Resistance

   When the opportunity presented itself, Jews resisted the Germans. The many acts of defiance, however, did not prevent the annihilation of the bulk of European Jewry. Yet there is a record of thousands of Jews who in different situations managed to confront their Nazi tormentors.

   Ghettos. The most famous act of Jewish resistance was the Warsaw ghetto uprising in April 1943. The courageous defiance of the Germans by the relatively few Jews in the ghetto inspired other acts of revolt in the remaining ghettos of Poland. In the ghetto of Lvov, the Germans faced Jewish opposition in the form of grenades and Molotov cocktails when they attempted to liquidate the ghetto. German and Ukrainian casualties totaled nine dead and 20 wounded. The Germans crushed the resistance but not before blowing up houses where Jews were concealed in order to force them to surrender. In the Bialystok ghetto, members of the Jewish Socialist Bund, the communists, and the Zionists put their differences aside and formed an organization to oppose the Germans. The revolt in the ghetto lasted five days but was no match for the armored cars and tanks, as well as manpower, that the Germans brought to battle. Facing defeat, the leaders of the revolt committed suicide.

   Partisans and Resisters. In the Baltic states, Belarussia, and western Ukraine, it is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 Jews were in partisan units that fought the Germans. Among the better known of these Jewish partisan fighters was Alexander Bielski, who along with his brothers formed the Bielski Otriad, which consisted of more than 300 fighters who fought a guerrilla war against the Germans in Belarussia. They engaged in different acts of sabotage, including the derailment of troop trains and blowing up of bridges and electric stations. In Ukraine, Diadia Misha (Uncle Misha) fought the Germans in forests and villages. Jews also assumed leadership positions in over 200 partisan bands but fought under assumed Ukrainian or Russian names, lest they call attention to their Jewish ancestry.

   Between 1942 and 1944, there were 27 Jewish partisan units fighting against the Germans in Poland, and about 1,000 who participated in the Warsaw uprising in the summer of 1944. In general, Jewish partisans fought under the authority of the national groups that fought the Germans, since they lacked support from a country or government-in-exile. The record indicates that Jewish partisan groups fought with the resistance in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Greece, where they were accepted as equals. In Western Europe, Jews fought in the resistance movements in German-occupied countries. Jews participated in the French underground, fought in the Belgian resistance movement, and were active in the resistance to Adolf Hitler in Germany. Active opposition to the government in Germany, however, was limited to distributing leaflets and publishing illegal literature. The most important group in this regard was the Herbert Baum band, which operated in Germany from 1937 to 1942. Its most noteworthy act of defiance occurred in May 1942, when it set fire to the anti-Soviet exhibit that had been organized by Joseph Goebbels. Baum and the rest of his group were arrested, tortured, and executed.

   Death Camps. Despite the difficulties, there was also resistance in many of the death camps as well as in the concentration camps. In Auschwitz, the Auschwitz Fighting Group engaged in acts of sabotage, organized escapes, and was able to find food and medicine for ill comrades. In October 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, a revolt occurred at the moment when the mass extermination of Hungarian Jews was coming to an end. The Jewish Sonderkommandos, realizing that their days were numbered, pleaded with the Auschwitz Fighting Group, which consisted of many nationalities, to revolt against its captors. The underground force, however, rejected their plea, whereby the Sonderkommandos launched the revolt by themselves. Limited in weapons, they nevertheless were able to obtain explosives and proceeded to blow up Crematorium 3, destroying the facility. The revolt was immediately crushed by the Schutzstaffel (SS), and all of the participants were rounded up and executed.

   On 14 October 1943, Jewish prisoners at the Sobibor death camp rose up in revolt. The plan was to kill the SS guards, seize weapons from the armory, cut the barbed wire, clear the mines outside the camp, and escape to the nearby forest. About 300 prisoners were able to escape, but many of the Jews who participated in the revolt were shot by the Germans or blown up by the mines. Many of those who escaped were tracked by the Nazis and shot. Some made it to the forest and joined up with partisan groups, and others were killed by anti-Semitic Polish partisan units. In the aftermath of the uprising, the Germans liquidated the Sobibor camp after executing the remaining Jews.

   The Jews at Treblinka rose in revolt in August 1943. The uprising was led by a Jewish underground that had been organized in the camp. The plan was similar to the one at Sobibor, and once the revolt commenced, the prisoners seized weapons and called on the rest of the inmates to join in. But once the Germans recovered from the surprise, they quickly turned the tide against the resistance and apprehended many of those who had managed to escape. Of the approximately 750 prisoners who succeeded in escaping, 70 managed to survive the war. After the Germans crushed the revolt, they demolished Treblinka. Jewish underground resistance groups were also organized at Majdanek and Buchenwald. Aside from the fact that the Jews were small in number and therefore ill equipped to defend themselves against the Germans and their helpers, Jews relied on the willingness of their fellow partisans to support the cause of Jewish survival. Given the endemic anti-Semitism that characterized much of Europe, it is not surprising that the number of Jewish lives saved as a result of aid from the rest of the population was small.