96 pages • 3 hours read
Jennifer A. NielsenResistance
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Varying Responses to Oppression
Content Warning: This section mentions wartime violence, death, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.
The title of the book hints at one of its major themes. With the story focused on the Jewish resistance within Nazi-occupied Poland, one of the ideas that it explores is the different ways people respond to oppression.
At the outset, two responses are presented, both on behalf of the oppressed. Chaya, the protagonist, is a courier, and her work involves stealth, deception, and a high amount of risk; she has to smuggle information and supplies into the ghettos (and, on occasion, people out of them). The point of Chaya and other couriers’ work is to provide hope, relief, and even escape to the people trapped inside the ghettos. It is a form of resistance that does not involve direct confrontation with the oppressor.
By contrast, Chaya’s work with Akiva, the ZOB, and ultimately the partisans involves armed resistance, which does bring her into direct conflict with the Nazis. Chaya and other resistance members justify their use of violence as self-defense—a response to the Nazis’ ongoing atrocities. The point of Akiva and the ZOB’s armed resistance is not to win the battle; this is an impossibility given the resources and manpower at their disposal. Their aim, rather, is to prevent their oppressors from dictating when and how they die. Their actions are rooted in honor and justice, and they fight to inspire other groups to follow their example, standing up to their oppressors and doing the right thing.
Not all of the oppressed have the strength or determination to respond in this way, however; Chaya’s parents are an example of this. After what happens to Sara and Yitzchak, their spirits are broken, and they do not exhibit the will to fight for even their own lives, though they have one remaining daughter who needs them. They eventually meet their end at the hands of their oppressors, but it is not an end they necessarily anticipate or accept; it is merely a function of their comforting themselves with the false belief that they are safest where they are.
Avraham, Sara, and Henry meet a similar fate in Lodz; however, their response reflects an entirely different thought process and intention. They remain in hiding inside the ghetto because they refuse to obey the Nazis, but they also will not fight and kill them, refusing to compromise their personal beliefs. The teenagers accept their fate—their inevitable deaths—in the name of their faith, and they sacrifice their own lives so that someone else can continue the fight.
The novel also depicts vastly different responses from Jews outside of the ghettos, such as those who join the OD or the Judenrat. While Chaya’s parents lose their will to live after the death of a child, Esther responds to a parallel situation by grabbing at any chance of survival. The “choiceness choice” of joining the Judenrat or the OD means having to actively harm members of their own community in exchange for the safety of oneself or one’s family. The latter, at least, is an understandable choice, but events in the Warsaw Ghetto demonstrate that compromising one’s principles to survive does not come with any guarantees; the Nazis ultimately kill the Warsaw Judenrat and OD anyway.
Even as those facing oppression turn on their brethren to survive, there are those outside of the community who resist Nazi activity merely based on their personal convictions about what is just. Wit, the young mother on the train, and the different priests who assist Chaya and her friends are all examples of how one need not be oppressed personally to recognize and stand up to evil. In contrast, some Polish citizens sympathize with the Nazis and find ways to assist them, either because they believe in their cause or because it suits their own ends. An even larger group chooses to be bystanders, unwilling to harm but also refusing to help, such as the local doctor who does not help keep Esther safe from the Gestapo.
Ultimately, the message of the book is clear: To stop oppression, there must be continued resistance. However, this resistance need not come from the oppressed alone, and it can take multiple forms, from armed conflict to a refusal to give up one’s faith or morals, even in the face of death.
The Interplay of Community and Heroism During Wartime
Community is an important aspect of the book, especially given its historical context. With the Nazis targeting a specific community—the Jewish people—members of that community inevitably band together for solidarity and survival. In some instances, the ties of community even elicit heroic responses from those subjected to this violence and trauma.
For Chaya in particular, identification with the Jewish community becomes a matter of survival. She first chances upon the Draengers and Akiva when she has to flee Krakow; the lack of family support naturally draws her closer to those in similar situations, strengthening community ties between Akiva’s members. Later, Chaya finds her parents but experiences an emotional separation from them, their spirits too broken after what happened to her siblings to fight for their lives. Chaya leans further on her resistance community for support as she experiences the loss of her family all over again.
