Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust - Essay Example

Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust Introduction During World War II, the German occupation regimes were increasingly taking control over most cities in Europe, especially those occupied by Jews. Nazi Germany had a strong military base and a careful organisation that facilitated taking control of most cities by force. However, few Jews organized themselves to effectively resist Nazi rule since it was oppressive and led to the death of many people in ghettos. Genocide of Jews under Nazi rule is termed to as the Holocaust, whereby people were exposed to extreme torture that led to loss of many lives, precisely targeting Jews. Jews in every ghetto, labour camp and death camp established several strategies in order to carry out effective resistance despite having little and less effective weapons. However, with their limited resources, they had courage to obtain food and water under death threat and blocked Germans from exploiting them despite having weak military. The Holocaust came to an end after Allied forces came in Europe to fight against Germans for exploiting innocent Jews. Consequently, German forces could not withhold anymore because western Allied forces had very powerful weapons and military base, thus marking the end of World War II. This paper outlines various approaches undertaken by Jews to resist Nazi rule during the Holocaust. Spiritual resistance in Ghettos Although there was resistance through armed uprisings, some people in ghettos boycotted Nazi rule as a means of resistance. Jews defied Nazis rule and instead, they acted contrary to the rule as a means of resisting oppressive Germans. Since there were curfew rules that barred Jews from being in the streets from 7pm to 5 am, they would gather in one building to practice all their cultural practices like dancing, singing and having comedy in order to forget the ordeal they were undergoing through. Cultural practices were prohibited by the Nazi rule and whenever one was found practicing any cultural activity, they were killed mercilessly by gunshots. Additionally, Jewish children were denied the right to education by Nazi rule; however, in ghettos, Jews set up informal schools that would educate their children secretly. Furthermore, it was a crime for Jews to observe their rituals like dietary laws and they would be punished severely once found practicing it. In light to these oppressions, many Jews felt that it was time to fight for their liberty since Nazi rule had greatly overlooked their rights. They organized committees that were meant to mobilize people to retaliate against Nazis by boycotting their rules and fighting them out of their ghettos. In some instances, some Jews would hide themselves among non-Jews but this act would amount to execution if Nazis happened to know. Those found hiding among non-Jews were forced to board rail cars and taken to gas chambers where they would be tortured to death. However, those that refused to board rail cars were murdered on the spot while others opted to take their own lives instead of being tortured inside the gas chamber. Armed resistance in Ghettos The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 1943 The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commenced on April 19 to May 16, 1943, barely a year before Warsaw Uprising took place. Since the Warsaw ghetto was established between October and November 1940, Jews lost close to 300,000 civilians through deportations and brutal murder until the end of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in May 16, 1943 (Fishkin 2011, p.30). Jews were only allowed 184 calories of food on a day, and they would steal more food from outside the wall whenever it was possible to supplement their hunger. Life in the ghetto was generally deplorable considering that in January 1943, the Nazis got into the ghetto where they killed many Jews by shooting them at random. Additionally, women were never spared, as some were dragged into the trucks and raped before being taken to the rail cars that would later take them to death camp. However, the Nazis withdrew their attack on the Jews after a successful deportation of close to 5,000 Jews to the death camp; however, they were waiting order from Heinrich Himmler to launch a fresh deportation during Passover Week in April. Himmler chose to carry out further deportation during Passover Week as a way of offending Jews religion. However, during Passover Week deportation, fire fights almost broke all over the city when the Nazis found themselves surrounded by the Jews and they had no support. Consequently, the Nazis quickly changed their approach by regrouping with heavy machine guns and flamethrowers, with which they raided building-by-building killing everyone they came along. Fighting lasted for ten days within which, the Nazis lost 17 soldiers while they killed close to 13,000 Jews. Many houses were set ablaze with thousand Jews being shipped to the death camp. A few who survived the attack purported their inability to defeat the Nazis, and only hoped to die upon further attacks. The Bialystok Ghetto Uprising Barely a year after the Warsaw Ghetto uprising started, another group of Nazis launched fresh attacks in Bialystok the largest city located in north-eastern Poland. Approximately, the city had about 50,000 Jews before they were deported to the death camp starting from July 1941. Nearly 1,000 Jews in the Great Synagogue were locked and set ablaze by the Nazi soldiers (Nzira and Williams 2000, p.10). Every few weeks, more Nazi soldiers came into the city to deport more