Sarah Reynolds

Mr. Hawkins
Moderns World History, Period 3 -P
6 April 2016
Jewish Resistance
1.Though it seems impossible, some Jews during the Holocaust did try to resist the
Nazis. This is mentioned in an article, Resistance in many ways was near impossible for the
Jews, and it was also extremely difficult for citizens in the occupied countries (Resistance
During the Holocaust 1). The Jews (as well as other persecuted people) acted naturally to
knowing what the Nazis planned for them. They were going to fight back, no matter how
impossible their victory seemed and no matter how inevitable being sent to a camp seemed.
None of the Jews wanted to be forced to go to concentration camps, However, it would be a
grave mistake to believe that all Jews went to their death like sheep to slaughter. It would
be equally wrong to think that all non-Jews in Europe did nothing. Despite the odds, many
Jews practiced some form of resistance, whether it was cultural and spiritual, or armed and
active (Resistance during the Holocaust 1). For the Jews, it must have been fighting to know
that one day some van could come up and take ones family to a concentration camp. Luckily,
some non-Jews understood that fear and helped the Jews, knowing that if they were caught, they
would suffer the same fate as the people they protected. There were even more problems for the
resistant Jews, though, While preparing for armed resistance, secret groups in the ghettos
faced extremely difficult problem, such as smuggling arms into the ghetto, training the
fighters under ghetto conditions, and establishing a method for putting the fighters on the
battle alert in case of a surprise action by the Germans (Resistance During the Holocaust

1). This was obviously not the best situation for the Jews, even without the additional problems,
but thats the way the Nazis wanted it. Jewish Resistance didnt exactly work out in the end, but
it might have stalled some peoples trips to the camps.
2. The Holocaust was a terrible time for the Jews as most of them were killed off by
Nazis. Out of their fear, however the Jews did come together to try to resist the Nazis,
Although Jews were the Nazis primary victims, they too resisted Nazis oppression in a
variety of ways, both collectively and as individuals (Holocaust Encyclopedia 1). World
War 2 was especially hard for the Jewish people because of how much Nazis despised them, and
being sent to a concentration camp was almost inevitable, so the Jews had to fight back
someway. Resistance was at least a way to stall their fate, though some of the people really
thought that they could become such a pain for that Nazis that they would eventually be left
alone. Many Jews around Europe became involved with the resistance, Organized armed
resistance was the most forceful form of Jewish opposition to Nazi policies in Germanoccupied Europe. Jewish civilians offered armed resistance in over 100 ghettos in occupied
Poland and the Soviet Union. 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 (Holocaust Encyclopedia 1). Humans know naturally that there is
safety in numbers, and thats what the Jews were doing here. The Nazis were big and
intimidating, but some Jews had enough courage to try to fight back and that courage rubbed off
on other Jews in other places because they knew that they all needed to get together in order to
prevent the Nazis from getting them. The Jews couldnt always be open about their resistance
thought, Jewish prisoners rose against their guards at three killing centers. At Treblinka in
August 1943 and Sobibor in October 1943, prisoners armed with stolen weapons attacked

the SS staff and the Trawniki-trained auxiliary guards (Holocaust Encyclopedia 1). Even
when they were imprisoned, the people tried to resist the Nazis. This, unfortunately didnt go too
well for the Jews as nearly five hundred of them died. Even though it all turned out to be for
nothing, the Jews did try to resist the Nazis as best they could during the holocaust.
3. During the Holocaust, many Jews came together as a resistance against the Nazis.
One of the reasons that the Jewish started this was that, In 1942, Hitler decided to liquidate
the ghettos and, within 10 months, and the more than two million Jews whod survived the
ghettos deported to death camps (Jewish Virtual Library 1). This obviously called for some
kind of rebellion. It seems pretty pointless for the Jews to try and resist Hitler, but it almost
worked because not all Jews died. Later, In January 1943, Warsaw ghetto fighters fired
upon German troops as they tried to round up another group of ghetto inhabitants for
deportation. Fighter used a small supply of weapons that had been smuggled into the
ghetto (Jewish Virtual Library 1). Even though the Jews were eventually able to put up some
sort of a fight, it was very hard for them to get to that point because of the lack of resources.
Since they were stuck in the ghetto, there wasnt really a good way to train their men, and even
if they did end up training properly, it was difficult to weapons smuggled into the ghettos.
Despite all this, they won at Warsaw, and the German troops retreated after a few days, The
Jews in the ghetto believed that what had happened in January was proof that by offering
resistance it was possible to force the Germans to desist from their plans (Jewish Virtual
Library 1). A lot of Jewish people thought that the Germans would continue forcefully with
their plans if Jews became passive. Unfortunately, the Nazis would persist no matter how the
Jews behaved. During the Holocaust, the Jews did see that what the Germans were doing was
wrong, and they also tried to resist it, sadly, they were not able to completely.