Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust: Influences on the Choice Between Individual and Collective Resistance Strategies

Abstract

Abstract Resistance strategies in severely repressive, violent contexts such as genocide are multifaceted, and it is important to understand what distinguishes people who choose collective resistance (e.g., uprisings, partisan groups) or individual resistance strategies (e.g., escaping, hiding). This chapter discusses a content analysis of survivor testimonies from the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive that examined this question, based on a matched comparison of 170 Holocaust survivors involved in collective or individual resistance. Our findings suggest the importance of social and contextual influences and experiences before and during the genocide—for instance, political family socialization and prior political participation and ideology, resistance role models, the type of imprisonment, direct exposure to mass killings and traumatic family losses, and family responsibilities. Overall, we suggest broadening the scope of resistance in research on severely repressive and violent contexts, and going beyond psychological processes to analyze specific circumstances that shape how people resist.