KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
radio reports of German battle losses that encouraged the belief that the war would soon end with an Allied victory. In the meantime, the first responsibility of the living was to survive. As the Yiddish saying goes, “As long as one limb stirs, thoughts of the grave are deferred.” It is thought that numerous escape attempts were made but not documented because no witnesses lived to tell about them. It took a huge effort simply to stay alive, and the weakened physical condition of the Jews was another factor in their seeming passivity. Malnutrition and starvation, overwork and exhaustion, disease, loss, and shock precluded clear planning — even if they had had access to weapons against the well-supplied Germans and Ukrainians — and the capability to implement such plans. In the analysis of scholar Leni Yahil, four active responses were possible for the Jews of Poland: self-defense, flight to the forest, finding refuge somewhere nearby, or attempting to qualify as a pro - ductive laborer needed for Germany’s war machine. Of these, the best option for survival appeared to be qualifying as a “produc- tive laborer,” which protected a relatively large number of Jews for a relatively long amount of time. In fact, the German state itself was undecided whether to murder all Jews outright or work them to death. The most important document a Jew could possess was the schein, a work permit stating that the holder was required by the German authorities. After a deportation, people were told that only those who were a burden on the ghetto had been taken away and, often, that it was the last deportation; it was reasonable to be- lieve that the Germans would continue to exploit the Jews to build much-needed roads, weapons, and equipment. 26 A massive uprising was out of the question for most ghetto dwellers, given their isolation, illness, and lack of weapons. Es- cape to the forest meant near-certain death: Although a handful of people found refuge with rural villagers or partisans, it is believed that tens of thousands of Jews perished in the forests. Those who survived were usually physically fit youths between fifteen and thirty years of age who had received some prior training in survival
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