"I Wanted to Avenge the Spilled Innocent Jewish Blood": Resistance of Mizoch Jews during the Holocaust

In their struggle against Nazism, the Jews were the members of various partisan units and groups, but the preference was given to the red partisans who claimed their internationalism Gogun A. Indifference, Suspicion, and Exploitation. P. 383.. Becoming members of a partisan unit for Jews was not an easy task. As the scholar Serhii Yekelchyk notes, if the partisans saw a camp with a Jewish population, they usually did not take them in because they did not want to take civilians without weapons and experience Єкельчик С. Український досвід Другої світової війни... С. 68.. Oleksandr Gogun aptly describes the attitude of Soviet partisans towards Jews during the Holocaust with the words “a mixture of indifference and mistrust. Gogun A. Indifference, Suspicion, and Exploitation. P. 379.” Since German propaganda claimed that the Judeo-Bilshovyks were guilty of everything, that's why the leaders of the Soviet units did not want to give a reason to accuse the Soviet side of Judeo-Bilshovysm. Therefore, the Ukrainian Staff of the Partisan Movement was against the establishment of separate Jewish partisan units Ibid. P. 383..

Partisans did not want to take unarmed civilians into their ranks, because it burdened the units, especially when women and children appeared. Claire Boren, a Jewess from Mizoch, noted that in the forest she and her mother lived separately from the group of partisans because the latter did not take children USC SFI VHA. Testimony 18572, Claire Boren.. Dovid Flitter recollected that when the Jews tried to join the Soviet partisans, they were required to have weapons as a condition for joining «Dovid Flitter Tells His Story».. In this context, Kayla Goldberg-Tzizin mentioned that “the partisans only tolerated our presence near them. They did not allow us to join them, because they demanded in exchange for our joining a lot of weapons, which we could not get. «The Forest Girl» by Kayla Goldberg-Tzizin, in Memorial Book of Mizoch. URL: https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Mizoch/Mizu054.html.” For the same reason (lack of weapons), Isaac Rozenblatt was not taken into the unit. Only over time, he managed to join the unit, but just because there he met his cousin Shoshek Ostrovetskyi USC SFI VHA. Testimony 38507, Isaac Rozenblat; МихальчукР. Порятунок євреїв в Мізочі. С. 229-230..

It should be noted the occurrence of anti-Semitism in the Soviet units. In some groups where there were many Jews, the fight against anti-Semitism was possible, but if it was not so, it was difficult to counteract. Max Weltfreint recollected that Nahum Poliack and his two daughters, Kayla Goldberg, several escapees, as well as Yisraelik Erlich and Baruch, managed to stay with the partisans. However, two were killed by partisans for some misdeeds or simply because they were Jews «How I Was Saved from Death in Mizoch» by Max Weltfreint.. Evidence of the Jews slaughtering by Ukrainian partisans-Banderites can also be found in the memories of the Jews «The Forest Girl» by Kayla Goldberg-Tzizin.. After all, fate was not always kind to the Jewish units. Yitzhak Arad told in his study about a partisan group of 28 Jewish fighters from Mizoch and nearby villages who were killed by UPA fighters. The Jews had a lack of weapons, so they were eliminated in mid-April 1943 Арад И. Они сражались за Родину. С. 389-390; Арад И. Катастрофа евреев. С. 747..

The fate of the Jewish partisans from Mizoch can be analyzed in the example of Yankev Mendiuk. He managed to join the partisan unit `Za Rodinu' (`For Fatherland') headed by Fedorov. However, anti-Semitism took place there, so he introduced himself as Ukrainian. During one of the actions, Mendiuk set fire on and blew up a house with the Germans. The enemy lost 18 dead, 24 wounded, and 16 captured alive. 8 machine guns, 20 rifles, 15 assault rifles, and 12 revolvers were taken. When the military tribunal sentenced the captured Germans to death, Mendiuk volunteered to carry out the execution: “I did it with a loud cry: for my sister, for my little brother, for my mother and everyone in Mizoch, I put a few bullets into those Germans. «Memories of a Partisan» by Yankev Mendiuk, in Memorial Book of Mizoch. URL: https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Mizoch/Mizu060.html.” He clearly explained his actions and desire to fight: “I wanted to avenge the spilled innocent Jewish blood. Ibidem.”

