Resistance (35 page)

87
.
The Stroop Report
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1979), Warsaw, May 24, 1943, Report.

88
. Zukerman,
A Surplus of Memory
, 236.

89
. These distinctions were clearly presented by Barbara Engelking and I found them both useful and interesting. See Engelking, “Moral Issues in Emanuel Ringelblum's Writings from WWII,” 207–227, in
Emanuel Ringelblum, the Man and the Historian
.

90
. Israel Gutman, “Emanuel Ringelblum, the Chronicler of the Warsaw Ghetto,”
Polin: A Journal of Polish-Jewish Studies
3 (1988): 7.

91
. Tec, “Unheralded Historian Emanuel Ringelblum,” 41–42. See another article, “A Glimmer of Light—Reflections on the Past Challenges for the Future,” in
The Holocaust and the Christian World: Reflections on the Past Challenges for the Future
, ed. Carol Rittner, Stephen D. Smith, and Irene Steingeldt (London: Kuperard, 2000), 151–154.

1
. Obedience to rules does not fit well into the lives of guerrilla fighters. In contrast to regular soldiers, partisans are freer and more independent. And since they only very reluctantly bow to authority, they are much harder to control
than regular army men. Because partisans are usually well acquainted with the surroundings, they also have much greater freedom of movement than regular soldiers. In part greater mobility and familiarity with the environment counteract the disadvantages that stem from small size and inadequate military equipment. By definition, guerrilla fighters are not as big or as well equipped as a conventional army that they oppose. See John A. Armstrong and Kurt DeWitt, “Organization and Control of the Partisan Movement,” in
Soviet Partisans in World War II
, ed. John A. Armstrong (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964), 73–139, at 73; Henri Michael, “Jewish Resistance and the European Resistance Movement,” in
Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust
, Proceedings of the Conference on Manifestations of Jewish Resistance (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1972), 365–375.

2
. Violence also becomes a part of the guerrilla fighter's life. Use of violence is often backed up by moral rationalizations. See J. K. Zawodny, “Guerrilla and Sabotage: Organization, Operations, Motivations, Escalation,”
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
341 (May 1962): 8–18.

3
. Nicholas P. Vakar,
Belorussia: The Making of a Nation
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956), 174–175.

4
. For a few examples, see Reuben Ainsztein,
Jewish Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe
(New York: Barnes & Noble, 1974), 307–308; Krakowski,
The War of the Doomed
, 28–58; Levin,
Fighting Back
, 206–227.

5
. Zvi Shefet, personal interview, Tel Aviv, 1995.

6
. Ibid. Unless otherwise specified, discussions about the fate of the Shefet family are based on this interview.

7
. Hitler's attitudes toward the Poles were extremely negative. He insisted that “the Polish Intelligentsia were to be deprived of any chance to develop into a ruling class.” See Kershaw,
Hitler
,
1936-1945: Nemesis
, 245. Saul Friedlander emphasizes how orderly and determined Hitler was in promoting the murder of the Polish intelligentsia. See Friedlander,
Years of Extermination
, 13–14.

8
. Nechama Tec,
In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

9
. “Working for the Authorities,” ibid., 92–105.

10
. Zvi Shefet interview.

11
. The first anti-Jewish Aktion took place on July 17th. It was known as “Bloody Thursday.” For a description, see Alpert Nachman,
The Destruction of the Slonim Jewry
(New York: Holocaust Library, 1989), 45–49.

12
. Michael Temchin, M.D.,
Memoirs of a Partisan
(New York: Holocaust Library, 1983) emphasizes how this shortage of physicians gave him certain advantages. Leon Berk,
Destined to Live: Memoirs of a Doctor with the Russian Partisans
(Melbourne: Paragon, 1992) shows that his medical degree did not necessarily result in an acceptance into a partisan unit (97). This issue will come up again.

13
. For a discussion of issues related to the fate of Jewish women in the forest, see Nechama Tec,
Defiance: The Bielski Partisans
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 154–169.

14
. For a broader discussion of Jewish women and resistance, see Tec,
Resilience and Courage
, 256–339.

15
. I would like to thank Zvi Shefet for sending me a tape in Hebrew of Judith Graf's testimony, Yad Vashem No. 2978, group 220.

