New insight into the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

[Bauer_CTU]

I see it not so much as national pride (although I'm sure many do go down that path), you know, 'oh we did this better than that' sentimentality. In such a major conflagration as was the Second World War, the majority of histories tend to focus on the titanic battles and much less on armed resistance in the lesser glamorised arenas. And it is a pity.

The Warsaw Uprising, also, needs a higher level of profile, in my opinion, precisely because it was a totally besieged populace packed into a ghetto. Furthermore, with specific relation to the Shoah, it was, as far as I know, the first time the Jewish people really resisted, and not of a resistance of the escape and evade scenario.

It will forever remain a mystery to me how: when from the killing fields all over Poland (cf. Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, for example), to the Einsatzgruppen and Teilkommando, to Dirlewanger, the gas vans/chambers etc etc.; that how the Jews to be 'liquidated' were almost peacefully led to the pits of Babi Yar, or into the more 'humane' factories of death - why did they not resist? The cynic might possibly say, look at the Warsaw Uprising, the Soviets stopped their offensive into the Polish capital for the duration of said hostilities. Would this betray a deeper, meaner streak on the Continent? I've read this summation (book or article??) and it kind of stuck with me, and I've not been able to eek out an answer from any of the serious literature on the subject I've read. It is also why I think the Warsaw Uprising should be studied and given a higher profile, akin to the massive and titanic battles fought in that War.

What do you all think? (hope this is not off-topic)

[Camera]

I see it not so much as national pride (although I'm sure many do go down that path), you know, 'oh we did this better than that' sentimentality. In such a major conflagration as was the Second World War, the majority of histories tend to focus on the titanic battles and much less on armed resistance in the lesser glamorised arenas. And it is a pity.

The Warsaw Uprising, also, needs a higher level of profile, in my opinion, precisely because it was a totally besieged populace packed into a ghetto. Furthermore, with specific relation to the Shoah, it was, as far as I know, the first time the Jewish people really resisted, and not of a resistance of the escape and evade scenario.

I agree with you that besides the big battles of WW2 there were many armed resistance heroic actions that deserve to be known better.
Like the big battles, the annihilation of the Jews of Europe dominated the collective memory as a major chapters of WW2. The resistance of the Jews and their contribution to the war effort against the Nazis are not well known enough.

It will forever remain a mystery to me how: when from the killing fields all over Poland (cf. Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, for example), to the Einsatzgruppen and Teilkommando, to Dirlewanger, the gas vans/chambers etc etc.; that how the Jews to be 'liquidated' were almost peacefully led to the pits of Babi Yar, or into the more 'humane' factories of death - why did they not resist?

The cynic might possibly say, look at the Warsaw Uprising, the Soviets stopped their offensive into the Polish capital for the duration of said hostilities. Would this betray a deeper, meaner streak on the Continent? I've read this summation (book or article??) and it kind of stuck with me, and I've not been able to eek out an answer from any of the serious literature on the subject I've read. It is also why I think the Warsaw Uprising should be studied and given a higher profile, akin to the massive and titanic battles fought in that War.

What do you all think? (hope this is not off-topic)

To avoid resistance, the Nazis organized the extermination in such a way that people were not aware that they are going to be murdered. When the first rumors about the gas chambers reached the ghettos, people could not believe and did not want to believe them.
It took time for the resistance to organize, and it was quite impossible to carry for those who were imprisoned in the ghettos or deported to the camps with their children and/or old parents.

But the Jewish resistance deserves to be better known.

Besides the Warsaw ghetto, armed revolts occurred in a dozen of other ghettos in Poland. Here is their list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto_uprising

Revolts occurred also in the death camps. The prisoners of Sobibor and Treblinka successfully revolted in 1943. As a result, Himmler closed these two camps.
The Sondercommandos revolted in Auschwitz-Bierkenau in 1944 and succeeded to blow up the Crematorium 4 with explosives that were smuggled inside the camp.
(There's a great book about the revolt of Treblinka that I recommend to those who read French: http://www.babelio.com/livres/Steine...mination/36211)

The Jews resisted also by joining resistance movements and partisans units. There were Jewish partisans units in Poland and in Russia. Many Polish Jews enlisted to the Red Army.

