Between 1941 and 1943, underground resistance movements developed in about 100 Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe. Their main goals were to organize uprisings, break out of the ghettos, and join partisan units in the fight against the Germans. The Jews knew that uprisings would not stop the Germans and that only a handful of fighters would succeed in escaping to join with partisans. Still, Jews made the decision to resist. Further, under the most adverse conditions, Jewish prisoners succeeded in initiating resistance and uprisings in some Nazi concentration camps, and even in the killing centers of Treblinka, Sobibor, and Auschwitz. Other camp uprisings took place in camps such as Kruszyna (1942), Minsk Mazowiecki (1943), and Janowska (1943). In several dozen camps, prisoners organized escapes to join partisan units.
Prewar photo of Ala Gertner. Bedzin, Poland, 1930s.
After being deported to Auschwitz, Ala Gertner took fate into her own hands. Upon arrival, she was assigned to forced labor at a nearby armaments factory. After learning that they were going to be killed, Gertner, along with fellow female prisoners, began smuggling gunpowder and explosives from the factory with plans to destroy one of the crematoriums.
During the uprising in October 1944, the prisoners killed three guards. They also set fire to Crematorium 4, making it inoperable.
The guards crushed the revolt and killed almost all of the prisoners involved in the rebellion. The Jewish women, including Gertner, who had smuggled the explosives into the camp were publicly hanged in early January 1945.
Esther was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Chelm, Poland. In December 1942, she was deported from a work camp to the Sobibor killing center in occupied Poland. Upon arrival at Sobibor, Esther was selected to work in a sorting shed. She sorted clothing and the possessions of the people killed at the camp. During the summer and fall of 1943, Esther was among a group of prisoners in the Sobibor camp who planned an uprising and escape. Leon Feldhendler and Aleksandr (Sasha) Pechersky were the leaders of the group. The revolt took place on October 14, 1943. German and Ukrainian guards opened fire on the prisoners, who were unable to reach the main gate and thus had to try and escape through the minefield around the camp; about 300 escaped. Over 100 of them were recaptured and shot. Esther was among those who escaped and survived.
In 1939, as Chaim's tour in the Polish army was nearing its scheduled end, Germany invaded Poland. The Germans captured Chaim and sent him to Germany for forced labor. As a Jewish prisoner of war, Chaim later was returned to Poland. Ultimately, he was deported to the Sobibor camp, where the rest of his family died. In the 1943 Sobibor uprising, Chaim killed a guard. He escaped with his girlfriend, Selma, whom he later married. A farmer hid them until liberation by Soviet forces in June 1944.
The Germans captured Chaim, a soldier in the Polish army, as they invaded Poland in 1939. They first sent Chaim to Germany for forced labor, but as a Jewish prisoner of war, he was returned to Poland. Ultimately, Chaim was deported to the Sobibor camp, where the rest of his family died. In the 1943 Sobibor uprising, Chaim killed a guard. He escaped with his girlfriend, Selma, whom he later married. A farmer hid them until liberation in June 1944.
In this clip, Chaim refers to [Gustav] Wagner, Sobibor's deputy commandant.
Chaim's family came from a small town where his father owned a textile store. When antisemitic pogroms broke out in Brudzew, the Engels moved to the industrial city of Lodz. Chaim was then 5 years old. In Lodz he attended a Jewish school that also provided a secular education. After finishing middle school, Chaim went to work at his uncle's textile factory.
1933-39: Chaim's neighborhood in Lodz was predominantly Jewish, so most of his friends were Jews. As a young adult he began his compulsory army service. On September 1, 1939, only two weeks before his tour of duty was scheduled to end, the Germans invaded Poland. After a few weeks he was taken as a POW. One German captor learned Chaim was Jewish, but he didn't shoot him. Chaim was taken to Germany for forced labor.
1940-44: In March 1940 all Jewish POWs were returned to Poland. Chaim was deported to the Sobibor killing center in the summer of 1942. In October 1943 a small group of prisoners revolted. Chaim stabbed their overseer to death. With each jab Chaim cried, "This is for my father, for my mother, for all the Jews you killed." The knife slipped, cutting Chaim, covering him with blood. Chaos took over; many prisoners ran out the main gate. Some stepped on mines. Some gave up and didn't run at all. Chaim grabbed his girlfriend and they ran into the woods.
Chaim hid in the Polish woods with his girlfriend, Selma. After the war they married and lived in Europe and Israel. The Engels settled in the United States in 1957.
Tomasz was born to a Jewish family in Izbica, a Polish town whose largely religious Jewish community comprised more than 90 percent of the population. Tomasz's father owned a liquor store.
1933-39: In September 1939, a drum sounded in the marketplace, calling the town to assemble for a news report. Germany had invaded Poland. More news arrived shortly; the Soviet Union was invading from the east. Tomasz and his family didn't know what to do. Some people said to run to the Soviet side; many, including his parents, decided to stay in Izbica. His father explained his decision by saying, "The Germans are antisemites but they're still people."
