Moshe Avital

And There Was Courage Moshe Avital

At the start of World War II, the Jews of Europe were not prepared for armed resistance against the Germans and their collaborators. Armed resistance by Jews, prior to the Holocaust, had been the exception, not the rule. Once the Jews in the ghettos and the concentration camps understood the German plan of annihilation, they began to resist, which took many forms - spiritual, moral, individual, collective, and finally armed resistance. In this book, And There Was Courage, Dr. Moshe Avital brings to light many unknown heroic stories of strength of the Jewish spirit shown by our brethren during the Holocaust. Miraculous revelations of survival, human greatness, incredible dignity and heroism flow through these stories - stories of inspiration that we can draw from those bitter years, stories of triumph of the few over the many adversaries. One can learn from these stories what determination, hope, and human values can achieve. Dr. Avital's collection presented in this volume makes it very clear that side by side with submission by millions of Jews, there was defiance, sacrifice, courage, and heroism. The stories, which soon will be all that we will have, as the survivor generation is dying out, show that in the complex relations between Jews in deep shock and the Germans who considered murder a national command, there were nonetheless, groups of fighters and other heroes who deserve our respect and admiration. Dr. Avital's observations and conclusions are delivered with poignancy and authority supported by his first-hand experiences in the Holocaust and his educational background.