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Jewish Resistance in the
Ghettos
Once the
Jews were deported and incarcerated in the ghettos of Poland, myriad forms
of resistance developed. Spiritual resistance was paramount as individual
Jews struggled to maintain their humanity and personal integrity in the face
of the concerted Nazi attempts to dehumanise and degrade them.
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order to preserve both dignity for individuals
and their shared cultural heritage, the Jews inside
ghettos set up underground religious schools and
prayer groups and also libraries. Although the
Nazis
forbade religious observance in almost every ghetto,
Jews still prayed together in secret. In the Warsaw
ghetto alone 600 prayer groups operated in 1940.
A secret religious library in Czestochowa, Poland,
served over 1000 readers. |
An illegal prayer
meeting in the Warsaw ghetto
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Gathering documentary
evidence about the crimes committed by the Nazis
was also a focus of resistance. Groups in many ghettos
established secret archives and wrote, collected and
stored reports, diaries and documents detailing what
was happening to them. One of the most famous of such
achives was the “Oneg Shabbat”, found in the
rubble of the Warsaw ghetto after the war. A similar
chronicle was kept in the Bialystock ghetto.
Cultural life in the ghettos was rich and extensive.
Theatre performances were held, musical concerts,
poetry readings, dance and art all flourished. Children
in particular were encouraged to express their feelings
through poetry and painting, as at Theresienstadt,
where formal art classes were organised for them.
As Alfred Kantor, an inmate there, wrote in his diary:
“The main attraction at the café was a small jazz group. They played daily,
but one was allowed to visit the café for only two hours about once a year.
None the less, such a visit was an unforgettable experience. I knew while
I was there that this was not a true coffee house which one could leave
to go home to one’s family or friends. There was no gossip or laughter.
People sat quietly, some with tears in their eyes while they listened to
the music. For each of us it was two hours of escape, of make believe.”
Humour was a key element of ghetto cultural and spiritual resistance. Ghetto
humour was defiant and cynical, used to combat the chaos and despair of the
situation. The following ‘jokes’ were found in the “Oneg Shabbat” archive
from the Warsaw ghetto: “A Jewish teacher asks his pupil, ‘Tell me Moshe,
what would you like to be if you were Hitler’s son?’ ‘An orphan,’ answers
the pupil.”
As well as these and other forms of spiritual resistance, there was one overwhelming
form of resistance by Jews in the ghettos. That was
their basic refusal to do what the Nazis wanted them
to do there, which was simply to die. The instinct
for physical survival was strong, as well as being
a religious imperative; the smuggling of food and
countless other minor subterfuges evidenced their
determination to remain alive. In all the ghettos,
neighbourhood mutual-aid societies and house committees
were set up to procure and share what little food
there was, and most people resisted the impulse to
think only of themselves. In many small but important
ways most Jews in the ghettos maintained their moral
dignity until the end.
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