Professional Documents
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BLESSED IS THE FLAME
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
COLOPHON
Running heads, body and italics set in Saban 10. 5 /r2, an
old-style typeface designed by German typographer, suspected
communist and concentration camp survivor Jan Tschichold.
Headers are set in DIN 1451, the iconic authoritarian typeface
of the German state adopted during the Third Reich's rein and
still the face of German signage today.
An Introduction
to Concentration
Camp Resistance
& Anarcho-Nihilism
By Serafinski
Pistols Draw1
B lessed is the match consumed
in k indling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns
in the secret fastness of the heart.
B lessed is the heart with strength to stop
its heating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed
in k indling flame.
- Hannah Senesh
39 .. .
"7 ...
• • •
Table of Contents
..... Introduction
...... Reflections
...... Glossary
......Afterthoughts
...... Bibliography
MAP KEY
CITY
CONCENTRATION CAMP
� EXTERMINATION CAMP
---
)( NEUENGAMME
BERGEN-BELSEN )(
SACHSENHAUSEN )(
e BERLIN
GERMANY
DORA-MllTELBAU )(
BUCHENWALD )(
e LINZ
T HERESIENSTADT )(
CZECH REPUBLI
LITHUANlj
KALINGRAD (RUSSIA)
)( STUTIHOFF
BIALYSTOK e
POLAND
•
TREBLINKA
WARSAW e
•
CHELMNO
e LODZ "
LUBLIN e SOBIBOR
MAIDENEK )(
•e KRAKOW
AUSCHWITZ
)( BURKENAU
�
BLIC
UKI
JR
INTRODUCTION
WE ARE BEING LED TO OUR SLAUGHTER. THIS HAS
1 Langbein 2
2 Garlinski 15 8 . The occasional use of superlatives throughout
this text, as well as my exclusive focus on the Nazi holocaust, is
not meant to exceptionalize this particular history above any other
experiences of suffering or genocide. History has tragically given
us far too many " frightful and hopeless " struggles to play such
petty games.
3 "Recalcitrance " : Resisting a uthority or control; not obedient
or compliant; hard to manage.
Introduction I 5
4 Dark Mountain 2 3
5 Goldstein 6 8 . Here Goldstein is describing the endless stream
of corpses leaving the Warsaw Ghetto.
6 Zlodey 2 r 3
6 I B lessed is the Fla m e
tion we live in " ) like ghosts who feel but cannot quite
understand the vapidity of our existence . To borrow
some apt phrases from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire
(ccF}: we have become thoroughly integrated into " a
system that crushes u s on a daily basis " , that " controls
our thoughts and our desires through screens " and
" teaches us how to be happy slave s " while letting us
" consider ourselves free because we can vote and con
sume " , and all the while, " we, like cheerful Sisyphus,
are still carrying our slavery stone and think this is
life."0 As an American Iraq war veteran-turned-strate
gy consultant wrote in the New York Times in 2013:
" The biggest problem we face is a philosophical one:
understanding that this civilization is already dead. ""
The extent to which we have internalized the rhythms,
values, and stories of this civilization " ties our future
to [this] undead and all-devouring system." 1 u
Then perhaps a better question might be: Why
are we continuously being led to our slaughter like
sheep ?, to which many of us simply reply: We aren 't.
Anarcho-nihilism
Collision
16 Attentat 1 5 0
12 I B lessed is the Fla m e
At h e a r t , t h i s b o o k is a b o u t tapping i n t o t h e
instinctual rebelliousness that resides underneath of
every organization, affinity group, proj ect, and action
that we participate in; that reflexive spirit o f resis
tance rooted in the basic existential understanding
that recalcitrance is simply a more meaningfu l and
j oyous form of existence than docility. Too often our
insurrectionary urges get bogged down in ideological
costume, rhetorical mandate, and hobbyist paradigms.
We channel our energies into dubious conduits of pre
fabricated dogma and inevitably burn out or become
listless at the very mention of Revolution 1 •• Forms of
resistance rooted in social obligations and lifestyle
choices all too o ften fa de into lives o f despon dency,
alienation, boredom, or material comfort . It speaks
to the very nature of our domestication that we only
choose resistance so long as it feels like something we
can wm.
That's where nihilism enters the picture .
