First of 2 Parts

We recently attended a lecture in Tel Aviv by Moshe Arens, one of Israel’s senior political figures. Arens spoke about his new book, “Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto – The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” (Gefen Publishing). The lecture was sponsored by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI), an organization that encourages aliyah of Americans and Canadians and assists its members to be absorbed into Israeli society and participate in the life of the country. Arens’ talk was especially appropriate because International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be held on January 27.

Born in 1925 in Lithuania, Moshe Arens grew up in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 1948. Arens studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and aeronautical engineering at the California Institute ofTechnology. His political life began in 1974, when he was elected to the Knesset on the Likud party list. In 1982, Arens became the Israeli ambassador to the United States for one year, before returning to Israel to become Defense Minister for a term beginning in 1983 (with additional terms in 1990 and 1999.) Arens also served as Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1990. He is a former associate professor of aeronautical engineering at the Technion and vice president for engineering at Israel Aircraft Industries. Arens, a youthful octogenarian, writes an influential column for the leftist Haaretz newspaper, where his column strikes a contrarian note.

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising began on the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943. Though the major offensive actions lasted for only ten days, its influence continues until today. But Arens explained that the generally accepted narrative of the uprising is not the whole truth, a fact that convinced Arens to research and publish his book. “Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto” tells the story of the overlooked Betar fighters, who numbered about half of the ghetto fighters. Betar was the movement started by Zev Jabotinsky, the chief rival of David Ben-Gurion in the Yishuv, the pre-1948 Jewish community in Palestine.

The Germans began herding Jews into ghettos during the period of the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union (1939- 1941). At first there were no mass killings in the ghettos, but mass murder began at the time of Operation Barbarossa, when Hitler broke the pact by attacking Soviet troops. Specially trained SS groups were sent into the ghettos to carry out the massacre of Jews. Concentration camps had not yet been established, so Jews were simply shot or beaten to death. Arens told us that 1.5 million Jews were killed in various locales, about one quarter of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.

There was no mass resistance by the Jews. Why? Arens explained their passivity was because wholesale slaughter like that was unimaginable for the weapon-less Jews, who had made no preparations to resist extermination. The first step towards defending themselves was taken by youth groups in Vilna, who proclaimed, “We will not go like sheep to the slaughter.”

Their problem was how to get support from the masses in the ghettos. Support was sparse because resistance was deemed to be foolhardy and might encourage the Germans to escalate their violence. Despite opposition, the young militants established the United Partisan Organization, which divided itself into small cells and managed to obtain some weaponry. Soon, the Germans discovered their existence and demanded that the leaders be turned over to them. Fearing retaliation if they supported revolt, the Jews themselves handed the UPO leader to the Germans. Arens said that there was no uprising in Vilna because of the lack of belief in the efficacy of resistance. Refusing to comprehend the ferocity of the Germans, the ghetto residents instead tried to mollify them by working harder.

The UPO fighters escaped from the ghetto and fled into the woods to join other partisans. Their situation was fraught with danger

5 from German soldiers, but also from gentile partisans, who had no love for Jews. Nevertheless, partisans like the Bielski brothers survived, gathered followers, and did a lot of damage to the Axis fighters. (The film “Defiance” is based on the story of the Bielski fighters.)

It took a long time for the news of the horrendous German activity in the ghettos to become known. Finally, in November, 1942, The New York Times ran one of the first articles on the unfolding story of the Holocaust. That article, under the headline: “1,000,000 Jews Slain by the Nazis, Report Says” is only six paragraphs long and was buried on page 7. In reaction to such information, fighters who had left Vilna went to Warsaw to encourage the ghetto dwellers there to organize. But elders there either didn’t believe them or maintained that Germans wouldn’t do the same to them. After all, they said, there had just been random killings until June, 1942.

In Part 2, find out how 600 Jewish fighters held off the German army for weeks, setting an example for future generations and inscribing themselves on the pages of Jewish history!