Rich Cohen, author of the acclaimed Tough Jews, again narrates a little-known episode of Jewish history, this time altering what we thought ...
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reviews
Jan 21, 2009
I know it’s going to take me a long time to read this book. Not because it’s not well-written, or because it’s not a gripping tale. It is both well-written and gripping.
It will take me a long time simply because I find reading (or watching) anything Holocaust-related draining and enervating. A few pages a day is as much as I can manage. I know these stories need to be told, particularly those about the few who were able to make the leap and find the courage and the means to fight More...
It will take me a long time simply because I find reading (or watching) anything Holocaust-related draining and enervating. A few pages a day is as much as I can manage. I know these stories need to be told, particularly those about the few who were able to make the leap and find the courage and the means to fight More...
Aug 25, 2011
Calley
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Rich Cohen did an excellent job of transcribing the story of other people in history in an unbiased, loving fashion. He presents a "different Holocaust story," without disparaging what happened before, during and after the war. He does a great job of making known his subject's opinions without forcing them down the reader's throat, showing positive and negative sides of each internal and external struggle.
WIth his simplistic writing style, he conveys the unobscured fighting an More...
WIth his simplistic writing style, he conveys the unobscured fighting an More...
Sep 22, 2010
Priscilla
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This is a very interesting book! It's the story of Jews who fought back during World War 2, a perspective you normally don't hear about. When Germany invaded Vilna, Poland, they relocated all of the Jewish citizens into a small ghetto. Every so often, the Nazis would ask for a thousand or so volunteers to leave the ghetto for another work camp where they would have better living conditions with more food and better clothes. But in reality, they were taken to concentration camps for mass slaughte
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Dec 27, 2010
Nikki
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This was not a well-written book, but the plotline was interesting enough to warrant a high star rating.
It is hard to read a book about WWII, especially as a Jew, and not wonder what I would have done in any and all situations. It's amazing to me the levels that people were able to rise under such circumstances.
This book centers on three people who ended up in Vilna who created the Jewish resistance from within the ghetto and then from joining with other partisians in the f More...
It is hard to read a book about WWII, especially as a Jew, and not wonder what I would have done in any and all situations. It's amazing to me the levels that people were able to rise under such circumstances.
This book centers on three people who ended up in Vilna who created the Jewish resistance from within the ghetto and then from joining with other partisians in the f More...
Jan 04, 2010
Jillaire
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This is the story of Polish Jews who fought back against the Nazis during WWII. The author is the great-nephew of one of the principle figures in the book, which was created largely from personal interviews.
For some reason I had a hard time getting into this book. I think it's because I didn't really identify with the main people in the story--not because of their ethnicity or place in history, but because of their ideals and attitudes.
There are many horrible Holocaust More...
For some reason I had a hard time getting into this book. I think it's because I didn't really identify with the main people in the story--not because of their ethnicity or place in history, but because of their ideals and attitudes.
There are many horrible Holocaust More...
Jan 27, 2009
Teresa
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The story of the Vilna ghetto and Abba Kovner's group of Jewish patriots is amazing. The story makes me wonder was Kovner passionate or on the edge of insanity? Many of the Holocaust stories focus on the work and death camps but the stories of resistance movements, particularly in Eastern Europe, are quite thought provoking. Maybe it's hindsight but this book makes it clear that the only way for Jews to survive the war was to fight against odds that were far from in their favor. Kovner and t
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Mar 19, 2009
Eric
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Excellent history of "the avengers', a group of Jewish partisans who lived in the Vilna ghetto, and escaped to the surrounding forest before the liquidation of Lithuania's Jews. Fascinating inside look at partisan life, its many fractured and conflicted groups (Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Jewish). Also a peek into the psyche of the collectively abused. The "avengers" went on to hatch plans to poison German and Polish towns following the war, and succeeded in poisoning an allied p
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Oct 15, 2011
Wendy
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My roots are Lithuanian, and I've spent five years living in the Baltics. I find it deeply uncomfortable that the Holocaust was at its most lethal in this corner of Europe. All the more reason to read this book. I can't help remembering visiting the site of a concentration camp in Latvia. There is some powerful (Soviet) statuary and a sign reading, "Behind this gate, the earth moans." Yet the place is always strangely deserted. Local friends told me that after fifty years of havi
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Feb 07, 2010
Monica
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A fascinating account of Jewish partisans who fought the Germans in the Vilna Ghetto and in the Lithuanian forests during WW2. It follows the leader of the fighters and his two female friends. The author had access to their stories as he's related to Abba Kovner, the leader of the troupe. Kovner was considered a hero in Israel after the war. My only quibble with the book is the author's choppy writing style, more suitable to newspapers, which stunts the narrative with constant use of short, decl
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Jun 10, 2008
Stephanie
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What an incredible book. As the grandchild of survivors (the only ones in their extended families), I grew up with stories of the Holocaust. But I had little knowledge of the heroic efforts in the Vilna ghetto and of the partisans. We hear so much about tragedy and inhumanity but rarely do we hear of out and out fighting, resistance, saying no in the face of no choices. This book really touched me and I loved how it carries the reader from the beginning of the atrocities, through the worst an
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Feb 01, 2011
Mary
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Another wonderful account of World War Two and the strength of the human spirit to survive and overcome the most awful conditions. I learned a lot from this book. I remember the bravery and courage it took for Abba Kovner to escape into the woods in transit to a concentration camp. I highly recommend this book.
