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Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos
While there were examples of courageous armed uprisings in the ghettos,
resistance also took forms without weapons. For many, attempting to carry
on a semblance of "normal" life in the face of wretched conditions
was resistance. David Altshuler and Lucy Dawidowiczwrite
in Hitler's War Against the Jews about life in the ghettos, which
sustained Jewish culture in the midst of hopelessness and despair.
"All forms of culture sustained life in the ghetto. Since curfew rules
did not allow people on the street from 7 p.m.until 5 a.m. the next morning,
socializing had to be among friends living [in] the same building or visitors
who spent the night. Card playing was very popular, and actors, musicians,
comics, singers, and dancers all entertained small groups who came together
for a few hours to forget their daily terror and despair."
Artists and poets as well entertained, and their works, many of which survive
today, are poignant reminders of the horrors of the period (see Appendix
II). Underground newspapers were printed and distributed at great risk
to those who participated. Praying was against the rules, but synagogue
services occurred with regularity. The education of Jewish children was
forbidden, but the ghetto communities set up schools. The observance of
many Jewish rituals, including dietary laws, was severely punished by the
Nazis, and many Jews took great risks to resist the Nazi edicts against
these activities. Committees were organized to meet the philanthropic,
religious, educational, and cultural community needs. Many of these committees
defied Nazi authority.
Some Jews escaped death by hiding in the attics and cellars and closets
of non-Jews, who themselves risked certain death if their actions were
discovered by the Nazis.
Spiritual Resistance in Concentration Camps
The writings and oral histories of survivors of the labor and concentration
camps are filled with accounts of simple sabotage. Material for the German
war effort, for example, might be mysteriously defective, the result of
intentionally shoddy workmanship by Jewish slave labor.