The Austrian Jews had no way of offering armed resistance against the NS–regime. They were neither socially nor politically a homogeneous group, but lived as a numerically relatively small group in an overwhelmingly hostile atmosphere: only in exceptional cases could they expect solidarity and support from their non-Jewish environment. However, it would be mistaken to define the term resistance too narrowly. Rather, in the face of the National Socialist regime, whose goal it was to disenfranchise, expel, and annihilate European Jewry, all activities countering the annihilation program – also all efforts to live some sort of decent life as a Jew – have to be viewed as resistance.