Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction: Memory, Resistance and Reclaiming the Self

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 1-7

3. The Moral Justification for Killing

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 9-25

4. Collective Trauma: The Disintegration of Ethics

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 27-54

5. The Moral Position of Violence: Bielski Survivors

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 55-78

6. The Moral Goodness of Violence: Necessity in the Forests

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 79-101

7. Spiritual Resistance: Understanding its Meaning

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 103-119

8. Condemned Spirit and the Moral Arguments of Faith

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 121-140

9. The Silence of Faith Facing the Emptied-out Self

   • James M. Glass

   Pages 141-154

10. Law and Spirit in Terrible Times

    • James M. Glass

    Pages 155-168

11. Back Matter

    Pages 169-206

    PDF

It is a common belief that Jews did nothing to resist their own fate in the Holocaust. However, the realities of disintegrating physical and psychological conditions, and the efforts of ghetto undergrounds to counter collaborationist judenrat policies and the despair, could not but lead to a breakdown in spiritual life.

• Ghetto
• Holocaust
• Judaism

'No book on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust is better than James Glass's. The scope of his analysis, which ranges from the armed resistance of partisan groups to the spiritual resistance of Orthodox rabbis in the Holocaust's ghettos, is unrivaled. The depth of his reflection, which not only lays to rest the long-lived stereotype that Jews were passive victims in the Holocaust but also explores the ethical and religious beliefs that informed different and, at times, conflicting approaches to resistance, is more penetrating than anything previously written on such topics. Original in its scholarship, making skillful use of documents and oral testimony, and written in a captivating style, this book is a superb addition to the study of the Holocaust and its implications.' - Professor John K. Roth, Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Claremont McKenna College, California, USA

'Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust provides important new information about how Strictly Orthodox Jews coped with the uniquely diabolical situation of Nazi genocide. The whole field of Orthodox Jewry and the Holocaust remains underexplored, and this book gives us valuable new material.' - Professor William D. Rubinstein, Department of History, University of Wales-Aberystwyth, UK.

• Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park, USA

  James M. Glass

James M. Glass is Professor of Government and Politics and the University of Maryland, USA.

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