Some 1.5 millions Jews fought in the armies of the allies and in the underground resistance and partisans units. About 250,000 Jews were KIAs.
Estimated numbers of Jews who fought in the allies armies:

The estimated numbers of Jewish men and women who fought in the ranks of the various armies are:

USA	550 000
Australia	3 900
Israel (Jewish Volunteers)	30 000
Britain	62 000
USSR	500 000
Yugoslavia	6000 (over 4000 in the Partisan army)
Greece	13 000
Poland	122 000
Czechoslovakia	5 500
France	35 000
Canada	17 000
South Africa	10 000

There are no facts and estimates on the number of Jews in the Belgian, Dutch, and New Zealandarmies. A careful estimate puts the number of Jewish partisans in the occupied parts of the USSR at 20 000 - 25 000, and in the other European countries at another 10 000, including the anti-Nazi underground.

http://www.yadlashiryon.com/show_ite...50&itemId=2033

30,000 Jews from Palestine volunteered to the British army. A part of these volunteers enlisted to the Jewish Brigade that fought in North Africa and Italy.

All this is little known as the collective contagiousness focussed on the Shoah. (The cornerstone for a Museum about the Jewish Fighters in WW2 was laid this year in Latrun. Its construction will end within few years.)

[Musashi]

The estimated numbers of Jewish men and women who fought in the ranks of the various armies are:

USA 550 000
Australia 3 900
Israel (Jewish Volunteers) 30 000
Britain 62 000
USSR 500 000
Yugoslavia 6000 (over 4000 in the Partisan army)
Greece 13 000
Poland 122 000
Czechoslovakia 5 500
France 35 000
Canada 17 000
South Africa 10 000



There are no facts and estimates on the number of Jews in the Belgian, Dutch, and New Zealandarmies. A careful estimate puts the number of Jewish partisans in the occupied parts of the USSR at 20 000 - 25 000, and in the other European countries at another 10 000, including the anti-Nazi underground.

I don't have any doubt about the number of Jews fighting in the Polish Army, however, their number in the U.S. Army seems to be exaggerated. It would mean roughly 10% of American servicemen were Jews, what is disproportionate to their population in the U.S.A.

[Camera]

I don't have any doubt about the number of Jews fighting in the Polish Army, however, their number in the U.S. Army seems to be exaggerated. It would mean roughly 10% of American servicemen were Jews, what is disproportionate to their population in the U.S.A.

I don't know how accurate is the estimation of this source. The Museum that is built in Latrun will not be only a place for exhibitions but also a framework for historical studies and professional researches.


EDIT:
Yad Vashem gives the same number for the US Army: 550K Jewish soldiers. http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holo...h_soldiers.asp

The Web Site of the future museum gives the number of 550K Jews out of 16.1 millions that were enlisted to the US army to the end of the war. So the number is not 10% but about 3%.
http://www.jwmww2.org/show_item.asp?...army_id=100001

[GB_FXST]

... snip ...

It will forever remain a mystery to me how: when from the killing fields all over Poland (cf. Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, for example), to the Einsatzgruppen and Teilkommando, to Dirlewanger, the gas vans/chambers etc etc.; that how the Jews to be 'liquidated' were almost peacefully led to the pits of Babi Yar, or into the more 'humane' factories of death - why did they not resist?

... snip ...

As noted by Camera, a lot of the literature indicates that people believed or convinced themselves to be believe Nazi propaganda about re-settlement in the East, especially considering German culture and civilization.

Other themes that I am aware of include better that "some of us die than an all of us die." There was of course also the element of apathy and despair.

[GB_FXST]

I don't have any doubt about the number of Jews fighting in the Polish Army, however, their number in the U.S. Army seems to be exaggerated. It would mean roughly 10% of American servicemen were Jews, what is disproportionate to their population in the U.S.A.

