Jewish Book Fair

CONEY ISLAND

Greek and American Cuisine
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

154 S. Woodward, Birmingham
(248) 540-8780

Author explores the fierce heroism of
Jewish partisans during World War II.

Halsted Village
(37580 W. 12 Mile Rd.)
Farmington Hills
(248) 553-2360

MORTON I. TEICHER
Special to the Jewish News

6527 Telegraph Rd.
Corner of Maple (15 Mile)
Bloomfield Township
(248) 646-8568

R

ich Cohen, a writer whose work
has appeared in the New Yorker,
New York Times Magazine and Rolling
Stone, is determined to prove that
Jews can be strong and hard-boiled.
He began his "crusade" with Tough
Jews (1998), an account of dangerous
Jewish gangsters during the 1920s and
1930s, in which he successfully demon-
strated that Jews could be hard-bitten
thugs. His esteem for those ruthless
rowdies now is extended to a more
admirable group of tough Jews — the
Jewish partisans of World War II.
Cohen tells their heartrending story
in The Avengers: A Jewish War Story
(Alfred A. Knopf; $25) to demon-
strate that not all Jews fatalistically
resigned themselves to their doom at
the hands of the Nazis. Some of them
fought back fiercely, committing
heroic acts of sabotage, such as blow-
ing up bridges and German trains
and destroying or capturing German
weapons.

4763 Haggerty Rd. at Pontiac Trail
West Wind Village Shopping Center
West Bloomfield
(248) 669-2295

841 East Big Beaver, Troy
(248) 680-0094

SOUTHFIELD SOUVLAKI
CONEY ISLAND
Nine Mile & Greenfield
15647 West Nine Mile, Southfield
(248) 569-5229

FARMINGTON SOUVLAKI
CONEY ISLAND
Between 13 & 14 on
Orchard Lake Road
30985 Orchard Lake Rd.
Farmington Hills
(248) 626-9732

NEW LOCATION:
525 N. Main
Milford
(248) 684-1772

Cohen's story
demonstrates
that not all
Jews fatalistically
resigned themselves
to their doom
at the hands
of the Nazis.

UPTOWN PARTHENON
4301 Orchard Lake Rd.
West Bloomfield
(248) 538-6000

HERCULES FAMILY RESTAURANT
33292 West 12 Mile
Farmington Hills
(248) 489-9777

Serving whitefish, Iamb shank,
pastitsio and moussaka

Receive

11/10

2000

90

I
I
1
I

Entire Bill

not to go with any other offer

with coupon

Expires 12/30/2000

MEI INN =CI MI IIII/III MN EMI I= MN NMI

Admiring Toughness

I

The author will speak at the Jewish
Book Fair Sunday, Nov. 12.
Cohen's fascination with the Jewish
partisans began in 1977 at age 10.
On a trip to Israel, he and his family
visited a kibbutz and met their
cousin, Ruzka, and other former par-
tisans.
Ruzka Korczak, Vitka Kempner
and Abba Kovner are the real-life
protagonists in Cohen's narrative.
Vitka and Ruzka were teen-age girls
in Vilna when the Nazis took over.
They became lieutenants to the
charismatic Abba, who was a leader
of the guerrillas. After the war, they
all settled in Israel where Abba wrote
poems and novels devoted to the
Jewish resistance during World War
II and to Israel's War of
Independence, based on his personal
involvement. Several books of his
poetry have been translated into
English.
After Cohen's initial encounter with
Ruzka, Vitka and Abba, he met them
a number of times in Israel and in the
United States, learning bits and

pieces of their stories. In 1998, after
Ruzka and Abba died, Cohen spent
several weeks in Israel systematically
gathering information about their
wartime experiences from Vitka and
those partisans still alive.
This book is the result of his
research, supplemented by his embel-
lished reconstruction of conversations
and ruminations as well as his
embroidered descriptions of harrow-
ing events.
The partisans led by Abba Kovner
fled from the Vilna ghetto, escaping
through the city's sewers to the forest.
They joined forces there with other
resistance movements, although there
was considerable mutual suspicion
and distrust. However, the partisans
were all kept together by their com-
mon hatred for the Nazis and their
resolve to commit acts that would
obstruct and damage the German war
machine.
These Jews had limited success and
some failures, most notable of which
were frustrated attempts to wreak
revenge by killing Germans after the
war ended. More effective was their
rounding up Jewish survivors and
helping to get them to Palestine,
where many participated in the War
of Independence.
Cohen describes in detail the
courageous resistance of the partisans
and devotes a lesser segment of the
book to the War of Independence. In
both accounts, he proves that Jews
can be brave fighters, thus augment-
ing the picture he painted in Tough
Jews.
His two books clearly demonstrate
the validity of Cohen's thesis — Jews
can be strong, stouthearted, vigorous
and valiant. They can also be misdi-
rected, as in the case of the gangsters
he depicts in his first book and in the
misguided attempt to seek vengeance
by poisoning German prisoners after
World War II.
The Avengers is a stirring refutation
of the allegation that all European
Jews were like sheep led to the
slaughter at the hands of the Nazis. It
is a notable addition to the list of
books devoted to the Jewish resist-
ance, several of which are identified
in Cohen's useful four-page bibliogra-
phy at the end of his exciting and
inspiring book. ❑

Rich Cohen speaks 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield.

