“Come here, you free citizen of the world, whose life is safeguarded by human morality and whose existence is guaranteed through law. I want to tell you how modern criminals and despicable murderers have trampled the morality of life and nullified the postulates of existence.” Zalman Gradowski
Roza
Robota
Stage 5 - Organization
“Come here, you free citizen of the world, whose life is safeguarded by human morality and whose existence is guaranteed through law. I want to tell you how modern criminals and despicable murderers have trampled the morality of life and nullified the postulates of existence.” Zalman Gradowski
Roza Robota, born in 1921 in Ciechanów
Roza Robota came from an assimilated Jewish family and grew up in the spirit of Zionist ideals that were spread in the scout organization Hashomer Hatzair, which she belonged to. During the occupation, Roza witnessed an organized campaign for the destruction of the Jewish past of her town and the extermination of its inhabitants. The successive organized stages – contributions, forced labor, dehumanization, demolition of the synagogue, devastation of the cemetery, and establishment of the ghetto. This plan was repeated in exactly the same way in thousands of towns in former Poland.
Roza became involved in underground activity. She was arrested in 1942 and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her response to the organized violence was a desire for action, and she began working with other prisoners in the camp resistance group. In 1944, Roza became involved in smuggling small amounts of gunpowder from the Union-Werke factory to prisoners employed in operating the crematoria and gas chambers in Auschwitz II-Birkenau who were preparing for an uprising. The uprising broke out on the 7th of October 1944. Roza was suspected of helping to organize the uprising. She was tortured and interrogated by the SS on death row. Later, she was murdered along with three other women prisoners in the last public execution in Auschwitz on the 6th of January 1945.
author: Tomasz Cebulski
author: Tomasz Cebulski
author: Tomasz Cebulski
author: Tomasz Cebulski
author: Tomasz Cebulski
Organization
Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, usually using paramilitary forces that are not directly linked to the apparatus of power so that state involvement can be denied. Special units of the army or paramilitary forces receive training and are armed, while secret police track, arrest, and torture people suspected of opposition activities.
To prevent this stage from occurring, action must be taken at the state level – outlaw paramilitary organizations, deny entry to other countries, and freeze funds in international banks in accounts belonging to such organizations. In addition, it should be legally possible to investigate examples of human rights violations and initiate legal proceedings against perpetrators and perpetrators.
How is this person’s story related to the stage of genocide in G. Stanton’s theory?
Roza Robota witnessed the organized looting, exploitation, and systematic destruction of the Jewish community of Ciechanów. She was deported to the almost perfectly organized Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp, a place called the “death factory” by many. Despite her personal experience and the danger to her life, she did not remain passive and joined the prisoners’ underground organization. She joined the uprising in the crematorium area, thus responding to organized evil.
Zionism – a political movement initiated in the 19th century to create a Jewish state in Palestine. After the official establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Zionism focuses on supporting and assisting the immigration of Jews to Israel (Hebrew: aliyah), raising funds for the development of the country, and providing political support.