1940-43: By 1943 Tomasz had been deported to the Sobibor killing center, and was in the uprising there that year. During the revolt prisoners streamed to one of the holes cut in the barbed-wire fence. They weren't about to wait in line; there were machine guns shooting at them. They climbed on the fence and just as Tomasz was half way through, it collapsed, trapping him underneath. This saved him. The first ones through hit mines. When most were through, Tomasz slid out of his coat, which was hooked on the fence, and ran till he reached the forest.
Tomasz went into hiding, and then worked as a courier in the Polish underground. After the war, he remained in Poland, and then moved to the United States in 1959.
The Warsaw ghetto uprising inspired revolts in other ghettos and in killing centers. Although many resisters knew they were bound to lose against overwhelmingly superior German forces, they chose to die fighting.
After the last Jews deported to Treblinka were gassed in May 1943, about 1,000 Jewish prisoners remained in the camp. Aware that they were soon to be killed, the prisoners decided to revolt. On August 2, armed with shovels, picks, and a few weapons stolen from the arms warehouse, they set fire to part of the camp and broke through its barbed-wire fence. About 300 prisoners managed to escape, and about a third of them survived German efforts to recapture them.
Two inmates of Sobibor, Aleksander Pechersky and Leon Feldhendler, planned a similar revolt in 1943. On October 14, prisoners killed eleven camp guards and set the camp on fire. About 300 prisoners escaped, but many were killed during the manhunt that followed. Fifty were alive at the war's end.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, prisoners of the Sonderkommando—the special squad whose job it was to burn the corpses of the murdered victims—learned of the plans to kill them. On October 7, 1944, a group of them rebelled, killing three guards and extensively damaging the crematorium. Several hundred prisoners escaped, but most were later recaptured and killed. Four young women accused of supplying the dynamite were hanged in front of the remaining inmates. One of them, 23-year-old Roza Robota, shouted "Be strong, have courage," as the trap door opened.
Key Dates
August 2, 1943 Treblinka uprising Early in 1943, deportations to the Treblinka killing center come to an end. In March the Germans commence Aktion 1005 in Treblinka. Aktion 1005 is the code name for the German plan to erase all evidence of mass murder. Prisoners are forced to open mass graves and burn the corpses. As this Aktion nears completion, prisoners fear that they will be killed and the camp dismantled. Resistance leaders in the camp decide to revolt. On August 2, 1943, prisoners quietly seize weapons from the camp armory, but are discovered before they can take over the camp. Hundreds of prisoners storm the main gate in an attempt to escape. Many are killed by machine-gun fire. More than 300 do escape; most are recaptured and killed by German police and troops. Most of the camp is burned by prisoners during the uprising. The surviving prisoners are forced to remove all remaining traces of the camp's existence. They too are then shot. Treblinka is finally dismantled in the fall of 1943. Between 870,000 and 925,000 people had been killed there.
October 14, 1943 Sobibor uprising Aktion 1005 is implemented in the Sobibor killing center in the autumn of 1942, at the height of killing operations in the camp. In early 1943, deportations to Sobibor slowed and prisoners suspected that they would soon be killed and the camp dismantled. Prisoners form a resistance network in early 1943. They plan a revolt and mass escape from the camp. On October 14, 1943, the prisoners revolt, quietly killing German and Ukrainian guards. The guards open fire and prevent prisoners from reaching the main exit, forcing them to attempt escape through the minefield. About 300 escape; about 100 are recaptured and later shot. After the revolt, Sobibor is closed and dismantled. In all, at least 167,000 people were killed in Sobibor.
October 7, 1944 Auschwitz Sonderkommando uprising During the summer of 1944, gassing operations in Auschwitz increase with the arrival of over 440,000 Hungarian Jews. The special prisoner detachments working in the killing area (the Sonderkommando) are increased to cope with the large number of gassings. By the fall of 1944, however, the detachments are again reduced in number. Members of the Sonderkommando, fearing that they will be killed, plan a revolt and escape. The plan for revolt is supported by women prisoners who smuggle gunpowder out of nearby factories to members of the Sonderkommando. On October 7, 1944, Sonderkommando prisoners revolt. During the revolt, crematoria IV is extensively damaged. It becomes inoperable and is never used again. Several SS guards are killed by prisoners during the revolt. The revolt is quickly suppressed by the camp guards. All members of the Sonderkommando are killed. Four of the women who smuggled gunpowder out of the factories are hanged on January 6, 1945, weeks before the camp is liberated.
January 17, 1945 Chelmno Chelmno originally closed in March 1943, but reopened in June 1944 to facilitate the liquidation of the Lodz ghetto. Killing operations take place until mid-July 1944. Beginning in September 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners is forced to exhume and burn bodies from the mass graves at Chelmno as part of Aktion 1005, the German plan to erase all evidence of mass murder. On the night of The Soviet army approaches the Chelmno killing center. The Germans decide to abandon the camp. Before they leave, the Germans begin killing the remaining Jewish prisoners. Some of the prisoners resist and escape. Three prisoners survive. At least 172,000 people were killed in Chelmno.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia.
View the list of all donors.
