Auschwitz; 1943-1944

In the autumn of 1943, whilst fitting Nazi leaders new boots, two Jewish men hatched a plan to attack and kill them. Whilst one man guided the German to a seat, the other hid behind a door with an axe. When the time came, the Jewish man jumped out but instead of hitting the Nazi with the blunt side of the axe, he used the blade murdering him. They hid the corpse underneath a blanket. Almost immediately, another German SS guard walked in over to the covered body and kicked it, asking 'what is this?' before they had chance to answer he was murdered as well. They stole all of their weapons; and ran at the electric fences whilst being shot at by Ukrainian guards and escaped into the nearby forest, surviving the minefield around the camp. 300 of the 600 Jews in one set of barracks escaped and survived that day.

However, their actions had fatal consequences for the remaining Jews in Auschwitz who were then gassed. 40,000 Jews were murdered that Autumn. 

During this time, political actions were also being taken. Italy refused to released their Jewish POW to Germany, ditto with Bulgaria. This is thought to be because the countries knew Germany was losing the war. Denmark also protected their Danish Jews. (September 1943). 
In September 1943, 8000 Danish Jews would be rounded up; and a bridge was built across to Sweden so that they had means of escaping the country. All Jews had fled to Danish ports to escape to Sweden, who had help from local fishermen and the Danish police. Some small fishing boats also transported them across. Upon arrival in Sweden they were given food and water and shelter. 95% of the Jewish population that escaped here survived. Below is an example of one of the boats that took them to safety.