Jewish Resistance

Although the Jews tried to resist, many factors were against them, such as lack of weapons and resources, trickery, fear, and the crushing power of the Germans. Many people refused to participate in these uprisings, but for those who chose to rebel, they served as an example for all of camp residents. In Night this happened also when the three inhabitants were hung and shown to the entire camp. Those who conformed to justice paid the ultimate price, but with that other learned what not to do. They sacrificed themselves unknowingly for their

This group was created from branches of the Polish underground resistance, who realized that the entire Jewish population was in grave danger and that unless groups were organized and coordinated to help

The Jews uprised in ghettos and camps with guns and explosives that were stolen or smuggled to them. “Jews seized what weapons the could find - picks, axes, and some firearms stolen from the camp armory - set fire to the camp. About 200 managed to escape. (Jewish Uprising). This shows armed resistance because the Jews revolted against the Germans with weapons they smuggled or stolen from the armory. The Jews were so desperate for freedom and hope that they risked their own lives to steal and smuggle weapons and revolt against the Nazis with open fire. They still had many more ways that they resisted against the Germans.

While Jewish resistance was a help was big influence to the Holocaust, the non-jewish resistance was substantially bigger. Some of the groups that helped were, the US, USSR, and Germans. All of these groups had many reason why they wanted to fight/rebel against the Axis of Power. Some wanted to keep their country's interest and beliefs.

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.

Firstly, the Jews in Europe organized a Jewish military league to resist the Nazi brutality. In Vilna, the first organized Jewish armed resistance arose from the youth movements. After the invasion of the Soviet Union is 1941, two-thirds of the Jewish population of Vilna were deported by the Nazis (“Jewish Combat Organization.”). Those who survived warned the other Jews of the ordeal awaiting them, which paved the way for the “First Manifesto”. This document called out for Jewish resistance and was written by Abba Kovner, a future leader of the ghetto fighters in Vilna. The manifesto was directed at the Jews of Vilna and the youth movements, and explained the fate of the ghetto deportees (that they were all killed), Hitler’s plot to “destroy all the Jews of Europe”, and called for Jewish resistance. This manifesto was significant, as it was the first call for the Jews to arm themselves and resist the Nazis. Not soon after,

Something that not many know about the Holocaust is there were many acts of resistance performed by the Jews being affected. For example, “On October 7, the...prisoners forced to handle the bodies of gas chamber victims...succeeded in blowing up one of the four crematoria at Aushwitz” (“Holocaust”). Another example is “On August 2,700 Jews torched parts of the Treblinka death camp” (“Holocaust”).

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

“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.

One person who was linked to armed resistance, but not directly involved, was Albert Wielkabroda. It is stated that ‘in the second World War, Sutin managed a small group, consisting of Jewish partisans that gathered weapons and fought the Nazis in Poland’ (Hanson). Adolfo was fifteen when his armed resistance started. Adolfo would rust Nazi equipment by using chemicals and build detonators for resistance explosives. Adolfo once said that “For the first time, I didn’t feel entirely [powerless] following the death of my mother and friend” (Berger). Another quote was “I had the feeling I was avenging them” (Berger). As stated earlier, The Edelweiss Pirates were a group of youth, about 15-19, who would oppose the Nazi youth. The Pirates would often disobey the rules set by the Nazi government, and sometime, fight the Nazi youth. “As war progressed…many pirates became active in the underground resistance movement” (Faces of Courage). It was told that “Groups of Edelweiss Pirates made armed raids on military depots and deliberately sabotaged war productions” (Faces of Courage). Youra, Jean, and Robert

Armed resistance groups are nothing new. There is a deep history with gun clubs, which stem back to the Civil Rights era in the 1960’s. Frustrated by the inhumane treatment of Blacks, political activist Huey P. Newton and classmate, Bobby Seale, formed the Black Panther

At the time of the Holocaust, Jews used armed and unarmed forms of resistance in order to retain their humanity. Armed resistance was when the Jewish people fought physically to avenge the slaughter of so many of their people. One example of this type of resistance was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “In April-May 1943, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose in armed revolt after rumors that the Germans would deport the remaining ghetto inhabitants to the Treblinka killing center. (Jewish resisitance article)

Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust between the year 1939 and the year 1945. There were many resistance efforts in this time. Many revolts erupted when the talk of killing centers came around. Clandestine parachutists were dropped over Hungary and Slovakia to aid all Jews in hiding. One person involved in these resistance efforts was Eugene Lazowski. Eugene was a doctor who was a hero in the Holocaust. He became a hero by saving lives by sneaking over a fence of a ghetto to treat the ill or wounded and creating a fake epidemic.

In order to make the resistance stronger, the British Special Forces infiltrated France to assist the French in their endeavors. De Gualle, an exiled leader that later became leader of the French resistance and the fifth republic, gathered his own forces and went to assist the Resistants in freeing France from the Germans and going to help the Allied powers. As the resistance acts, such as derailing trains, making underground passages, and some groups violated the German soldiers that patrolled the streets, became more frequent and violent, Germany started enforcing the rules with an iron fist and even torturing many of the members, either leaving them to die or putting them in concentration camps. Germany was on the brink of a full scale invasion on France, so the US went in to assist the Resistance as well. All of these allies were vital for the success of the Resistance movement, with Great Britain sending in train cars with war