They Fought Back
Stories of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust
New Jewish Press
Will be published approx. on 20. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-4875-6941-9 (ISBN)
Description
They Fought Back traces the phases of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, beginning with the cultural and spiritual resistance of Europe's ghettoized Jews and culminating in armed resistance in ghettos, forests, and death camps.
Confronted with the destruction of their previous lives, newly ghettoized Jews began reconstructing elements of the institutions that had once defined their communities: schools, orphanages, clinics, soup kitchens, libraries, orchestras, and even cabarets and theatres. Ghetto inhabitants transformed spaces of fear and sudden death into centres of intense activity, sustaining life and dignity while countering despair. This resistance was rooted in a determination to live. In its later phase of armed resistance, few fighters believed survival was possible. Many, shaped by the ethos of Jewish youth movements, focused instead on how to face death with purpose, seeking to inflict damage on their oppressors, save what lives they could, and preserve Jewish honour.
The stories presented in this work explore the psychological and communal consequences of confronting not only life-threatening danger but the certainty of death, examining how individuals and communities respond in extremis.
Confronted with the destruction of their previous lives, newly ghettoized Jews began reconstructing elements of the institutions that had once defined their communities: schools, orphanages, clinics, soup kitchens, libraries, orchestras, and even cabarets and theatres. Ghetto inhabitants transformed spaces of fear and sudden death into centres of intense activity, sustaining life and dignity while countering despair. This resistance was rooted in a determination to live. In its later phase of armed resistance, few fighters believed survival was possible. Many, shaped by the ethos of Jewish youth movements, focused instead on how to face death with purpose, seeking to inflict damage on their oppressors, save what lives they could, and preserve Jewish honour.
The stories presented in this work explore the psychological and communal consequences of confronting not only life-threatening danger but the certainty of death, examining how individuals and communities respond in extremis.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Canada
Publishing group
University of Toronto Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
20 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4875-6941-9 (9781487569419)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
David Chanoff is a visiting research scholar at Brandeis University.
Journalist and producer Paula S. Apsell is a fellow of Brandeis University and the senior executive producer emerita of PBS's NOVA.
Journalist and producer Paula S. Apsell is a fellow of Brandeis University and the senior executive producer emerita of PBS's NOVA.
Content
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1: A Menacing Sense of Rising Evil
Chapter 2: An Angel of Life
Chapter 3: Like a Pack of Lizards
Chapter 4: Let Us Not Go Like Sheep to the Slaughter!
Chapter 5: The People of the Book
Chapter 6: Standing Up
Chapter 7: Courier Girls
Chapter 8: On Their Own
Chapter 9: The Uprising
Chapter 10: The Death of the Death Camps
Chapter 11: Revenge
Chapter 12: The Bielskis
Chapter 13: My Name is Captain Winter
Endnotes
Index
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1: A Menacing Sense of Rising Evil
Chapter 2: An Angel of Life
Chapter 3: Like a Pack of Lizards
Chapter 4: Let Us Not Go Like Sheep to the Slaughter!
Chapter 5: The People of the Book
Chapter 6: Standing Up
Chapter 7: Courier Girls
Chapter 8: On Their Own
Chapter 9: The Uprising
Chapter 10: The Death of the Death Camps
Chapter 11: Revenge
Chapter 12: The Bielskis
Chapter 13: My Name is Captain Winter
Endnotes
Index