I am interested in the sort of resistance we pur
sue, not because we necessarily believe it will produce
desired changes or lead us into a brighter future, but
because it is the most meaningful response to this
world we can imagine . Because we simply can't stom
ach the idea of being passive in the face of a system
this brutal, regardless of how far we may be from our
dreams. Nihilism urges anarchists to embrace our feel
ings of cynicism around radical milieus, our feelings
20 Langbein 2
2r "Haftlinge": German for " prisoners " , referring throughout
this text specifically to concentration camp inmates.
22 Churchill 3 0 8
16 I B lessed is the Fla m e
23 Agamben 1 67
24 Agamben l 5 7 - 1 5 9
25 Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life
In trodu ction I 1 7
Absolute Subjugation
TO PROVIDE A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE NAZI CON
7 Wiesel r r I
8 Jan van Pelt 5 8 3 -5
9 Jan van Pelt 5 66
22 I B lessed is the Fla m e
Precluding Resistance
Perhaps more than anything else, the physical condi
tions of the Lagers played a role in the suppression of
defiance. An explication of this sort could be long and
brutal, but suffice it to say that being kept forever on
the brink of starvation, worked beyond the capacities
of the human body, exposed daily to wanton acts of
cruelty, subj ected to year-round elemental onslaught,
and being perpetually enveloped i n pestilence a n d
disease, has t h e capacity to turn h u m a n b o dies into
emaciated shells devoid o f will power o r physical
strength . Throughout survivor testimonies, starvation
is the most frequently cited o b s tacle t o resistance .
One survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, Marek Edelman,
annoyed with perpetual questions about the passivity
of those who boarded trains bound for death camps,
explained to his interviewer : " L isten . . . do you have
any idea what bread meant at the time in the Ghetto ?
Because if you don't, you will never understand how
thousands of people could voluntarily come for the
bread and go on to the camp at Treblin k a . Nobody
has understood thus far." l<J Vera Laska, a survivor of
Auschwitz and editor of Women in the Resistance and
in the Holocaust, reflects on the significance of bread
in the camps:
ro Edelman 2 r
Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance I 23
I I Laska I 8 6
I 2 Jan van Pelt 5 67 . " Monad " : a single-celled organism, a to
tally separated entity.
24 I B lessed is the Fla m e
r3 Garlinski 3 3
r4 Jan van Pelt 5 63
Introduction to Concentra tion Camp R esistance I 25
I5 Langbein 25
I6 Langbein 2 6
I7 Survival i n A uschwitz 3 9
I8 The Drowned and The Saved 3 8
26 I B lessed is the Fla m e
19 Though in the later years of the war the sheer volume of in
mates and the heightened demand for workers resulted in some
Jews attaining prominent positions.
20 Garlinski 1 7 1
2 1 Langbein I 5 9
Introduction to Concentration Camp R esistance I 27
28 Survival in Auschwitz 5 6
29 Survival in Auschwitz 3 4
30 I B lessed is the Flame
30 Pilecki 1 4
3 r Pilecki 66. The missing prisoner was Tadeusz Wiejowski, who
had escaped from the then-primitive walls of Auschwitz, but was
rearrested the following year and shot.
3 2 One of the prisoner doctors, who provided treatment to the
relentless barrows of inmates that day, recalls how terrible it was
to " see these men, comatose, half-conscious, crawling, reeling like
drunks, babbling incoherently and with difficulty, covered with
spittle and foaming at the mouth, dying, gasping out their last
Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance I 3 1
breath," (Garlinski 2 5 ).
3 3 Langbein 89
3 4 Garlinski 6 8 ; Langbein 89. In D ecember I94 2 , due to the
overwhelming need for workers, the policy of collective responsi
bility was eased and resistance groups began to organize escapes
( Garlinski I 4 I ) .
3 5 Partisan fighters were bands of anti-Nazi militants who fought
from behind enemy lines and occasionally conspired with concen
tration camp resistance organizations. O ften those who escaped
from the camps j oined the partisans.
32 I B lessed is the Flame
36 Garlinski 13 2
37 Langbein 2 1 5 .
38 Garlinski 1 3 3
Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance I 3 3
3 9 Langbein 5 6
40 Garlinski l 3 5
4 1 Garlinski 1 3 5 · When word of this tactic caught on, the Polit
ical Department instituted a new policy that all lethal injections be
cleared with them, s o as to prevent assassination of their precious
informants.
3 4 I B lessed is the Flame
4 2 Garlinski I 3 5
4 3 Langbein 2 1 6. I n Sachsenhausen, for instance, one particular
ly insidious informant named Kuhnke was tactically disempowered
by the resistance group, who were able to exploit disagreements
among the ss in such a way that Kuhnke was removed from his
position and beaten severely, ending the terrible period of the spe
cial commission in that camp.
