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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
Resistance: Jews and Christians Who Defied the Nazi Terror by Nechama Tec
5.0
Disclaimer: Netgalley allowed me to read this via a free pdf copy. Thanks!
Resist: withstand the action or effect of
Hollywood loves resistance stories, determined men and women fighting for survival against overwhelming odds. Of course, in Hollywood all resistance, at some level, will involve guns and, most likely, a leader in the form of man who resists all to save his family or to keep to some principle. For instance, we have a wonderful movie about Lincoln. But I have to wonder where the big budget movie treatment of Harriet Tubman is.
Nechama Tec also seems to be obsessed with the idea of resistance, in her case resistance to the Nazis. Her book Defiance dealt with the Bielski brothers and their heroic family partisan camp during the Second World War. This aptly titled book deals with all types of resistance during the Holocaust, both by Jews and by Christians.
While the book’s sub-title seems to indict a search for what made people resist and Tec does examine to a degree the conditions that are need for resistance, the focus is primary on the stories of resistance. The book’s geographical focus is primary Poland. The type of resistance, however, that makes up the discussion is far more than the rebellions in the Ghettos and the camps. The book is divided into sections – the Forests, Ghettoes, Camps, and more importantly Couriers. There are two other sections that profile various resisters.
The important thing that Tec does is use a far less narrow definition of resistance than most writers and Hollywood do. Turn on a Hollywood movie about resistance and it will usually involve guns and/or a gentile saving Jews. While Tec does detail resistance fighters such as various partisans and the fighting that occurred in the Ghettos, she also focuses on more everyday and far less flashy methods of resistance – a mother adapting to get food to feed her family or by simply giving birth , for instance. If Tec’s Defiance was too close to hagiography, this book illustrates that resistance occurred at all levels, ages, genders, and religions. The resisters do not come across as saints, but as people. And it is this illustration that makes the book important. With stories of fighting back, the reader is always placed in the position of questioner - would the reader have done what these people did. What Tec does is provide a two-fold answer to this question, and the more annoying other question –why didn’t people, primary the Jews, fight back. (TO be honest, I’m surprised that Tec doesn’t smack people who ask this question). She illustrates that resistance, the idea of rebelling, is down by those whose bravery is obvious and by those whose actions might go unnoticed. She also showcases the fact that resistance was far more common than people think, perhaps more common than being the sheep that some people seem to think the targeted groups were. Keeping a diary or journals that detailed what happened was just as important and necessary an act as shooting a guard. Staying quiet in some cases was just as brave as speaking out.
Additionally, while the second and last sections focus on men, there are women throughout. Tec not only looks at women in the ghettoes but also in the forests and camps. Her analysis of women as partisans is more detailed than in Defiance (and perhaps the commonplace experience as opposed to the exception). The part of the book I liked the best was the section on couriers. In most books dealing with resistance in the ghettos, the couriers get named and mentioned – usually briefly though with acknowledgement that being a courier was extremely dangerous. The couriers whose missions were absolutely necessary for several of these plans to work, get short shrift, perhaps unintentionally implying to that the couriers were somehow less than the others. The only exception of this seems to be in the discussion of the various networks in Occupied France. By giving the couriers their own section, Tec highlights their contributions as well as the danger, and gives more information about the risks than most other books. The couriers are usually the lesser known “active” resisters and it is nice to see them get the spotlight for a bit here.
If Tec wrote this to answer, to put to bed, that insensitive question asked above, she has more than succeeded. This book is a great companion to Defiance, but also a must reader about the Holocaust.
Resist: withstand the action or effect of
Hollywood loves resistance stories, determined men and women fighting for survival against overwhelming odds. Of course, in Hollywood all resistance, at some level, will involve guns and, most likely, a leader in the form of man who resists all to save his family or to keep to some principle. For instance, we have a wonderful movie about Lincoln. But I have to wonder where the big budget movie treatment of Harriet Tubman is.
Nechama Tec also seems to be obsessed with the idea of resistance, in her case resistance to the Nazis. Her book Defiance dealt with the Bielski brothers and their heroic family partisan camp during the Second World War. This aptly titled book deals with all types of resistance during the Holocaust, both by Jews and by Christians.
While the book’s sub-title seems to indict a search for what made people resist and Tec does examine to a degree the conditions that are need for resistance, the focus is primary on the stories of resistance. The book’s geographical focus is primary Poland. The type of resistance, however, that makes up the discussion is far more than the rebellions in the Ghettos and the camps. The book is divided into sections – the Forests, Ghettoes, Camps, and more importantly Couriers. There are two other sections that profile various resisters.
The important thing that Tec does is use a far less narrow definition of resistance than most writers and Hollywood do. Turn on a Hollywood movie about resistance and it will usually involve guns and/or a gentile saving Jews. While Tec does detail resistance fighters such as various partisans and the fighting that occurred in the Ghettos, she also focuses on more everyday and far less flashy methods of resistance – a mother adapting to get food to feed her family or by simply giving birth , for instance. If Tec’s Defiance was too close to hagiography, this book illustrates that resistance occurred at all levels, ages, genders, and religions. The resisters do not come across as saints, but as people. And it is this illustration that makes the book important. With stories of fighting back, the reader is always placed in the position of questioner - would the reader have done what these people did. What Tec does is provide a two-fold answer to this question, and the more annoying other question –why didn’t people, primary the Jews, fight back. (TO be honest, I’m surprised that Tec doesn’t smack people who ask this question). She illustrates that resistance, the idea of rebelling, is down by those whose bravery is obvious and by those whose actions might go unnoticed. She also showcases the fact that resistance was far more common than people think, perhaps more common than being the sheep that some people seem to think the targeted groups were. Keeping a diary or journals that detailed what happened was just as important and necessary an act as shooting a guard. Staying quiet in some cases was just as brave as speaking out.
Additionally, while the second and last sections focus on men, there are women throughout. Tec not only looks at women in the ghettoes but also in the forests and camps. Her analysis of women as partisans is more detailed than in Defiance (and perhaps the commonplace experience as opposed to the exception). The part of the book I liked the best was the section on couriers. In most books dealing with resistance in the ghettos, the couriers get named and mentioned – usually briefly though with acknowledgement that being a courier was extremely dangerous. The couriers whose missions were absolutely necessary for several of these plans to work, get short shrift, perhaps unintentionally implying to that the couriers were somehow less than the others. The only exception of this seems to be in the discussion of the various networks in Occupied France. By giving the couriers their own section, Tec highlights their contributions as well as the danger, and gives more information about the risks than most other books. The couriers are usually the lesser known “active” resisters and it is nice to see them get the spotlight for a bit here.
If Tec wrote this to answer, to put to bed, that insensitive question asked above, she has more than succeeded. This book is a great companion to Defiance, but also a must reader about the Holocaust.