“I Will Keep My Convictions, My Conscience, My Sense of Responsibility, and My Philanthropy”

There is a lack of research about disabled people’s resistance in the Nazi era, as well as research from the perspective of disabled people. The article explores the resistance of a Jewish disabled person in Theresienstadt—referred to by the Nazis as a “ghetto,” but in reality functioning as a concentration and transit camp. Specifically, the research article refers to the diary of Siegfried Braun (1893–1944) a wheelchair and personal assistance user who was imprisoned for one year and four months in this Nazi-run camp. With an analytical approach of autobiographical writing, the article shows how Siegfried Braun understood and resisted structural conditions and discriminatory regulations within the ghetto. In his writings, he maintained an attitude of resistance despite a great personal risk. Braun tried to stay active: having a job and contributing to the illegal education program, he was connected with people around him and looked after other disabled people. Also, he expressed an affirmative disability identity and preserved his autonomous will even under the inhuman conditions in Theresienstadt. The acts under consideration are mainly acts of resistance.