Essays
Topics
preview

Holocaust Resistance: The Largest Jews Revolt Holocaust Resistance

Good Essays
Open Document
Holocaust Resistance

During the duration of the Holocaust, millions of Jews and other minorities found themselves at the mercy of Nazi commandment. Despite the threat of death hanging over their heads, Jews organized resistance groups and fought back their oppressors. Resistance came in all sorts, ranging from committing suicide and dying with dignity to lashing out and killing their captors (“Jewish Resistance to the Nazi Genocide”). Within the camps there were individuals who openly fought back against the Germans, for instance Meir Berliner, who killed an SS soldier with only a knife as a weapon (“Acts of Resistance”). However, one murder of a German soldier resulted in more than a hundred Jews being killed as retribution and so individual rebellions we’re not favored. (“Acts of Resistance”). Instead, small groups formed while in captivity and constructed plans of escape. These groups revolted silently but ferociously; daring to steal guns and ammunition and sneaking in explosives to level their most frightening enemy, the crematorium (“Armed Resistance”). Resistance in camps hardly ever ended with the prisoners finally achieving their well sought out freedom, but there were a select few that somehow managed to not only escape the camp, but also survive the numerous German soldiers who were sent out after them.

One of the largest Jewish revolts dated in the Holocaust, was that of the Warsaw Ghetto. In the year of 1943, residents of the ghetto had finally had enough of the overbearing Nazi soldiers and decided to launch a counterattack. An estimated group of 1,000 strong fought back with all they had, decimating around 300 hundred soldiers and critically injuring another 1,000 (“Jewish Resistance to the Nazi Genocide”). A...

... middle of paper ...

...st Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

“Jewish Resistance to the Nazi Genocide”. Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

“Jewish Uprising in Ghettos and Camps, 1941-1944”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

“The Jews of Chelm & Escape from Borek Forest”. Holocaust Education Research & Archive Team. H.E.A.R.T, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

“Theresienstadt: Spiritual Resistance and Historical Context”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

“Treblinka Death Camp Revolt”. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Noah S. Archer H.E.A.R.T, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

Weinstock, Yael G. “Spiritual Resistance During the Holocaust.” Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
Get Access
Related
Get Access