Different Forms Of Jewish Resistance

Improved Essays
After testimonies and evidence brought to light by later historians of the different forms of Jewish resistance that took place during the Holocaust, it is possible to discredit Hilberg’s argument due to lack of sufficient evidence. The expansion on the definition of resistance from the more obvious group action against the enemy, to a more inclusive meaning that covers the individual acts of courage and bravery as acts of Jewish resistance too. The existence of both armed forces in the form of underground resistance groups and organisations in the ghetto’s and in other occupied territories, and unarmed forces like the judenräte, actions like ‘passing’ and hiding away, all contribute to the existence of resistance narrative.

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Night Theme Essay A survivor of the horrific happenings of the concentration camps in World War II named Elie Wiesel writes a book called “Night”, telling the readers about his experience in the concentration camp and all how traumatizing the experience was and how it has left him scarred of the camp. The themes discussed in this essay are, Hope, Brutality, and Terror. To begin this essay the first theme spoken about is Terror. Terror is one of the main themes in the book “Night”, for as the events Elie went through in the concentration camp are true terror and horrifying. The first example to play in the theme of terror in “Night” would have to be when Elie first arrives to the concentration…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ellie Wiesel is considered to be one of the most prominent Jewish authors during the World War II era. Wiesel, through-out his life, has written many books portraying the vast accounts of social injustice the Jews experienced during the War. Wiesel’s critically acclaimed “Night” tells of these atrocities first hand and what he witness at a very young age. Ellie Wiesel is known for his striking imagery and colorful use of words to display the brutally of the Nazi regime in 1940s Europe. Across his many books, the underlining theme is straight and to the point; the Jews were systemically hunted down and their linage almost destroyed just for their beliefs and way of life.…

    • 2428 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    A.Plan of Investigation (Word Count: 125) To what extent were German citizens responsible for what happened during the Holocaust? Although German citizens were somewhat aware of what Hitler was doing, they were not ultimately responsible for his actions. This paper will discuss how responsible German citizens were for the events of the Holocaust caused by Hitler. Primary and secondary sources will be used to view different ideas people had during the Holocaust, and ideas historians have now of the Holocaust.…

