THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, April 12, 1963
ei
Purely Commentary
Warsaw Ghetto Revolt Anniversary: Resistance,
Impact of Petitions, Compliance—and the Blunders
As we approach the actual date of the 20th anniversary of
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, not only are there many reminis-
censes of the events that transpired, of the heroism in a hopeless
situation that confronted the 70,000 survivors in the walled-in
Warsaw Ghetto, but there also are being posed many challenging
questions. Major among them is the one relating to resistance.
More than ever the question is being raised: did Jews resist
sufficiently, and if they didn't why did they fail to stand up
against the Nazis even when it became apparent that they already
were doomed?
In his documented narrative history, "The Destruction of the
European Jews," (Quadrangle Books, Chicago), Dr. Raul Hilberg
referred to the report submitted by Jurgen' Stroop which was
called "The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More." It was submitted to
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krueger. In a footnote
in his very important collection of data, Dr. Hilberg states that
the Stroop• Report "contains a final summary as well as daily
battle reports and photographs." Hilberg wrote that "when Gen-
eraloberst (Alfred) Jodl was shown the Stroop report after the
war, he commented: 'The dirty arrogant SS swine! Imagine writing
a 75-page boastful report on a little murder expedition, when a
major campaign fought by soldiers against , a well-armed enemy
takes only a few pages!' "
But Hilberg comments: "To this report, however, we owe the
most detailed account of the battle, including the role of the
army in the 'expedition.' "
In spite of the fury of Jodl, the fact is that the Jews in the
ghetto held out against the vast. German army • for more than
three weeks. Hilberg reports:
"After April 22 (1943), Jews were caught and killed in
increasing numbers. Sewers and dugouts were blown up one
by one. Captured Jews reported to the Germans that the in-
mates of the dugouts 'became insane from the heat, the smoke,
and the explosions.' A few of the Jewish prisoners were forced
to reveal hiding places and centers of resistance.
"The Jews now tried to slip out of the ghetto through the
sewer system; the army engineers countered this move by blow-
ing up the manholes . . .
"On May 8 the Jewish commander, Mordechai Anielewicz,
was killed. The Germans now sent night Patrols into the ghetto,
and the remaining Jewish dugouts were systematically destroyed.
By May 15 the shooting became sporadic. The Jews had been
overwhelmed. At 8:15 p.m. on May 16 the German commander,
Stroop, blew up the great Tlomacki Synagogue, in the 'Aryan'
section of the city,- as a signal that the Warsaw ghetto battle
was over.
"Several thousand Jews had been buried in the debris, and
56,065 had surrendered. Seven thousand of the captured Jews
were shot; another 7,000 were transported to the death camp at
Treblinka; another 15,000 were shipped to- the concentration
camp and killing center at Lublin; the remainder were sent to
labor camps. Nine rifles, 59 pistols, several hundred grenades,
explosives, and mines were captured. The rest of the Jewish
equipment had been destroyed. The losses to the Germans and
their collaborators consisted of 16 dead. and 85 wounded.
"It is Possible that in the final tabulation a few casualties
were omitted and that additional losses were inflicted upon the
Germans after the official end of the fighting; however, there
is no doubt that in the main the Stroon report, with all its
statistics, is • accurate. It must be remembered that the Jews
did not have enough weapons to equip a modern infantry com-
pany. It must also be V remembered, that Stroop's report was
secret and that he listed the name of every casualty at the
beginning of his account, as if to emphasize his losses."
In his reflections on "resistance," Dr. Hilberg states:
"The reaction pattern of the Jews is characterized by almost I
complete lack of resistance. In marked contrast to German propa-
ganda, the documentary evidence of Jewish resistance, overt or
submerged, is very slight. On a European-wide scale the Jews
had no resistance organization, no blueprint for armed action,
no plan even for psychological warfare. They were completely
unprepared. In the words of Anti-Partisan Chief and Higher SS
and Police Leader Russia Center von dem Bach, (Erich von dem
Bach-Zelewski), who observed the Jews and killed them from
1941 to the end:
" 'Thus the misfortune came about . .. I am the only living
witness but I must say the truth. Contrary to the opinion of the
National Socialists that the Jews were a highly organized group,
the appalling fact was that they had no V organization whatsoever.'
The mass of the Jewish people were taken completely by surprise.
