Incredible true accounts of Jewish bravery and ingenuity during World War II prove it a myth that “Jews went like lambs to the slaughter.” Pronunciation guide. Important dates. Source notes. Bibliography overview. Bibliography by chapter. Index. Sepia and black-and-white photographs and maps.
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In this landmark title, Rappaport documents Jewish resistance to the Nazi regime, presenting the stories of brave and committed people who disrupted the course of the mayhem and murder in 11 countries across Europe. Many of them were instrumental in getting Jewish children out of occupied Europe and to safety in Great Britain, Switzerland, and the United States. Others escaped from concentration camps, led insurrections in ghettos, attempted to orchestrate escapes from trains bearing Jews to death camps, or lived in outlaw camps deep in the forests. Many of them sacrificed their lives to save others, and many others bore both physical and psychic scars for the rest of their lives. The text is divided into six sections, discussing the realization on the part of the Jewish population of Germany that their situation was dire; saving Jewish children in occupied Europe; resistance in the ghettos; freedom fighters in the labor, concentration, transit, and death camps; and partisan warfare. The profiles give the backgrounds of the individuals involved in saving others, the situations in which they worked, and the outcome. Black-and-white and sepia photos extend the text and put faces to the deeds. Finishing with a detailed chronology, source notes, and an extensive bibliography, this well-written and affecting volume is an excellent example of a history title with wide appeal. It belongs in every middle and high school library.—Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA
“Even as a Jew, growing up in a Jewish household, I had only ever heard that ‘Jews went like lambs to the slaughter’ during the war.” When Rappaport looked into the matter as an adult, however, she uncovered numerous stories of Jewish resistance, ranging from subtle acts of defiance (forging documents, writing poetry) to outright fighting (the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) and escape (the Sobibor death camp). Here she profiles twenty of those efforts, grouped by theme and introduced with brief essays. Collectively, they present a comprehensive portrait of Jewish resistance, a wide-ranging cross-section; but the parade of names and places makes it challenging to forge a more intimate connection with the subjects. Nevertheless, the power of Holocaust literature derives, in large part, from the double witness of the horror and brutality of Hitler’s Final Solution and the fortitude and resiliency of humankind in the face of that atrocity, and that remains true here as well. The narrative is complemented by many black-and-white and sepia photographs that further develop the subjects and setting. A pronunciation guide, timeline, bibliography, source notes, and index are appended. jonathan hunt