Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust : Moral Uses of Violence and Will

It is an all too common belief that Jews did nothing to resist their own fate in the Holocaust.

However, the parallel realities of disintegrating physical and psychological conditions in the ghetto, and the efforts of ghetto undergrounds to counter both collaborationist judenrat policies and the despair of a beaten down population, could not but lead to a breakdown in spiritual life.

James M. Glass examines spiritual resistance to the Holocaust and the place of this within political and violent resistance.

He explores Jewish reactions to the murderous campaign against them and their creation of new spiritual and moral rules to live by.

He argues that the Orthodox Jewish response to annihilation, often seen as unduly passive, was predicated in the insanity of the times and can be seen as spiritually noble.