Resistance

Obstacles To Resistance Superior, armed power of the Germans German tactic of “collective responsibility” Nazi destruction of political opposition and resistance

Obstacles To Resistance Isolation of Jews and lack of weapons Secrecy and deception of deportations

Evidence of Resistance Evidence comes from the testimony of survivors and documents

Spiritual Resistance Despite having everything taken from them, the Jews continued to hope Resistance was choosing to live –Most will say they lived because they were lucky –Promised themselves they could survive

Spiritual Resistance Stay as clean as possible Had a wish to bear witness Family Some initiated work slowdowns

Spiritual Resistance Ran underground newspapers Acts of sabotage Continued to study Judaism with rabbis and teachers Celebrated Jewish holidays Documented the Holocaust

Armed Resistance Revolts occurred in more than 40 ghettos In most ghettos it was young people who organized the revolts. Smuggled in weapons

Warsaw Uprising Most famous Led by the Zionists Filled bottles with gasoline and sealed with rags

Resistance in the Camps In Birkenau, a furnace was blown up

Escaping Few escapes were successful Many refused to try for fear that the Nazis would put to death the entire group.

Partisan Actions Those who escaped from trains, ghettos, and camps and fled to the forests There they joined underground fighters Stole or bought guns and attacked the Germans whenever possible A few of these groups survived until the end of the war

Cost of Resistance

German Resistance White Rose Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his military group plotted to kill Hitler For most Germans, challenging authority cost them their lives.

German Resistance Father Bernhard Lichtenberg- Catholic priest who protested the Nazi euthanasia program Jehovah Witnesses