4 4 Garlinski I 3 3
4 5 Wasowicz 9 8; Garlinski 240
Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance I 35
46 Wasowicz 5 2
36 I Blessed is the Flame
by i n m a t e s of c o n c e n t r a t i o n c a m p s t h r o u g h o u t
Wor l d War II, my favourite t o rea d a b o u t are t h e
relentless a c t s o f s a b otage t h a t plagued Hitler's war
efforts . While much of the work assigned to inmates
early in the war was intended so lely a s punishment
( e . g. moving bags of sand back and forth ) , a fter the
spring of 1 9 4 2 , the c a m p s became a prime s o urce
of slave l a b o u r for n e a r b y factories that s u p p l i e d
Germany's army. 1 D e s c r i p t i o n s o f the work t h a t
o c c u r r e d w i t h i n t h e s e f a c t o r i e s p a i nts a p i c t u r e
o f a n i n t e rn a t i o n a l c i r c u s o f neglect, i n e p t i t u d e ,
l a z i n e s s , a n d o u tright s t u p idity - ma s k s f o r wh at
were i n fact o utrageously b r a v e acts o f s a b otage
I Wasowicz 2.4 3
4 0 I B lessed is the Flame
2 Langbein 307
3 Langbein 3 0 3 . At least two camps, Dora and Ravensbruck, saw
mass refusals of these premiums from inmates.
4 Langbein 3r5
4 2 I B lessed is the Flame
5 Langebein 3 1 6
6 Langbein 3 04
7 Wasowicz 24 5; Langbein 3 07
8 Langbein 3 04- 5
Sabotage and Pure Negation I 4 3
9 Wasowics 2.4 7 , 2. 5 0
ro Langbein 3 0 5
rr Wasowicz 2.4 6
1 2 Langbein 3 06- 3 0 8
r3 Langbein 3 r 2.
1 4 Wasowicz 2.4 6
44 I B lessed is the Flame
15 DEGOB: Protocol 5 8 8
I6 DEGOB: Protocol 4 07
I7 D E G O B Protocol 704
18 Langbein 3 0 5
Sabotage and Pure Negation I 45
19 Langbein 305
20 Langbein 306
21 Langbein 306
22 Wasowicz 2 47
23 Wasowicz 2 49
4 6 I B lessed is the Flame
24 Langbein 3 04
25 Langbein 3 04
Sabotage and Pure Negation I 4 7
Pure Negation
Even r e s i s t e r s i n t h e c o n c e n t r a t i o n c a m p s
sometimes concerned themselves w i t h t h i s k i n d o f
political fantasizing: In Buchenwal d , for instance,
three underground p olitical organizatio n s banded
together in 1 9 44 to plan out the future governance
of Germany, a t a time when other organizations in
the camp were focused on sa ving lives and staging
coordinated resistance . 1 1 Nihilism urges us to con
sider the fact that such forward planning i s simply
unnecessary and that it o b fuscates our more urgent
goal o f negation: " There's n o need to know what's
happening tomorrow to destroy a today that makes
you bleed ." � '
F r o m the foundation o f this critique, nihilism
identifies a common trap experienced by anarchists :
the magnetic compulsion to identi fy ourselves pos
itively within society even though we strive for its
destructio n . In my local c o n text, this o ften looks
like anarchists responding to critics of property de
struction with reminders of all that we contribute to
society ( when we are not rioting, we are community
organizers, Food Not Bombs chefs, musicians, etc . ) .
33 De Acosta 9 - r o
34 Bee den Vol. I r 2 - 1 3
52 I B lessed is the Flame
Jou issance
D espite its gloomy connotations, the commitment to
pure negation finds its most interesting manifestations
as a j oyful, creative, and limitle ss project. Most no
t a bly, Bceden utilizes the French word j o uissance;"
which d irectly translates t o " enj oyment," but takes
on a variety of connotations related to " uncivilized
desire," those aspects of our existence which " escape
representation," a " shattering o f i dentity and law, "
and that which " shatters o u r subj ective enslavement
to capitalist civilization." ' " J ouissance is an ecstatic
energy, felt but never captured, that pushes us away
fro m any form of domination, representation, or
restraint, and compels u s towards fierce wildness
and unmitigated recalcitrance. It is " the process that
momentarily sets us free from our fear of death " and
which manifests as a " blissful enj oyment of the pres
ent," or a " j oy which we cannot name." i 7 Jouissance
is the richness of life evoked by resistance, the spirit
that allowed Maria Jakobovics to continue her acts
of sabotage despite the sting of the club or the threat
of the noose, and the spirit that perhaps allows many
o f u s to lead lives o f resistance i n a b s o lutely over
whelming circumstances . It is the visceral experience
of negation as ecstatic liberation.