Jews to the death camp to be massacred. Rumours were spreading very fast among the Jews about the ordeal they were to undergo at the death camp; however, they were of no help since no one could find way out of the rail car. While rail cars approached death camp, Jews screamed and banged walls as they tried to escape however, their efforts were futile. Nonetheless, by August 1943, Jews worked up courage to fight back through Anti-Fascist Military Organization. Unfortunately, they were not well equipped as opposed to the Nazis since they only had a single MG 34 machine gun, less than 500 round of ammunition, and a few police pistols. Despite lacking heavy fighting machines, they supplemented this with the use of gasoline, kerosene, diesel and acids such as sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric acids. During this time, they had set up a fighting base whereby, they shot the Nazis that they came along, and then took their own lives. A few Jews and children that were left in the ghetto were shipped to Majdanek, Treblinka and Auschwitz (Smith 2010, p.123). Shipment to other cities gave them much morale to fight against the Nazis by pooling their efforts together in order to carry out an aggressive retaliation whenever they were attacked. Suppose they never collaborated, it would have been difficult or even impossible to withstand stiff pressure from their enemies. Czestochowa Ghetto Uprising 1943 This uprising started a few days after the Wehrmacht shot unarmed civilians in two distinct attacks and claimed that the shooting was not intentional rather, the Wehrmacht Regiments did so because they were inexperienced and nervous (Thomas 2014, p.4). During deportation to Treblinka death camp, Jews launched a fire fight along the Nadrzeczna Street by setting up makeshift bunk covers and hiding basements to enable them fight SS guards. However, they were poorly armed such that, they only had one gun for every four people however, those who had no guns hoped they would strip guns from the dead Germans (Williamson 2012, p.110). Unfortunately, they only managed to withstand fierce pressure from the Germans for only five days. Led by their leader Mordechai Zylberberg who shot himself after Germans stormed into his bunk, they retreated because they could not hold anymore. They were defeated because of having poor weapons as opposed to their enemies who were highly armed. Armed resistance in the Death Camps The Auschwitz Sonderkommando Camp Revolt 1944 “Sonderkommando” was a name given to a special unit of Jewish prisoners that were selected upon arrival at the camp to work in such areas as policing the corpses and guarding valuables to and from the crematoria (Guṭman 1994, p.522). However, although the nature of their job was horrible, they were much privileged than other prisoners since they were rewarded by more food and better working conditions. Nevertheless, despite better working conditions and more food, they became rebellious to the Nazis whereby on one morning they attacked all SS guards in and around the crematoria and gas chambers. Sonderkommandos outnumbered SS guards a great deal, thus they were able to resist them despite being poorly armed. These well-fed rebels killed several SS guards using knives and axes and stripped their weapons after shoving them in the oven. They killed over 70 Nazis during that commotion and afterwards flung gunpowder into the crematoria and blew it up. They were accorded much credit because of their relentless efforts to fight against Nazi rule that seemed oppressive to some people especially Jews. A few prisoners escaped from the camp although, they were later recaptured. All sonderkommandos were executed regardless of whether one participated during the revolt or not. The Syrets Concentration Camp Revolt 1943 The Nazis set up a camp in Syrets in 1942 to force Jewish prisoners to provide evidence concerning the Babi Yar massacre. They were subjected to torture in such a way as being forced to burn or bury bodies of their own family members in large pits. Approximately, the Nazis killed around fifteen Jews daily totalling to 25,000 when the camp was dismantled after one year (Edelheit and Edelheit 1991, p.288). The ashes of the burnt victims were scattered on fallow fields where prisoners were forced to sleep on since they had no beds. Additionally, those who defied the order to sleep on the ashes were killed by gunshots or mobile gas truck. Furthermore, Commandant Otto Radomski gave a directive for some prisoners to be tortured in front of fellow Jews as a way of terrifying them. However, Jews resisted further torture starting from September 29, 1943, when 326 prisoners managed to unlock their chains with the keys they got from the dead bodies. Although the prisoners were ill-treated to the extent of being bruised on their bodies, they relentlessly worked in collaboration to kill SS guards by stabbing them to death with their bare-hands. About fifteen Jews were able to escape from the camp and never testified against the perpetrator of Babi Yar massacre while those that were left were killed on the spot. The Sobibor Camp Uprising The Sobibor camp was set up with an intention of killing nearly every Jew that was sent there. Some Soviet POWs were taken to the camp for labour, but later they turned against the Nazis and helped Jews escape from the camp. Although Jews in the camp were being executed, there was a precaution since the Nazis believed that the Soviets were subhuman who were incapable to fight back. Nevertheless, they never knew that Soviet POWS were much experienced soldiers led by Alexander Pechersky who was a Jewish but