The Jewish partisan movement in Poland began to take shape in the summer of 1942 as a time of increased deportations to the death camps of Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, and Belzec. A few Jews managed to escape to the forest before and during deportations and the immediate hunts organized by the police prompted the establishment of armed groups to fight the hunts and to secure conditions for refugees living in the forests. Unlike the Poles who organized resistance groups, Jewish groups were hastily organized after arrival in the forests, had little or no military experience, could count on almost no assistance from the surrounding population, and often took on the additional burden of caring for unarmed refugees.

Still, in some areas, Jewish partisan group did manage to function and have some success. The area including Parczew and Wlodawa counties near Lublin in the General Government became one of the primary battlefields of the Jewish partisan movement. An area of forests and lakes, with few passable roads, the Parczew forest was an ideal location for partisan activity. Notable partisan leaders included Ephraim (Frank) Bleichman and Shmuel (Mieczslaw) Gruber. Gruber became the second-in-command to Yechiel Greenshpan who led Jewish forces in the Parczew forest, and Bleichman was one of Greenshpan’s two platoon commanders.