Partisans

Partisans were associations of people who resisted the forces of the Germans and their allies in the occupied territories. In almost all areas occupied by Germany during World War II, armed groups formed against the Nazis. The partisans often attacked railroad lines in order to interrupt the German supply of forces and material. In some cases, they also carried out assassinations or espionage. The National Socialists fought people they considered partisans decisively and ruthlessly. From the summer of 1942, the civilian population was increasingly attacked under the term “bandit fight”, often by burning down entire villages where partisans were suspected. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in this way.