Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War II [Hardcover]

Harold Werner (Author), Mark Werner (Editor), Martin Gilbert (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992 | ISBN-10: 023107882X | ISBN-13: 978-0231078825 | Edition: 1St Edition

"Fighting Back" is more than a tale of survival, it is the extraordinary memoir of a survivor who outlasted Hitler's Holocaust "not in a concentration camp, but in the woods of eastern Poland" as a leader of successful Jewish resistance during World War II. Written to dispel the myth of Jewish passivity, Harold Werner recounts his experiences as a member of a large Jewish partisan unit, which aggressively conducted military missions against the German army in occupied Poland. The unit of young Jews, men and women, received air drops from the Russians, wiped out local German garrisons, blew up German trains, and even shot down German planes. In addition to their military sabotage, these partisans rescued Jews from ghetto imprisonment and slave labour detail and provided a safe haven in the Parczew Forest for other Jews who escaped the Nazi extermination camps. Few, if any, accounts of Jewish survival during the Holocaust describe such a rare combination of victorious military activities and humanitarian efforts in successful large-scale Jewish resistance against the Nazis.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Jewish partisan unit to which Werner, who died in 1989, belonged--some 400 men and women led by a man named Chiel Grynszpan--operated in the woods of eastern Poland during WW II. Grynszpan's guerrillas performed acts of sabotage against the Germans (blowing up trains, convoys, bridges) and rescued Jews from the Wlodawa ghetto. When the Germans retreated, the Jewish partisans executed Polish civilians who had betrayed Jews in hiding to the Germans during the occupation. The most awesome aspect of this memoir is its stark depiction of the ferocious Polish anti-Semitism before and during the war. Nor did it abate after the war. Werner, who emigrated to the U.S., learned that two of his brothers had been clubbed to death by villagers when they returned to their homes. Told in simple, direct, unemotional language, the book is a valuable document that preserves a record of successful Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A tale of astonishing success--the small groups slowly grew, joined with other groups, and became a partisan force able to blow up bridges, attack German convoys, rescue other Jews, and exact revenge for earlier betrayals . . . This account has the authority of unvarnished human testimony; Mr. Werner's matter-of-fact tone makes the story he tells all the more horrifying. -- The New Yorker --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 253 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; 1St Edition edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 023107882X
• ISBN-13: 978-0231078825
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,182,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable telling of history., November 1, 1999

By 

anonymous "anonymous" (New England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fighting Back (Paperback)

Thanks to Harold Werner for retelling these events from his deathbed. I read the book in an evening and could not put it down. I am very proud to know that people such as Mr. Werner fought back no matter what the odds. Not only does he write about battles and suffering, but he also writes of the community he grew up with, the people he loved, how people made their living, and how they related to their neighbors.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping story of Jewish resistance to Nazi persecution, June 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Fighting Back (Paperback)

This true story takes place in Poland during the late 1930s thru 1946.The main character is a young man named Harold.The trials he experiences prior to WW2 are nothing compaired to the radical changes his life undergoes during the Nazi occupation.There were several things that I enjoyed most about this book.It is scary to realise how treacherous people can be to each other but it is encouraging to see how the human spirit rises to such adverse circumstances.You will follow his life from living in the city to hiding in the forests of Poland while being hunted by villagers and Nazis.Fear and hunger were common among this group of partsians.I found this story easy to read and relate to. This story can parallel any group of people who are oppressed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Standing Up, February 15, 2005

By 

Neal Bellet (Wayne, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fighting Back (Paperback)

Fighting Back, by Harold Werner, is the well told story of a group of Jewish partisans, who instead of quietly submitting to the will of their Nazi oppressors, and those anti-semitic villagers, and there seemed to be many, who collaborated with the Nazis in their quest to destroy the Jews of Poland, decided to fight back. The author was one of those partisans. These people had all lost family members and friends to both the Nazis and to many of their neighbors who had once been their friends, and all they wanted was a chance to fight back, an opportunity for revenge. After reading many holocaust books about the camps, or about Jews in hiding, it was a pleasure to finally read one where the Jews actually defended themselves, and if they had to die, they died "Fighting Back." This is a must read.