TearsOfRage
New member
I just read a great book.
"Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War II"
by Harold Werner
Not all the Jews allowed themselves to be herded into ghettos! This is a detailed, first-person account of some who ran off into the woods, stole guns from farmers, and became guerillas, often fighting alongside the Russian partisans. They started with NOTHING and became a band of several hundred fighters, supporting hundreds of children and old people who hid at their base in the woods.
They even snuck IN to a labor camp to rescue the inmates:
"The next night we went back. He took us through the fence and into the camp and led us to an abandoned shack. It was close to midnight and pitch black outside. The shack was an old broken barn, and Shenka guided us to the steps leading into the cellar. There in the dark we met a group of Jews. We greeted them, but could not make out their faces in the dark. We were all armed, and Shenka went back outside to stand guard.
I told them we representedv a large group of armed Jewish partisans who had come to rescue as many of them as we could. I said there were rumours that the camp would be liquidated shortly. They wanted to know how they would exist in the woods. They were afraid the Germans would search for them and kill them. They said that no matter how many partisans we had, we could not fight the German army.
We had to explain to them that the Germans had tried many times to kill us. It was true that they had superior forces to ours, but our bullets were just as deadly as theirs, and they were just as afraid of us as we were of them. I explained that the woods were our protection, and that it was easy to disappear into them. We had been in the woods for a long time, lived through many battles, and survived one of the coldest winters in memory. I showed them my gun and said: "Only this will save us."
"Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War II"
by Harold Werner
Not all the Jews allowed themselves to be herded into ghettos! This is a detailed, first-person account of some who ran off into the woods, stole guns from farmers, and became guerillas, often fighting alongside the Russian partisans. They started with NOTHING and became a band of several hundred fighters, supporting hundreds of children and old people who hid at their base in the woods.
They even snuck IN to a labor camp to rescue the inmates:
"The next night we went back. He took us through the fence and into the camp and led us to an abandoned shack. It was close to midnight and pitch black outside. The shack was an old broken barn, and Shenka guided us to the steps leading into the cellar. There in the dark we met a group of Jews. We greeted them, but could not make out their faces in the dark. We were all armed, and Shenka went back outside to stand guard.
I told them we representedv a large group of armed Jewish partisans who had come to rescue as many of them as we could. I said there were rumours that the camp would be liquidated shortly. They wanted to know how they would exist in the woods. They were afraid the Germans would search for them and kill them. They said that no matter how many partisans we had, we could not fight the German army.
We had to explain to them that the Germans had tried many times to kill us. It was true that they had superior forces to ours, but our bullets were just as deadly as theirs, and they were just as afraid of us as we were of them. I explained that the woods were our protection, and that it was easy to disappear into them. We had been in the woods for a long time, lived through many battles, and survived one of the coldest winters in memory. I showed them my gun and said: "Only this will save us."