The Avengers

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 they worked to create the great nation of Israel.

I am not Jewish...and I don't really agree with Israel's policy with respect to the Palestinian problem but having read this book I have a better appreciation of how they have arrived at the position they have taken.

This is a book describing the lives of three Jewish partisans, their lives in the ghetto, their lives in the forest and finally their lives post-war ending in what becomes Israel. There is a lot of hate expressed in the book and I suppose were I in the same situation I would find it hard to forgive myself.

It was a quick read, interesting to read the psychology of the ghetto and partisan...but not a fun read

Cohen tells the story of three Jewish partisans who went from the Vilna ghetto to the forests, where they killed Nazis and sympathetic peasants, and then to Palestine/Israel. Also they were apparently a threesome, though this is never all that explicit. It’s a story of horrific losses, of persistence and bitter determination, and survival when fighting back was brutally dangerous. Reading about the successive purges of the Vilna ghetto was very hard, especially given the collaboration of some Jews who thought that by showing the Nazis that Jews could be useful some would survive. It’s an amazing story, but not a nice one. (Things ebooks can’t do to you: my reading experience was marred by some helpful person who’d decided to show more correct the book whenever s/he disagreed with stylistic choices such as comma placement or casual use of “like” for “such as.” Would have been more tolerable if volunteer editor had known that “prised” is just as much a word as “pried” is, and equally appropriate, and that May 15, 1948 is a perfectly correct date to give for the invasion of Israel by the Arab armies. It got so that I was extremely sad when the correction of a German spelling was accurate. Wish I’d had an eraser as I went through.) show less

Interesting. Obviously this topic is really difficult to read about, but worth it. The details of life - ongoing survival through the strongest, most horrible pressures of our recent history are fascinating as well as scary and sad. Although none of my ancestors were members of this particular group of partisans, my grandfather was in the French Resistance and some of my family members were killed by the Nazis. All my family of that generation were irrevocably scarred and had the course of their lives altered by the Second World War. I feel due to this that it is important for everyone to read such books and remember the atrocities committed in the past, to stop them happening again. This book is written in a fairly matter of fact show more style, which brings across the events. I'd definitely say that it needs to be read in small doses, but is great in the end. Recommended. show less

Beautifully written story about some Jewish freedom fighters that eventually immigrated to Israel. There are so many stories about the Holocaust that never get told, and I have much respect for Rich Cohen for writing books about Jewish heroes, gangsters, and pirates.

This book was a fun read! Rich Cohen takes a "fighter" approach to it and relays the story of Abba Kovner, the leader of Jewish resistance in the Vilna ghetto. In this book, there is no room for self-pity, ruminations and "why" questions; Cohen writes in a quick pace and makes it all sound more like a novel than a biography.

Excellent book about a little talked-about subject: Jewish partisans fighting in Europe during WW II. Their bravery is astonishing. History disguised as an edge-of-your-seat thriller.