Largely forgotten until now, between 1933 and 1945 hundreds and hundreds of Jewish women and men performed individual acts of resistance in Nazi Germany.
Jews of all ages destroyed Nazi symbols, protested in public, disobeyed Nazi laws and defended themselves against insults and physical attacks.
Pictured: Lizi Rosenfeld, a Jewish woman, sits on a park bench bearing a sign that reads, ‘Only for Aryans,’ in August 1938 in Vienna ⬇️
@TheConversationUS This is actually quite rational. Even prior to the camps, it must have seemed obvious something very bad was going to happen-and that submission would not keep it from happening to you. This condition means nothing to lose, so why not strike back while you still can.
From what I've read, it was understood later in the Warsaw Ghetto that probably nobody would survive no matter what they did, so the cost of resisting Nazi troops was exactly zero. They tied down two whole divisions of Nazi SS, humiliating Hitler himself. The avenged their own lives and made the Nazis pay in blood and reputation.
@TheConversationUS This is both inspiring on the level that there is always a way to resist - dismantling the "conditions are too difficult for resistance" excuse. At the same time, it's also demonstrative that individual resistance only goes so far. We need those inspired by acts like graffiti and small incidents of sabotage, to be moved to collective resistance to multiply their power.
@TheConversationUS If we want it to work this time, we all have to push back together, not just the ones being targeted. Otherwise, it will be too little, too late, like it was back then.
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