After the war, many people, especially American Jews, including some members of my own family, asked me why we never fought back. Why, for instance, when the learned, kind Dr. Bloch was being shot, didn't we start a rebellion and try to save him? Why did millions of Jews in Europe go passively to the camps and then to their deaths?
This logical question deserves an answer. When I was first brought to Kamionka, there were Russian prisoners of war whom the German army had captured a few months earlier. To make room for the transport of Jews, some of the Russians were sent to other camps and others were killed. Killing POWs was against the Geneva Convention, but the Germans were beyond abiding by any rules of civilized conduct. They had become utterly savage.
With my own eyes I saw the execution of POWs. Having been raised so close to the Russian border, I understood Russian and listened carefully to what the Russian POWs were saying as they were being selected for death. One man, about forty-five years old, was considered too old for a labor camp and so the Germans decided to shoot him. He stood tall and looked straight into the eyes of the German soldiers: "I have three sons in the Red Army. They are on their way. Remember, you will pay for this." And then the Germans shot him.
There was nothing the Russian could do in the face of many armed German soldiers. Polish soldiers, whose army had been swiftly defeated at the start of the war, faced the same situation. I saw four or five German soldiers control a thousand Polish POWs. Later on in Kamionka, a small number of Germans did whatever they wanted with Russian soldiers, men who had been trained to fight battles. High-ranking officers were reduced to powerless, ordinary men when confronted with the lowliest German soldier and a gun.
When the tide turned and the Germans began losing the war, I beheld the same sight in reverse: hundreds of mighty German soldiers, who only weeks before took life or saved it as their mood dictated, were now herded about passively by a few Russian soldiers with weapons.
These soldiers had all been trained to fight, to use firearms, to survive under the harshest conditions. If they could not resist imprisonment, how were we Jews – a civilian population, with little or no firearm experience and no weapons, a tribe of merchants, artisans, scholars, women and children, all weak from starvation and exhaustion – able to rebel against a well-equipped army? If you are under the gun, there is little you can do.
Certainly, there were a few, wonderful exceptions. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the first of its kind among a civilian population in Poland, is the most famous. Even in Warsaw, however, organizing to fight did not take place when there had been half a million Jews in the ghetto. Only when almost the entire ghetto had been liquidated and death was at hand did a few thousand remaining residents – right-wingers, leftists, Bundists, religionists, atheists, Jews of every political and religious stripe – band together, under the leadership of Mordechai Anielewicz, to fight since they knew their days were numbered. They realized they would not be able to beat the German army. But if they were going to die, they would at least take some Germans with them.
Those of us in Kamionka who were young and still strong would have been more than willing to fight in an organized fashion if we thought we had the slightest chance of making a difference. For months after learning of the German defeat at Stalingrad, we waited for partisans who were rumored to be in the vicinity. It would have been a great honor, a tremendous opportunity, to join them, to fight to save the lives of innocent Jews and non-Jews under German occupation. We had heard that the partisans liberated a camp not far from ours. Many Jews had joined their ranks immediately. In the end, though, the partisans did not come near Kamionka until the camp had already been liquidated.
One night in April 1943, Ladovsky, Rebel's Jewish chauffer, came into my barracks and woke me up. He had just returned from Warsaw with Rebel where they had gone to purchase supplies. In Warsaw Lasovsky had heard about, and actually seen, the uprising during its second day.
"Jews," he told me, "are killing Germans! I saw it with my own eyes, German blood being spilled!"
"Thank G-d I lived to see the day," I said to him and jumped off my bunk.
The two of us began to sing and dance, crying and laughing, beside ourselves with joy. After two days of successful fighting, Mordechai Anielewicz said that killing German soldiers proved that they, too, were vulnerable, that the Germans were not invincible. Like Jews, they could bleed, and this resistance saved Jewish honor. Of course, within a few weeks the Germans had overrun the ghetto, killing almost everyone inside, and shipped the survivors to the death camps. But the thought of Jews defending themselves thrilled us beyond description. Even though we knew there were Jewish soldiers fighting in the Allied armed forces, we had become accustomed to feeling helpless under German occupation.
(19) KAY SILVERBERG, December 4, 2020 4:40 PM
Why jews didnt resist
I am still concerned as to why the hews did not resist their captors...especially when the first days of obvious oppression behan
(18) Tibor Spitz, September 20, 2020 12:53 AM
Jews were deceived with promise to be deported to LABOR Camps. Not to be murdered
In Slovakia i came from and also elsewhere in Europe the Jews were told to learn a craft or a manual trade and prepare to be RELOCATED to the Labour camps “somewhere in the East”. This scheme was worked out by sophisticated German Nazi psychologist solving a task of HOW TO GET MILLIONS OF PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH.to places of their execution without panic or resistance. They have achieved it by DECEIT. UNSUSPECTED civilians, the entire families and communities from across Europe entered the cattle cars without any idea that at the end of their journey they would be killed. They did not know it even when standing In the shower room naked when it turned into the gas chamber where everybody died in about 15 minutes. German psychologists called that method “How to cook a frog”.