Jul 02, 2011
Jonathan
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My Dad bought this book for me a Christmas or so ago... It took me a year or more to get around to reading it. I wish I had read it immediately. What an amazing story of a small band of "Partisan" Polish World War II Jews! A story of courage, conviction and strength. A story where a few proud souls determined that they would rather die as free men (and women) than be "lead as lambs to the slaughter." This fantastic read primarily follows three rugged "Avengers"
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Dec 29, 2008
Diane C.
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Riveting tale of homeless Polish Jewish teenagers from the Warsaw ghetto during WWII, and the freedom fighters deep in the forest that they join to blow up bridges and sabotage Nazi camps and tanks.
These kids eventually help establish Israel.
These kids eventually help establish Israel.
Sep 24, 2011
Maureen
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I really liked this book, which despite the heavy subject, never felt that way. The story that the author researched and heard from the people involved really drew me in. My only complaint would be that I like to have accurate maps when so much of the story involves moving from one place to another.
Aug 04, 2011
Jeff
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Good to read about people who stood up and didn't go like sheep. I wonder what I would have done... Sadly I think I know.
Jan 05, 2011
Nicole
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Little known history about the underground zionist movement during WWII. Very moving.
Jan 10, 2011
Leora
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When do I read history for fun? But it was so good. No moral dilemmas here...
Jul 20, 2010
Samantha
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The book was good reminded me of Bielski brothers a little, gave you more of the story of Abba Kovner before and after. Great read!
Sep 22, 2007
Laura
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Books, movies, and the history I was taught in school all gave me a clear impression of what Jewish people did to fight against the Holocaust: nothing. This book is fascinating because it gives the lie to this perception: the true account of a small group of underground Jews who blew up bridges, derailed trains, and fought Germans. The book focuses on the actions and lives of three fighters in particular: Ruzka, Vitka, and Abba. How they survived the ghetto, how they fought the Nazis, and how
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Dec 28, 2009
Nathan
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What impressed me about this book is the courage shown by these freedom fighters against the Nazis. I loved the determination they had, against impossible odds.
Nov 11, 2008
So.. I've read about half of this book and it's one of the best WW2 books I've read, not to mention general historical creative non-fiction. But it was giving me nightmares. Horrible, middle of the night panic, nightmares. So I'm putting it on hold for a bit. Be prepared. have a loved one close because I had to make more than one 4am phonecall.
Mar 07, 2011
Claudia
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Easy to read! I found the last few chapters especially fascinating. No footnotes or sources are supplied, though, and I wished for comparisons to other accounts of partisan life.
Oct 21, 2008
Lorraine
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Ture story of the WW II Lithuanian partisan unit headed by Abba Kovner, who was later recognized as Israel's poet laureate. Filled with testimonies of the German occupation and early days of Israel's statehood. Most moving are stories of the common, average person who was transformed when faced with the need for survival.
Apr 12, 2011
Theresa
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A biography of 3 members of the Rebells in the Vilnius Ghetto Uprising during WWII. Quite decent.
Oct 03, 2008
Jacob
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Beautiful story, beautifully told.
Wonderful balance of explaining his personal impetus for exploring the subject with a vibrant non-fiction prose style that illuminates a chapter of Holocaust/WWII history rarely told.
Wonderful balance of explaining his personal impetus for exploring the subject with a vibrant non-fiction prose style that illuminates a chapter of Holocaust/WWII history rarely told.
Aug 19, 2007
Michael
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The story of a Jewish underground resistance group in WWII is not as compelling as Cohen's "Tough Jews," but it's great to read a story about that period that doesn't take place in a concentration camp.
Jun 04, 2007
The story of the jewish underground fighters in Lithuania. Not the romantic stuff you see depicted in movies, this is hardcore fighting for life-and-death on the eastern front. Fascinating.
Oct 13, 2008
Erin
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How is it that the most important and poignant hostory, we are never taught in school?
Jan 15, 2011
Sylvia
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Historical and exciting. Thank you Matt for turning me on to this book!
