December 29, 1890

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

35. Divergence

Unethical? Again, please. The "context" was nothing more than a justification for your rhetorical question, which was "Do you really, seriously think that 400 armed jews in the middle of the nazi wehrmacht stretched from leningrad to moscow to dnieprepetrovsk could've resisted?" Do I think they "could've resisted"? Yes, I do. I can prove it from the historical record: They did resist.

Many critical components enabled the success of the Bielski Partisans. Firearms alone would not have have assured their survival. The lack of firearms certainly would have presented additional serious challenges for the group. Skills, knowledge and determination along with proximity to certain resources were all critical.

The long and short of the this is that catastrophic consequences will motivate the use of any tool, advantage or resource present. Arguing that survival would have been possible had the partisans given up or never possessed guns is illogical. One could suggest that survival would have been possible without some particular tool or resource. It can be demonstrated from history as well. I infer that JTO's argument is against the idea that gun played a necessary and critical role survival.

The partisans are heroes. They're not heroes because of who they killed or how many. They're heroes because lived, weren't killed, didn't die. Many people today are heroes. They continue doing something of value and importance in the face of adversity and loss.

Tuvia Bielski: "I'd rather save one old Jewish woman, than kill ten Nazis."