audiobook Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Israel Gutman in History

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Milk cans and GunsBy Eric MaroneyResistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Israel Gutman chronicles the famous 1943 revolt. There are important things to keep in mind about this event; which Gutman’s stresses throughout this work. The uprising did not take place when the ghetto was filled with hundreds of thousands of Jews; but only after nearly all had been transported to Treblinka. Early efforts to provide resistance were blocked or stalled; both the rank and file in the ghetto and the Jewish Council still had a flicker of hope that their end point was not mass murder.When the Great Action occurred; and the ghetto was emptied; there were no more illusions. The uprising was led by young members of various Zionist organizations and the socialist Bund. Most were in their early twenties and had no military experience. The commander; Mordechai Anielewicz; considered experienced; was only twenty-four The right wing Betar movement also had a fighting force; but the ideological differences between right and left were too great to bring them together; even on the eve of complete destruction. They were never a part of the Jewish Fighting Organization. Therefore; accounts of their exploits are meager.Emanuel Ringelblum; a noted historian of Polish Jewish history; started a secret organization; Oyneg Shabbos; to collect details and artifacts from daily life in the ghetto; creating an archive. Three milk cans were filled with material as the Uprising approached and buried. In the post war years two have been discovered; but the third is still buried in Warsaw; awaiting discovery. In that sense; part of the story of life in the Warsaw Ghetto still awaits to be told1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Heroism in HellBy Claudia MoscoviciHeroism in Hell: Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Israel GutmanIt is difficult to imagine a more hellish environment than the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto created by the Nazis in the fall of 1940 and completely destroyed; along with 300;000 of its 400;000 inhabitants; by the summer of 1942. The Ghetto is extraordinary in many respects. The largest Jewish ghetto of Nazi occupied territories; it was one of the largest sites of the torture; predation and mass murder of Jews; 254;000 of whom were eventually sent to the Treblinka death camp. It is also the site of the greatest Jewish resistance against the Nazis. As Israel Gutman; author of Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising states; “The Uprising represents defiance and great sacrifice in a world characterized by destruction and death” (New York; Houghton Mifflin Company; 1994; xi). The destruction came piecemeal; creating unbelievable psychological torture for the Jewish population of Warsaw. On October 16; 1940 the process began. The Nazis herded hundreds of thousands of Jews; constituting about a third of the population of Warsaw; into a tiny area; less than three percent of the city’s living space. People were forced to leave their homes; most of their property; their neighbors and friends and their jobs. Governor-General Hans Frank ordered the building of the wall by mid-November; closing off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world. The SS shot on the spot anyone seen trying to escape from the Ghetto.Adam Czerniakow; an engineer by profession; was named the head of the Judenrat (the Jewish Council). He had to contend with lack of sufficient food and shelter; disease and starvation; sending Jewish men to forced labor under horrific conditions; and eventually with the deportation of most of the Jews in the Ghetto; including babies and children; to death camps. On July 1942; he couldn’t take the pressure and the guilt any longer. He committed suicide; leaving behind a note to his wife in which he stated that he could not collaborate with the Nazis in the murder of Jewish children.Following his death; even the orphaned children he tried so hard to protect were sent to death camps. In an incredibly moving passage; Gutman describes the dignity with which they left to die; led by the Director of the orphanage; Dr. Janusz Korczak:“They marched through the ghetto to the Umschlagplatz where they joined thousands of people waiting without shade; water; or shelter in the hot August sun. The children did not cry out. They walked quietly in forty-eight rows of four. One eyewitness recalled; ‘This was no march to the train cars but rather the mute protest against the murderous regime… a process the like of which no human eye had witnessed’” (Resistance; 139-140).For those left behind in the Ghetto following the mass deportation; the moment for resistance had arrived. As long as they had a modicum of hope left; the Jews didn’t revolt against the Nazi oppressors. They had the welfare of spouses; parents and children to think of; whom they believed they could save by cooperating with the Nazis. Most clung to the false hopes fostered by the Nazis through a campaign of misinformation. Furthermore; the conditions in the Ghetto weren’t conducive to resistance. Isolated from any source of income or help; starved; overworked and continually preyed upon by the Nazis; for two years the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto fought for their survival. Even before the mass deportation began; the conditions were so bad that about 100;000 Jews died; mostly from illness and starvation. Only once the deportation to Treblinka took away most of the Jewish population; along with the last shred of hope; did the remaining Jews—mostly young men and women—decide to take action. They fought hopelessly and heroically; against all odds of ever emerging alive out of the uneven battle with the Nazis.Based on previous experience; the Germans didn’t expect to encounter any resistance. On January 18; 1943; they entered the Ghetto after a four-month respite; to resume deportations and send most of the remaining Jews to Treblinka. This time; however; the few thousand Jews left in the Ghetto knew they had nothing to hope for and therefore nothing to lose. Abba Kovner; a partisan fighter and well-known poet; rallied the youth with these inspiring; unforgettable words:“We will not be led like sheep to slaughter. True; we are weak and helpless; but the only response to the murderer is revolt! Brothers! It is better to die fighting like free men than to live at the mercy of the murderers. Arise! Arise with your last breath!” (Resistance; 102)The Jewish fighters; organized by ZOB (Jewish Combat Organization) and ZZW (Jewish Military Union); fought back with all their might. They used the few guns they had at their disposal; homemade bombs--any weapons at their disposal--to ward off the Nazis. In the first attack; a few SS soldiers were killed and more were wounded. The Nazis momentarily withdrew; only to return a few days later; on the eve of Passover (April 19; 1943); with even larger forces and more ammunition; weapons and tanks. Their instructions from Himmler were crystal clear: the total destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Nazis proceeded to hunt down the Jews and burn the Ghetto to the ground. The Jewish resistance fighters; led by Mordecai Anielewicz; Yitzhak Zuckerman and Marek Edelman; fought bravely. They built a network of safe areas and tunnels underground and even on the roofs; with ladders. They returned the fire of the attackers; even though the Nazis were far more numerous and better armed. As the Nazis scorched the Ghetto; the bunkers; “which had been planned and equipped to provide refuge for months; became burning cages without air; water; or food” (Resistance; 236). Israel Gutman’s moving historical account of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising offers an answer to the much-raised question—why didn’t the Jews fight their oppressors?—and offers an unforgettable portrayal of heroism in hell.Claudia MoscoviciLiterature Salon16 of 18 people found the following review helpful. A Broad-Based but ZOB-Centered History of the Warsaw Ghetto UprisingBy Jan PeczkisThis work [review based on 1994 edition] begins with Jewish life in prewar Poland; and with Warsaw Jewry being one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. It then proceeds to the German-Nazi conquest of Poland; followed by the early German occupation; the eventual shipments of Warsaw's Jews to the gas chambers of Treblinka; the growing decision of the remaining Jews to resist; the preparations; the January 1943 resistance; and then the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising itself. Maps and many photographs are included.Gutman sees the Nazi extermination plan against Jews not as something that went back to the early days of Nazi ideology and power; but something that developed gradually; and wasn't decided on until about mid-1941. (p. 71). Simultaneously; Jewish thought evolved from seeing Nazism as just another persecution of Jews to belated realization of its unfolding exterminatory policies.This book includes seldom-mentioned information. For instance; Gutman praises Polish smugglers for bringing food to the starving ghetto; notwithstanding the fact that most of them did it for money. (p. 92). He also discusses members of the Polish Underground; notably Iwanski (e. g.; p. 169) and Wolinski (e. g.; p. 171); and their involvement in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.Despite its comprehensiveness and easy readability; the book has a number of shortcomings. For one; while it mentions the ZZW (Z.Z.W.); it overemphasizes the ZOB (Z.O.B.). Gutman acknowledges the fact that almost none of the ZOB fighters had any military training whatsoever. (p. 204). (In contrast; the ZZW offered stronger resistance; as it had experienced soldiers and several hundred firearms provided by the Polish Underground.)Unfortunately; Gutman hints at the myth of the Polish Underground being well-armed. (p. 173). As a historian; he should know better. For proof of the shortage of arms; consider another bloody event at this time (Spring 1943). The Ukrainian fascist-separatist OUN-UPA was conducting genocide against the Poles of prewar eastern Poland; and only a handful of Polish villages had even a half-adequate supply of arms for defense.Gutman repeats his rejection of the authenticity of early Jewish-Polish Underground contacts; as reported by Bor Komorowski; the Polish Underground leader. (pp. 171-172). In actuality; the events are compatible with the veracity of Bor Komorowski. (see the Peczkis review of Forgotten Holocaust).The author is careful to avoid anti-Polish generalizations (e. g.; p. 39. 174); but then he turns around and lays some whoppers. He rattles off a number of unsubstantiated assertions; such as the one about some Poles being more upset about the destruction of property than of the Jews during the Uprising. (p. 232). He discusses the Polish-Underground AK (A.K.) group of Captain Joseph Pszenny and its unsuccessful attempt to explode a hole in the Ghetto wall. (pp. 217-218). Without a shred of supporting evidence; he dismisses it as "improvised"; a "symbolic gesture"; and something done essentially for public relations. What a low blow!--especially recounting the fact that Poles died for Jews in this operation.