Ten World War II Heroes
On January 27, we remember the millions of lives that were lost during the Holocaust. Here are 10 books to honor just a few of the heroes of World War II.
On January 27 each year, the United Nations (UN) remembers the Holocaust with the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. It also commemorates when the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland on January 27, 1945.
This week I'm exploring the lives of ten incredible people who survived World War II.
The word hero may be overused, but not when applied to these men and women. They are the real deal. These ten books contain some of the most incredible and powerful stories of survival, resilience, and redemption from that era. I have purposely listed their names first to honor their memories and experiences.
Miriam Rabinowitz | Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love
Summary: In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods--through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids--until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. During the first ghetto massacre, Miriam Rabinowitz rescued a young boy named Philip by pretending he was her son. Nearly a decade later, a chance encounter at a wedding in Brooklyn would lead Philip to find the woman who saved him. And to discover her daughter Ruth was the love of his life.
Mala Szorer | Mala's Cat: A Memoir of Survival in World War II
Summary: The incredible true story of a young girl who navigated dangerous forests, outwitted Nazi soldiers, and survived against all odds with the companionship of a stray cat. In order to survive, she walks away from everything she holds dear to live by herself in the forest, hiding not just from the Nazis but hostile villagers. She is followed by a stray cat who stays with her--and seems to come to her rescue time and time again.
Eddie Jaku | The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor
Summary: Eddie Jaku was a teenager when his world was turned upside-down. Every day he faced unimaginable horrors in Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and finally on a forced death march during the Third Reich's final days. Against unbelievable odds, Eddie found the will to survive. Overwhelming grateful, he made a promise: he would smile every day in thanks for the precious gift he was given and to honor the six million Jews murdered by Hitler.
Gustav Kleinmann | The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz: A True Story of Family and Survival
Summary: In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer from Vienna, and his sixteen-year-old son Fritz were arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Germany. Imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, they miraculously survive the Nazis' murderous brutality. Then Gustav learns he is being sent to Auschwitz--and certain death. For Fritz, letting his father go is unthinkable. Desperate to remain together, Fritz makes an incredible choice: he insists he must go too. To the Nazis, one death camp is the same as another, and so the boy is allowed to follow.
Louis Zamperini | Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Summary: When World War II began, Louis became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.
Marthe Cohn | Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany
Summary: Marthe Cohn was a young Jewish woman living in France when Hitler rose to power. Her family sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis, including Jewish children sent away by their terrified parents. Marthe, using her perfect German accent and blond hair to pose as a young German nurse who was desperately trying to obtain word of a fictional fiancee, would slip behind enemy lines to retrieve inside information about Nazi troop movements. I met her in 2018 - an unforgettable experience.
Edith Eger | The Choice: Embrace the Possible
Summary: At the age of sixteen, Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. Hours after her parents were killed, Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele, forced Edie to dance for his amusement and her survival. Edie was pulled from a pile of corpses when the American troops liberated the camps in 1945. Edie spent decades struggling with flashbacks and survivor’s guilt, determined to stay silent and hide from the past. Thirty-five years after the war ended, she returned to Auschwitz and was finally able to fully heal and forgive the one person she’d been unable to forgive–herself.
Hélène Podliasky | The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
Summary: The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape.
Stella Levi | One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World
The remarkable story of ninety-nine-year-old Stella Levi whose conversations with the writer Michael Frank over the course of six years bring to life the vibrant world of Jewish Rhodes, the deportation to Auschwitz that extinguished ninety percent of her community, and the resilience and wisdom of the woman who lived to tell the tale.
Renia Kukielka | The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos
Summary: Judy Batalion--the granddaughter of Polish Holocaust survivors--takes us back to 1939 and introduces us to Renia Kukielka, a weapons smuggler and messenger who risked death traveling across occupied Poland on foot and by train. Joining Renia are other women who served as couriers, armed fighters, intelligence agents, and saboteurs, all who put their lives in mortal danger to carry out their missions.
CONCLUSION: Some of these stories are heartbreaking, others uplifting and inspiring. All of them are important reminders of the power of humanity in the face of adversity—and how it's never too late to start over again.
Have you read any of these? Which ones should I add to the list? What is your favorite WWII nonfiction title?
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