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The Jewish resistance during the Holocaust was the resistance of the Jewish people against Nazi Germany leading up to and through World War II. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups dedicated to fighting an Invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Due to the careful organization and overwhelming military might of the Nazi German State and its supporters, many Jews were unable to resist the killings. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ There were, however, many cases of attempts at resistance in one form or another, and over a hundred armed Jewish uprisings.

Contents

Types of resistance

In his book The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, Martin Gilbert describes the types of resistance:

"In every ghetto, in every deportation train, in every labor camp, even in the death camps, the will to resist was strong, and took many forms. Sir Martin John Gilbert, CBE, DLitt (born October 25, 1936) is a British Historian and the author of over eighty books A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in Penal labor. Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become Fighting with the few weapons that would be found, individual acts of defiance and protest, the courage of obtaining food and water under the threat of death, the superiority of refusing to allow the Germans their final wish to gloat over panic and despair.

Even passivity was a form of resistance. To die with dignity was a form of resistance. To resist the demoralizing, brutalizing force of evil, to refuse to be reduced to the level of animals, to live through the torment, to outlive the tormentors, these too were acts of resistance. Merely to give a witness of these events in testimony was, in the end, a contribution to victory. Simply to survive was a victory of the human spirit. "[1]

This view is supported by Yehuda Bauer who wrote that resistance to the Nazis comprised not only physical opposition, but any activity that gave the Jewish people dignity and humanity in the most humiliating and inhumane conditions. Yehuda Bauer (born 1926 is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. Bauer disputes the popular view that most Jews went to their deaths passively. He argues that, given the conditions in which the Jews of Eastern Europe had to live under and endure, what is surprising is not how little resistance there was, but rather how much. Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent.

Resistance in the ghettos

Further information: Ghetto uprising

Resistance in the concentration camps

There were also major resistance efforts in three of the extermination camps. Ghetto uprisings were armed revolts by Jews and other groups incarcerated in Nazi Ghettos during World War II against the plans to deport the inhabitants Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become

Partisan groups

Main article: Jewish partisans

There were a number of Jewish partisan groups operating in many countries. Jewish partisans were fighters in Irregular military groups participating in the Jewish resistance movement against Nazi Germany and its collaborators Jewish partisans were most numerous in Eastern Europe. See Eugenio Calò for the story of a Jewish Italian partisan. Eugenio Calò (1905 - 1943 is a National hero of Italy. Born in Pisa to an old Jewish family he was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal Jewish volunteers from Mandate Palestine, most famously Hannah Szenes, parachuted into Europe in an attempt to organize resistance. The Palestine Mandate, was a set of protocols or articles that formed a multilateral legal and administrative agreement Hannah Szenes (or Chana Senesh) (חנה סנש ( July 17, 1921 &ndash November 7, 1944) was a Hungarian Jew

Resistance in Germany

Jewish resistance within Germany itself during the Nazi era took a variety of forms, from sabotage and disruptions to providing intelligence to Allied forces, distributing anti-Nazi propaganda, as well as participating in attempts to assist Jewish emigration out of Nazi-controlled territories. It has been argued that, for Jews during the Holocaust, given the intent of the Nazi regime to exterminate Jews, survival itself constituted a form considered a form of resistance. [2] Jewish participation in the German resistance was largely confined to the underground activities of left-wing Zionist groups such as Werkleute, Hashomer Hatzair and Ha-bonim, and the German Social Democrats, German Communists, and independent left-wing groups such as New Beginning. Hashomer Hatzair (השומר הצעיר also transliterated Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair, translating as The Youth Guard) is a Socialist The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 Much of the non-left wing and non-Jewish opposition to Hitler in Germany (i. e. , conservative and religious forces), although often opposed to the Nazi plans for extermination of German and Europena Jewry, in many instances itself harbored anti-Jewish sentiments. [3]

A celebrated case involved the arrest and execution of Helmut Hirsch, a Jewish architectural student originally from Stuttgart, in connection with a plot to bomb Nazi Party headquarters in Nuremberg. Helmut (Helle Hirsch ( January 27, 1916 – June 4, 1937) was a German Jew who was executed for his part in a bombing plot intended to destabilize Stuttgart (ˈʃtʊtgaɐ̯t is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Hirsch became in involved in the Black Front, a breakaway faction from the Nazi Party led by Otto Strasser. For the Dutch fascist group see Black Front (Netherlands. The Black Front (formally known as the Union of Revolutionary National Socialists Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser ( September 10 1897 – August 27 1974) was a German politician and ' Left-wing ' member of After being captured by the Gestapo in December 1936, Hirsch confessed to planning to murder Julius Streicher, a leading Nazi official and editor of the virulently anti-Semitic Der Stürmer newspaper, on behalf of Strasser and the Black Front. The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany Julius Streicher ( February 12, 1885 &ndash October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. Der Stürmer (literally "The Stormer" more accurately "The Attacker" was a weekly Nazi Newspaper published by Julius Streicher Hirsch was sentenced to death on March 8, 1937, and on June 4 was beheaded with an axe.