16
. These ideas were emphasized by Zvi Shefet during my interview with him in Tel Aviv in 1995.

17
. Becoming a mistress of a commander has not necessarily protected women from suffering. In Soviet partisan units, the birth of newborn babies led to their “mysterious” disappearances. One such case is touchingly described by Berk,
Destined to Live
163–164; another case was a baby girl born to the Chief of Staff Prognagin and his mistress Irka. They took away the child from her and she was never able to find it. This mother is currently a professor in the United States. I heard about this case from Mina Volkowisky, who met her with the newborn baby in her arms in the forest when she was visiting Sikorski's Brigade.

18
. General Sikorski employed Michael Pertzof as his translator and interpreter. I interviewed Michael Pertzof in Israel in 1995. Pertzof concurs that Sikorski was always drunk. Once he was called by this general in the middle of the night. As usual the general was drunk. The German soldier who was there was on the verge of death. He uttered no words. Michael explained: “The General demanded that I should first talk to the German and then shoot him. It was terrible. He was dead.… yet I had to shoot him … but after that I could not eat, I could not sleep so, if I were to write about something like this? Would anybody believe me?”

19
. Tadeusz Pankiewicz wrote a memoir,
The Pharmacy in the Cracow Ghetto
(New York: Holocaust Library, 1987).

20
. On February 10, 1983, Yad Vashem had recognized Tadeusz Pankiewicz as the Righteous among the Nations. See Tadeusz Pankiewicz,
The Encyclopedia of the Righteous among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, Poland
(Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004), 2:579.

21
. About expressions of hopes, struggles, and cooperative efforts in the Krakow ghetto and beyond, see
Every Day Lasts a Year
, ed. Christopher R. Browning, Richard S. Hollander, and Nechama Tec (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

22
. Julian Alexandrowicz,
Kartki z Dziennika doktora Twardego
(pages from Dr. Hard) (Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2001), 29.

23
. Ibid., 29–30.

24
. Ibid., 40.

25
. Ibid., 47.

26
. Ibid., 61.

27
. Ibid., 62.

28
. Davies,
Rising '44.

29
. Alexandrowicz,
Kartki z Dziennika doktora Twardego
, 78.

30
. Ibid., 74.

31
. Hersh Smolar, personal interview, Tel Aviv, 1989. Both these allegations are discussed in Tec,
Defiance
, 155.

32
. Smolar,
Minsk Ghetto
. This book indeed proved very valuable.

33
. Nechama Tec, Hersh Smolar, personal interview, Tel Aviv, 1989.

34
. Nechama Tec,
Defiance: The Bielski Partisans,
Oxford University Press, 1993.

35
. Tec,
Defiance
, 115.

36
. Personal interview, 1990.

37
. Nechama Tec, Hersh Smolar, personal interview, Tel Aviv, 1990.

38
. Ibid.

39
. Yisrael Gutman and Shmuel Krakowski,
Unequal Victims
(New York: Holocaust Library, 1986), 123–124. For further evidence of these issues, see Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski,
The Secret Army
(London: Victor Gollacz, 1951).

40
. Personal interview, Smolar, 1990.

41
. Ingel Scholl,
The White Rose: Munich 1942-1943
(Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1970), 4.

42
. Personal interview, Smolar, 1990.

43
. Tec,
Defiance,
111.

44
. Rachel Margolis,
Wspomnienia Wilenskie
(Memories of Vilna) (Warsaw: Zydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute), 2005).

45
. Ibid., 138–139.

46
. Ibid., 140–143.

47
.
Sefer Hapartisanim Hajehudim
(
The Jewish Partisan Book
) (Merchavia: Sifriath Poalim, Hashomer Hatzair, 1958), 1:337, 346.

48
. Leonard Tushuet, “The Little Doctor, A Resistance Hero,” in
They Fought Back
, ed. Suhl, 257.

49
. Samuel Bornstein, “Dr. Yehezkel Atlas, Partisan Commander,” in
Anthology of Holocaust Literature
, ed. Jacob Glatstein et al. (New York: Atheneum, 1982), 300.

50
. Gilbert,
The Holocaust
, 385.

51
. Ibid., 259.

