This article explores some of the psychological and material conditions mot
ivating Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. The author looks at the und
erground movement in Vilna and the partisan movements in the Russian forest
s, with specific attention to Tuvia Bielski's family camp of more than 1,20
0 Jews and the reasons behind its very high survivor rate (95%). The articl
e also examines the relationship between identity and violence, the resurre
ction of self through violent encounter with the enemy; and the psychologic
al dynamics motivating both resistance and the accommodation policies of th
e Vilna Judenrat. The political theory of Frantz Fanon is used to draw some
group psychological inferences concerning the resistance's use of violence
.