Jewish Resistance Within Death Camps example essay topic

Jewish resistance throughout the holocaust has caused much debate among academics historians, and even governments. Historians conclude that resistance was practical and morally constrained throughout the Second World War, for a variety of reasons. Historians such as Rab Bennett, Michael Marrus, Richard L Rubenstein, and John K Roth all have written in detail about the constraints placed upon Jewish resistance throughout this period. Each of these explanations will be examined throughout this paper. Furthermore, this paper will discuss examples of Jewish resistance during the holocaust, while applying the theories of each historian to explain in detail about the morale and practical constraints within Jewish resistance. Three main theories have been put forward to establish and explain how Jewish resistance was so constrained.

Firstly, the Nazi army was attacking an unprepared and unarmed population, who were taken by complete surprise during the Holocaust. Secondly, the Nazi army used brutal and cruel warfare methods upon the Jewish population to fully implement the holocaust. Finally Jewish resistance was met by such massive repercussions by the Nazi army, which ultimately created fear among each community to obey the rule of Nazi government. The Nazi government secured a total fascist state in 1934 and had implemented the "final solution" in 1940. The "final solution" was to systematically destroy the European Jewish population with unspeakable horrors, which included gassing, executions, malnutrition, and grotesque medical experiments. Despite these conditions, Jews in both concentration camps and in the ghetto es tried to resist the Nazi army.

However, explained by historian Rab Bennett the Nazi army had practically constrained Jewish resistance through a policy called "collective responsibility". The aim of this policy was to create a sense of insecurity among the European Jewish population. For example the Nazi army had started to deport Jews in Vilna to a nearby concentration camp. Some Jews escaped and joined a resistance movement in a neighboring village. What happened next was typical of the policy called "collective responsibility".

The Jewish resistance group obtained a few weapons, and clashed with the Nazi army outside the city. Most of the Jews were immediately captured and killed instantly. In retaliation for the resistance, the local army sized the entire family of each fugitive or all who lived with him; they also sized the leaders of all the Jewish work parties in the vicinity, together with their families. All were shot in front of the population in the city. Thereafter, the Germans divided all work parties leaving the ghetto into groups of ten; if one person escaped, the entire group would be killed. "Collective reasonability" was a practical measure to contain resistance.

The main aim of the practice was to kill people indiscriminately and strike fear into the entire community. Rab Bennett attributes this to be a main factor in constraining resistance. Fear became the ultimate weapon that the Wermacht and Gestapo would use against the Jewish population to get them to comply with their demands. The Nazi army went further to strengthen the policy of "collective responsibility", which aimed to consolidate total fear upon the Jewish population within Europe. The Nazi army council in 1941, ordered reprisal killings for every single German soldier killed. The total settled at 100: 1 in Yugoslavia and Greece however 300: 1 was not uncommon, much depended on the ruthlessness of the German commander.

Jewish resistance became much more constrained throughout the Holocaust by the use of these brutal methods. The Germans began to starve Jewish ghettos such as Warsaw and Bialystok in 1940-1941 to continue with the policy of the final solution. The rules that German soldiers applied to Jewish ghettos were extremely harsh and so stringent that if Jews were to obey they would probably have perished in a short period of time. Michael Marrus a historian writes in detail about Jewish ghettos. Marrus explains that the Nazi's had set a food allowance of 391 calories per day for each Jewish person. Well below the war rationing of any other European country.

Furthermore Jewish ghettos would be frequently attacked and most Jews would be deported to death camps. Michael Marrus compiled a study of underground ghetto organisations and finds that actual resistance took place after the first deportations, in 1941. Many Jews became finally convinced that the inhabitants had no chance for survival and therefore must resist the Nazi army. The most significant point of Jewish resistance formulated in the Warsaw ghetto after eighty percent of the population had disappeared in 1942. The population had been transported to a nearby death camp located in Eastern Europe called Treblinka. The uprising began in spring 1943 with the mainstream Jewish Fighting Organisation (ZOB) which had formulated to resist Nazi extermination.

ZOB had nearly five hundred fighters, armed with gasoline bombs, hand grenades, pistols, a few sub machine guns, and about ten rifles. The organizations main objective was to form resistance against the Nazi army. Against ZOB, the German commander SS-Brigade fuhrer had called for over two thousand well-trained and armed men, equipped with armored vehicles, artillery, flame throwers, heavy caliber machine guns and even aircraft. During the revolt, the Germans set fire to the ghetto to drive out its inhabitants, reduced whole blocks to rubble by continued shell bombing, and pumped poison gas into sewers and bunkers where Jews sought shelter.