A l t h o ug h t h e sp1nt o f j o u i s s a nc e a n i m a t e s
many anarchist texts , nihilism seems t o a p p r o a c h
it w i t h t h e m o s t n a k e d embrace; f o r m a n y nihilists,
j ouissance is the core of anarchism. Without expec
tations of the world to come, without deference to
moral code, and without adherence to a right way to
do things, nihilism embraces the act of resistance as
a goal in itself. Through this lens, the j oy o f pissing
in a Nazi rocket cannot easily b e measured against
its risks or results - in j ouissance, we find a richness
o f life unattainable under the status q u o . Without
using the word explicitly, some imprisoned members
of the C C F describe j o ui s s a nc e p e rfectly: " Neither
victory nor defeat is important, but only the bea uti
ful shining of our eyes in combat." " This emphasis
o n the act, without attachment t o its outcomes, is
one of the aspects of nihilism that has made it such
a puzzling force for other anarchists. Critics o f ni
hilism see this sort o f emphasis o n j o ui s s a nce a n d
negation as simply a form of indulgent retreat into
the realm o f personal experience, " because it hurts
too much to hope for the impro bable, to imagine a
future we can't believe in." ''; While this critique has
some merit, I think it largely misses the strength of
the nihilist p o s ition and the b e a uty o f j ou i s s a n c e .
W h a t e v e r we m a y c h o s e t o d o w i t h it, h o w e v e r
strategic, ambitious, or optimistic we may feel , o u r
1 A ttentat 1 09
58 I B lessed is the Flame
4 Langbein 2 8 9
Langbein 2 8 9
60 I B lessed is the Flame
6 Garlinksi 2 3 7
7 Levy-Hass 69
8 Langbein 2 79
Spontaneous Resistance and Time I 6 1
9 Langbein 2 8 9
IO Langbein 2 9 5
I I Rashke 6 2
62 I B lessed is the Fla m e
12 Muller 72
13 Langbein r 9 2
Spontaneous R esistance and Time I 6 3
1 4 Lengyel l r 2
1 5 Jan Van Pelt 5 7 2; Wasiwicz 47; Garlinksi 2 3 7; Langbein 2 8 0
1 6 Laska 1 8 0
1 7 " Prayer for Katerina Horovitz "
64 I B lessed is the Fla m e
18 Langbein z. 8 0
19 Muller 8 7
2. 0 Langbein z. 8 0
2. l Langbein z. 8 0
Spontaneous R esistance and Time I 6 5
22 Bceden Vol. II 41
66 I B lessed is the Fla m e
25 Levi u 6
26 Langbein 5 3
27 Levy-Hass 60
28 Jan Van Pelt 5 5 7
Spontaneous R esistance and Time I 6 9
29 Gurewitsch 301
70 I B lessed is the Fla m e
30 Bmden Vol . I 1 0 9
Spontaneous R esistance and Tim e I 71
31 Benjamin 2 5 7
32 Nih ilism, Anarchy a n d the 2 1 st Century 1 4
72 I B lessed is the Fla m e
33 Bceden Vol. I 1 2
34 Benjamin, qtd. in Bceden Vol. I r o 8
Spontaneous R esistance and Tim e I 73
Messianic Time
What is to be gained by s h a ttering the progressive
conception of time or by abandoning our attachment
to futurity ? How can we conceive of the chronolog
ical mode embodied by those inmates who escaped
Lager-time, despair, and suspension, and fought back ?
Bceden once again turns to Benj amin and the concept
of messianic time, which is an " irrational now-time,"
a n " interruption of linear time," and which exists
a s " sp linters diffu s e d through the empty fa bric of
3 7 Bceden Vol. I 1 09
3 8 Bee den Vol. I 1 09
3 9 Who often speak the same language as nihilists, but arrive at
some different conclusions.
