The Home Army, also impressed by January’s uprising, finally decided to provide more significant help. They sent fifty pistols, fifty hand grenades, and several kilograms of explosives into the ghetto. Antek put on a suit that was only slightly too small for him and disguised himself as a Pole; he moved to the Aryan side to lead activity and make connections. The ZOB bought weapons from Poles, ghetto Jews, and German soldiers, and stole them off Polish and German police. Their new arsenal was such a hodgepodge, though, that the different caliber bullets made in various labor camps didn’t always match their weaponry.
The resistance HQ expanded, and they added workshops and a lab. Vladka described the dark “munitions factory,” with its long table and chairs, its pungent smell, as a space of quiet sanctity. It was hushed for a reason: one miscalculation, and they’d blow up the building. The ZOB made primitive bombs out of the larger water pipes from empty houses. They sawed off footlong pieces, soldered one side, and inserted a thin metal pipe loaded with explosives, as well as metal and nails. Wind, short wicks—there were many operational hazards.
A Bund engineer learned from his PPR friends how to make Molotov cocktails. The youth collected thin-glass bottles. （Thicker glass didn’t work.） They obtained gasoline and kerosene from a Jew whose family had owned a fuel storage plant, as well as from a large truck that came to the Judenrat each day—they arranged that the driver fill the tank before entering and let them siphon off some. Cyanide potassium and sugar were smuggled in from the Aryan side. The cocktails were wrapped in heavy, brown paper and lit while being thrown. They learned to aim them at tanks and soldiers’ helmets. They also made electric-catalyzed mines and placed them under ghetto entrance points using reinforced cement and beams.
The ZOB took official control of the ghetto in place of the Judenrat and, as Zivia wrote, was now effectively “the government.” She joked about how they once received a request from a Jew who wanted to open a ghetto casino. Bakers helped. Cobblers offered to make holsters to replace the ropes fighters had been using to hold their guns. The organization cleared the ghetto of collaborators and informants, and collected money. As Zivia noted, it took millions of z?otys to arm hundreds of fighters. Despite earlier warnings to act prudently, the American Joint Distribution Committee contributed significant funds. In addition to being charged with finding new recruits, Zivia was appointed to colead the Finance Committee, set up to solicit donations. When this proved inadequate, they imposed taxes, first on the Judenrat and then on the ghetto bank, which was being guarded by Polish police. “One fine day,” she wrote, “we went in with pistols and took all the money from the bank.” The ZOB levied taxes on rich Jews, particularly those who maintained ties with the Germans. They wrote notes demanding payment, negotiated, kidnapped family members, and sent armed fighters （disguised as Poles, who were seen to be more threatening than fellow Jews） to search their homes, but nothing was as effective as setting up their own jails. Here they would detain wealthy Jews whose money came from corrupt sources until they （or usually their families） agreed to pay.
The ZOB never killed other Jews for money, however. It was important for Zivia to maintain a high moral sense among the “rampant demoralization” and gluttony that surrounded them. They amassed millions, but the fighters ate only modest portions of dried bread. Zivia stressed that they must never spend the money on themselves.
Zivia was among the central command of ZOB leadership, along with energetic Varsovian Young Guard leader Miriam Heinsdorf, who had been romantically involved with Josef Kaplan, the leader who’d been captured at the weapons storage site. But it appears that both women were officially demoted in the broader umbrella organization that included the Bund and adult parties. No women had official top-tier capacity here, but Zivia still participated in all daily ZOB meetings, and her opinion carried weight. Tosia also took part in high-level discussions.
According to Zivia’s reflections, they used their time wisely for people who had been educators with zero army experience, developing military strategy and combat methods for face-to-face warfare, nighttime guerilla attacks, and bunker fighting. The ZOB studied the labyrinthine ghetto streets, considered the results of the January battle, and was alert for surprises. Its members stuck with the less dramatic and more methodical fighting tactic of Zivia’s January group: attacking from hidden locations from which they could withdraw through attics and rooftops. Surprising the Nazis was their best bet. Strategic posts that overlooked street corners were meticulously selected. Twenty-two fighting groups, totaling five hundred fighters （aged twenty to twenty-five）， were organized according to youth movement. One third were women. Each group had a commander, a specific fighting post, knowledge about its particular area, and plans in place in case it lost connection with central command. The fighters took preparatory first aid classes. Every night, until late, they trained in patrolled alleyways, without using bullets and marking up cardboard targets. They learned to strip and assemble their guns within seconds.