One of the ways the members of the resistance band together is by maintaining the traditions of Jewish culture and faith. Those at the farm celebrate Sabbath dinners together—a reminder of the residents’ shared religion. Similarly, the ZOB bunkers keep Seder even in the face of a battle starting at any minute; it is the night before Passover, and celebrating this is yet another reminder of their culture and all that they are fighting for. Specific religious traditions aside, characters also find and create community in Jewish values and beliefs. Avraham, Sara, and Henryk are an example of this, as they sacrifice themselves for Esther and Chaya, allowing the latter to escape and continue the fight.
Examples of these kinds of sacrifices appear frequently in the book. When Esther is captured, she refuses to give up any information, even under torture; she remains loyal to her companion and her community. Chaya in turn risks her life to break Esther out, both for her friend’s sake and so that they can continue their mission to Warsaw. Inside the ghetto, numerous sacrifices occur, including the cornered civilians rising up to allow Chaya to slip by, as well as Rachel going out to face the Nazis to allow Chaya and Esther to escape. There is a dual sense in which community bonds inspire such sacrifices, as those who make them often do so on behalf of the community from which they draw their courage and strength.
The fighters in Warsaw are ultimately acknowledged as “heroes” by the Allies on a global stage. Though the recognition feels good, Chaya reflects on whether one can label the ZOB’s actions heroic, as they’re fighting to survive. Instead, she looks to acts like those like Mr. Pilzer and Esther, who choose to give up their lives so others can survive. Motivated as they are by the bonds of community, Chaya sees true heroism in these selfless sacrifices.
Reconciling Faith and Morality in the Context of Violence
The book explores the question of reconciling one’s faith and morality with violence in some detail. Chaya’s journey within the resistance provides one possible answer to this question. She starts out as a courier, doing stealth work that does not require any kind of violent confrontation; she moves on to conducting raids, where she carries arms and ammunition for self-defense. Even then, Chaya does not fire a shot until must do so to save herself and her group. In the aftermath, Chaya feels internal conflict about the fact that she has harmed and potentially killed another human being, even a Nazi.
Mere months after this incident, however, Chaya is an active and clear-eyed participant in the Cyganeria Café attack. By this point, she has justified any violence she engages in as self-defense. Thus, even after Akiva falls and Chaya marches towards Warsaw with Esther, she constantly gathers weapons and ammunition. She believes that retaliatory violence is the only path forward and does not hesitate to harm the Nazis she encounters along the way, as evidenced by the explosion she uses to break Esther out of the Gestapo building. Chaya sees Nazis and their actions as the root of such violence.
Esther faces more internal conflict than Chaya, in part because she is more religious. She worries about missing Sabbath while Chaya was breaking her out of Gestapo captivity, and she goes on to engage Chaya in conversation about belief in God and how they can justify their actions according to his laws. Esther recognizes that the Nazis are not the ultimate problem; the root of the issue goes deeper, stemming from antisemitic views and beliefs. Thus, she sees value in changing people’s minds rather than only fighting for survival, as the former will have a lasting impact and prevent violence from recurring.
Esther does eventually resort to violence, joining the fight in Warsaw. However, her motivation stems from guilt about her father’s work as a Judenrat; fighting with the ZOB is Esther’s form of penance, though it is significant that her ultimate purpose in Warsaw is not to fight but rather to help others escape—a purpose she fulfills by sacrificing her own life. Personally, Esther believes that there are other ways to resist, pointing out to Chaya that Avraham, Sara, and Henryk’s responses are equally brave acts.
It is not only the novel’s Jewish characters who have to resolve the potential conflict between morality and violence, though these other characters do so with respect to someone else’s oppression. For the most part, these are civilians who respond to the Nazis’ persecution of Jews with nonviolent resistance—e.g., the mother on the train who helps the girls escape. Similarly, the novel depicts two Catholic priests who aid the resistance nonviolently: One helps Chaya smuggle the baby out of the Tarnow Ghetto, and the other helps find safe houses for those who have escaped the Warsaw Ghetto. Notably, the latter does not judge Chaya for having participated in the uprising, although his own faith would presumably prevent him from personally taking up arms. The message, then, is clear: It is one’s moral responsibility to stand up to and resist oppression, irrespective of one’s faith, and in whatever way one’s conscience allows.
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