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A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five young, Polish Jewish women--champions who helped lead the resistance, sabotage the Nazis, and aid Jews in hiding across occupied Poland and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is one of the most storied events of the Holocaust, yet previous accounts of have almost entirely focused on its male participants. In The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto, Holocaust historian Elizabeth Hyman introduces five young, courageous Polish Jewish women--known as "the girls" by the leadership of the resistance and "bandits" by their Nazi oppressors--who were central to the Jewish resistance as fighters, commanders, couriers, and smugglers. They include: Zivia Lubetkin, the most senior female member of the Jewish Fighting Organization Command Staff in Warsaw and a reluctant legend in her own time, who was immortalized by her code name, "Celina" Vladka Meed, who smuggled dynamite into and illegal literature out of the Warsaw Ghetto in preparation for the uprising Dr. Idina "Inka" Blady-Schweiger, a young medical student who became a reluctant angel of mercy Tema Schneiderman, a tall, beautiful and fearless young woman who volunteered for smuggling and rescue missions across Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe Tossia Altman, a heroic courier with a poetic soul, who helped bring arms into the Warsaw Ghetto, fought in the Uprising, and ferried communiques to the outside world Interspersed with the stories of other Jewish women who resisted, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto rescues these women from the shadows of time, bringing to light their resilience, bravery, and cunning in the face of unspeakable hardship--inspiring stories of courage, daring, and resistance that must never be forgotten. ...
About the author
Elizabeth Hyman is the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Polish Jews who fled their homeland in 1939 and ultimately made their way, as refugees, to the United States. She earned dual master’s degrees in History and Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland-College Park, and has written the history blog, “HISTORICITY (was already taken),” since 2011. She lives in New Paltz, New York.
Report
"'Sensitive yet ambitious', like the women it evokes, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto is a powerful and important addition to the literature on the Holocaust." - Clare Mulley, author of Agent Zo and The Women Who Flew for Hitler
"Captivating from the first pages, this ingeniously written book follows the intertwined journeys, close calls, and moments of normality of young Jewish women who smuggled messages, money and weapons for the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto, served as witnesses to the Holocaust, stitched together impressive networks of self-help, and fought against Jews' oppressors. Hyman tells this riveting history through the voices and memories of women who refused to surrender while never losing sight of the contexts that shaped the women's choices, decisions, and actions. A brilliant testament to Jewish resilience in extremis." - Joanna Sliwa, co-author of The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles during the Holocaust
"A gifted storyteller, Elizabeth Hyman reminded me once again that the women we both study are not just figures from history but complex human beings making excruciating decisions and trying to make sense of what they were being forced to endure as best they could. This book deserves to be read widely." - Dr. Zoë Waxman, Professor of Holocaust History, University of Oxford