52
. Personal interview, Smolar, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1989.

53
. Ibid.

1
. Personal interview, Bela Chazan Yaari, 1995.

2
. Israel Gutman, “Auschwitz: an Overview,” in
Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp
, ed. I. Gutman and M. Berenbaum (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 16–19.

3
. Hermann Langbein, “The Auschwitz Underground,” in
Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp
, ed. Gutman and Berenbaum, 485.

4
. Hermann Langbein,
Against All Hope
(New York: Paragon House, 1994), 392. For a theoretical discussion of these issues, see Tec,
Defiance
, 204–209.

5
. Ibid., 392.

6
. Danuta Czech,
Auschwitz Chronicle 1939-1945
(New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1989), 29.

7
. Pilecki felt that the very existence of ZWZ and AK (Home Army) would lift the spirits of the Polish prisoners; Jozef Garlinski,
Fighting Auschwitz
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1975), 54 and 60.

8
. Henryk Swiebocki,
The Resistance Movement,
Vol. 2,
Auschwitz, 1940-1945
, ed. Waclaw Dlugoborski and Franciszek Piper (Oswiecim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2000), 104.

9
. For descriptions of the varied Polish underground groups, see Garlinski,
Fighting Auschwitz
, 60–105 and Swiebocki,
The Resistance Movement,
65–106.

10
. Hermann Langbein,
Die Starkeren
(The strong ones) (Frankfurt: Bund Verlag, 1982), 214–215.

11
. Ibid., 122. Tec,
Resilience and Courage
, 174–175.

12
. Swiebocki,
The Resistance Movement,
129–133.

13
. Ibid., 130–131.

14
. Ibid., 133–134.

15
. Garlinski,
Fighting Auschwitz
, 223–230.

16
. Ibid., 231.

17
. Ibid., 348–349.

18
. Yehuda Laufer, “A Yeshiva Bocher Turned Resistance Fighter,” in
The Union Kommando in Auschwitz
, trans. and ed. Lore Shelley (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, Inc., 1996), 177–183.

19
. Israel Gutman, “A Warschauer of the Ciechanow Group,” in ibid., 144–160.

20
. “Preface,” in ibid., p. xiv.

21
. Gutman, “A Warschauer of the Ciechanow Group,” 153–154.

22
. Laufer, “A Yeshiva Bocher Turned Resistance Fighter,” 182.

23
. Ibid.

24
. Ibid., 181.

25
. Noah Zabludowicz, “A Comrade of the Hashomer Hatzair Talks about Roza Robota,” in
The Union Kommando in Auschwitz
, trans. and ed. Shelley, 293–294.

26
. Filip Müller,
Eyewitness Auschwitz
(Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1979), 152–153.

27
. Garlinski,
Fighting Auschwitz
, 288–290.

28
. Ibid., 311, 337.

29
. Zabludowicz, “A Comrade of the Hashomer Hatzair,” 295.

30
. Müller,
Eyewitness Auschwitz
, 153–155.

31
. Czech,
Auschwitz Chronicle 1939-1945
, 725.

32
. Ibid., 726.

33
. Raya Kagan, “The Investigation as Seen by an Inmate of the Political Section,” in
The Union Kommando in Auschwitz
, trans. and ed. Shelley, 286–290; Swiebocki,
The Resistance Movement
, 120–121 and 249.

34
. Zabludowicz, “A Comrade of the Hashomer Hatzair,” 294–295.

35
. Langbein, “The Auschwitz Underground,” 500–501.

36
. Krzysztof Dunin-Wasowicz,
Resistance in the Nazi Concentration Camps 1933 1945
(Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers, 1982), 236.

37
. Gutman, “A Warschauer of the Ciechanow Group,” 156.

38
. Langbein, “The Auschwitz Underground,” 500–501.

39
. Raya Kagan as an employee of the political section had access to the reaction of the Berlin authorities (“The Investigation as Seen by an Inmate of the Political Section,” 286–290).

40
. Ibid., 288.

41
. Ada Halperin, nee Neufeld, “I was Hoarse the Day I Auditioned to Sing for the Birkenau Orchestra,” in
The Union Kommando in Auschwitz
, trans. and ed. Shelley, 77–80.