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warsaw

warsaw Throughout the Holocaust, Jews organized resistance movements in ghettos, concentration, and extermination camps. Although they had virtually no weapons and faced one of the largest arsenals in the world, the Jewish people fought for their honor and freedom. Without any hope victory and in the face of death, resistance fighters found the courage to take on evil in its purest form. Their efforts must not go in vein; to them we must accord our respect. This is a brief testimony of their fight against the Nazi regime. The Warsaw Ghetto By the middle of 1942, Jews in the ghettos realized that all their former residents were being murdered, not sent to labor camps. In the Warsaw Ghetto alone only 100,000 of the original 500,000 residents were still alive. As occurred time and time again, the Nazis called for all residents of the Warsaw Ghetto to report for "registration" and told them to bring two days worth of food. Every day for a week 10,000 Jews were sent to the death camps and 3,000 more were shot on site. By the end of one week only 45,000 residents remained. Soon the reality of the situation set in to both young and old. Under the leadership of Mordechai Anielewicz, Yitzhak Zuckermann, Marek Edelmann, Zivia Lubetkin, Michael Klepfisz, and Aryeh Vilner, an organized underground resistance, called the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB), was established. At the time the resistance organization had no weapons or training. Others outside the Ghetto did not want to assist the Jews, and many of those who the underground trusted broke their loyalty. Aryan-looking members of the resistance snuck out of the Ghetto and helped to smuggle in weapons. The Polish underground gave the Ghetto only 10 revolvers because they did not think they would ever use them. They constructed bunkers throughout the city entered through portholes that could not be seen. Sentry guards were posted at street corners to report on what was happening. When the Nazi's called for more people to report for deportation, the ZOB handed out leaflets describing the horror that awaited those who left. The night before the deportation of factory workers was to occur, the ZOB burned down the factory and machinery. On January 18, 1943, SS troops surrounded the Ghetto and began to march in. The ZOB replied with gunfire. In a battle that lasted three days, 50 German soldiers were killed or wounded. Even though ZOB casualties had been high, the Germans retreated. From this brief show of ability and force, the ZOB earned respect and received more outside support including 49 more revolvers, 50 grenades, and some explosives from the Polish Underground. With a group of 1,000 fighters, the resistance created teams of ten, usually 8 men and 2 women, who fought together. Half of the members of each team had their own arms. Following the insurrection, Himmler ordered the SS Brigadier General in charge of operations at the Warsaw Ghetto, Jurgen Stroop, that "the roundups in the Warsaw Ghetto must be carried out with relentless determination and in as ruthless a manner as possible. The tougher the attack, the better. Recent events show just how dangerous these Jews are." As ordered by Himmler, a huge show of force descended upon the Warsaw Ghetto. SS troops, German Police, and Lithuanian and Ukrainian SS once again surrounded the Ghetto on April 19, 1943, on the eve of Passover. At 6AM, 2,000 soldiers marched into the Ghetto with tanks and artillery. The Jews responded with grenades, home-made bombs, and Molotov Cocktails. They blew up a tank and drove the Nazis back. The Nazis responded by burning Ghetto buildings and the Jews burned down the building repository of stolen Jewish goods. The Nazis continued their attack by using flame-throwers in the bunkers and shutting off water and electricity to the region. The ZOB flew the forbidden flag of Poland next to the blue and white flag of the Jews. For three weeks the Ghetto held its own against the Nazis, but on May 8th the ZOB headquarters was surrounded and its members committed suicide. Sparse fighting continued until May 16th, but by that time most of the Ghetto's members had been killed, sent to Treblinka, or had escaped. The Ghetto had been burned to the ground and General Stroop stated in his report that "The Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no more." The 1,000 freedom fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto had fought against the Nazi regime for a month. In comparison, the entire country of Poland fell to Germany in two weeks, and France in three. This was by far the most successful (in terms of enemy casualties) and longest resistance attempt during the Holocaust. Bibliography:

Word Count: 781