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Holocaust Holocaust was by far one of the most hideous events that took place in the 20 th century. It is crucial that the remembrance, history and lessons of Holocaust are passed to the next generations, since that would ensure that terrible genocide like the one at issue would never happen again. The most important thing students and people at large can do to prevent this from happening again is to combat all the discrimination or prejudice that could possibly lead to another Holocaust. To do so, it would be helpful to see how people resented holocaust at the time it took place, since it would be a good example of what to do. Military resistance during the Holocaust occurred on a seemingly small scale but it was exceedingly disruptive to the German army, especially in Russia and the Balkans.
Areas of resistance were widely dispersed yet located in every country and province overrun by the German army. Many different organizations with varied religious and ethnic backgrounds took up arms against the Nazis. Groups such as the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw ghetto and The Bielski Brigade in Belorussia caused considerable disruption to the German army and Waffen- SS operations in Warsaw and in Belorussia. (Bauer 73) The Jewish Fighting Organization actively resisted German attempts to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto from April 19 to May 15 armed with only several dozen pistols and a few hand grenades, most of them made from scratch. Most of its members were among the 7, 000 people executed in the ghetto or the 49, 000 shipped to death camps. The Bielski Brigade operated from 1941 to 1945. By 1944, the unit had more than 1, 200 Jewish members. (Rothchild 126) It engaged German and Belorussian auxiliary forces in direct combat but its primary goal was the protection of Jewish civilians who escaped into the forest.
It was not just Jews that participated in resistance oriented activities against the Nazis. After the German army subdued Denmark in April of 1940, eight patriotic Danes formed the first part of what would become and underground network. The group took its name, Holger Danske, from a mythical Danish hero who would rise to protect Denmark. It was based in Copenhagen and by August 1943, consisted of over 450 men and women, and both Jews and Christians.
The groups operated in parties of less than 5 and took on a variety of missions including killing informers, raiding German military facilities, and sabotaging rail lines. Many other partisan groups, whose names are too numerous to list, operated in France, Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Norway. These groups had both Christian and Jewish members and the groups in France, Denmark, and Holland received airdrops from both British and American special operations planes. These airdrops contained guns, explosives, fake identification, radios and food. On many occasions, U. S.
and British special agents were dropped into the fore mentioned countries to coordinate resistance activities with local resistance groups. Not all the resistance groups participated in armed resistance however. Spiritual and unarmed resistance were far less difficult to organize but were still as dangerous to undertake. There were several forms of unarmed and spiritual resistance. As portrayed in The Diary of Anne Frank, non-Jews who sheltered Jews or provided them with clothes and fake identification were sent to death along with the Jews they were trying to protect. (Liebster 155) One of the groups that participated in unarmed resistance was the General Union of French Jews. The Union was started in June of 1940 by 13 French Jews in Paris.
The Unions main function was to establish soup kitchens and refugee centers for fellow Jews who were in need. Under the leadership of David Rapaport, the Union also fabricated identity papers and found hiding places for Jewish children. Instead of going underground or to Switzerland as friends advised, Rapaport maintained his legal cover. In May of 1943, a French Jew carrying one of Rapaport's identity cards was arrested and, under torture, revealed Rapaport's name. On June 1, 1943, Rapaport was arrested in his office by Gestapo officials. His wife was arrested on June 2.
They were then sent to Auschwitz and killed. The most dangerous type of unarmed resistance was publishing an underground newspaper. Perhaps the most famous of all the underground papers was the White Rose. Started by two University of Munich medical students, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, the White Rose lasted only 8 months. The six leaflets published in that time stand out as a rare example of German resistance against Hitlers genocidal policies.
The White Rose publishing ceased after five of its most important members were caught distributing leaflets and killed. Spiritual resistance was a much more widespread act of resistance against the Nazis. It constituted of praying or observing religious holidays that were not allowed under Nazi law. One of the less publicized stories is that of Jehovah Witnesses. The Witnesses continued spreading and practicing their beliefs and distributing pamphlets after it was outlawed by the Nazi regime. They believed that allegiance can not be sworn to a country, only to God.
Their refusal to serve in the German Army or perform the Heil Hitler salute often led to their incarceration. Incarceration in a death camp had only one ending, except for those who attempted the unthinkable. Nazi death camps were the most effective means of genocide ever devised by man. They were built to as escape proof as possible. Barb wire fences 15 feet high, land mines, search lights, and towers with machine guns made these camps almost inescapable. One of the largest extermination camp uprisings occurred at Sobibor in Poland.
In the summer of 1943, a group of prisoners formed an underground organization as the killing operations were winding down. The group was aided in their hopes of escape by the arrival of several Jewish prisoners of war with military training. Approximately 40 prisoners were involved in the uprising. The uprising occurred on October 14, 1943 after months of planning.
Three hundred prisoners escaped during the uprising and several of the camp staff and auxiliary guards were killed or wounded. (Gilbert 84) 150 of the 300 prisoners escaped the confines of the camp but were then killed by gunfire from camp guards or from land mines buried outside the perimeter fence. Those who managed to escape the tempest joined partisan groups in the forest. Only 50 of the escaped prisoners survived the war. Many uprisings occurred in extermination camps and ghettos.
Most of the uprisings were small (less than 25 people) and short lived. (Liebster 190) From 1942 to 1945, six major revolts occurred. The revolt in Sobibor resulted in the closing of the camp. There is one small escape which had an enormous impact on the world. On April 7, 1944 two Jewish prisoners, Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Via, escaped from Auschwitz.
Their descriptions of the horrors of Auschwitz reach the outside the world and become known as the Auschwitz Protocols. They were the first example of the extermination and concentration camps. The Nazis came very close to accomplishing their goal of purifying the world of Jews and other sub-human peoples. If it were not for the courageous acts of resistance demonstrated by thousand of people during the war, the death tool might have been much higher than 6 million murdered Jews.
The horror and brutality of the Holocaust have had a lasting impact on the world community. After World War II ended, the world community said we will never allow something that horrible to occur again. (Bauer 160) Man, in his darkest hour, did overcome the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust but we must remember what happened. We cant allow the memory to fade for fear of it happening again. Words Count: 1, 289. Bibliography: Bauer, Yehuda and Nazi Keren. A History of the Holocaust.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1982. Cost, Robert E. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1984. Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Jews in Europe during the Second World War.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1986. Liebster, Simone Arnold. Facing the Lion. New Orleans: Graduation Press, 2000. Rothchild, Sylvia. Voices from the Holocaust.
New York: New American Library, 1981. Tschuy, Theo. Dangerous Diplomacy: The Story of Carl Lutz, Rescuer of 62, 000 Hungarian Jews. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Erdmans Publishing Co. 2000. Yahoo, Leni. The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932 - 1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
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