They did not know at all what to do; they had no directives or
slogans as to how they should act. That is the greatest lie of
anti-Semitism because it gives the lie to the old slogan that the
Jews are consniring to dominate the world and they are so highly
organized. In reality they had no organization of their own at
all, not even an information service. If they had had some sort
of organization, these people could have been saved by the millions;
but instead they were taken completely by surprise. Never before
has a people gone as unsuspectingly to its disaster. Nothing was
prepared. Absolutely nothing. It was not so, as the anti-Semites
say, that they were friendly to the Soviets. That is the most ap-
palling misconception of all. The Jews in the old Poland, who
were never communistic in their sympathies, were, throughout
the area of the river Bug eastward, more afraid of Bolshevism
than of the Nazis. This was insanity. They could have been
saved. There were people among them who had much to lose,
business people; they didn't want to leave. In addition there was
love of home and their old experience with pogroms in Russia.
After the first anti-Jewish actions of the Germans, they thought
now the wave was over and so they walked back to their undoing.'
"The Jews were not oriented toward resistance. They took
up resistance only in a few cases, locally, and at the last moment.
Measured in German casualties, Jewish armed opposition shrinks
into insignificance. The most important engagement was fought
in the Warsaw ghetto (16 dead- and 85 wounded on the German I
side, including collaborators). In Galicia sporadic resistance re-
sulted in some losses to SS and Police leader Katzmann (8 dead,
12 wounded). In addition, there were clashes between Jewish
partisans and German forces in other parts of the East, and oc-
casional acts of resistance by small groups and individuals in
the ghettos and killing centers. It is doubtful that the Germans I
,
How Would We Act
Under Nazism, Major
Resistance Query
Fair Sabbath Law
Limited to N.Y.C.
by Legislature
By Philip
Slomovitz
and their collaborators lost more than a few hundred men, dead
and wounded, in the course of the destruction process. The num-
ber of men who dropped out because of disease, nervous break-
downs, or court martial proceedings was probably greater. The
Jewish resistance effort could not seriously impede or retard the
progress of destructive operations: The Germans brushed that
resistance aside as a minor obstacle, and in the totality of the
destruction process it was of no consequence.
"The second reaction was the attempt to avert the full force
of the German destructive measures. This attempt was carried
out in three forms. One was the petition—the appeal. By appeal-
ing, the Jews sought to transfer the struggle from a physical to
an intellectual and moral plane. If only the fate of the Jews could
be resolved with arguments rather than with physical resources
and physical combat—so Jewry reasoned—there would be nothing
to fear. In a petition by Rabbi Kaplan to French Commissioner
Xavier Vallat this Jewish mentality becomes absolutely clear.
Among other things, the Rabbi pointed out that a pagan or an
atheist had the right to defame Judaism, but in the case of a
Christian, did not such an attitude appear 'spiritually illogical
as well as ungrateful?' To prove his point, Kaplan supplied many
learned quotations. The letter is as though it were not written
in the twentieth century. It is reminiscent of the time toward
the close of the Middle Ages when Jewish rabbis used to dispute
with representatives of the Church over the relative merits of
the two religions."
Dr. Hilberg describes the impact of petitions: "Everywhere
the Jews pitted words against rifles, dialectics against force,
and everywhere they lost. The reliance upon petitions became
so great that internal struggles developed over the formulation
and timing of the appeals."
"There was a second way in which the Jews tried to avert
disaster," Dr. Hilberg indicates: "by judicious compliance with
orders, and sometimes by anticipatory compliance with orders
not yet issued." That's how the Judenrat developed, how special
Jewish police were organized to help the Nazis supervise their
concentration camp and ghetto activities.
We read in Hillberg's account, for example that: "Rabbi
Leo Baeck, the Jewish leader in Berlin, explained his fatal
decision to employ Jewish police in the following words: 'I
made it a principle to accept no appointments from the Nazis
and to do nothing which might help them. But later, when
the question arose whether Jewish orderlies should help pick
up Jews for deportation, I took the position that it would be
better for them to do it, because they could at least be more
gentle and helpful than the Gestapo and make the ordeal easier.
It- was scarcely in our power to oppose the order effectively.' "
All of these references to the tragic past are reminiscent of
so many horrors, and so many blunders! Jewish leaders resorted
to petitions instead of to self-defense weapons. A medieval code
was in force instead of the more modern weapons of resistance.'
Jewish police were resorted to, and many of them now are the
subjects of rebuke for cruelties they practiced as methods of
assuring their own security. Jews were misled themselves into
believing that the first outbursts of discrimination were the last
and that the worst that could happen to them was to be forced
- into - the serfdom of forced labor camps.
Now we know that resistance might have saved millions, as
von dem Bach suggested in the quotation above; and that it
certainly would have been more honorable for a people that al-
ready had been doomed to destruction regardless of its reactions.
