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| Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa ייִדישע קאַמף אָרגאַניזאַציע | |
|---|---|
| Jewish Combat Organization | |
.svg) | |
| Active | 28 July 1942 |
| Country | Nazi occupied Poland |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Mordechai Anielewicz Yitzhak Zuckerman Marek Edelman |
| Insignia | |
| Military eagle[dubious –discuss] |  |
| Part ofa series on the |
| Polish Underground State |
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Authorities |
Political organizations |
TheJewish Combat Organization (Polish:Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa,ŻOB;Yiddish:ייִדישע קאַמף אָרגאַניזאַציעYidishe Kamf Organizatsie; often translated to English as theJewish Fighting Organization) was aWorld War IIresistance movement inoccupied Poland, which emerged from the merger of five Jewish political and youth organizations:Hashomer Hatzair, thePolish Workers' Party,Habonim Dror,Poale Zion, and theBund,[1] and was central in organizing and launching theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising.[2] ŻOB took part in a number of other resistance activities as well.
The ŻOB was formed on 28 July 1942, six days after theGerman Nazis underSS GeneralJurgen Stroop began theGrossaktion Warsaw, started on 15 July on the same year, and sealing the fate of the Jews confined in theWarsaw Ghetto: "All Jewish persons living in Warsaw, regardless of age and gender, [would] be resettled in the East."[3][4] Thus began massive "deportations" of about 254,000 Jews, all of whom were sent to theTreblinka extermination camp. TheGrossaktion lasted until 12 September 1942. Overall it reduced the once thrivingWarsaw Jewish community of some 400,000 to a mere 55,000 to 60,000 inhabitants.
The youth groups that were instrumental in forming the ŻOB had anticipated German intentions to annihilate WarsawJewry and began to shift from an educational and cultural focus to self-defense and eventualarmed struggle.[5]
Unlike the older generation, the youth groups took these reports seriously and had no illusions about the true intentions of the Germans.[citation needed] A document published three months before the start of the deportations byHashomer Hatzair declared: "We know thatHitler's system of murder, slaughter and robbery leads steadily to a dead end and the destruction of the Jews."[6]
A number of the leftZionist youth groups, such asHashomer Hatzair andDror, proposed the creation of a self-defense organization at a meeting of Warsaw Jewish leaders in March 1942. The proposal was rejected by theJewish Labour Bund who believed that a fighting organization would fail without the help of the Polish resistance. Others rejected the notion of armed insurgency saying that there was no evidence of a threat of deportation. Moreover, they argued any armed resistance would provoke the Germans to retaliate against the whole Jewish community.[7][8][better source needed]
In November 1942, ŻOB officially became part of and subordinated its activities to the High Command of theArmia Krajowa. In return theHome Army (Armia Krajowa) began providing ŻOB with weapons and training, with the first shipment of guns and ammunition being provided in December 1942.[9] The organization was spied upon by Jewish collaborators which the Nazis called the Society of Free Jews (Towarzystwo Wolnych Żydów).[10]
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On 18 January 1943, the Nazis began a second wave of deportations. The first Jews the Germans rounded up included a number of ŻOB fighters who had intentionally crept into the column of deportees. Led byMordechai Anielewicz they waited for the appropriate signal, then stepped out of formation, and fought the Nazis with small arms. The column scattered and news of theŻZW and ŻOB action quickly spread throughout the ghetto. During this small deportation, the Nazis only managed to round up about 5,000 to 6,000 Jews.[4]
The deportations lasted four days during which the Germans met other acts ofresistance from the ŻOB. When they left the ghetto on 22 January 1943, the remaining Jews regarded it as a victory, howeverIsrael Gutman, a member of the ŻOB who subsequently became one of the leading authors on Jewish Warsaw wrote, "It [was] not known [to the Jews] that the Germans had not intended to liquidate the entire ghetto by means of the January deportations." However, Gutman concludes that the "[January] deportations... had a decisive influence on the ghetto's last months."
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The final deportation began on the eve ofPassover, 19 April 1943. The streets of the ghetto were vacant; most of the remaining 30,000 Jews were hiding in carefully preparedbunkers including their headquarters located inUlica Miła 18, many of which had electricity and running water, however they offered no route of escape.
When the Germans marched into the ghetto, they met fierce armed resistance from fighters attacking from open windows in vacated apartments. The defenders of the ghetto usedguerrilla warfare tactics and had the strategic advantage not only of surprise but also of being able to look down on their opponents. This advantage was lost when the Germans began systematically burning all of the buildings of the ghetto forcing the fighters to seek cover in the underground bunkers. The fires above consumed much of the available oxygen below ground, turning the bunkers into suffocating death traps.
On May 8 in the bunker at 18 Mila Street,Jurek Wilner called on the fighters to commit mass suicide to avoid falling into Germans' hands. As the first one,Lutek Rotblat initially shot his mother and then himself. In the bunker most of the members of the Combat Organization found their deaths, including CommanderMordechaj Anielewicz.[11]
By 16 May 1943, the German Police GeneralJürgen Stroop, who had been in charge of the final deportation, officially declared what he called theGrossaktion, finished. To celebrate he razedWarsaw's Great Synagogue. The ghetto was destroyed and what remained of the uprising was suppressed.[4]
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Even after the destruction of the ghetto, small numbers of Jews could still be found in the underground bunkers on both sides of the ghetto wall. In fact, during the last months of the ghetto some 20,000 Jews fled to theAryan side. Some Jews who escaped the final destruction of the ghetto, including youth group members and leadersKazik Ratajzer,Zivia Lubetkin,Yitzhak Zuckerman andMarek Edelman, would participate in the 1944Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis.[4]
While many members and leaders of theyouth groups perished in the Warsaw Ghetto,Zionist and non-Zionist youth movements remain active. One can still find the left Zionist youth groupsHashomer Hatzair andHabonim Dror in countries such as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay. There are still remnants of the non-Zionist Jewish Labour Bund'sS.K.I.F. inAustralia, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. The right youth groupBetar operates in Australia, Brazil, Western Europe and the United States, andBnei Akiva, a religious Zionist organization, operates worldwide.
A second Jewish resistance organization called theJewish Military Union (Polish:Żydowski Związek Wojskowy, ŻZW), formed primarily of formerofficers of thePolish Army in late 1939, operated side by side with ŻOB & was also instrumental in theJewish armed struggle.[12]
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![Dawid Wdowiński [ZZW]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDawid_Wdowi%25C5%2584ski.jpg)
Note: Chariton and Lazar were never co-authors of Wdowiński's memoir. Wdowiński is considered the single author.
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