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It was extremely difficult to join a partisan brigade, especially for a Jewish woman. Though there were many types of partisan groups, each with its own allegiances and philosophies, they generally agreed on two things. One, they did not accept Jews, out of nationalism, or antisemitism, or they simply didn’t believe that Jews could fight. Most Jews arrived in the forest without weapons or military training and in severe physical and mental distress—they were seen as a burden. Two, women were not considered to be combat material, and were thought to be useful only for cooking, cleaning, and nursing.
Despite this, about thirty thousand Jews did enroll in partisan detachments, often hiding their identities, or having to prove themselves and work twice as hard. Of these, 10 percent were women. Most Jewish women joined units that operated in the East; their escapes were usually planned in advance. Joining the partisans was often their only chance for survival, so they took risks.
Just reaching a partisan camp was life threatening. She could be recognized as a Jew and reported to the police, or killed en route by non-Jewish civilians because of growing antisemitism spurred by Nazi policy. Partisans often shot any unaffiliated stragglers, including refugee Jews. Some partisan units suspected women of being Nazi spies. One partisan commander was told that the Gestapo had sent a group of women to poison their food, so his unit shot dead an entire group of Jewish women who approached them. The forests were full of bandits, spies, Nazi collaborators, and hostile peasants who feared the Germans. Partisans themselves could be violent. Many women were raped.
The great majority of Poland’s prewar Jews were urban. The forest, with its animals and insects, waterways and swamps, icy winters and scalding summers, was another universe—one full of constant physical and psychological discomfort. Women faced loneliness and lack of protection. Generally referred to by partisans as “whores,” they were often turned away unless they had a particular medical or cooking skill, or were attractive. Most Jewish women were dependent on men, trading sex for clothing, shoes, shelter. Some felt compelled to have “gratitude sex” with the guide who brought them. Camps were sometimes raided at night, and women needed to sleep near a defender. As one partisan complained, “In order to obtain some relative peace during the day, I had to agree to a ‘lack of peace’ during the night.” A sexual/defense economy developed: he protected her, she was his girl. One Jewish woman recalled immediately being told to “select an officer.” A female partisan described how a Soviet unit “took women to have sex with.” She added, “I cannot call this rape, but it was close.” Once, a Soviet partisan commander entered as she was showering with the girls; one threw a bucket of water on him. He started shooting. More than one woman paired up with a man just so that other men would stop harassing her.
Intimate relations were complex on many levels. For one, these traumatized, grieving women and girls had just lost their entire families and did not feel particularly romantic. Second, the social-class differences were significant. In prewar life, the urban Jewish women were educated, with middle-class aspirations. The non-Jewish partisans, however, were largely rural, illiterate peasants. Elite city men became “useless” in the forest; only the strong man with a gun had real status. Women not only had to hide their Jewishness, but also they had to shift their more cosmopolitan ways of thinking, talking, being.
Regardless, many women became commanders’ “wartime wives.” Sometimes a real romance ensued; often it did not. Abortions, performed without anesthetic in a dugout, were common. Captain Fanny Solomian Lutz, a Jewish physical therapist, became the chief doctor of a brigade near Pinsk, specializing in using herbal medicines she extracted from the forest. She performed several successful abortions with quinine, though many times the procedure resulted in death on the operating table.
For the most part, Jewish partisan women submerged their identities and relied on men. Any guns they had were confiscated, and they were forced to make leather boots for the male fighters, cook and wash, their skin peeling off with the clothes. Cooking, incidentally, was no easy task in the forest: women had to gather firewood, transport water, and be highly inventive with the limited supplies. In unit headquarters, women were clerks, stenographers, and translators, and a few were doctors and nurses.