Although Jews were the Nazis' primary victims, they too resisted oppression in a variety of ways, both collectively and as individuals. Organized armed resistance was the most forceful form of Jewish opposition to Nazi policies in German-occupied Europe. Jewish civilians offered armed resistance in over 100 ghettos in occupied Poland and the Soviet Union. In the most famous case, in April-May 1943, Jews in the Warsaw ghetto rose in armed revolt, attacking German tanks with Molotov cocktails, hand grenades, and a handful of small arms. It took German forces nearly a month before they were able to completely quash the rebellion. Jewish prisoners also rose against their guards at three killing centers. At Treblinka in August 1943 and Sobibor in October 1943, prisoners armed with stolen weapons attacked camp personnel. The Germans and their auxiliaries killed most of the rebels. In October 1944, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, prisoners rebelled against the guards. Nearly 250 prisoners died during the fighting; SS guards shot another 200 after the mutiny was suppressed.
In many countries occupied by or allied with the Germans, Jewish resistance often took the form of aid and rescue. Across German-occupied Europe, Jews helped other Jews find hiding places or food and obtain lifesaving false identity papers. In 1944 Jewish authorities in Palestine sent clandestine parachutists into Hungary and Slovakia to aid Jews in hiding. Tens of thousands of Jews fought as members of national resistance movements in Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Slovakia, as well as with Soviet partisan fighter units. Jews in the ghettos and camps also responded to Nazi oppression with various forms of spiritual resistance. They made conscious attempts to preserve the history and communal life of the Jewish people. These efforts included: creating Jewish cultural institutions, continuing to observe religious holidays and rituals, providing clandestine education, publishing underground newspapers, and collecting and hiding documentation.
