Also, many Jews participated in resistance movements in the ghettos. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was one of the most successful resistance movements. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising began on April 19, 1943 in response to the deportations that were occurring in the ghetto. This revolt was started by the Jewish Fighting Organization and the remaining Jewish population joined the fight as well. The first attack on the Germans occurred in January when a group of Jews were being escorted to the Umschlagplatz, which was a holding area for the Jews and eventually to Treblinka. These Jewish partisans used a small supply of weapons and inspired other partisans to prepare for future fights. After this initial attack, deportations were postponed and attributed …show more content…
There were about 700 to 1,000 Jews forced into working for the camp. While working in the forced labor section, SS and Ukrainian guards were constantly watching the Jews. A partisan group led by Dr. Julian Chorazyski managed to survive among the forced laborers. This group had originally planned to sacrifice their lives by setting the whole camp on fire because it would destroy the engines of the gas chambers but this plan had changed once Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto started arriving. These Jews possessed grenades and weapons which aided the resistance. Dr. Chorazyski planned on stealing the Nazis weaponry, set the camp on fire, and escape by distracting the Nazis with chaos. This plan was to be executed on April 21, 1943 but on April 19, 1943, Dr. Chorazyski committed suicide because he failed to correctly salute the camp director, Untersturmfuehrer Franz. After Dr. Chorazyski’s death, their plans had to be postponed for several months because they did not have a leader (Rajzman, 1945). On May 1, 1943, Dr. Leichert arrived in Treblinka and took over the leadership position for the resistance group. The revolt was carried out on August 2, 1943 and out of the 700 Jews that participated, only 150 to 200 Jews had escaped but only 12 managed to survive because the others were caught and murdered by the Germans (Jewish Resistance in Concentration Camps During WWII,