Spiritual Resistance- Ashley Scully

Wednesday March 6, 2013

“Try to imagine Jesus on the way to Golgotha suddenly stooping to pick up a stone and hurling it at one of the Roman legionnaires. After such an act, could he ever have become the Christ?” – The Holocaust Kingdom (p. 88)

I found this quote interesting because as a Peace and Justice Studies minor, I have studied nonviolence and types of resistance for social, political, and economical change throughout history. I came across this quote when the book discusses the spiritual resistance that took place in the Warsaw ghetto. What is spiritual resistance? Spiritual resistance refers to attempts by individuals to maintain their humanity, personal integrity, dignity, and sense of civilization in the face of Nazi attempts to dehumanize and degrade them (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). It is the refusal to have one’s spirit broken in the midst of the most horrible degradation.

This type of resistance is unique because it is unarmed defiance, in other words; nonviolence. An example of spiritual resistance found in The Holocaust Kingdom is the hiding of Alexander’s son Wlodek from the Nazis. By hiding his son, Alexander is defying Nazi rule. Hitler targeted Jewish children for two main reasons; he wanted the Jewish population extinct and children could not work in labor camps—in other words, they were useless to the eyes of Nazis. Alexander recounts the memories of Nazis ripping Jewish children away from the arms of their mothers. Children were shot in the streets and their bodies were covered with newspapers. As a father himself, these nightmares he saw while living in the Warsaw ghetto horrified him. Him and his wife Lena took extra measures (and risks) to hide their precious son who was only four-years-old at the time. This is an example of spiritual resistance because Alexander is keeping his own spirit alive by keeping Wlodek alive. He is not letting Hitler fulfill his plan to eradicate the entire Jewish population. The Jewish children symbolized hope for the future because they will one day have Jewish children of their own and preserve the Jewish faith.

Hiding the children relates to the quote I used above. Alexander could have easily used violence and fought back against the Nazis, though he would have lost his life easily. Instead of letting hatred and terror get the best of him, Alexander took fate into his own hands (rather than letting the Nazis decide his fate and the fate of his family) and used tactics to protect his family. He risked his own life to hide his son, but risking his life was worth it because he knew the importance of keeping his son alive.

What we can learn from Alexander’s example is love is strength. In the face of atrocity, love is important. Responding with violence to violence will only result in more bloodshed. Using spiritual resistance, love, and nonviolence will keep you (and even your loved ones) above your enemies.