Israel Gutman (1923–2013)

Il 19 aprile 1943 migliaia di soldati nazisti ricevettero l'ordine di deportare nei campi di sterminio di Treblinka e di Auschwitz tutti gli ebrei del ghetto di Varsavia, ridotto a pochi blocchi di edifici che ospitavano quanto restava del mezzo milione e più di cittadini ebrei della capitale polacca. Chi avesse resistito doveva essere ucciso. Alcune centinaia di questi ebrei chiusi in trappola, per lo più adolescenti, armati solo di pistole, bombe molotov e qualche mitragliatrice leggera decisero di difendersi combattendo. Questo libro è l'esauriente racconto della rivolta e degli avvenimenti che a essa portarono. Negli anni '20 e '30 Varsavia ospitava la comunità ebraica più numerosa e più viva d'Europa. Comprendeva ricchi, poveri e classe media, assimilati agnostici e ferventi sionisti, rappresentanti di tutta la gamma di fazioni politiche e religiose. Poi venne l'assalto tedesco, di inaudita violenza, contro gli ebrei: isolamento, fame, disperazione e malattie; quindi le deportazioni. Intorno al ghetto venne eretto un muro e a centinaia di migliaia gli abitanti vennero deportati a Treblinka. Ma intanto la resistenza cominciò a prender forma e quando giunse l'ordine dell'attacco finale i combattenti del ghetto erano pronti. Il libro, che si avvale di commoventi, drammatici estratti da diari, lettere e altri documenti dell'epoca, si presenta come una lucida ricostruzione di un periodo capitale della storia ebraica e mondiale. (fonte: retro di copertina)… (més)

Written at the request of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, this has to be the definitive description of the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto in April 1943. It lays the groundwork by describing Warsaw before the war, the development of the Jewish ghetto, and the Nazi orders that moved all Polish Jews to the ghetto, thereby overcrowding it to an unbelievable extent. The Jews were then stripped of rights to travel, to make money, to find clothing, so that the ghetto became full of starving people, with the exception of a small number who had some resources that they managed to keep. Many Jews were employed in non-Jewish enterprises, not least in the making of weapons for the war, and this employment gave them hopes of survival.

When the purging began it was with promises that the people would simply be sent to work camps. Many thought they could survive it. There were rumors that they were death camps but it was difficult to confirm with limited access to news. Much of the ghetto was emptied out by the time the resistance gained ground.

There were several attempts by ghetto residents to connect with resistance movements outside, including the Communist party, which was thought to be a source of weapons and assistance against the Nazis. In the end, however, it was the young people of the ghetto who developed the plans and found weapons, and even organized the development of a series of underground bunkers to hold hundreds of people. It was young people who were willing to die in the effort to resist the Nazis, a David-and-Goliath situation that was doomed to fail.

This account is important because of the details, and because of the restraint Gutman shows in illuminating the lack of assistance by other countries and even by nearby Polish citizens. Yes, there were small underground groups that helped, but in general those opposed to the Nazi treatment of the Jews simply wrung their hands. When the ghetto was on fire and Nazis were shooting every Jew they could find there were street fairs outside the ghetto walls, and people were going about their business and enjoying themselves.

Many ask why the Jews were such "sheep" for so long. This book goes a long way to answer that question. What choice did they have, especially when there was a chance they could escape death? They had little choice, yet they did resist. While the rest of the world stood by.

I can't help but think of how the rest of the world continues to stand by when atrocities are committed. Syria? Rwanda? Bosnia? Rohingya? Darfur? Our hands are still dirty.… (més)