PURELY COMMENTARY

NOBLIA

Resistance Continuous:
Indicting Sick-Minded

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

M

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FRIDAY. MAY 1, 1992

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ultiplying the
recollections of the
horrors that turned
humanity into Nazi
cesspools increases the
sickening thoughts of the
bloodstained years. Hun-
dreds of books, thousands of
essays, endless memorializ-
ing can never lessen the pain
and disgust embedded in the
Holocaust. -
The manner in which the
Nazi atrocities are described
in Ordinary Men dealing
with resort to the "final
solution in Poland" by
Christopher R. Browning
sickens the reader.
In his review of this vol-
ume with its horrifying
record of inhumanities,
Walter Reich, a distinguish-
ed psychiatrist, notes there
is a compelling demand for
knowledge of what occurred.
Describing the actions of
police and soldiers involved
in the Polish years of terror,
Mr. Reich states:
Clearly, ordinary
human beings are capable
of following orders of the
most terrible kinds. What
stands between civiliza-
tion and genocide is the
respect for the rights and
lives of all human beings
that societies must
struggle to protect. Nazi
Germany provided the
context, ideological as
well as psychological, that
allowed the policemen's
actions to happen. Only
political systems that rec-
ognize the worst
possibilities in human na-
ture, but that fashion
societies that rewarded
the best, can guard the
lives and dignity of all
their citizens.
The Jewish sufferers
refused to submit meekly to
the brutalities. Reviewer
Reich raises the standard of
respect and admiration for
whatever existed as
"resistance." It is obligatory
not only to give it credence
but to retain it as a duty for
humankind. Here is how Mr.
Reich recalls it as the duty
dictated under agonizing
conditions:
A word finally about the
quiet characters in the
book the victims. Little
is heard from them but
much is evident. They did
indeed go to the slaughter
but not, as their critics
would have it, like sheep.

Whenever they could,
they tried to escape and
even resist. They hid in
cellars and behind false
walls. They hid in barns
and built bunkers under
forest soil. They tried to
join partisan units. But
they never had a chance.
They were rounded up
by Germans and often
betrayed by their own
countrymen, even those
who fought against the
Germans themselves.
Marched into forests, or
driven into ditches, they
were defenseless, naked,
holding on to their chil-
dren. Stuffed into cattle
cars, they broke holes in
the walls and roofs only to
be shot as they emerged.
Death confers no
automatic nobility.

It is obligatory to
give resistance
credence and to
retain it as a duty
for humankind.

Neither should it confer
blame. Blame lies with
those who kill and those
who order them to kill, no
matter what the
psychological rationales
may be that allow the kill-
ings to take place.
On every occasion when
dealing with the horrifying
situations and whenever the
memory arises about the
sick-mindedness that
dominated mankind, let
there always be emphasis on
resistance. Under the recur-
ring movement of hatred
and the increased anti-
Semitism, let resistance be a
guideline for action and a
motto not only for Jews but
decent human beings
everywhere.

A Revolutionary

Scores upon scores of
comments have been made
about Menahem Begin and
his role in history. Numer-
ous books have been
published about him and by
him. The essays and
speeches about Mr. Begin
have run into the thousands.
There is need to treat his
memory as that of a
"revolutionary." Sidney
Zion did in a letter that was
published in the New York
Times on March 27.
It is necessary to indicate
that Sidney Zion is a recog-

nized authority on the Mid-
dle East and Zionism and
has established an enviable
record as an author and
journalist. In his letter, he
traced the background of
Menahem Begin and called
for remembering and estab-
lishing as part of history
these unforgettable facts:

Menahem Begin
transformed Israel in two
important ways by
leading Likud to power
and by making peace with
Egypt. True enough. But
it's like analyzing George
Washington's contribu-
tion to America by referr-
ing only to his Presiden-
tial years.
Menahem Begin led the
first Hebrew revolution in
2,000 years. On Feb. 1,
1944, as commander in
chief of the Irgun Zvai
Leumi, he issued a proc-
lamation of revolt ... The
proclamation demanded
that the British immedi-
ately transfer power in
Palestine to a provisional
Hebrew government .. .
The British shrugged it
off. David Ben-Gurion's
Jewish Agency denounc-
ed it as "madness." But
the revolt was on, and
true to the proclamation,
it did not end until the,
British were driven out of
the country in 1948.
It was a classic street
revolution. The Irgun,
never more than 10,000
strong, blew up British in-
stallations, copped British
arms, liberated British
prisons, in retaliation
flogged and hanged
British soldiers. Vilified
as "terrorists" in the
world press, informed
against, kidnapped and
tortured for years by
order of the Jewish Agen-
cy, the Irgun, with the tiny
but lethal Stern Group,
fought on.
The day the British
withdrew from Palestine,
May 14, 1948, the British
Colonial and Foreign of-
fice published a termina-
tion of the mandate, ex-
plaining: "Eighty-four
thousand troops ... had
proved insufficient to
maintain law and order in
the face of a campaign of
terrorism waged by
highly organized Jewish
forces."
Menahem Begin rests in
peace, but there can be no
peace between Israel and
its Arab neighbors until

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