Jewish partisans

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wm
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Re: Jewish partisans

#76

Post by wm » 10 Sep 2015, 11:45

4thskorpion wrote:In this view, most support for Poland's communist and pro-Soviet parties came not from Jews, but rather from Ukrainian and Orthodox Belarusian voters, though some of these may have been of Jewish ancestry.
Well, there were almost no Ukrainians or Belarusians among Poland's communist.
They had their own parties: Communist Party of Western Ukraine and Communist Party of Western Belarus.

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4thskorpion
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Re: Jewish partisans

#77

Post by 4thskorpion » 10 Sep 2015, 12:34

Jewish Partisans In Belarus 1941-1944 Jewish Gen database of 8,451 persons

• The Voroshilov brigade, where Jews comprised 12% of the total, led the partisan activity in the Slutsk zone. (https://www.google.com/culturalinstitut ... qH8TbTUdNQ)
• The Mstitel (Avenger) detachment set up a leather manufacturing workshop where Jews from the family group could work and stay with the partisan detachment.

There were also Jewish partisan groups. The family groups were all Jewish escapees, which included women, children and the elderly. The most famous of these were:

• Detachment No.5 (Kutuzov detachment) under Lev Gilchik’s command. This consisted of escapees from the Novy Svierzhen and Niesvizh ghettos.
• The Frunze Detachment.
• The Budennyi detachment (Ponomarenko Brigade).
• The Parkhomenko detachment (Chapaev Brigade).
• The Shchors Brigade. The detachment commanded by L. Atlas which comprised about 120 Jews from the Derechin ghetto.

Detachments nos. 106 and 406.
The detachment named after Kaganovitch, commanded by Sh. Zaindvais, that consisted of over 500 Jews from the ghettos of Baranovichi, Kobryn and Pinsk.
Former prisoners of the Slonim ghetto joined the Jewish group 51 of the Shchors detachment.
The Kotovski detachment was comprised of former prisoners of the Volkovysk ghetto.


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4thskorpion
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Re: Jewish partisans

#78

Post by 4thskorpion » 10 Sep 2015, 13:15

Archival sources concerning the relationship between Partisans and the local population during the Nazi Occupation in Belarus (1941-1944)
These archival sources contain the following types of records:

* Documents relating to combat operations (organization of the partisan reserves, commandant's offices and self-defense groups; participation of the local residents in Partisans' combat operations).
* Documents relating to field services (collection of foodstuffs, clothes, money and arms for Partisans; Partisans' assistance to the local people in the sowing and harvesting campaign).
* Documents relating to the medical service of Partisans and the civilian population.
* Documents demonstrating different aspects of the relationship between Partisans and the local people.

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4thskorpion
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Re: Jewish partisans

#79

Post by 4thskorpion » 11 Sep 2015, 10:24

Sara Fortis - Jewish partisan, Greece.

Born in Chalkis, a small town near Athens, Greece, Sara Fortis never knew her father, who passed away when she was only two months old. Raised by her mother, Sara and her sister enjoyed a happy childhood. Though they identified as 100% Greek, they also celebrated being Jewish by lighting candles every Friday and attending temple on holidays.

Sara knew it was time to leave her hometown when the Germans arrived in 1941. She had heard about Jews in other small Greek towns being deported by the Nazis, and never returning. Sara and her mother escaped to the small village of Kuturla and hid there for a short while. When it was no longer safe for Jews, Sara was told to go, although the villagers agreed to hide her mother.
Sara-Fortis-JPEF_archives.jpg
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Above:Sara Fortis in nurse's uniform.

Leaving her mother, Sara decided to become an andarte (resistance fighter). Wanting to play a significant role in the group, she decided to go from village to village to recruit other females who wanted to fight.

Sara formed a band of female partisans that became indispensable to the male fighters, transforming young village girls into women. On their first mission, they were ordered to throw Molotov cocktails to distract the enemy and allow the partisans to attack. Impressed by their skills, the male partisans invited the all-female group to join in many missions. They burned down houses, executed Nazi collaborators, and aided the men in a way no group of females had before.
Sara-Fortis-Partisan-JPEF-archive.jpg
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Above: Sara Fortis in her partisan uniform.

The male andartes were given credit for many missions the women completed, as it was unfathomable that women could accomplish such acts. Often the women were forced to sleep next to the men and Sara constantly worried about the women’s safety.

Sara became a prominent and well-respected figure in the andartes movement in Greece. By age 18, she was known as ‘Kapetenissa (Captain) Sarika’. The Nazis sent an informer to try to capture her, but mistakenly arrested - then brutally raped and murdered - her cousin, Medi. Vowing revenge, she tracked down and executed the informer.
IT-Fortis-Partisan-large.jpg
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Above: Sara Fortis, center, in partisan uniform.


After the war, the andartes fell out of favor with the new Greek government. Sara was arrested, but owing to her great reputation, she was released shortly after. She then emigrated to Israel, where she met her husband and settled down.

Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation

michael mills
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Re: Jewish partisans

#80

Post by michael mills » 11 Sep 2015, 11:13

From the site linked by Skorpion:

The first major resistance group to be founded was the National Liberation Front (EAM). EAM was a political movement. By 1944 EAM became a movement with more than 1,800,000 members (the Greek population was around 7,500,000 at that time). EAM was organized by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and other smaller parties, but all major political parties refused to participate either in EAM or in any other resistance movement. On February 16, 1942, EAM gave permission to a communist veteran, called Athanasios (Thanasis) Klaras (later known as Aris Velouchiotis) to examine the possibilities of a victorious armed resistance movement. Soon the first andartes (guerrillas) joined ELAS and many battles were fought and won against both the Italians and Nazis (the sabotage of Gorgopotamos bridge [with the participation of EDES partisans and British commandos of SOE], the battle at Mikro Horio, etc.)
That is the reason why the Andartes "fell out of favour" with the new Greek Government; they were Communists trying to turn Greece into a Communist country.

Again we have the pattern of Jews who escaped from the German occupiers joining Communist-controlled partisan groups. It may be that the Communist partisans were the only ones that would accept Jewish escapees, the more nationalist partisan groups being ideologically more hostile to Jews.

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4thskorpion
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Re: Jewish partisans

#81

Post by 4thskorpion » 11 Sep 2015, 12:51

The EAM, organised by the communists, was the first major resistance group fighting against firstly Italian and then later German occupiers and the Hellenic State of the Greek collaborationist regime. By 1944 EAM became a movement with more than 1,800,000 members (the Greek population was around 7,500,000 at that time) of which there were as many, or as few, as 600 - 1000 Jewish partisans - an minute percentile of the 1,800,000 million EAM members and the 150,000 ELAS fighters!

There were no military acts until 1942, when the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), the armed forces of EAM, was born. In 1943 EAM-ELAS was the dominant political and military force in Greece. See: Greek Resistance

If there is a "pattern of the Jews who escaped from the German occupiers" and their Greek collaborators it was to join those actively doing the resisting in Greece at the time.

In accordance with the Treaty of Varkiza of February 1945, ELAS disarmed, leaving its supporters vulnerable to attacks from right-wing gangs, during a period known as the White Terror.

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