Brody Thomas

UWRT 1102-009
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
April 4, 2015
Inquiry Research Review: Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust
The Holocaust has always been known for how poorly Jews were treated by the Nazis,
and this is all true. The Germans during WWII wiped out a huge number of the Jewish
population over the course of the war all to promote Hitlers idea of his one supreme race. Many
Jews, not knowing what was being done to them until it was too late, never resisted German
control. They obeyed and followed all orders they were given. This resulted in the Jews being
corralled into ghettos and work camps or death camps to meet their fate. Out of the huge number
of Jews involved in the Holocaust, there were individuals and groups who resisted the Germans
commands whether they were in ghettos, camps, or resisting capture in the first place. In this
research review, I will be discussing facts I learned about this topic.
The two pieces of writing I will be discussing are The Sociological Quarterly: The Need
to Know: Cultured Ignorance and Jewish Resistance in the Ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, and d
by Rachel L. Einwohner and Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis by Patrick Henry. Einwohners
journal, which I found on JSTOR, gives a good background on Jewish resistance. It talks about
different cases in ghettos for a more detailed look at what went on in the different camps.
Henrys book gives a good overview of the whole topic, with many statistics when it comes to
the Holocaust, and also gives good information on the Holocaust in the Ukraine and Belarus.

From Einwohners journal, one fact I found important was that when most people think
of the Holocaust they immediately think of death walks and concentration camps. Einwohner
states that Before the implementation of the Nazis genocidal Final Solution Jews living in
countries invaded by Germany during World War II were subject to repressive treatment(412).
She is referring to ghettos, which were areas in larger cities or towns cut off from all other areas.
The only purpose of these ghettos was to separate Jews from everyone else, but many deaths
happened here from the over population, hunger, disease, and harsh treatment from Nazi soldiers.
Some ghettos even had factories where the Jews would work because it was cheap labor.
I was amazed when I read how small these ghettos actually were. Einwohner says In the
d ghetto, an estimated 160,000 to 170,000 Jews were forced to live in an area of four square
kilometers surrounded by barbed wire fence(413). This population to living space comparison
really shows why so many Jews died in ghettos. Not only were they cut off from all resources
they once had, but they were also confined into an extremely small space. With that many
people, sickness inevitably became rampant. This really shows that many Jews were lost in the
ghetto stage of the Holocaust.
So you may be wondering why I havent discussed Resistance. Well, I felt I should
discuss a little of what I thought made the most sense as to why Resistance did occur in ghettos. I
felt that these comments by Einwohner I stated above were perfect examples. Einwohners
journal goes into great detail about the armed resistance that happened in The Warsaw Ghetto.
Probably one of the best examples of resistance in a ghetto. The reason this act of resistance
happened is because the residents of The Warsaw Ghetto heard of the fate of neighboring Jews in
other ghettos. Einwohner says Armed resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto took place in two
episodes: a four-day battle between Jews and Nazi soldiers in January 1943, and a longer period

of fighting that began on April 19 of that year that lasted several weeks, after which the ghetto
was completely destroyed(414). It amazes me that within a Ghetto, an act of resistance could go
on for so long. I also think that the Germans had so much power, that if any act of resistance
occurred it would quickly be stopped, but that was not the case. The Jews confined in the ghetto
fought the Nazis those several days because they realized there was no hope of them surviving.
They choose to die with dignity and honor instead of being slaughtered in Treblinka.
In the chapter about Jewish Resistance in the Ukrain and Belarus during the Holocaust
found in Patrick Henrys Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis, I read many facts that I found
interesting. From this book I found out that there was an estimate of 2.1 million Jews in the
Ukraine and Belarus under German rule with about 40,000 to 45,000 surviving after the war.
According to Henry The figures indicate a survival rate of 1-2 percent(484). These facts
amazed me because I had no clue that there were this many Jews located in this area or any for
that matter. Also the fact that there were so many before the war compared to the survival rate in
the area.
Another thing that I found interesting was that some Jews joined Soviet Fighting groups
during the war. Henry says that there werent many who joined to fight, but few did when times
were hard(500). From doing this they were treated similarly to soviet fighters, but not equally
because the Soviets had a neutral feeling towards Jews. This was done under a Soviet policy to
establish partisan groups. Henry says to establish partisan groups on the basis of the Soviet
territorial divisions, so that in Belarus, for instance, the detachments were Belorussian,
whatever their ethnic composition was; ethnic, or national, units, were not permitted. Contrary to
established Soviet policy, several Jewish detachments were formed(501).

According to Henrys book, the Bielski and Zorin groups located in the Naliboki forests
were the most known. They lived in these forests throughout the conflict helping fellow Jews and
also fighting Germans when they were threatened or pursued. In the book, Henry gives a
description with a great amount of detail in regards to these groups. He tells of the Bielski
partisans accepting every Jew that came their way. That they were supported by many Soviet
Units in the area since the group was usually more than happy to help them fight. Just to show
how much of an effect they had, the Beilski Partisans lead 1,200 Jews from the forest after
liberation.
After reading The Sociological Quarterly: The Need to Know: Cultured Ignorance and
Jewish Resistance in the Ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, and d by Rachel L. Einwohner and
Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis by Patrick Henry, I realized that I thought I knew much
more than I actually did when it came to the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance. It just amazes me
what some Jews did to keep their freedom or honor knowing they were going to meet their fate
sometime soon during the resistance in ghettos and camps. I also thought that in their situation
most Jews would go by the fend for yourself policy, but many helped others and the Bielski
Partisans are a prime example of that. Overall, I learned a great deal on this topic from doing
inquiry work and writing this paper, things I wouldnt have known if didnt have to write it.

WORKS CITED
Henry, Patrick. Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis.Washington:
The Catholic University of America Press, 2014.Project MUSE. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
https://muse.jhu.edu/.
Marrus, Michael R. Jewish Resistance to Holocaust. Sage Publications, Ltd.,1995. JSTOR. Web.
14 Apr. 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/260923