How to Live off the Land in Poland 1943

The passages below have been extracted from the 1944 edition of the Handbook for Dealing with Totalitarian Regimes. They are followed by an explanatory note from the extracts’ editor.

If you did not leave Poland with the Soviets in June 1941, it is most inadvisable to do so now. The Germans and their henchmen are everywhere, and the Red Army is still very far away. While at first it might have seemed tenable to remain in the ghetto, with its surprising degree of autonomy in everyday life, for some time now it has been clear that the ghetto is doomed. Continual raids and deportations, hunger, and disease have decimated the population, and there will be only more of the same until no one is left.

The Partisans Option