, Rose Blanche, and Resistances in the ghettos.