West Wendover High School graduate Anna Mowszowski English translation of Heroism in the Forest: The Jewish Partisans of Belarus by Zeev Barmatz is now available in print and on line.
Originally written in Hebrew the book is published by KIP-Kotarim International Publishing.
“This book shatters the widely held belief that the Jews of Europe in WWII died ‘like sheep to the slaughter.’ Through riveting stories, with the help of firsthand accounts, Heroism in the Forest brings to life the world of the large and widespread Jewish resistance movement in Belarus.
Barmatz’s book is a must for anyone who wants to learn more about the armed resistance against the Nazis in Eastern Europe, as well as for anyone who thinks he already knows.” Wrote the review in Barnes & Noble booksellers.
A 2002 graduate of West Wendover High School Mrs. Mowszowski is the daughter of Advocate Publishers Howard and Corinne Copelan. She is also holds a Bachelor and a Masters degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Linguistics and English Literature. She also headed the English desk for the Israeli Army’s Press Relations Department during her service in the IDF. ‘Heroism in the Forest” is her first book length translation.
The book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in hard cover, paper back and e-book and will soon be available in the Elko County Library system and the Elko County School District.
The role of Jewish partisans in eastern Europe in defeating the Nazis is one of the most over looked stories in World War II. It was officially repressed by the Soviet Union because the presence of religious Jews forming one of the principal fronts against the Nazi’s conflicted with the Soviet narrative of the loyal atheist communist partisan.
After the fall of the Soviet Union the Jewish partisan role was also intentionally ignored or down played by the newly independent countries of eastern Europe which had a very mixed history in the war.
It was only in the last ten years with the release of the film ‘Defiance’ that the role of the Jewish partisan brigades began to be widely studied in academia and in the popular press.
