As Holocaust survivor Roman Kent has noted, “Resistance does not have to be with a gun and a bullet.”
Spiritual Resistance When it was no longer legal for Jews to congregate, some still gathered to pray. In the ghettos, some continued to provide Jewish children with school and religious instruction even though it was prohibited. Religious Jews observed holidays in the ghettos and concentration camps; some even fasted on Yom Kippur or refused to eat non-Kosher food. Jews who worked in armament factories worked slowly and tried to ensure that the bullets and bombs they were producing would not work correctly.
Partisan Resistance Another form of resistance involved survival in the forests throughout Europe. Approximately 30,000 Jewish individuals escaped the ghettos and targeted communities by fleeing to the forests. Escapes occurred from both small and large ghettos. Some groups survived with the assistance of local communities who provided food, supplies and weapons, while others were forced to resort to covert measures and theft. The camps set up in forests not only facilitated survival; they allowed families to continue to educate the children and create new lives. Nearly all groups continued religious practices in spite of limiting conditions.
Survival in the forests was a challenge due to weather, illness and antisemitic attitudes or attacks by many non-Jewish partisan groups that also occupied the forests. Despite these challenges, the Jews who joined partisan groups contributed to the anti-Nazi efforts in these communities and helped their own people survive. A well-known group was the Bielski Partisans in western Belarus. In each instance, forests provided partisan units with cover and protection.