fortunately, he never looked so (Dobroszycki 1993, p.35). After staying for one month in the camp, he joined a resistance group led by Leon Feldhendler which was plotting to successfully escape from the camp. Led by Pechersky and Feldhender, the Sobibor prisoners lured SS guards and took them around the shop where they would stab them to death secretly. Their intention was to kill every single guard and take their uniform then walk out through the main gate. Unfortunately, they were spotted by one guard who raised an alarm concerning the matter. Almost half of the prisoners managed to escape into the woods while more died after stepping on the landmines and by gunshots. Fifty of them were never recaptured since they hid in farmhouses and drainage pipes with the help of non-Jewish who facilitated their escape. The Treblinka Rebellion 1943 This is the camp where most people were murdered and their bodies taken by the Sonderkommandos to a crematorium based on a hilltop. Jews were forcefully ordered to enter the pit that was used as a crematorium to sift through the ashes in order to ground those bones that were not grounded. SS soldiers thought that if they overworked the Jews, they would not be able to fight back. However, after a few days in the prison, three Jewish men walked towards SS solders and stubbed them with their own knives and facilitated escape of close to 1,500 prisoners (Walker 2011, p.126). The prisoners set every building on fire while SS guards shot towards them. During this commotion, Jews found their way into the prison where they armed most inmates and assisted many women and children escape. Forty of the inmates survived the war after running for their lives into the thicket while the others were recaptured within a week and executed. Partisan groups The Bielski Partisans 1942-1945 The Bielski Partisans were led by four brothers: Alexander, Tuvai, Aron and Asael Bielski, after their parents and sisters were murdered by Nazis in cold blood. They were lucky to escape through the thicket and survived being murdered by SS guards. Consequently, they decided to form a resistance group of 17 members in order to liberate their city from Nazi Germans (Henry 2014, p.69). As SS guards continued carrying out attacks on civilians, some escaped into the forest where they joined the four brothers to form a resistance group. After sometime, they started making visits to their city at night in search for food and to attack German soldiers. Their membership kept swelling to the point where the Soviet joined them to fight against Germans for being oppressive for long time. The Soviet played a very important role in helping the Jews end Nazi rule by providing fierce weapons in order for them to fight back whenever they were attacked by the Germans. Zdzieciol Ghetto Partisans 1942-1944 Zdzieciol known as Dzyatlava was attacked by SS guards, where they established a ghetto and assembled all well-educated citizens at the Main Square and arrested them without any reason. Initially, they thought that they were being taken to work in labour camps; however, they were shot and dumped into the forest a few miles away from the town. Nevertheless, Alter Dvoretsky a local lawyer led a resistance group of 60 men aiming at arming ghetto residents in order to retaliate against the Germans whenever they would attack the Jews. They collaborated with Soviet Red Army in attacking the Germans and stealing valuables from them. Unfortunately, they were unable to defeat the Germans and instead, all well-bodied Jews were butchered and thrown into mass graves by the Germans and the rest were shot dead. Conclusion In conclusion, courageous people such as the four Bieski brothers and Sonderkommandos mobilised the Jews to resist Nazi rule despite lacking powerful weapons as opposed to their counterparts. However, they were exposed to deplorable living conditions and humiliations especially when they were attacked and murdered at Warsaw ghetto on Passover Week as a way of dishonouring their religion. Humiliations and torture did not deter their determination to oust dictatorial Nazi rule by launching numerous retaliations to prove to the Germans that they were not ready to live under such oppression. Finally, the Jewish attack on SS guards enabled a substantial number of people, women and children being among them, to survive torture and death. Nevertheless, those that were recaptured trying to escape were never spared – they were executed on the spot. References Dobroszycki, L., 1993. The Holocaust in the Soviet Union: studies and sources on the destruction of the Jews in the Nazi-occupied territories of the USSR, 1941-1945, Armonk, NY u.a: Sharpe. Edelheit, H. & Edelheit, A.J., 1991. A world in turmoil: an integrated chronology of the Holocaust and World War II, New York: Greenwood Press. Fishkin, R.L., 2011. Heroes of the Holocaust, Mankato, Minn: Compass Point Books. Guṭman, Y., 1994. Anatomy of the Auschwitz death camp, Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press. Henry, P., 2014. Jewish Resistance against the Nazis, Washington D.C., CUA Press. Nzira, V. and Williams, P., 2000. Anti-oppressive practice in health and social care, Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE. Smith, M.S., 2010. Treblinka Survivor the Life and Death of Hershl Sperling, Stroud: History Press. Thomas, N., 2014. Wehrmacht auxiliary forces, London: Osprey Pub. Walker, J., 2011. Poland Alone Britain, SOE and the Collapse of the Polish Resistance, 1944, Stroud: The History Press. Williamson, D.G., 2012. The Polish underground, 1939-1947, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. Read More