Examine the Practical and the Morale Constraints upon Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust.

Jewish resistance throughout the holocaust has caused much debate among academics historians, and even governments. Historians conclude that resistance was practical and morally constrained throughout the Second World War, for a variety of reasons. Historians such as Rab Bennett, Michael Marrus, Richard L Rubenstein, and John K Roth all have written in detail about the constraints placed upon Jewish resistance throughout this period. Each of these explanations will be examined throughout this paper. Furthermore, this paper will discuss examples of Jewish resistance during the holocaust, while applying the theories of each historian to explain in detail about the morale and practical constraints within Jewish resistance. Three main theories have been put forward to establish and explain how Jewish resistance was so constrained. Firstly, the Nazi army was attacking an unprepared and unarmed population, who were taken by complete surprise during the Holocaust. Secondly, the Nazi army used brutal and cruel warfare methods upon the Jewish population to fully implement the holocaust. Finally Jewish resistance was met by such massive repercussions by the Nazi army, which ultimately created fear among each community to obey the rule of Nazi government.

The Nazi government secured a total fascist state in 1934 and had implemented the "final solution" in 1940. The "final solution" was to systematically destroy the European Jewish population with unspeakable horrors, which included gassing, executions, malnutrition, and grotesque medical experiments. Despite these conditions, Jews in both concentration camps and in the ghettoes tried to resist the Nazi army. However, explained by historian Rab Bennett the Nazi army had practically constrained Jewish resistance through a policy called "collective responsibility". The aim of this policy was to create a sense of insecurity among the European Jewish population. For example the Nazi army had started to deport Jews in Vilna to a nearby concentration camp. Some Jews escaped and joined a resistance movement in a neighboring village. What happened next was typical of the policy called "collective responsibility". The Jewish resistance group obtained a few weapons, and clashed with the Nazi army outside the city. Most of the Jews were immediately captured and killed instantly. In retaliation for the resistance, the local army sized the entire family of each fugitive or all who lived with him; they also sized the leaders of all the Jewish work parties in the vicinity, together with their families. All were shot in front of the population in the city. Thereafter, the Germans divided all work parties leaving the ghetto into groups of ten; if one person escaped, the entire group would be killed. "Collective reasonability" was a practical measure to contain resistance. The main aim of the practice was to kill people indiscriminately and strike fear into the entire community. Rab Bennett attributes this to be a main factor in constraining resistance. Fear became the ultimate weapon that the Wermacht and Gestapo would use against the Jewish population to get them to comply with their demands. The Nazi army went further to strengthen the policy of "collective responsibility", which aimed to consolidate total fear upon the Jewish population within Europe. The Nazi army council in 1941, ordered reprisal killings for every single German soldier killed. The total settled at 100:1 in Yugoslavia and Greece however 300:1 was not uncommon, much depended on the ruthlessness of the German commander. Jewish resistance became much more constrained throughout the Holocaust by the use of these brutal methods.

The Germans began to starve Jewish ghettos such as Warsaw and Bialystok in 1940-1941 to continue with the policy of the final solution. The rules that German soldiers applied to Jewish ghettos were extremely harsh and so stringent that if Jews were to obey they would probably have perished in a short period of time. Michael Marrus a historian writes in detail about Jewish ghettos. Marrus explains that the Nazi's had set a food allowance of 391 calories per day for each Jewish person. Well below the war rationing of any other European country. Furthermore Jewish ghettos would be frequently attacked and most Jews would be deported to death camps. Michael Marrus compiled a study of underground ghetto organisations and finds that actual resistance took place after the first deportations, in 1941. Many Jews became finally convinced that the inhabitants had no chance for survival and therefore must resist the Nazi army. The most significant point of Jewish resistance formulated in the Warsaw ghetto after eighty percent of the population had disappeared in 1942. The population had been transported to a nearby death camp located in Eastern Europe called Treblinka.