Perhaps the most significant Jewish resistance group within Germany for which records survive was the Berlin-based Baum Group (Baum-Gruppe), which was active from 1937 to 1942. Herbert Baum ( 10 February 1912 &ndash d 11 June 1942) was a Jewish member of the German resistance against National Largely comprised of young Jewish women and men, the group disseminated anti-Nazi leaflets, and organized semi-public demonstrations. It's most notable action was the bombing of an anti-Soviet exhibit organized by Joseph Goebbels in Berlin's Lustgarten. The action resulted in mass arrests, executions, and reprisals against German Jews. Because of the reprisals it provoked, the bombing led to debate within opposition circles similar to those that took place elsewhere where the Jewish resistance was active--taking action and risking murderous reprisals vs. being nonconfrontational with the hopes of maximizing survival. [4]

Resistance in the occupied countries

In the Netherlands the only pre-war group that immediately started resistance against the German occupation was the communist party. Dutch Resistance to the Nazi occupation during World War II developed relatively slowly but its counterintelligence domestic sabotage and communications networks During the first two war years it was by far the biggest resistance organisation, much bigger than all other organisations together. A major act of resistance was the organisation of the February strike in 1941 in protest against anti-Jewish measures. The 1941 February Strike, also known as 'The Strike of February 1941' was a General strike organized during World War II in The Netherlands against the In this resistance many Jews participated. Within the underground communist party a militant group was formed: de Nederlandse Volksmilitie (NVM, Dutch Peoples Militia). The leader was the Jewish Sally (Samuel) Dormits, who had military experience from guerrilla in Brazil and participation in the Spanish civil war. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of This organisation was formed in first instance in The Hague but became mainly located in Rotterdam. It counted more about 200 mainly Jewish participants. They made for instance several bomb attacks on German trains with troops and arson attacks on cinemas, which all were forbidden for Jews. Sally Dormits was caught after stealing a handbag of a woman in order to obtain an identification card for his Jewish girl friend, who also participated in the resistance. Dormits committed suicide in the police station by shooting himself through the head. From a cash ticket of a shop the police could find the hiding place of Dormits and the police discovered bombs, arson material, illegal papers, reports about resistance actions and a list of participants. The GESTAPO was warned immediately and the day two hundred people were arrested and in the following months many more connected people of the communist resistance in Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam were arrested. The Dutch police participated in torturing the Jewish communists. After a trial more than 20 were shot to death, the most others died in concentration camps or were gassed in Auschwitz, only a few survived. The war grave of Dormits has recently been destroyed by municipal authorities in Rotterdam.

Organizations

Jewish resistance fighters

Belorussia, 1943. A Jewish partisan group of the brigade named after Chkalov. ([1])
Belorussia, 1943. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee ( JDC) is an American Jewish Charitable organization with the declared mission to "serve the needs Antyfaszystowska Organizacja Bojowa ( Polish for Anti-Fascist Military Organisation) was an underground organization formed in 1942 in the Ghetto in Białystok The Betar Movement (בית"ר also spelled Beitar) is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in The Fareinigte Partizaner Organizacje (" United Partisan Organization " referred to as FPO by its Yiddish initials was a Jewish Hashomer Hatzair (השומר הצעיר also transliterated Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair, translating as The Youth Guard) is a Socialist The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee ( JAC, Russian language: Еврейский антифашистский комитет, ЕАК) was formed A Zionist Youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational social and ideological development The Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa ( ŻOB, Polish for the Jewish Combat Organization; called in Yiddish יידישע קאמף ארגאניזאציע Żydowski Związek Wojskowy ( ŻZW, Polish for Jewish Military Union) was an underground resistance organization operating during A Jewish partisan group of the brigade named after Chkalov. ([1])

See also

External links

Notes and references

  1. ^ Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy. London: St Edmundsbury Press 1986
  2. ^ Ruby Rohrlich, ed. Resisting the Holocaust. Oxford and New York: Berg Publishers, 1998.
  3. ^ Theodore S. Hamerow. On the Road to the Wolfs Lair: German Resistance to Hitler. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997
  4. ^ See, e. g. , Herbert Lindenberger. Heroic Or Foolish? The 1942 Bombing of a Nazi Anti-Soviet Exhibit. Telos. 135 (Summer 2006):127–154.
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