Deborah Dash Moore in her book GI Jews cites that over half a million Jews served in the US Armed Forces during WWII. I am at a loss for the reference at the moment, but do recall reading a statistic that per-capita, Jews were the largest serving minority in the US Armed Forces during WWII.

[James]

I don't have any doubt about the number of Jews fighting in the Polish Army, however, their number in the U.S. Army seems to be exaggerated. It would mean roughly 10% of American servicemen were Jews, what is disproportionate to their population in the U.S.A.

I think the number referred to the entire military, not just the army. More than 16 million Americans served in the military in WWII. 550K is 3.4%, not 10%. In the 1940s, Jews comprised 3.7% of the U.S. population.

[Vejadu]

I had the privilege of studying with Dr Zawodny at Claremont; he taught a course on "theory and practice of terrorism" drawing on his experience fighting in the rising of Warsaw. Lessons learned served me well in the years since. He was with ZWZ; fyi his wiki link is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J****z_K._Zawodny

Zawodny fought in the Polish Army during World War II, initially during the Invasion of Poland, then with the underground Home Army resistance movement. He took part as a second lieutenant in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising during the September campaign, first a soldier of the ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej), then the AK (Armia Krajowa). In the Warsaw Uprising he was a platoon commander of a battalion AK "Lukasiriski", and later replaced the commander of the companies "Cost" in the group the "Pine" at the Old Town. In the street fighting against Waffen-SS troops, he was twice wounded: once in the hand by submachine gun fire at point-blank range, and once to his face and ear by schrapnel after he recovered, and threw back, a live German grenade that was tossed into the bunker he and his men were sheltering in. After the uprising, he was captured and became a prisoner of war in Oflag VII-A Murnau under a different name, "Turczyk", as he was wanted by the Gestapo beginning in April 1944. After liberation from Murnau, he joined the Second Polish Army Corps in Italy, where he commanded a battalion of heavy armored cars in the 12th Podolian Uhlan Regimen

[KoTeMoRe]

To my mind major uprisings/partisan activities in Europe have to be related to the Soviet 1942 offensives.

Bryansk raids...which arguably were the first massive collisions between partisans and German troops.
The "Vistyebsk Gate" is the first important partisan related break through in occupied territories. Then would have to be the Greek Fardykambos Battle against the Italians (march 1943). To what one should consider the systematic defeat of the Italian occupation force in Albania starting from April-May 1943.

What is a bit unsettling here is the idea behind the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising was not a planned attempt to free the Ghetto. It was simply resisting, with crude means, the deportation and cleansing of the Ghetto. As such a lot of events prior to it qualify as "first acts of resistance in Europe"...starting by the Bryansk raids.

[GB_FXST]

Until someone can confirm that the claim of "first act of resistance" is a component of Aren's thesis, the blogger's hyperbole is just that.

The book is waiting for me on my Kindle, and I suspect that Aren's areas of interest are the lost history as well as the irony of two Jewish groups unable to find common ground despite the obvious threat before them.

[James]

Until someone can confirm that the claim of "first act of resistance" is a component of Aren's thesis, the blogger's hyperbole is just that.

The book is waiting for me on my Kindle, and I suspect that Aren's areas of interest are the lost history as well as the irony of two Jewish groups unable to find common ground despite the obvious threat before them.

I agree, this thread isn't about everyone throwing out "Well to me, resistance started in yada yada but I'm not considering regular armed forces..."

[Bauer_CTU]

Thanks to everyone who replied to me.

Most definitely I agree about the precautions the Third Reich (and possibly to a lesser extent, their auxiliaries such as the "hiwi") took to ensure secrecy and it is down for the historical record, more or less, as nothing was flawless. The question I posited, is not my own, I had read it somewhere, but for the life of me I cannot remember where. The same source asked how, for example, at Babi Yar where there would have been continual shooting, there were no attempts at escape or even insurrection. The questions, as far as I remember them, were not framed in the sense of 'well, why didn't they do anything', it was in the sense of merely 'why?'.

[Camera]

Thanks to everyone who replied to me.