Yet, one dare not judge others. How do we know how we
ourselves would have reacted under the conditions that were
created by beasts in human garb? The question can be repeated
ad nauseam: why didn't the Russians and the Poles and the
French and anti-Nazi Germans themselves resist what had been
imposed upon them? Perhaps the will to live is stronger than
the urge to be heroic!
The quotations that fill the above observations are hair-raising.
They are disturbing, oppressive, saddening and cannot lend them-
selves to create good moods. They may disturb our peace of mind.
But they must be recalled in the interest of historical truth, so
that we may not only recall, remember and perpetuate the data
about the holocaust, but so that we may also know the truth
about ourselves—about the manner in which our own people
reacted to the catastrophe.
l
ALBANY, (JTA)—The New
York Senate approved a Fair
Sabbath measure limited to
New York City, to permit Sab-
batarians observing a day other
than Sunday as their day of
rest to do business on Sunday.
The Assembly then dropped
its version, which provided for
local option on the matter
throughout the state which it
approved previously, and adopt-
ed the Senate version. Early
signature by Gov. Rockefeller,
who has endorsed the proposal,
was expected.
The approved measure con-
tains a clause which makes it
effective September 1 and re-
quires the New York City Coun-
cil to pass a local enabling or-
dinance on or before next De-
cember 31.
Jacob Stein, chairman of the
New York City Committee on
Jewish Affairs, termed the
Legislature's action "a welcome,
if small first step." He indicated
that he expressed the views of
all the organizations participat-
ing in the New York , City Com-
mittee, which had coordinated
their efforts in behalf of the
I bill.
I The participating organiza-
tions are: The American Jewish
Congress, Jewish Labor Com-
mittee, Jewish War Veterans,
New York Federation of Re-
form Synagogues, the United
Synagogue of America, Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congrega-
tions of America, New York
Board of Rabbis, National Coun-
cil of Jewish Women, Brooklyn
Jewish Community Council, Rab-
binical . Council of America and
the Sabbath Observance Coun-
cil.
Howard M. Squadron, chair-
man of the American Jewish
Congress Metropolitan Council,
expressed disappointment that
the legiSlature had failed to
approve the state-wide, local
option proposal contained in the
abandoned Assembly measure.
He added that his organization
and other Jewish groups which
have been fighting for nearly
a decade for a Fair. Sabbath
law would continue to work for
a state-wide local option law.
Ben-Zvi Returns
Home from Hospital
JERUSALEM, (PTA)—Presi-
dent Ben-Zvi, who entered Ha-
dassah Hospital last week for a
series of what were described
as routine examinations, spent
Seder night at home and ac-
cepted the credentials of John
Beith, the new British Ambas-
sador, the day after Passover.
Three Groups Co-Sponsor Lecture
by I. B. Singer Saturday Evening
Isaac Bashevis Singer, world
famous author who has been
acclaimed as the greatest living
Yiddish writer, will deliver an
address in English on "My Life
and My Literature," this Sat-
urday evening, at 8:30, in the
Aaron DeRoy Theater of the
Jewish Center, 18100 Meyers.
This literary-cultural event is
being presented under the joint
sponsorship of the Jewish Com-
munity Council and the Jewish
Community Center, in coopera-
tion with the National Founda-
tion for Jewish Culture.
Son of a rabbi and grandson
of rabbis, Singer was born in
Radzyim, Poland, where he re-
ceived an intensive Jewish edu-
cation and became steeped in
the religious tradition of Juda-
ism. Upon completion of his
studies, he embarked upon a
career as a journalist in Poland.
When he arrived in the United
States in 1935, he became a
staff writer for the Jewish
Daily Forward, largest Jewish
newspaper in the world. His
literary career has brought him
recognition and an extensive
readership not only among the
Yiddish-speaking comm unify
but in the broad English-read-
ing public. He was accorded
an award by the National Insti-
tute of Arts and Letters. He
I. B. SINGER
also received the Lois LaMed
Literary Prize twice.
Author of "The Slave," the
recent best-seller, Singer is
also the author of a number
of other books, including "The
Family Moskat," hailed as a
major literary creation, for
which he was awarded the
Louis LaMed Literary Prize,
and the novel, "Satan in
Goray."
Singer's collection of short
stories, "Gimpel the Fool and
Other Stories," are tales with
a heavy flavor of medieval folk
lore and Jewish mysticism set
in the Jewish ghetto of 19th
century Poland.
His "The Magician of Lub-
lin." the story of a traditional
Ghetto Jew, confronted with
the perplexities of modern life,
is currently under a motion
picture option.
The entire community is in-
vited to meet the author and
to hear his address. Tickets
may be obtained at the Jewish
Center Saturday evening.