Abdullah Alhadad

Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-005
Due Date 11/09/2015

Resistance and escape during the Holocaust: Research Review assignment

My topic is resistance and escape during the holocaust. The prisoners in the killing camps
or going to the killing camps had no choice but to fight back, resist and trying to escape.
The prisoners were panicked and traumatized when they heard about the death camps.
The prisoners in the death camps thought that they had to act immediately and they also
know that the German soldiers are stronger and superior than them. However they
preferred to die honorably fighting than to wait for their death. The people in the ghettos
going to the killing camps resisted and tried to escape.

Maher article focus was about major resistance moves in three killing camps such as
Auschwitz. The author talked about the resistance group ideas, movements and progress.
The prisoners formed these resistance groups and their opinion was to act immediately to
survive this deadly camp. The prisoners felt the urgency to form the resistance because
they felt that this is the only way of survival. They know that they may not success but
they believed that it was better dying trying with honor than dying burned.

The Jewish resistance article is talking briefly about kinds of resistance in various places.

The author discussed the resistance in the ghettos such as Warsaw ghetto after hearing
that the Germans would move the people in the ghetto to Treblinka killing camp. Then,
the author talked about the people in Vilna after knowing that the people in the ghetto are
being taken to the killing camps they fought and tried to escape. After that, many Jews
resisted by escaping to the forest and join the Soviets to fight and resist the Nazis. Later,
The author talked about the resistance of the prisoner in the killing camps like Treblinka
and Sobibor with stolen weapons and attacked the guards (Museum, 2015)

Thomas Maher has an article talking about the resistance in the death camps such as
Treblinka, Sobibor and Auschwitz. Maher said, Prisoners were forced to make
choiceless choices about their lives and the lives of others (Maher, 2010). The quote
shows how terrifying the situation was especially when Maher described the choices of
the prisoners as choiceless choices. The prisoners has to act immediately because they
might lose their lives anytime therefore the prisoners decided to resist and escape the
camp.

The Jews did whatever it takes to resist the Germans. One of the ways they resist the
Germans by talking and trying to escape. Indeed, work slowdowns, sabotage,
contentious talk, and escapes what Scott (1985) calls "weapons of the weak were, in
fact, common in many of the labor and death camps(Maher, 2010). The quote shows
how the Prisoners were trying desperately to resist and fight back. They were talking to
their fellow friends and the guards and they were doing organized and unorganized
resistance.

Some of the prisoners who escape the camp came back and joined the Soviets to fight the
Germans. The Unites States holocaust memorial museum has articles discussing the
resistance of the prisoners during the holocaust. Thousands of young Jews resisted by
escaping from the ghettos into the forests. There they joined Soviet partisan units or
formed separate partisan units to harass the German occupiers(Jewish Resistance, 2015).
The quotations shows that even the Jews, who escaped the ghettos, joined the Soviets and
want to fight the Germans and save their beloved friends and families. The Jews also
wanted to make the Germans stop killing the remaining Jews so they came back and
joined the Soviets to end the war.

The Jews were fighting the German with all they had even though the Germans are
superior and stronger than them. The Prisoners are forming resistance groups to resist the
German soldiers. Organized armed resistance was the most forceful form of Jewish
opposition to Nazi policies in German-occupied Europe(Jewish Resistance, 2015). The
quotation shows that most of the resistance from the Jews was attacking with weapons
and grenades. For example In the Warsaw ghetto they fought with guns and explosives
because they were afraid to be taken to the killing camps and be burned there. Therefore
they did whatever it takes to escape or to help other Jews escape or stay alive. The
Holocaust was a matter of survival and the Jews was fighting for their survival.

The articles are related to my topic because the first article is about the prisoners in the
death camps forming a resistance and trying to act quickly in order to survive and escape
the camp. The second article is about both the people in the ghettos going to the killing
camps and the prisoners in the camps resist and fight the German
soldiers back and the article also mentioned the number of people
killed in each death camp.

The holocaust was a horrific incident because of the massacres

happened to the prisoners which makes the prisoners react, resist, be
angry and hate the German soldiers. Some of the prisoners who
escape the death camps or the ghettos joined the Soviets to
strengthen the Soviets, rescue the prisoners and avenge other Jews.

Research review assignment helps the students organize their

thoughts and makes them confident of doing research and dialoging
about what they research about such as talking about what is
interesting and shocking in the article and talking about new
information. For instance to choose a quote and discuss how is this
quote related and why did you choose this specific quote which helps
the students arrange their thoughts and makes their article exciting.

Reference:

'Threat, Resistance, And Collective Action: The Cases Of Sobibr,

Treblinka, And Auschwitz On JSTOR'. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
Museum, Ushmm.org,. 2015. 'Jewish Resistance'.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005213
Peer response:

The draft is going well and the quotes are related to the topic and they
are interesting too

The first quote attract my attention and made me thinking in the same
way that the woman was still traumatized from the Holocaust.

However, you have to introduce the quote like when the professor
described the quotation sandwich. For instance introduce it in a way
that the reader will know what the quote is talking about.
You need to introduce your inquiry topic, summarize the sources or
articles you chose and conclude your research review by saying why
did you choose these quotes or sources.

This is not late. We talked about this because I forgot to put the peer
response
Thanks for your consideration