Sporadic resistance continued for more than a month, ending in the total destruction of the ghetto and the deportation of its remaining population. The significance of the revolt was more symbolic with the German army losing sixtieth soldiers. News spread of the revolt bringing hope to other resisters. However, fundamentally the evidence demonstrates how the Nazi army practically constrained Jewish resistance. Michael Marrus states that the Nazi German army was well prepared and militarily outweighed any Jewish resistance movement. The practical and moral constraints placed upon resistance were immense and Jews were left with few options.

Jewish resistance also took place within three extermination camps located in Eastern Europe. At Sobibor and Treblinka, prisoners had stolen weapons and attacked the SS staff and their Ukrainian auxiliary guards. The rebels were immediately shot and a dozen prisoners tried to escape. Guards hunted down the escapees and they were also murdered. At Auschwitz, four Jewish women helped Jewish crematorium workers blow up a crematorium.

All four rebels were killed. Jewish resistance within death camps was met with death. Any opposition within the three death camps were killed to deter any further opposition. The Nazi guards continued the holocaust with effective results and constrained Jewish resistance, by operating a zero tolerance policy. Jewish resistance has been considered minor within the death camps due to the fact that the people were unarmed and the ruthless techniques adopted by the German army. Figure 1: Jewish Armed Resistance in Ghettos and Camps 1941-1944.

The map above shows the number of Jewish ghettos that the Nazi's controlled during the Second World War. Extermination and labour camps are also highlighted. The purpose of this map is to present the vast control that Nazi Germany had over the Jewish population. The Nazi's continued to deport Jews from all across Europe to these areas highlighted on the map. The Nazi's were able to practically and morally constrain Jewish resistance through concealment. Almost all European countries had no knowledge that the Holocaust was in practice during the Second World War.

Every single Jew that was deported by the Nazi army had been done under false pretences. Many Jews did not fully realise they were being deported to a concentration camp until they arrive in one during 1940-1944. Even to the point when Jews where being lead into gas chambers the Nazi army had been able to keep the holocaust a secret, as many Jews, believed they were taking a shower. The Nazi government was able to keep the "final solution" a complete secret from the outside world explains Richard L Rubenstein. Many Jews were completely unaware that the holocaust was in existence. This practically and morally constrained Jewish resistance because much of the Jewish population where initially unaware of the Nazi armies intentions, thus creating confusion, among resisters.

Jewish resistance was constrained morally and practically throughout the holocaust primarily because the Nazi army was able to use complete barbaric warfare techniques to destroy the Jewish population. The Jewish population had never before encountered such a ferrous and life threatening campaign of genocide on behalf of Nazi Germany. Collective resistance made it even harder to bear because Jewish resistance was crushed so relentlessly by the German Wermacht. Above all the holocaust could be considered man's bleakest hour when viewing the evidence. Moreover, Jewish resistance had been considered a minor obstacle in the sheer destruction process. It is interesting to note that most German anti-Semitic propaganda portrayed the Jewish population as powerful rich race of people who even controlled governments.

Yet, they were ultimately defenseless and unprotected against the Nazi army who torture and kill so many. Jewish resistance was small and sporadic up to 1944, until the death camps were liberated. The sheer horrors unfolded as gas chambers had been discovered by the allies and the full horrors of the holocaust were realised. Opposition may have been minor yet it did take place throughout Europe and many Jewish people fought unarmed against Nazi genocide.

The Jewish population faced an enemy that practiced total warfare against them. The Nazi army was able to efficiently wipe out more than six million Jewish people, while practically and morally constraining Jewish resistance throughout the Second World War.

Bibliography

Published Materials: Rab Bennett, Under the Shadow of the Swastika: The Moral Dilemmas of Resistance and Collaboration in Hitler's Europe, New York University Press. 1999.
Frank McDonough, Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany: 1933-1945, Cambridge University Press Michael R.
Marrus, The Holocaust in History, Key Porter Books Ltd. 2000 Randall C.
By terk, Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Michigan State University Press. 2004 Internet resources: Author Unknown, Map taken from Google Website, web The Holocaust History Project Homepage: web Timeline: Resistance: fc it.