Most definitely I agree about the precautions the Third Reich (and possibly to a lesser extent, their auxiliaries such as the "hiwi") took to ensure secrecy and it is down for the historical record, more or less, as nothing was flawless. The question I posited, is not my own, I had read it somewhere, but for the life of me I cannot remember where. The same source asked how, for example, at Babi Yar where there would have been continual shooting, there were no attempts at escape or even insurrection. The questions, as far as I remember them, were not framed in the sense of 'well, why didn't they do anything', it was in the sense of merely 'why?'.

Babi Yar is a good example of how the Nazi operated to deceive their victims in order to trap them.

When the Nazis took Kiev some 100,000 Jews out of the 160,000 Jews of the city fled. 60,000 remained.
About 10 days after the city was captured, the Nazis ordered the Jews to gather in a cross roads of the city. They were ordered to take with them ID documents, money and clothes… A Jew that won't obey to the order will be shot.

Tens of thousands of people obeyed the order, believing they were going to be resettled elsewhere. (The commander of the Einsatzgruppen reported that they still believed they will be deported until the last moment of their execution thankfully to the "clever organization" of the operation.)

From there, they were directed to the nearby area of the Jewish cemetery.
Once they entered the perimeter of the cemetery, they could not escape anymore because it was surrounded in advance with barbed-wire and was guarded by armed Waffen SS and Ukrainien policemen.

During two days, they were taken in small groups to the ravin where they were undressed before being shot. 33-34,000 Jews were murdered there in September 29-30th.

Later, other mass murderers were carried out in Babi Yar for a total of more than 100,000 victims, half of which were Jews.

[Camera]

This new book seems very interesting:


The legacy of a Holocaust hero condemned to life

Researcher Avihu Ronen's journey in search of his mother, Warsaw ghetto fighter Chajka Klinger, is extraordinary for being a combination of a fascinating history book, meticulous research and a very poignant memoir.


By Eilat Negev




Ronen did not grow to maturity in the care of his mother. She died on April 18, 1958, when he was just 9-years-old. On the first anniversary of her death, he read her book, “Ghetto Diary,” describing her experience in the ghetto and published that year by Sifriat Poalim. But only at age 14 did he discover that she had not died of heart disease, as he and his two brothers had been told, but had hanged herself.

Much later he realized that his mother, a member of the underground in the Polish city of Bedzin who maintained contact with her comrades in the Warsaw Ghetto, chose to take her life exactly on the 15th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and to join her dead comrades.

Ronen’s journey in search of his mother is extraordinary for being a combination of a fascinating history book, meticulous research and a very poignant memoir. It is no surprise that the book was, very justly, awarded the University of Haifa’s coveted Bahat prize for a nonfiction academic book. Ronen investigated, compared, cross-checked and verified different versions of his mother’s diaries and other writings in Polish, examining her historical truth in light of the sometimes conflicting information and commentaries that have been collected over the years. He supplements his portrait of the puzzle of her life and death with interviews conducted with people who knew her.

Ronen leads the reader through the Europe of the 1930s and ‘40s, which is the heart of the book, and its most important part, toward 1950s Israel, and Chajka’s attempts to find meaning in her life on a kibbutz. Then onward to 1985, when Ronen began researching his mother’s life and considered turning it into the subject of his doctoral dissertation; and, finally, to the present day when, after 25 years of work, he finished the book. It is almost paradoxical that few children ever know their parents as deeply as Avihu Ronen grew to know his mother, although the years they actually spent together were few.

CONTINUED: http://www.haaretz.com/culture/books...-life-1.434301





Chajka Klinger, Avihu Ronen's mother

Condemned to Life: The Diaries and Life of Chajka Klinger‏, by Avihu Ronen.
The University of Haifa and Yedioth Books, 630 pages, NIS 118

[Marsh]

Note: I am no way attempting to diminish the bravery of the resisters within the Ghetto, especially when the USSR deigned it beneficial to not assist in the Uprising.

Hi Bauer,
Re a lack of Soviet support of the Ghetto uprising, you are mixing up the fight of the Ghetto with the equally brave general uprising of the population of Warsaw at a later date in the war.

Marsh