    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Complacency is Cooperation Throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, the citizens of Europe looked on as millions of Jewish people were killed, segregated, and discriminated against. The world may never know the exact reasons people did not intervene, but conclusions can be drawn from the information available. This issue is addressed in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, on numerous occasions. Despite some people believing that no one interfered because the people of Europe were afraid, Weisel demonstrates that there were other justifications given by the communities living directly outside some of the worst concentration camps. To begin, there must be a basic understanding of the situation.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Night Literary Analysis Essay The term “Holocaust” has the ability to strike an indescribable fear in the hearts and minds of many people. There is no misgiving that the atrocities occurring inside the Nazi-ran concentration camps during the shadows of World War II is unimaginably tragic and heartbreaking. It is difficult to fully understand the painful experiences that the Jewish people went through during these dark years of history.…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Night by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel encapsulates the horrors of persecution from his experiences in the Holocaust, and how such cruelty breeds men into beasts. As readers, we began to question: what differentiates us from animals? By examining the behaviors seen in the initial deportation of The Jews of Sighet, Wiesel’s witness to the killings over bread and Juliek’s last violin concerto, we are able to see how apathy and empathy defines us as ‘humans’. ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ and such is the case of the Sighet Jews. Their ignorance of their situation has caused their demise – blinded from the truth due to governmental propaganda and lack of information.…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On the 30 of January in 1933, the shocking Holocaust starts. The unimaginable vindictiveness was unleashed on the Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. German troopers rash the pure homes of Jews, compelling them to bow underneath. The Jews carrying on with an ordinary typical life were now presently a target for an inhuman evil man, Adolf Hitler. We read and learn about the terrifying demonstrations in the concentration camps by unique and individual stories from the surviving Jews.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Dehumanization of the Jews Essay The genocide of the Jews during World War II is probably the most well-known terror in world history. Many question how this could have happened, how could millions of people be exterminated so thoroughly without resistance? What begin as a simmering hatred of a people group progressed in a systematic execution of the Jews not only physically, but it took every ounce of their human rights until they had nothing left; they were ground into the dirt. With the help of Elie Wiesel’s personal story in his memoir Night, he gives us insight on the physical and psychological terror that they endured at the hands of Hitler that dehumanized the Jews in a systematic, step-by-step process.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    During World War II, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis declared that Jewish people were a virus that needed to be eliminated. This insane belief led to the Holocaust, where over six million Jews were stripped away from their homes, forced into internment and concentration camps, and slaughtered. The horror that came from the deaths of millions of innocent Jews left people outraged that such a tragedy could happen, and the monsters that caused it didn’t pay enough. Most people were too scared to fight back, but not everyone; some were eager to rise up to the occasion. Resistance groups were determined to stop at nothing until they punished the former Nazis that inflicted so much pain.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In, The Destruction of the European Jews, Hilberg states that “they had evolved a set of reactions that were to remain remarkably constant over the centuries. This pattern may be portrayed by the following diagram: Resistance Alleviation Evasion Paralysis Compliance” (Hilberg). Arnost Lustig shows in his novel, The Unloved, that these five classifications are not independent of one another, but are in fact organic, flowing and melting into one another. This paper explores that melding of those three responses, as well as the unique catalyst required to go from them, to the last, resistance.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In The Cunning of History, author Richard Rubenstein discusses the elements within Germany and other countries of the world that contributed to the mass killings of the Jews in what we know as the Holocaust. Rubenstein further discusses the history of anti-Semitism that enabled the persecution of the Jews, and also compares the slave industry of the world wherein the importation and persecution of slaves in the United States and other parts of the world had existed pre-Holocaust. Rubenstein wants the reader to be able to peel back the emotional imagery and layers that encompass words like Auschwitz and Holocaust and look deeper at the true meaning of what really was going on and why it was able to happen the way in which it did. Analyzing…

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    When autobiographies are too bizarre, readers tend to believe that the story is fiction. The novella Night is an autobiography about Elie Wiesel and his struggle through the world’s largest genocide, the Holocaust. However, some people do not believe that the novella is an autobiography, but rather a fictional story about a fictional character in the Holocaust setting. The novella, Night, by Elie Wiesel should be read as a nonfiction autobiography because of the shocking similarities between the novella and the German genocide, and because other survivors share the same story. Before discussing the argument, there are a few key facts that need to be spread out on the table.…

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Jews’ desire to live deteriorates through their loss of identity, inhumane treatment, and their loss of dignity. As strong as the Jews are, no one can tolerate the utterly painful dehumanization that was bestowed upon them by the Nazis. Individual identity is paramount to a person’s…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Thesis The Warsaw Ghetto uprising led by 23-year-old Mordecai Anielewicz, dispelled the myth of Jewish passivity during WWII, inspired other movements of Jewish resistance, and demonstrated that collective action is not always a product of ideal times. The Years Before Nazi-sponsored persecution and mass murder fueled collective and individual Jewish resistance throughout occupied Europe during WWII. Between 1941 and 1943, about 100 underground movements of Jewish resistance had formed throughout occupied Europe. The knowledge had spread that in the summer of 1942, a majority of ghetto inhabitants had been deported to Treblinka, a mass killing center.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Nazi’s extermination and torture of Jews and other’s lasted for a period of twelve years. “The principal images you see today of the Holocaust are of barbed wire, disease-ridden barracks, malnourished prisoners, gas chambers and crematoria’s.” (Levi, 535) This is different from the atomic bombings because the effects of the bombs were still being seen seventy years later. The value of the survivor testimonies from these tragic events in history is to remember the effects that Warfare has on civilian population, it is important to record each survivors experience as to add to the big picture of the brutality of men of power before the survivors are forgotten, and remember what can happen if tyranny and technology are not kept in check by the morals of the…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays