Jewish Resistance in Pre-War Germany

Introduction

The devastation that was the Holocaust is widely studied across the globe, but many do not know much of the years prior to the war. The pre-holocaust era was a time of resistance and survival amid increasingly poor conditions in both Germany and the world as a whole that was followed by one of the greatest deliberate tragedies in human history. In my paper, I studied the Jewish resistance and revolution that occurred during the first five years of Hitler’s rule, from 1933 to 1938, also known as the era of appeasement. These years are crucial because they demonstrate a condensed version of the European history of anti-Semitism as well as what lead up to Hitler’s final solution plan. In less than a decade, Germany went from a relatively safe haven for Jews in Europe to the most dangerous place a Jew could be anywhere in the world. 

First, I will discuss the extended history of Anti-Semitism, which laid the foundation for Hitler’s crusade. Following this I will discuss the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party. This will then lead to my explanation of Jewish resistance and revolution that was then followed by the genocide that was the Holocaust. Finally, I will discuss how their experience as a whole has shaped Jewish culture into a culture of survival.

Mini-thesis #1:

Jews have suffered a history of anti-Semitism for an extended period of time, making them a strong and powerful people who are prepared to survive.   

The long history of anti-Semitism can be greatly explained in The Seeds of Genocide by Zapotoczny. This article explains how Jews have been persecuted for a period extending over 2,000 years. This discrimination only grew as fast as Christianity did, and with Judaism’s unique traditions and practices, Jews were put on the outskirts of society as outcasts. People often used religion, such as Christianity, to justify their discrimination against Jews, warranting their argument that if it was not Christianity it was not right. In 1930s Germany, Jews were forced to come in even closer contact with their discriminating peers due to the industrial revolution. An influx of jobs and opportunities created a dense, mixed population within the cities, but unfortunately there was an underlying prejudice looming over the Jews. (Zapotoczny, 2005). 

This discrimination led to the physical separation of Jews in many major European cities. There were culturally distinct areas, eerily predictive of the future “ghettos” where Jewish families could live in relative peace, though they did so as social prisoners, unable to interact freely elsewhere without being treated like second-class citizens. Although compared to what happened next, that voluntary segregation did not seem so awful. 

Bitter indifference and social persecution was not the only poor treatment Jews suffered in Europe, however. In the late 19th century Jews in Poland and Russia were killed in pogroms, massacred in their small villages. These mass killings of Jews led to a large-scale immigration of European Jews to anywhere that was not so hostile. In the early 20th century, Germany was one of the most tolerant European nations. Though Jews were not exactly greeted with open arms, they were as welcome as anyone else and were allowed to live in peace.

Mini thesis #2:

Following decades of discrimination, Hitler was able to seize the opportunity to massacre hundreds of thousands of people.

In January of 1933 Hitler took control as the Chancellor of Germany (Rappaport, 2012). Hungry for power, Hitler first set out to eliminate all competition that could possibly stand in the way of him attaining ultimate power. Hitler found many of his opponents in Munich at Dachau and sent them to a concentration camp,  a precursor to the hell on earth that would later house and kill hundreds of thousands of Jews.

After Hitler has his primary political opposition out of sight, he focused on the “real” problem, the Jews. Hitler claimed that Jews were responsible for the country’s financial and diplomatic problems and that, without their elimination, there would be even worse consequences. After years of suffering the indignities of the Treaty of Versailles, this declaration was welcomed by German citizens who desperately wanted someone to blame. Though not all were so eager to make scapegoats of their own neighbors, Hitler’s thorough elimination of all dissenting voices in government made his opinion the one that counted. As support for his demonization of the Jews grew, Hitler passed the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, taking away all rights and citizenship of Jews in Germany. This led to great devastation for hundreds of thousands who were left without jobs, food or a source of income (Rappaport, 2012.) Jews were then denied rights such as education and property ownership, leaving them with virtually nothing. 

According to Rappaport, the goal of Hitler was to force the Jews to leave Germany, leaving the country solely populated with the Aryan race, Hitler’s preferred people. The Jews were not so easily displaced, however. Generations of discrimination had taught the Jews to expect such treatment and they had learned patience and perseverance; many believed that this was just another hard time they had to endure. 

This strong-willed attitude was crushed on November 9th and 10th in the year 1938. “Kristallnacht,” the Night of Broken Glass, was when the massacre of Jews in Germany became systematic and organized. At this time, tens of thousands of Jews were shipped off to concentration camps and their homes and towns were destroyed. This was just the beginning of the devastating massacre that would ultimately see more than six million Jews tortured and murdered. 

Mini Thesis #3:

With all the hardship and oppression, ingrained in Jewish culture is the goal to survive all obstacles presented, with or without a fight. 

The oppression of Jews is thought to have begun as early as 2nd century A.D. (Lange & Gerber, 1997). After thousands of years of oppression, Jews became accustomed to a life full of struggle and resistance. They had no land, and nowhere to go and, as described by Elazar in his analysis of the Diaspora, Jews were wandering for almost four millennia. . In speaking of the story of Exodus, Elazar observed:

Whether the traditional account is historically accurate is far less important than what that account teaches us about the origins of the Jewish people and how it has shaped the Jews' self-perception over at least three and perhaps closer to four millennia. As a people who perceives itself (sic) to have been born in exile, as it were, diaspora is not an abnormal condition even if it is not a desired one. The people's political, social, and religious institutions were, from the first, organized so that they were portable and did not need to be attached to the national soil in order to function.  (Elazar).

As said by Elazar, the Jews were wandering without a place to go, making the idea of survival ingrained in their minds as a people. They had to find a way to survive wherever they went, and assimilation was not the main concern in many instances. In Rappaport’s book, she describes that perhaps Jews in Germany during the time of Hitler just believed this was another oppression they had to face. After so much hardship, they became numb to the fact that they were being persecuted yet again. Although this sense of survival by whatever means is true in some cases, some Jews did fight back in the case of Hitler and Nazi forces.  

During the time between 1933 and 1938, unknowing of the genocide that was coming, there were some who resisted Hitler and his Nazi power. A devastating example is seen in France in 1938. With his family having been deported from Germany to Poland, and himself at grave risk of being deported from France to Poland, his visa having already been denied, Herschel Grynszpan [pronounced Greenspan] shot Ernst vom Rath, a German embassy official. This act of rebellion against Nazi Germany was not taken lightly and, in turn, Hitler used this act to justify Kristallnacht. This horrendous four-day massacre which was just the start of the death of billions, was all blamed on seventeen-year-old Grynszpan, by Hitler. This idea of collective punishment was one of Hitler’s many excuses to begin his massacre. 

If this act of punishment did not scare off those who wanted to rebel, the acts coming in the following months did. The concentration camps were then put into full swing and it was the beginning of the extermination of millions. Those Jews who had resisted displacement soon found themselves involved in a different kind of resistance. Rather than simply resisting rude remarks or occasional violence, the entire Jewish population had to resist extermination.

Conclusion:

The massacre that is the Holocaust cannot be described accurately without looking at the events leading up to it. Elie Weisel's works describe these years perfectly. Beginning even thousands of years before the first murder by Hitler’s Nazis, Jews were discriminated against and persecuted for their faith, culture, and heritage. This devastating pattern of abuse led to a culture of survival engrained in the minds of the Jewish people. This belief that their duty was to survive all hardships could be stemmed from as early as 2nd Century A.D. when Jews were wandering without any land to call home. This sense of survival throughout circumstances beyond comprehension is what makes Jews still prevalent today, even though they have had a devastating history with billions of lives lost.  

References 

Gilbert, M. (2006). Kristallnacht: prelude to destruction. New York: HarperCollins. 

Rappaport, D. (2012). Beyond courage: the untold story of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press. 

Lange, N. R., & Gerber, J. S. (1997). The illustrated history of the Jewish people. New York: Harcourt Brace. 

Zapotoczny, Jr., W. S. (2005). The Seeds of Genocide. Retrieved from www.wzaponline.com/SeedsofGenocide.pdf