In the Holocaust, the Jewish people had two options on how to resist, passively or actively. When you actively resist, you bring a gun, but have a higher risk of dying. Passive resistance allowed them to stay alive (or at least have a higher probability,) but didn’t do as much as someone who killed a general or a soldier. Miep Gies is an example of somebody who passively resisted Nazi Power in World War Two by hiding her Jewish friends, like the Frank and Van Daan family even though she wasn’t allowed to. The reasons I feel like passive resistance is better than active resistance is because it preserves life, helps the society, and prevents a war-torn environment.
The first reason why I feel that passive resistance is better is because it preserves life. The Jews would passively resist the Nazis generally instead of arming themselves because it was certain they would die in that circumstance. Showing the issues within armed resistance,“Jewish workers initiated uprisings that were brutally put down” (Resistance During the Holocaust, page 3). This was a rebellion between the people who worked for the Nazis, which could kill one to five people, but get themselves killed in the process. Some arguments may say that you aren’t doing much to put a real stop to the problem, but that isn’t true. Many Jewish people hid, which preserved
…show more content…
their life and race along with the fact that religious customs and freedoms while living in the ghettos. The second thing that is good about passive resistance is that it helps the society.
When you actively resist someone, you are not starting a positive movement or helping the society, it just creates violence and problems. Good parts of passive resistance were exemplified when the Jewish people “Printed and distributed underground newspaper, maintained religious customs, drew, painted”(Resistance During the Holocaust, page 1). Some may disagree and say that you aren’t stopping the core problem, but that is not the case. When you revolt passively, you show that you will not put up with the poor treatment, which will make them want to
stop. The third part of passive resistance is that it prevents a war-torn environment. When these armed revolts take place in WWII, it is supporting the fact that the two sides are doing wrong in the war, and it is not just the Nazis killing people. The environment of war being troublesome is supported by the fact that “It most often resulted in the death of oneself and others” (Resistance During the Holocaust, page one). This supports that when Jews resisted with weapons, it created a bad environment for other people. Some people may think that active resistance is better because it shows the power and can spare lives. This can be true, but passive resistance can do the same thing without anyone getting hurt, so you are saving lives, helping the environment, and still maintaining the power. In conclusion, three reasons why passive resistance is more effective than active resistance is that it preserves your life, helps the society, and prevents a war-torn environment. In the past, people who have passively resisted somebody, like Martin Luther King Jr. have been able to get their way without killing anybody. In WWII, a Jew who actively resisted Nazi power would have gotten killed because they were severely outnumbered, didn’t know the area well, and didn’t have as strong weapons. In the last few years, people who have rebelled against certain laws or rights using protesting have been able to get their way without pressuring or killing high powered people. Overall, if you are fighting for what you feel is right, taking a gun to the people who oppose you is just not smart, at least in most situations.
They resisted in spiritual ways by going to the synagogues, by practicing religious beliefs even when they were not allowed and by not allowing the Germans to get into their heads. The Jews rebelled by starting underground groups, taking down SS soldiers and stealing their weapons. Another way the Jews rebelled was by escaping the ghettos and Nazi camps and joining the Partisans. The Partisans would plain attacks against the Germans, sabotage them, and would join with other countries to make themselves bigger so they could take down the Germans. Being put into the Jew’s position would be exhausting and would take so much strength just to survive. The brave Jews that chose to try and stand up to the Germans even though they already knew that their attempts would be useless they still to this day are considered heroes. It took great courage to try to escape a ghetto or Nazi camp and it would cause 10 to 25 other
...y shocks most of people who hear and see it, encouraging and moving others who also suffer. In instance, Elena screamed at Longoria to show she would not give them any information about resistances and Antonio when Longoria was about to killing her (Tobar 148). Elena sacrificed her life to protect Antonio and her friends who fought against the Guatemalan government without using any violence when she faced Longoria who tried to kill her. She showed it was important not to be daunted by fear and to keep fighting for justice. Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi advocated nonviolent resistance as a means of seeking peace and gaining independence for the Republic of India from Britain. Justice should be served by means in the name of justice. Nonviolent resistance is a powerful way to fight against the cycle of violence and work towards the realization of a peaceful world.
Nazis which proved to the world the Jews are not that easy to extinguish. The Jews had several ways of exhibiting resistance, but "Organized armed resistance was the most powerful form of Jewish opposition"(Jewish Resistance). Armed resistance is an important aspect to revolting not only because it reinflicts the pain lashed upon the Jews, but it also shows the Jews have the ability to fight back and gives the world the knowledge that Jews do not go down easily. However, resistance is not only an act of violence since the Jews demonstrated several non-violent forms of resistance while locked up or being transported. Jews would escape into the forest and figured that by escaping they resisted the Nazi Party and reduced their chances of achieving their goal of exterminating all Jews on the planet(Acts of Resitance). By escaping Jews gave themselves a chance to live and warn others of their fate which was an excellent form of non-violent resistance since, generally speaking, no Germans were hurt. Resistance can take many shapes and forms which is why all Jews resisted one way or another, simply living is resistance(Acts of Resistance). The other reason Jews struggled so desperately to survive was not to merely see the light of another day, but to see the Germans become enraged by their "resistance", living.
Due to this over 60% of the Jewish population was put to torture and death.”Haaretz” During the Holocaust, Jews used armed and unarmed forms of resistance in order to retain their humanity. Unarmed resistance was a way Jewish people fought against the Nazis, not with guns and knives, but simply finding ways to survive their living hell. Unarmed resistance took for in escaping, stealing food, and not following the Nazis demands. Thousands of young Jews resisted by escaping from the ghettos into the forests.some.
