My Around the World for a Good Book entry for Lithuania tells the story of life in the ghetto of Nazi-controlled Vilna, Lithuania. Under the rule of the sadistic Commandant Schoger, Vilna’s Jews try to go about with their life, survival, and resistance. The narrative is told from the perspective of Isaac a young chess prodigy challenged to a match against Shoger. The wager: should Shoger win, he will send the children of the ghetto to their deaths; if Isaac wins, the children will be spared, but Isaac will be put to death. In the unlikely event of a stalemate, neither Isaac nor the children will be killed.

Each chapter begins with a move in the chess match and is followed by a vignette from Isaac’s life with his girlfriend Esther and friend Janek alternating with stories from the point of view of Isaac’s brothers and sisters. These chapters give a glimpse into life in the ghetto, both the suffering under tyranny and prejudice, as well as the little joys of everyday life. Back at the chess match, with the whole community watching, Isaac must play for a stalemate, on the premise that Shoger is a man who would honor the terms of the bet. When he realizes that Shoger is not an honorable man, Isaac makes the stunning decision to make a move for a win, when he could have made a move for a stalemate, sealing his own death as well as the childrens’. This is one of the more moving and powerful books I’ve read in a long time.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j... ( )