In April 1915, the governor of Van, Jevdet Bey, issued an order to wipe out the Armenian population. The Armenians fought back to defend themselves and, by mid-May, took control of the city. In his testimony, Nushan Hachian talks about his involvement in the defense of the city of Van.
Credit: Zoryan Institute of Canada.

By July 1915, many Armenians had fled the deportations and moved toward the mountain of Musa Dagh, in south-western Turkey. For 53 days they defended themselves against the Turkish army, staying until French marines managed to evacuate the 4000 that remained. Credit: Collection of Dr. Sima Aprahamian.

The Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Rather than be deported to the Treblinka death camp, seven hundred and fifty fighters fought against heavily armed German troops from April 19, 1943 to May 16th, 1943.
Credit: CJCCCNA, MHMC

Lonia Furstenberg worked in a French clinic during World War II and was an ingenious saboteur. She cared for wounded resistant fighters and issued fake certificates to exempt men from mandatory labor. She also certified prostitutes carrying venereal diseases who wanted to infect German soldiers. Here are Furstenberg’s identification papers under the alias Louise Triasse.
Credit: MHMC

The Bielski partisans were an organization of Jewish partisans formed in 1941. They rescued Jews and fought against the Nazis, and their collaborators, in the vicinity of Nowogródek and Lida, Poland. They were named after the Bielskis, a family of Polish Jews who led the organization.
Credit: MHMC.

This is a membership card for the Belgian resistance group Les Affranchis. The card belonged to Léopold Heinz Rübler, member 01699, who served as a soldier in the 4th company of the Brussels division from May 15, 1944 until November 18, 1944.
Credit: MHMC.

This is a membership card for the Belgian resistance group Les Affranchis. The card belonged to Léopold Heinz Rübler, member 01699, who served as a soldier in the 4th company of the Brussels division from May 15, 1944 until November 18, 1944.
Credit: MHMC.

Michael Kutz is a Holocaust survivor who fought with the partisans during the war and later immigrated to Canada as a war orphan. At 12, he was the youngest member of his group of Polish partisans. From 1942 to 1944 he blew up bridges, trains, and oil reservoirs.
Credit: MHMC.

In September 1975, following the Khmer Rouge’s attempt to eradicate Islamic practices, two large rebellions broke out in Koh Phal and Svay Khleang, in Kampong Cham province. Hundreds of villagers fought against Khmer Rouge soldiers with machetes and swords but were ultimately suppressed. Here we have the weapon of a Cham survivor.
Credit: Documentation Center of Cambodia Archives, Sos Ponyamin.

In September 1975, following the Khmer Rouge’s attempt to eradicate Islamic practices, two large rebellions broke out in Koh Phal and Svay Khleang, in Kampong Cham province. Hundreds of villagers attacked Khmer Rouge soldiers with machetes and swords but were ultimately suppressed. Here we see a survivor from this rebellion.
Credit: Documentation Center of Cambodia Archives.

This is an excerpt from the documentary “Tuez-les tous! (Rwanda : Histoire d’un génocide “sans importance”)” that discusses the armed resistance at Bisesero. Three survivors describe their experiences and the horrors they faced in fighting off their would-be Hutu killers.
Credit: Tuez-les tous! (Rwanda : Histoire d’un génocide “sans importance”), directed by Raphaël Glucksmann, David Hazan and Pierre Mezerette, 2004.

The Rwandan Patriotic Front, originally founded to represent the Tutsi minority, were an armed rebel group that fought against Hutu government forces during the genocide. Over the 100-day massacre, the RPF fought to liberate Hutu-controlled areas. Here, RPF soldiers talk to members of the U.N. Peace Corps in Gisenyi, Rwanda, in July 1994.
Credit: UN Photo, John Isaac