In 1943, Mendiuk became a member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), where he also felt anti-Semitism: “I was especially afraid that my Yiddish word might jump out of my mouth when I was sleeping. Terrible hatred of Jews spread around in the AK division, and the life of a Jew was not worth a penny. There were times when I recognized other Jews among the members of the AK, but I was afraid to be revealed through communication with them. Maybe they felt the same. Ibidem.”

At the end of the war, Mendiuk rose to the rank of lieutenant. In January 1945, he was taken into the intelligence service of the second regiment of the third division and took an active part in the battle in Warsaw. He reached Berlin wounded: “On May 4, 1945, standing at the gates of Berlin, I had got serious shrapnel wounds. I lost two fingers and my left leg was paralyzed. I had been in the hospital for three months, and when I was discharged in Lublin after the victory over Hitler, I was very disappointed that I was not destined to enter the enemy's nest in cursed brown Berlin as a winner. Ibidem.”

For the Jews, revenge for the slaughtering of relatives was an additional mobilization tool and a great motivation to fight in partisan units and the Soviet army. Dovid Flitter noted the motivation of the Jews to fight: “We were free. But we also had no strength left and were exhausted, ragged, and barefoot, without relatives and friends. Alone, without a home and a future. We both decided to join the Red Army. There, we could take revenge for everything and everyone. For the youth stolen from us, for the blood of our parents and all relatives, for our destroyed home, and all the suffering and tears. «Dovid Flitter Tells His Story»...”

Max Weitfreid YVA. Testimony 03/4061, Max Weltfreud., Leon Perl Шилан Є. По шляху смерті - через 50 років. Нове життя. 1992. 12 серпня., David Ganzberg (who perished in 1941 while defending Moscow USC SFI VHA. Testimony 46431, George Ganzberg.), and others are known among the Mizoch Jews who fought in the Soviet army. Andron Melnyk, a Ukrainian from Mizoch, filling up a questionnaire `Rivne Citizen - Participant in the Battles on the Fronts of the Great Patriotic War' in 1970, to the question “Who were you especially close to at the front, did you become friends with soldiers of other nationalities, peoples of the USSR, and did this friendship consolidate during the years after the war?” answered: “There were a lot of acquainted Georgians, Belarusians, Jews, Poles, and people of other nationalities. ДАРО. Ф. Р-534. Оп. 1. Спр. 13. Арк. 78.”

Thus, the Jews, defending themselves against Nazism, used resistance and confrontation. The term `resistance' is used to denote armed action and can be defined as a higher form of resistance.

In order to organize armed resistance in Ukrainian ghettos in Volyn in 1942, 18 Jewish combat groups were established, and the actions themselves took place in Tuchyn, Kremenets, Lutsk, and Mizoch. Uprisings could not be successful given the total superiority of the occupiers. However, thanks to the organization of the resistance, the number of deaths was significantly reduced comparing with the places where there were no uprisings, since many Jews had managed to escape. The consequences of the uprisings had more of a moral than a practical effect. The demonstration of the will to resist was of great importance for the Nazis, the local population, and the Jews themselves.

The uprising in Mizoch ghetto, on the example of which the resistance of the Volyn Jews is analyzed, had the following stages: the creation of an underground in the ghetto, preparation for the uprising - getting of cold weapons (they couldn't have got any firearms), participation of the representatives of the Judenrat in the uprising, beginning of the action during the liquidation of the ghetto, setting fire to the houses, fighting with the ghetto guards, and the escaping of some Jews to the `Aryan side.' The arson of the ghetto was an attempt to distract the attention of the occupiers and escape from the encirclement. During the fire, some Jews died in the flames committing suicide in order not to give themselves up to the occupiers. Therefore, setting fire to ghetto houses should be considered as a set of actions for the carrying out of the uprising.

The resistance of Mizoch Jews continued after the liquidation of the ghetto. Its active forms included the armed struggle of the Jews (attacking the occupiers, harming their lives and health) and their participation in various organized groups (Soviet partisan units, the Ukrainian underground, Polish self-defense, Czech groups, and detachments of the Soviet Army). Jews took revenge for the death of their nation's representatives and their relatives not only to the German occupiers, but also to civilians who participated in the slaughter of the Jews.

Thus, the Jews were not submissive victims of the Nazis, but they actively resisted. Confrontation and resistance to Nazism were carried out from the first to the last days of the occupation in active and passive forms, as well as on the individual and group level. The uniqueness of the Jewish resistance consisted in the absence of a single political center for the Jewish partisans to get orders from, and the specificity of the action was in the exceptional cruelty of the Nazi regime against the Jews in comparison with other occupied peoples.

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