Jewish subterranean operations in major east European ghettos

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study has explored the use of the subterranean dimension during the Jewish Holocaust in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The study has found that facing extermination by the Germans, in many ghettos Jewish fighting groups and ghetto inhabitants built and made extensive use of underground hideouts, bunkers, tunnels and sewer systems. This subterranean dimension enabled Jewish resisters to build up a modest military force, run operations against the Germans and rescue members from the ghettos. The volume and effective use of the subterranean dimension by Jewish fighting groups were shaped by the geographical conditions in the ghettos, the commanders’ military skills and strategy of resistance, and by the relationship with the ghettos’ administration and inhabitants, and with local non-Jewish resistance groups. With the partial exception of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Jewish fighting groups in many ghettos made fatal operational and tactical errors that undermined the use of the subterranean dimension.