Nora Levin's 'The Holocaust' Describes Resistance

To the rapidly expanding book- the outset there was no knowledge
shelf devoted to the critical period among these fighters about the
of Nazism and the Hitler threat to Nazi slaughter of Jews. Then -she
mankind has been added another points out:
important volume on "the destruc-
"Up to the time of the German
tion of European Jewry, 1933-1945;". invasion, Soviet information was
under the title "The Holocaust," aligned with the rationalization of
published by Thomas Y. Crowell the German-Soviet Pact of 1939.
(201 Park S., •NY3). The author, Then, for some time after the out-
Nora Levin, a Philadelphia re- break of the war, the Soviet Union
search library and history teacher, soft-pedaled Nazi atrocities against
has incorporated into her work Jews so as not to lend support to
the accumulated facts about the the Nazi line that the Soviet Union
Nazi terror, its background, the was fighting the war for Jews.
program of extermination which Gradually, however, the national
has been labeled "the final solu- feelings of the diverse ethnic
groups in the Soviet Union were
tion."
The events and the personalities aroused and Jewish solidarity be-
involved in the greatest tragedy in hind the war effort was officially
world history follow a chronological rallied by the formation of the
pattern and present as total a pie- Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. In
ture as one would wish for after
the presentations by William L. -,a
Shirer ("The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich") and Raul Hilberg
•
("The -Destruction of the European
Jews") and scores upon scores of
Musa Kteily, mayor of Nazareth,
other books and essays on the
will arrive in Detroit Monday as
olocaust.
The compiled records, the fig- part of a good-will tour of the
ures quoted from Hilberg and Ger- United States. Kteily's visit is
ald Reitlinger ("The Final Solu- being sponsored by the National
tion") and the many photographs Community Relations Advisory
and reproductions of important Council, with the cooperation of the
documents add to the importance Israel government.
of a volume that has been well ar-
Of Nazareth's 40,000 residents,
ranged in the gathering of histori- 75 per cent are Arab, making it
cal material. one of the largest Arab communi-
D e d i c a t i n g a considerable ties in Israel.
amount of her material to a re-
Kteily, an Arab of the Greek
view of instances of resistance Orthodox faith, has lived his en-
to Nazism by Jews who were tire life in the Upper Galilee. He
doomed to destruction, Miss attended the Greek Orthodox Sec-
Levin makes special reference ondary School in Haifa and upon
to the Warsaw Ghetto heroes graduation entered the Palestine
"not only because it was the Police Force, rising quickly to sen-
apotheosis of Jewish resistance ior rank.
during the Holocaust but because
In 1948, he and his family took
the factual data for this resist- up residence in Lebanon, returning
ance are fullest." She makes the to Israel-in 1950. He has since been
point that "collective resistance engaged in commercial and agri-
was never possible; by the time cultural enterprises. He w a s
Jews grasped the reality that elected mayor in January 1967.
they were doomed to be killed
Kteily's itinerary in the United
no matter what they did, they States also includes visits to Balti-
were isolated, weakened and more, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Birm-
abandoned."
ingham: Nashville, Chicago, Mil-
Miss Levin also asserts: "The waukee, Boston, Philadelphia and
extermination of two - thirds of Minneapolis.
Europe's Jews was not inevitable.
During his tour, Kteily will be
It has become fashionable in mod- accompanied by his wife, who
ern literature and psychology to 'teaches in Nazareth.
speak of a 'landscape of violence'
in which victims are co-guilty with
their persecutors. A complicity, it,
is said, exists between assassin
and victim. Such a view may pro-
vide interesting tours de force for
armchair psychologists or new
modes of expression for the spent
forms of the traditional novel, but
it is a dangerous and irresponsible
plaything for the writer of history.
The Jews of Europe were victims
—in the old-fashioned sense—of a
criminal regime in an overwhelm-
ingly unequal contest. They were
also victims of an indifferent, not
to say, hostile world. Before the
West was caught in the flames of
. war, there were countless oppor-
tunities to save them. None were
!- used. After the war spread, the
opportunities were fewer, but hun-
dreds of thousands could have been
saved. Nevertheless, with few ex-
ceptions, the will to rescue thein
was non-existent. This moral fail-
' ure, if we may still use an old-
fashioned phrase, still haunts the
West."
An outline of resistance, in-
, chiding those who escaped to the
forests and labored from Mere .
as partisans, describes not only
the use of physical force against
the Nazis but also dissemination
of "illegal" newspaper and clan-
, destine manufacture of weapons.
' Miss Levin tells about the par-
! tisans' attack on police statioM;
exploding of trains, disarming
enemy peasants, throwing hand
grenades at tanks. Jews of all
ages participated, including lads
of 15. But the mortality rate was
high, including "some 'milieu.
lady hideous forms of death."
A tragic note is struck by her
description of the status of Russian
and Polish Jewries. She tells about
the Jews who fought in the Red
Army and later in the Polish Peo-
ple's Army and points out that at

