Resistance

The second day of fighting sees a member of the Judenrat arriving with a loudspeaker, requesting the ghetto to surrender or be razed to the ground. The man’s message is met with a shot fired at his car, and he beats a hasty retreat. The Germans soldiers encounter Molotov cocktails and machine guns when they arrive this time; when they retreat, however, there are more fallen Jews, and Esther and Chaya are among those undertaking the difficult choice of choosing whom to save with their limited medical supplies.

The Germans return with armored cars and machine guns, firing incessantly at the dilapidated buildings housing the fighters. Chaya has to take shelter in a garbage bin; when she emerges after the firing stops, she sees swarms of German soldiers dragging both civilians and fighters onto the street, forcing them to kneel. One of the kneeling Jewish soldiers manages to rise up and shoot a commanding officer with a hidden gun; immediately, one of the other officers issues orders, and every single Jew in the street is shot dead.

Chaya realizes the flaw in the ZOB’s plan; they expected to progress to hand-to-hand combat and did not account for something like a single armored vehicle obliterating an entire street of fighters and civilians.