Isaac's Army: A Story of Courage and Survival in Nazi-Occupied

Isaac's Army: A Story of Courage and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland

Starting as early as 1939, disparate Jewish underground movements coalesced around the shared goal of liberating Poland from Nazi occupation. For the next six years, separately and in concert, they waged a heroic war of resistance against Hitlerâ€™s war machine that culminated in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In Isaacâ€™s Army, Matthew Brzezinski delivers the first-ever comprehensive narrative account of that struggle, following a group of dedicated young Jewsâ€”some barely out of their teensâ€”whose individual acts of defiance helped rewrite the ending of World War II.
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Based on first-person accounts from diaries, interviews, and surviving relatives, Isaacâ€™s Army chronicles the extraordinary triumphs and devastating setbacks that befell the Jewish underground from its earliest acts of defiance in 1939 to the exodus to Palestine in 1946. This is the remarkable true story of the Jewish resistance from the perspective of those who led it: Isaac Zuckerman, the confident and charismatic twenty-four-year-old founder of the Jewish Fighting Organization; Simha Ratheiser, Isaacâ€™s fifteen-year-old bodyguard, whose boyish good looks and seeming immunity to danger made him an ideal courier; and Zivia Lubetkin, the warrior queen of the underground who, upon hearing the first intimations of the Holocaust, declared: â€œWe are going to defend ourselves.â€ Joined by allies on the left and right, they survived Gestapo torture chambers, smuggled arms, ran covert printing presses, opened illegal schools, robbed banks, executed collaborators, and fought in the two largest rebellions of the war.
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Hunted by the Germans and bedeviled by the â€œGreasersâ€â€”roving bands of blackmailers who routinely turned in resistance fighters for profitâ€”the movement was chronically short on firepower but long on ingenuity. Its members hatched plots in dank basements, never more than a door knock away from summary execution, and slogged through fetid sewers to escape the burning Ghetto to the forests surrounding the city. And after the initial uprising was ruthlessly put down by the SS, they gambled everything on a bold plan for a citywide revoltâ€”of both Jews and Gentilesâ€”that could end only in victory or total destruction. The money they raised helped thousands hide when the Ghetto was liquidated. The documents they forged offered lifelines to families desperate to escape the horror of the Holocaust. And when the war was over, they helped found the state of Israel.
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A story of secret alliances, internal rivalries, and undying commitment to a cause, Isaacâ€™s Army is history at its most heart-wrenching. Driven by an unforgettable cast of characters, itâ€™s a true-life tale with the pulse of a great novel, and a celebration of the indomitable spirit of resistance.

Advance praise for Isaacâ€™s Army
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â€œTold with care and compassion, Matthew Brzezinskiâ€™s Isaacâ€™s Army is a riveting account of the Jewish resistance in wartime Poland. This is an intense story that transcends the horror of the time and finds real inspiration in the bravery of those who fought backâ€”some of whom lived to tell their stories. Highly recommended.â€â€”Alan Furst, author of Mission to Paris

Country	USA
Author	Matthew Brzezinski
Binding	Hardcover
Brand	Brand: Random House
EAN	9780553807271
Edition	1St Edition
Feature	Used Book in Good Condition
ISBN	0553807277
Label	Random House
Manufacturer	Random House
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	496
PublicationDate	2012-10-02
Publisher	Random House
ReleaseDate	2012-10-02
Studio	Random House

Isaac's Army: A Story of Courage and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland

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