favor of Nazareth
Comma to Detroit

its turn this policy likewise twisted
off its original course."
Miss Levin also indicates that
"the destruction of Russian Jews
by the murderous Einsatzgruppen
in the occupied zone gave Soviet
Jewry little time to organize chan-
nels of escape." Those who fled
to the forests had little chance of
escape and only when aid was se-
cured from the Russian guerrilla
bands was there a chance for sur-
vival. But many of the guerrillas
had been exposed to Nazi propa-
ganda, and the Jewish fighters for
freedom often faced dangers even
among the anti-Nazi elements.
Partisan groups were formed in
the Minsk Ghetto and in other
areas and many instances of brav-
ery are recorded in this revealing
compilation of facts about the Hol-
ocaust. There were incidents of
resistance in the forests at Nowo-
grodek, Vilna Jewish youths organ-
ized a "Nekoma" — Hebrew for
vengeance—unit, and efforts were
made to provide arms to resistance
elements in the Vilna Ghetto. In
the latter the resistance began - in
a Benedictine nunnery near Vilna.
The 35-year-old Mother Superior,
a Krakow University graduate,
the Jewish poet Abba Kovner and
their associates began to gather
knives, pistols and grenades. The
episodes, the heroes, the dramatic
efforts in the battle against the
Nazis at Vilna is one of the most
deeply moving accounts of bravery
recorded by Miss Levin. Dates of
actions, names of participants in
the resistance and actual accounts
of occurrences are linked with the
Vilna story.
When the Russians liberated
Vilna, they found in the city
that became famous as "Jerusa-
lem of Lithuania" 600 Jews in
hiding out of a pre-war popu-
lation of 60,000. This was one of
the tragedies of the Nazi mass
murders.
Among the incidents relating to
resistance recorded by Miss Levin
is a stand that was taken by Jews
in Amsterdam. The Nazis ruled,
but there was a stand against
them.
Miss Levin also gives an account
of the resistance in France. She
maintains that Jews formed 15 to
20 per cent of the membership of

the French resistance movement.
But the deportations took a heavy
toll and those who resisted were a
minority and their actions were an
exception to the rule.
Jewish resistance forces in
Greece and elsewhere are reported
in this volume.
While describing the resistors
and the rescuers, Miss Levin also
writes about the "bystanders" who
failed to aid the victims, many of
whom could have been rescued.
The facts and the figures, the
personalities and the incidents on
all fronts, earn for "The Holo-
caust" high rating among the new
voliimes about the Nazi years of
terror. Most of the material is

gathered from scores of important
sources. But even as a compilation
from such - sources Miss Levin's
collective effort is valuable for
seekers of facts about the great
tragedy of the Hitler era.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 21, 1968-13

God not Man

When e'er we look to man for
help
Our problems are more confused
But for the simple truth
revealed
Our God will answer pure.

* * *

Richard Palmer bar Neumann

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