(17) Nick, August 19, 2020 3:58 AM
It's a beautiful story and I hope that we will never fall asleep and remember that we can stand against evil
(16) barry, July 9, 2020 10:39 AM
why didn't the jews fight back?
This article did not really answer the question why the Jews didn't resist. The sheepishness of the Jews is disturbing. Why did they dig their graves and line up to be shot?Row after row were mowed down and shot .I can understand why the Israelis look down on the survivors . I hope someone can give me a more acceptable answer to this question.
(15) Darren Douglas, February 8, 2020 10:28 AM
I’ve always asked same question. Jews vastly outnumbered German SS ,Nazis,guard’s. Saddens me modern times we haven’t learned lessons from past Jews are now ones at opposite side to weapons. Will we ever learn true evil stems from religion from books inc Bible ,Koran ,Torah Viciously never ending circle outcome same suffering & death .
Jonathan, November 18, 2020 10:27 AM
Go to Auschwitz
If you go to one of the camps or look at a virtual tour online, you will see how hopeless chances of escape were. They were almost in the middle of nowhere (within running distance), fences were doubled up with electric fences and guard towers every couple meters and all in all even if you did get past the guards, over the two barbed, electrified fences and out of the camp, you would be too starved to run back to civilization which is run by the very people that captured you.
(14) robert jakab, June 7, 2019 5:30 PM
What about individual anger. If I'm physically challenged, I see red, and I'll fight to the death. If I would have been there and I knew my time was up either way, I would have charged the nearest guard, and at least attempted to take his machine gun
fight to the death. If I would have been there, and I knew my time was up one way or another, I would have charged the nearest guard, and attempted to takeout as many of them as I could. Where was the courage!
(13) Ariella, July 10, 2018 6:11 PM
another reason
If someone did rebel or fight back in any way, the punishment was so brutal, not just to that person, but their family or a whole group of people, that they wouldn't risk it. It's not that the person would get shot - I'm sure many of them wouldn't have cared at that point if they were shot. They'd be tortured, or ripped to shreds by a dog, or their children would be tortured in front of them. The nazis were so diabolical, there was no end to the evil ways they found to torment people. As a matter of fact, there were many, many people who performed really heroic deeds in the concentration camp - helping out others, even though they knew what their fate would be if they were caught. And this after they had already been starved and demoralized for years. People get weak after fasting for one day...but these people were starved for years, and still had faith and courage.
(12) Anonymous, June 12, 2016 8:50 PM
Humans are Sheeps
The person on this site with the most insight is anonymous 8, I believe out of 7.125 billion people on this Earth their bound to be a very small minority possibly just literally few hundred thousand, and 6 million people being slaughtered have almost no chance of having that few hundred thousand within them. Think about it as for e.g 100,000 in 7000,000,000 which is a small minority which means 6999900000 of people will have a similar sheep view of the world which will result in surrender in an execution situation. So a random 6 million of them selected for death think about the probability that they happen to be the 100,000 out of 7 billion almost no chance!
(11) MESA, January 1, 2016 5:41 PM
The question of why Jews didn't fight back is the wrong question. This survivor points out that we were civilians. We were also weak, ill, and malnourished. And we had no help. So the correct question is that given the odds against us, how was it that so many Jews did fight back?
The Jews in Warsaw held off the Nazis for over a month. The Jews of Treblinka revolted and broke out. The Sobibor death camp revolt was the largest prisoner escape of all of WWII.
And what about the Jews who fought back with Torah and Mitzvot? There were Jews who risked everything to retain their Tzelem Elokim. The Nazis couldn't handle this because it showed them that we Jews would defeat them.
Am Yisrael Chai V'Kayam.
(10) Trevor, June 4, 2015 7:09 AM
Im stillnot sure I understand but never having been in that situation I would never judge anyone who has. I just pray that if I was I would go down fighting. I hope Im never tested though.
(9) Michelle, February 27, 2015 3:21 PM
Different view
We have a different view though they couldn't see what was happening ells where. They didn't know about the death camps or what awaited them there. We now can see all the information about everything to do with the holocost but they didn't know this. People hoped to believe to keep the faith that maybe they would live.
(8) Anonymous, June 13, 2014 8:50 AM
Humans are basically sheeps
There are a lot of sites asking the same question: Why didn't the Jews fight back?
And from those sites I read the same excuse over and over (two excuses actually)
A. The Jews did (and they pointed to the Warsaw uprising without pointing out that only fought back when their number dwindled into few thousands from the original hundreds of thousands)
B. They couldn't fight back because they had no guns and the Germans had guns
Both excuses did not, and still do not, hold water
But unfortunately, what happened to the Jews will happened to many other people in the future - for Humans are basically sheeps
From online sites there are footages of people getting their head cut of, alive, by them Muslims - and yet, they have no shortage of prisoners to be beheaded - Why ?
Because Humans are basically sheeps
Even if they know that they are going to die if they surrender, they still surrender in the hope that they will become the "lottery winner" and not getting beheaded
That is crazy - yes, utterly stupidly crazy, but that is basic sheep mentality for which the Humans have
Of course there are _some_ humans who would fight back till the last bullet, the last drop of blood, because they rather die fighting than being gassed / shot / buried or getting their head saw off, inch-by-inch, alive
But those number are small, very very small !
