Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust (28 page)

Rasheen, Vernon 6 reason, and faith 137 refugees 38–9

in Warsaw 52
Reichsbahn
, role of 177
n
religion

and self 100–1, 136

see also
theology religious identity 107–8 religious practices 153

in death camps 154, 182
n
in forests 144 in ghettos 35, 39–40, 107, 122

religious practices –
continued
importance of, to survivors 69–70, 146

as response to despair 152 remnant mentality, Warsaw 53 rescue

imagery of 44, 45 as motivation of resistance fighters 55, 59, 99–100

resistance passive 152 revision of morality 24–5, 44 to group madness 167
see also
Bielski Brigade; partisans;

underground resistance;

Warsaw Uprising Resnik, Nisr 49 resurrection of the dead 121 retaliation 6 revenge 6, 44, 55, 71–2

personal commitment to 14–15 and violence 81–2, 99 Ringelblum, Emmanuel 32, 52–3,

104, 148, 151, 162 Rudashevski, Yitzhok 39 Rumkowski, Chaim 20

sabotage 50, 82, 92 sacrifice, religious 160–1 Sanctification of the Name of the

Lord 105, 150 Schindler, Oscar 141–2 Schulman, Faye 81 self

and community 99–101 and dissociation 163 and faith in God 128–31 and group action 79, 82 Hasidic 160–1 killed by oppression 87–8 liberation of 25 preservation of 104, 110–14 reclaimed by violence 84 resistor 21 and silence 129, 144 spiritual resistance and 147–8

and survival 145–6 transformation of 143, 146–7 Shapira, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman 5, 6, 121, 149, 184
n
consolation of faith 135, 136,

139–40, 150 and sacrifice 132 theological writings 114–16,

118–19, 128–30, 134 Shapiro, Rabbi Abraham 156 shoes, children’s 135, 164 Sierpe, Poland 123 Sobibor 21, 132

escape attempt 149 soul-death, and faith 137–40 Soviet Union

Jews in 1
1
and partisan brigades 58–
9
see also
Byelorussi
a

Speer, Albert 185
n

spiritual resistance 7, 32–3 attitude of Bielskis to 10–11, 12 and facing death 181
n
and faith in Jewish identity 105 as psychological refuge 104–5,

110–14, 163–7 rejected by partisans 15, 105,

10
7
and rescue of self 147–
8
Shapira’s writings 114–16
,

118–19 Strehn, Corporal Mathias 38 study 35, 152–3

as religious act 166

suffering idealized 163 righteousness of 164–5

suicides, Lodz ghetto 157, 183–4
n

survival among partisans 100 and ethics 68 and faith 143–4 and luck 3, 143, 149 role of contingency 16, 153–4 spiritual resistance and 149–50 and will to live 159

survivors and guilt 141–2 pride in children 4–5 stories 1–2, 103
see also
partisans

Switzerland 39 Szwajger, Dr Adina Blady 28, 29, 40

Tannenbaum, Mordechai 31 Tec, Nechama,
Defiance: The Bielski Partisans
55–6, 66

theology 33, 128 concept of divine justice 166–7 and concept of fate 105–6 Hasidic Judaism 110, 151, 152,

160–1 mystical 158, 159–60 role of 150, 153 status of infants and children in

132 Theresienstadt ghetto 22 Torah, study of 35, 152–3 Tory, Abraham 45 Trakinski, Simon 11, 15–18 transport, and dislocation 124,

131, 177
n
Treblinka 21, 34, 45, 132

underground resistance 3 charismatic leadership 84–5 in ghettos 22–3, 24, 30–1, 34–7,

42–
8
interdependence in 43–
4
links with partisans 5
0
and morality of killing 4
5
in Vilna 45–6, 47, 48–5
1
Zionist units 2
7

United Partisan Organization 47, 50–1 United States, survivors’ lives in 13, 18

vengeance
see
revenge

Vilna ghetto 16, 22, 24, 37
Aktion
(1943) 95–6 conditions in 39–40
escape to forests from 95–8
Judenrat
policy 46–7, 48–9, 50,

95 reprisals 93–4 underground organization 45–6,

47, 48–51, 95 Viner, Abraham 60 violence

discriminatory use of, by partisans

83–4 and madness 89–90 psychological value of 81–2,

8
4
reciprocal 8
6
and recovery of self 85–94
,

100–1

Wallenberg, Raul 82

Warsaw deaths (1942) 21, 157, 172
n
deportations (1942) 53, 158–9 ghetto 22, 24, 32, 38, 127–8,

141 Jewish police 41–2 refugees in 52 soup kitchens 51 underground resistance 31–2,

42–3 Warsaw Uprising (1943) 23–4, 45 weapons

acquisition of 49, 5
3
required by partisan group
s

95–6, 98 Westerbork (Netherlands) 22 will

loss of 144, 165–6

to live 159 Wittenberg, Itzik 46, 48 women, in Bielski Brigade 59, 65 work brigades 131–2, 133–4, 161 work permits 39, 94 workshops, at Bielski base area

57–8 Wylezynska, Aurealia 53

Yellin, Chaim 31, 33 Yitzhak, Rabbi Levi 159–60