4 - Resistance and Opposition: The Example of the German Jews

Summary

German Jews developed various techniques of defense and survival, strategies designed to work against the ideology and policies of the Nazi regime. With these strategies, they deviated from the norms that the National Socialists had prescribed for them. In this essay, I will outline the basic patterns underlying these strategies. These patterns can be divided into two distinct catagories: resistance in the narrow sense - defined as politically organized antifascism - and opposition in the broader sense, defined as nonconformist behavior.

The opportunities for Jews to resist or oppose the Nazi regime were limited by many external and internal barriers. In 1933, approximately five hundred thousand Jews experienced the termination of the German-Jewish “symbiosis.” They found themselves at the mercy of a system that gave them a choice between either accepting degradation in Germany or emigrating. They discussed at length the alternatives of home and exile - whether to stay or to leave. A minority left at once: those in danger for political reasons, Zionists, and those driven out of their professions. But the majority decided to stay. They felt unable to leave the country in which their families had lived for generations and where they felt at home. They were so acculturated and integrated that it was difficult simply to pack their bags and go.