The vast majority of people are sheeps - and they will behave just like sheeps, walking into the slaughterhouse, with full knowledge that they are going to be slaughtered
Sigh !
No wonder the governments (no matter _which_ government) in the world are having such an easy job handling all those sheeps !!
Anonymous, July 18, 2017 8:40 PM
I believe that all humans are NOT like sheep.
Humans are NOT like sheep. Humans have back bone and brains and an all consuming desire to survive. I believe we humans will fight to keep ourselves safe and alive and take any chances we must take to stay alive and win until our last breath.
Carol, February 17, 2019 10:10 PM
The Right to Bear Arms
They had NO guns. This is why Americans so ardently fight for NO ONE taking away their right to own a weapon.
If you have no weapons, you can't fight back, at all. You are sheep to any government or invader to do to many, many people what the Nazis did to the Jewish people. I'm not Jewish, I'm 57 and I've grown up hearing all about the Holocaust and history, and it is scary everytime I watch, how something like that happened. When you think about it, that was only 75 years ago.
(7) AJB, October 8, 2013 7:04 PM
Partisan fighters
Several Jews from Kamionka and nearby Bratnik were involved in the Jewish partisans, who actively resisted the Nazis. Learn more: http://chelm.freeyellow.com/partisans.html
(6) NANCY G. ELLISON, July 8, 2013 6:15 PM
AISH.COM
I AM A CHRISTIAN AND I'VE ALWAYS HAD A GREAT PASSION FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ISRAEL. THE ARTICLES THAT ARE ON THIS WONDERFUL SOURCE OF INFORMATION, GIVES ME SO MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERSONAL LIVES OF THE VERY MONSTERS WHO MURDERED JEWS DURING WWII AND ABOUT THE PERSONAL LIVES OF THE MURDERED JEWS AND THE SURVIVORS. I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF READING ABOUT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE HORROR, KNOWN AS THE HOLOCAUST. NOW WE ARE LIVING IN A TIME WHERE THE UNSPEAKABLE HATE OF JEWS AND ISRAEL CONTINUES. EVERY ARAB COUNTRY AND EVERY ANTI-SEMITE IN THE WORLD, WANTS ISRAEL TO BE WIPED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I STAND WITH ISRAEL AND HER PEOPLE IN EVERYTHING THEY DO. I WOULD GLADLY FIGHT ALONG SIDE THE ISRAELIS AGAINST ANYONE WHO TRIES TO HARM THEM OR ISRAEL. I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS BUT I AM TEMPORARILY LIVING IN ALBANY, NY. I WISH THERE WAS SOME WAY I COULD HELP DEFEND ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE THERE, PERSONALLY. MY LOVE GOES TO ISRAEL AND ALL HER PEOPLE.
Bob, October 3, 2013 10:48 PM
Like Sheep, why didn't you fight?
Much belated response to Nancy G Ellison's submission...we feel just the same as you, if not stronger in fact. We also are Christians and abhor the continuing hatred we see see all the time against Jews. Here in the UK, we currently have mass protests being held on a regular outside a Jewish shop (Ecostream)...the police stand idly by and let it happen and certain local politicians actively encourage it. Shades of Krystal Nacht we think! Bob, Brighton & Hove, UK
(5) Jeremy, October 26, 2012 7:14 AM
Children
Children. Later on, when it was known what was happenening at the camps-how is it that a single Jew cooperated with the Nazis-ever? I dont understand this. You can take my kid to a death camp over my dead body. I think people want to know why the Jews didnt pour their anger out. By 40-41 anyone trying to ship Jews should have had to deal with a bloodlthirsty crowd. I don't get it.
(4) Anonymous, April 24, 2007 12:47 PM
I have asked the question many times and this explained it.
I served in WW-II, the Korean War which has never been declared over, In
Viet Nam and advisory board for the Gulf war. I asked many why they gave up and hear only "you have to have been there to know".
(3) Pete, November 6, 2006 11:51 AM
One should never forget
I have now read a number of Extracts from the book by Mr Halpern and they have moved me to tears. Both of my late parents were alive during ww2 and my dearest mother was living in Guernsey which was under the occupation of the Nazis and I know people of the Jewish faith were shopped to the Nazis by Guernsey people and it's alleged also by the Bailiff of the time and these poor souls were sent to Auschwitz never to return. My dear father was a POW for the last two years of ww2 in Germany and very, very rarely spoke about the war understandably mind you. It is so very important that these horrendous times are never ever forgotten by all denominations because as history shows no matter what your faith you are not exempt from the evils of man in the quest of total power.
(2) magdawatts, September 10, 2006 9:16 AM
we the last one's have to speak up
i as a holocaust survivor,like to read your articles they are very interesting
Age 15 from hungary to Aushwitz-Nuernberg-Holleishen,now 57 years in israel
(1) Anonymous, December 27, 2003 12:00 AM
Thanks, very interesting
Good insights into some more, some less known facts on the holocazust subject