resistance in the Holocaust
The 20th century has seen some of mans most glorious triumphs and mans darkest hour. This dark hour that consumed Germany, and eventually all of Europe from 1933-1945, was the Holocaust. At no other point in the history of man has any effort to wipe out an entire ethnicity been so brutally successful. The needless slaughter of over 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime has been the most savage and barbaric act committed against humanity for over 50 years. The individuals caught in this maelstrom of hate and death faced unspeakable horrors including gassing, executions, and grotesque medical experiments. Despite these conditions, Jews in both concentration camps and in the ghettoes resisted Nazi tyranny spiritually and militarily. 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 Nazi's. Groups such as the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw ghetto and The Bielski Brigade in Belorussia caused c
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. 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 ghettoes. Most of the uprisings were small (less than 25 people) and short lived. 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 Vrba, 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. 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 p
Some common words found in the essay are:
Sobibor Poland, Jews Nazi, British American, White Rose, Heil Hitler, French Jew, Auschwitz Protocols, Fighting Organization, , Jews Christians, german army, unarmed resistance, white rose, jewish fighting organization, impact world, land mines, spiritual resistance, prisoners escaped, french jews, death camps, formed underground,
Approximate Word count = 1321
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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