Jewish Fighting Organization

The article ‘Teens against Hitler ', by Lauren Tarshis, Describes the hardships and courageous acts of Ben Kamm, a Jewish ‘Partisan’ or fighter against Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust, and all Jews who faced the challenges during that tragic time. The Jewish only wanted a normal life, but German leader, Adolf Hitler, wanted to make sure all Jew would perish. So, they began piling Jews into concentration camps to kill them, Hitler would work them to death, starve them, and even murder them in gas chambers. Then, The ‘Partisans’ began to fight against Hitler and his army. This act of courage, despite the challenges and risks they faced, help many Jews survive the most horrific event in history, The Holocaust.

More than 30,000 Jews were arrested to go to these ghettos. Once they had everything ready for all of the undesirables. SS guards were hired to do the dirty work of putting all of the prisoners to do forced labor until they died. No one cared how all of the undesirables were treated. It became an amusement to watch one die or get killed. Considering that's all they wanted was for all the innocent people to die. Every Day would be the same watching friends and families die, working for the Nazi getting nothing in return, digging their own graves, and only getting one cup of black coffee with soup that was just broth a day. Women even got raped by SS guards during this time considering the women were separated from the men to different camps. No one did anything to stop it because of the fear of death. In 1939 the Nazi had figured out a way to make sure there will never be a Jew again they called it the final

While the White Rose, Le Chambon and Zegota groups were all resisters, their goals were different and their reasons for resisting were very different. The main goal of the White Rose group was to crate a public uprising against the German government, to take a stand against the crimes they have been committing, and to show the world that the German people do not support the acts they have done. The Zegota groups’ purpose was to directly help those affected by the Nazi reign, by using moral obligation and political finances to help house and assist hiding Jews. The Le Chambon resistance incorporated a morally charged village who’s own persecution lead them to protecting the refugee Jews and citizens. While each group had different methods, and reasons for resisting, each of these groups fought against a government that they knew was wrong and took a stand against

“Where there is power, there is resistance,” (Michel Foucault). Even under extreme persecution by the Nazis the Jews still had the power to resist. The Z.O.B. was formed by mostly young people when reports of mass murder in the killing center leaked back to the Warsaw Ghetto. During the Holocaust the Z.O.B. in the Warsaw Ghetto assisted in armed resistance which helped many Jews survive. The Z.O.B. was led by 23 year old Mordechai Anielewicz. While in Warsaw the Z.O.B. issued a proclamation calling for the Jewish people to resist going to the railroad cars for deportation. Z.O.B. fighters used a small supply of weapons that had been smuggled into the ghetto to fight.

Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.

When someone mentions the Holocaust, the image that come to the minds of most people is that of the starving Jews in concentration camps. Most people automatically think of the horrors that the Jews went through, while some may even wonder how something as horrible as the Holocaust could have been done. Not many people stop to think about how the Jews resisted. Jews resisted in small acts almost every day. Whether it was something as small as praying or as large as blowing up a supply train, Jews were able to block the Nazis from completely wiping out the Jewish culture. One particular group of Jews who resisted were the partisans. The partisans were armed groups formed to fight secretly against an occupying force. The Partisans resisted Nazi

The underground used mainly armed resistance to hurt the Germans. Armed resistance was fighting however they could and not letting others who couldn’t be passive "The fighters encouraged the ghetto population to fight back however they could" (Vashem). They mainly fought to keep their culture and to try every day to live longer and not go down without a fight.

In 1939, World War II began when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party invaded Poland, causing six million Jewish people to fear for their lives. This fear began when all people had to complete a census and carry an identification card. Second, the Jews had to wear the Star of David and they were forced into ghettos. Third, they were taken to the concentration and death camps. In The Diary of Anne Frank, “Violins of Hope,” and “Resistance During the Holocaust” we see different ways of acting; actively or passively resisting Nazi rule. These stories demonstrate how people can best respond to tyranny; by actively resisting because it breaks the war machine, brings some hope, and can lead to the withdrawal of opposing forces.

Good morning / afternoon Mr Retsos and 10HT today I will be speaking to you about the Warsaw ghetto uprising but before that I will give you a brief summary of the Warsaw ghetto. When Poland was invaded by Germany in September 1939, more that 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, were imprisoned in an particular area of the city which was no more than 2 square miles. In November 1940, this ghetto was sealed off by brick walls, barbed wire and armed guards. If anyone was caught leaving the ghetto they would be shot on sight. The amount of food that was brought into the ghetto was controlled by the Nazis. Each month more than thousands of Jews died due to disease and starvation.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, between July 22 and September 12, 1942, German authorities deported or murdered 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising). In response to this, a group of young survivors formed the Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB), which means, “The Jewish Fighting Organization”(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising). The ZOB, led by Mordecai Anielewicz, managed to smuggle a supply of weapons from their captors (History.com, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising). When the Germans suspended deportation from Warsaw, the resistance was believed to be a success. However, on April 19, 1943, the SS (Schutzstaffel) leader Heinrich Himmler sent in heavily armed forces and weapons to liquidate the ghetto (History.com, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising).

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.

This helped the Jews retain their humanity because the Nazis tried to take some of the Jews and when they do, their never heard from again so this comforted them. Unarmed resistance can be interpreted into religion, schools, and other places. In this case the Jews chose religion. “The Germans forbade religious services in most ghettos, so many Jews prayed and held ceremonies in secret-in cellars, attics, and

The Jews were able to keep up the resistance for about a month, but the fight was officially ended on May 16 with the destruction of Warsaw’s great synagogue (ushmm.org). About 7,000 Jews were killed during the uprising, and another 7,000 deported, but a few hundred German soldiers fell as well (history.com).

Over two hundred Jews were now assembled in the woods. Upon first glimpse people remembered it as “a dream” The war was still looming in the background but now with people a small resistance with the same character of duty to others, could make a huge

The Germans responded to the uprising by bringing in more firepower and soldiers and systematically burning the ghetto down from building to building, reducing the ghetto to rubble. The German forces also killed Anielewicz in an attack on the ZOB command bunker, the leader of ZOB and others with him. This bunker was later captured on May 8. To symbolize their victory, the Germans were ordered to destroy the Great Synagogue. After the Jewish resistance was broken and the ghetto was in ruins, the remaining Jewish people were then sent to extermination/labour camps. Only a few Jewish sites remain , including the Nozyk Synagogue, the Jewish cemetery located at Okopowa Street and the Jewish Historical Institute (The Zydowski Instytut Historyczny)