During the Holocaust there were many different forms of resistance undertaken by Jewish people. These can be categorised into two main forms, armed resistance and passive resistance. Armed resistance was resistance by Jews and civilians who actively fought back, sometimes they managed to scavenge weapons and use them in attacks on Germans and the different enforcement groups such as the SS. Armed resistance took place mainly in ghettos and concentration camps however, also occurred on the streets of Nazi occupied Europe. Passive resistance was less aggressive and usually meant that Jewish people refused to deny their faith and still practiced their religion in some form.
Spiritual resistance like praying kept Jew’s sanity and concerts help make people happy. Hitler’s plan was to break down and destroy Jews, so they fought against that in various ways. Art, music, and theater were often in ghettos to keep everyone happy. Comics, actors, singers, dancers, and actors also performed for a group of people for a brief amount of time. The Nazis had also made it illegal for Jewish gatherings but the Jews also did against that. Praying and services were kept in secret. Praying and services were important to continue. They also wanted to continue everyday things. Art, music, theater and praying were used as resistance by the Jews to stay
The Nazis were killing thousands of Jews on a daily basis and for many of the Jewish people death seemed inevitable, but for some of the Jewish population they were not going to go down without a fight as Jewish resistance began to occur. However, the Jewish resistance came in many different forms such as staying alive, clean and observing Jewish religious traditions under the absolute horrendous conditions imposed by the Nazis were just some examples of resistance used by the Jews. Other forms of resistance involved escape attempts from the ghettos and camps. Many of the Jews who did succeed in escaping the ghettos lived in the forests and mountains in family camps and in fighting partisan units. Once free, though, the Jews had to contend with local resident and partisan groups who often openly hostile. Jews also staged armed revolts in the ghettos of Vilna, Bia...
Prejudice was the main factor that led to the holocaust. For some, resisting these forms of oppression was survival. Considering the dehumanizing the Nazis had forced upon the Jews, people took whatever courage and strength they had to get through this period of time. I believe luck also had a part to play in survival. Even though now prejudice is mostly name calling, 60 years ago it could mean death. Whether one is resisting the Nazis or just resisting prejudice in general, one must never give up what they truly think and believe.
Examining any issue pertaining to the Holocaust is accompanied with complexity and the possibility of controversy. This is especially true in dealing with the topic of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Historians are often divided on this complex issue, debating issues such as how “resistance” is defined and, in accordance with that definition, how much resistance occurred. According to Michael Marrus, “the very term Jewish resistance suggests a point of view.” Many factors, both internal such as differences in opinion on when or what resistance was appropriate, as well as external, such as the lack of arms with which to revolt, contributed to making resistance, particularly armed resistance, extremely difficult. When considering acts of Jewish resistance, it is important to consider both direct and indirect forms of resistance, as well as avoid diminishing what efforts were made at resistance. Despite many factors making resistance difficult, Jews did perform both direct and indirect resistance, often more than historians have credited to them. As a whole, Jews did not accept their death mutely, as sheep to the slaughter.
The investigation explores why the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the most important ghetto resistance during the Holocaust. In order to analyze why the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was significant, research has to be done to study the elements of the Warsaw ghetto that made it successful. The main sources for this investigation are Ghetto Fights: Warsaw 1941-43 by Marek Edelman because it is a study to examine the political and ideological background of the Warsaw Rising and Daring to Resist: Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust by David Engel because it covers uprisings in other ghettos than in Warsaw.
Why resistance? There are so many different aspects of the Holocaust to research, so why focus on this particular one? Well, I think it’s a great way for students to learn about the “silver lining” per se of this event. I think it’s a not-so-well-known aspect of a very well-known event. It’s important that people are aware that Jews and some non-Jews didn’t just sit back and let these horrific events go on without a fight. One can also loosely apply this idea of resistance to society today by saying that, to a lesse...
The non Jews who did not want to fight back almost all of them were too scared to do anything. They were afraid that they would lose their freedom. They also did not want to be sent into the concentration camp too. They did not want to be tortured either so none of the non Jews stood up ; all of the reasons were too scary to them that they did not want to risk it. They were too terrified to do what was right there was too much risk. Many non Jews went into hiding; however, everybody else did to.
Passive Resistance is usually connected with such famous people as Henry David Thoreau who developed the principal of civil disobedience. For Thoreau, the idea was to choose not to support governmental taxes and policies that he felt were wrong. This theme was later used by Mahatma Gandhi in his fight for Indian independence. In the 1960’s this method was used by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to bring racial injustice to the public’s attention. In all of these cases, the men who followed the ideal of passive resistance were prepared to suffer the consequences of their actions in order to draw attention to their causes.
The Holocaust is usually thought as something that Jews just went along with even though they didn’t agree. That isn’t completely wrong. Some Jews did go along because they were too afraid to stand up, but there were resistances and groups of prisoners who gathered the courage to do it. Jewish resistances sabotaged Nazi plans,they attacked guards /Nazi workers, and they had consequences if they got caught. The Jews resisted to stand up to the Nazi’s when others couldn’t.
Throughout the Second World War and in the lead up to it, the actions of Hitler and the Nazi Party played a large role in history. The Nazi’s involvement changed the course of history through the violence and dehumanisation that took place in an effort to persecute the Jews.