robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (05/04/84)
References: In many cases Jews under nazi domination realized the dangers of passivity, but there is a general pattern to the resistance that occurred. It was carried out mostly in areas from which the young children and elderly had been removed, so that the lives of those who could not fight would not be hostage to the resistance fighters. The nazis responded to each resistance group by increasing their level of response until the group was crushed. The Warsaw ghetto is a spectacular case; because of effective resistance, the ghetto was bombed until no piece of a wall was left standing tall enough to hide a resistance fighter. By resisting, Jews did disrupt the nazis, and cause a further diversion of materiel from the war effort. In geenral the resistance saved few lives, and greater resistance would simply have been met by greater response. If Jews has any reason to hope they could survive the camps, passive activity gave more hope. In many cases, those fit to fight stayed with their weaker relatives to try to help see them through the camps. The resistance weapons that the fighters had may be seen at the Yad v'shem museum in Jerusalem. They are pitiful old pistols and bits of metal, with which the resistance fighters faced tanks and firebombs. Why weren't ther more resistance fighters? It's a wonder there were so many. deciding to fight was a matter of indiviual conscience. Who could ask anyone else to fight under such circumstances? - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison