"Why didn't Jews resist the Holocaust or try to escape?"

Allan Levine's "Fugitives of the Forest" is a chronicle of the thousands of Jews who had participated in the partisan resistance in eastern Poland, Belorussia, the Ukraine, the three Baltic states, and the western part of the Soviet Union. As the author mentions in the introduction, there were other countries where Jews had participated as partisans; however, the book is restricted to a study of only those above-mentioned geographical locations.

Most of the book deals with personalized oral accounts of those who survived the Holocaust and why and how they resisted. Many of us will ask the troubling question, why did not more Jews resist? The author very aptly states, our question should have been rephrased: "how, under the circumstances, was any resistance possible at all?"

Levine points out that there were a variety of reasons why many Jews did not join the underground resistance. For many there was a blind belief that if they obeyed the Nazis they would survive. This was one of the main beliefs of some of the Judenrate. The Jewish councils established by the Nazis in each city and town whose main mission was to ensure that the Nazi's orders and regulations were carried out. In certain instances these councils tried to convince their fellow Jews that if they worked hard and helped the Nazi war machine things would work out.

There was also reluctance for fear of mass retribution. In other words, if one family member were to be caught it was more than likely that an entire family would be killed. Other reasons were a lack of arms, fear of the forest, a loss of all hope and some, who were too paralyzed to act.

On the other hand there were those who emphatically believed in the slogan of the underground resistance: "the ghetto means death, provide yourself with arms, leave the ghetto and take to the forests." It was not a matter of being a hero but only one of survival.

It is the story of these few Jews that are extensively dealt with in the book. We are told of the men, women and children who escaped the Minsk and Vilma ghettos and eluded death for a brief time span. We are also informed of some of the peasants who had collaborated with the Nazis and brought about the death of thousands of Jews. However, the author makes it clear that it is difficult and nearly impossible to generalize about the behaviour of some of the European peasants towards Jewish fugitives. After all, they also were in danger of being killed by the Nazis if they aided the Jews. Some of the peasants had taken great risks, while others were indifferent or frightened.

Some may question the accuracy of the facts or the reliability of oral testimony. There are others who go so far as cruelly denying that the Holocaust even existed and they attempt to revise history.

Levine's book, although very well written, is nevertheless heart wrenching and extremely disturbing. Very often I had to stop and put it aside.

"Copyright 2002, Bookideas.com. Orginally published at Bookideas.com"

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookideas
Posted May 14, 2002