4 0 The Invisible Committee 94
4 1 Benjamin 2 6 2
4 2 Rolling Thunder q 6
76 I B lessed is t h e Fla m e
43 In Cold Blood IO
Spontaneous R esistance and Tim e I 77
I Wasowicz I 2 I
O rgan iza tions and Mass Uprisings I 8 1
2 Wasowicz 1 1 9 - 1 20
3 Langbein 1 7 2
4 Wasowicz 1 2 2
Wasowicz l l 9
82 I B lessed is the Fla m e
6 Wasowicz I I 9
O rganizations and Mass Uprisings I 83
7 Garlinski r 9
84 I B lessed is the Fla m e
8 Pilecki I 3
O rgan iza tions and Mass Uprisings I 85
r5 Langbein 5 8
16 Langbein 5 9 . Though n o concrete links can b e drawn be
tween the broadcast and the change of plan, many historians have
deduced that it played at least some role in the decision.
8 8 I B lessed is the Fla m e
20 Qtd. In Langbein 28 5
2r Jan Van Pelt 5 8 8
O rganizations and Mass Uprisings I 91
27 Rees 2 5 7
2 8 Gurewitsch 303
O rganizations and Mass Uprisings I 93
29 Rees 2 5 3 - 2 5 7
3o Garlinski 2 5 4
3r Langbein 5 4
32 Langbein 4 07 ff.4 4
33 Langbein 4 07 ff.44
94 I B lessed is the Fla m e
O n e s ur v i v o r w h o e x p e r i e n c e d t h i s fru s t r a t i n g
tension with resistance organizations in Au schwitz
cynically c o n c l u d e d : " th e Resistance in the c a m p
i s n o t g e a r e d f o r a n u p r i s i n g b u t f o r the s urvival
o f the members o f the Resistance ." " ' This tension
that existed in the camps between individual desires
and collective organizing touches on one of the core
nerves o f anarcho-nihilist thought.
36 Van Pelt 5 8 7
96 I B lessed is the Fla m e
46 A ttentat 1 4 6
1 02 I B lessed is the Fla m e
49 Rashke 6 1 , 6 2 , 1 4 6, 9 8
50 Rashke 5 9
1 0 4 I B lessed is the Fla m e
52 Bialowitz u 3 - 1 1 5 ; Langbein 29 8
53 Rashke 2 9 8
5 4 A t least one account states that the inmates were able t o clear
out the armory ( Langbein 70), while other seems to indicate that
the armory was never reached (Bialowitz ) .
1 0 6 I B lessed is the Fla m e
55 Bialowitz 1 40
56 Bialowitz 1 9 4
57 Bialowitz 1 9 4 ; Langbein 3 00
O rganiza tions and Mass Uprisings I 1 0 7
58 Langbein 70
1 0 8 I B lessed is the Fla m e
65 Langbein 29 1
66 Langbein 29 1
67 Langbein 29 2
O rgan izations and Mass Uprisings I 111
68 Langbein 294
1 12 I B lessed is the Fla m e
79 Ibid 2 5
8 0 Actualizing Collapse 2 r . I have j ust learned that RS has de
clared itself morte as of August 2or 5, and has divided into several
smaller informal organizations, some anonymous, others of which
will make their names known soon.
8 r Anarchy and Nihilism: Consequences
O rgan izations and Mass Uprisings I 1 17
Cruel O ptimisms
Berlant 24
2 Ibid
3 Ibid 2
4 Garlinski 70
Reflections I 1 2 3
5 As Sasha did for the inmates of Sobib6r when they asked about
the possibility of being rescued by partisans ( Rashke r 7 r )
1 24 I B lessed is the Fla m e
lnsurrectionary M em ories
8 Levi 60
R eflections I 1 2 7
9 Wiesel xv
ro Benjamin 25 5
1 2 8 I B lessed is the Fla m e
The Void
14 Venona Q 2 8
1 3 0 I B lessed is the Fla m e
15 Muller rsr
Glossary I 131
G LOSS ARY
AK: The Polish Home Army, a resistance army fighting
Nazi occupation.
B allastexistenzen: Hitler's preferred term for the
" undesirable and unnecessary " members of society.
Cap o : A prisoner appointed by the Nazis to b e the
head of a labour crew.
C C F : C o n s piracy of C e l l s of F i r e , an informal
organization started in 200 8 in Greece.
FAI : Informal Anarchist Federati o n , an i n formal
a narchist organization bi rthed i n 200 3 i n Italy.
Futurity: the impression that one has a future within
the existing order.
Greens: German prisoners in the concentration camps,
o ften given functionary positions with the camp
(e.g. Capo, Senior Camp Inmate, etc . ) , named for
the green badges they were made to wear.
Haftling: A prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp;
plural - Haftlinge.
1 32 I B lessed is the Fla m e
r Levi 142
1 3 4 I B lessed is the Fla m e
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