"Examines the stories of children and teen resisters in Europe during the Holocaust, including resistance groups, unarmed resistance, armed resistance in the ghettos and camps, and partisan units"--Provided by publisher.
Recounts the efforts of Jews who organized others and sabotaged the Nazis during the Holocaust, including Georges Loinger who smuggled children from occupied France into Switzerland and four brothers who led refugees into the forest to build a village and an army.
“The book's teenage protagonists and their bravery will enthrall young adults, who may find themselves inspired to take up their own causes.” —Washington Post An astonishing World War II story of a trio of fearless female resisters whose youth and innocence belied their extraordinary daring in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. It also made them the underground’s most invaluable commodity. May 10, 1940. The Netherlands was swarming with Third Reich troops. In seven days it’s entirely occupied by Nazi Germany. Joining a small resistance cell in the Dutch city of Haarlem were three teenage girls: Hannie Schaft, and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen who would soon band together to form a singular female underground squad. Smart, fiercely political, devoted solely to the cause, and “with nothing to lose but their own lives,” Hannie, Truus, and Freddie took terrifying direct action against Nazi targets. That included sheltering fleeing Jews, political dissidents, and Dutch resisters. They sabotaged bridges and railways, and donned disguises to lead children from probable internment in concentration camps to safehouses. They covertly transported weapons and set military facilities ablaze. And they carried out the assassinations of German soldiers and traitors–on public streets and in private traps–with the courage of veteran guerilla fighters and the cunning of seasoned spies. In telling this true story through the lens of a fearlessly unique trio of freedom fighters, Tim Brady offers a fascinating perspective of the Dutch resistance during the war. Of lives under threat; of how these courageous young women became involved in the underground; and of how their dedication evolved into dangerous, life-threatening missions on behalf of Dutch patriots–regardless of the consequences. Harrowing, emotional, and unforgettable, Three Ordinary Girls finally moves these three icons of resistance into the deserved forefront of world history.
The author of When Paris Went Dark returns to World War II to tell the remarkable story of the youngest members of the French Resistance and their war against the German occupiers and their collaborators On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Many adapted to the situation—even allied themselves with their new overlords. Yet amid increasing Nazi ruthlessness, shortages and arbitrary curfews, a resistance arose—a shadow army of workers, intellectuals, shop owners, police officers, Jews, immigrants, and communists. Among this army were a remarkable number of adolescents and young men and women; it was estimated by one underground leader that “four-fifths of the members of the resistance were under the age of thirty.” Months earlier, they would have been spending their evenings studying for exams, sneaking out to dates, and finding their footing at first jobs. Now they learned the art of sabotage, the ways of disguise and deception, how to stealthily avoid patrols, steal secrets, and eliminate the enemy—sometimes violently. Nevertheless, in most histories of the French Resistance, the substantial contributions of the young have been minimized or, at worst, ignored. Sudden Courage remedies that amnesia. Amid heart-stopping accounts of subterfuge, narrow escapes, and deadly consequences, we meet blind Jacques Lusseyran, who created one of the most influential underground networks in Paris; Guy Môquet, whose execution at the hands of Germans became a cornerstone of rebellion; Maroussia Naïtchenko, a young communist uncannily adept at escaping Gestapo traps; André Kirschen, who at fifteen had to become an assassin; Anise Postel-Vinay, captured and sent to a concentration camp; and bands of other young rebels who chose to risk their lives for a better tomorrow. But Sudden Courage is more than an inspiring account of youthful daring and determination. It is also a riveting investigation of what it means to come of age under the threat of rising nativism and authoritarianism—one with a deep bearing on our own time.
"Discusses the Kindertransport, including the people who organized the operation, how the transports worked, the children's lives who escaped on a transport, and how ten thousand children were saved from the Holocaust"--Provided by publisher.
In simple, poignant prose, these primary source accounts capture the tragic and courageous experiences of young people who lived through the Holocaust and whose lives were forever altered by it.
Both Jewish and Gentile teens played a key role in resisting the Nazi regime. Students will learn first-hand of the different resistance groups in Nazi Germany, from the anti-authoritarian pranksters Edelweiss Pirates to the communist Baum Group to the anti-fascist Christians of The White Rose. This book also examines resistance outside of Germany. While Western European countries focused on military resistance and rescuing children, resistance in Eastern Europe primarily meant survival, as Aryan-looking Jews became couriers carrying badly-needed food to those in need. Students may be inspired toward high-level ethical discussions of the role children played in certain resistance activities and the impossible choices faced by those embroiled in guerrilla warfare in the forests of Eastern Europe.
A critical analysis of the unique friendship between American general George Washington and the young French Marquis de Lafayette describes how their bond resulted in extraordinary success on the battlefield and in diplomatic circles, aided an American victory in the Revolutionary War, and paved the way for the French Revolution. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
In simple, poignant prose, these primary source accounts capture the tragic and courageous experiences of young people who lived through the Holocaust and whose lives were forever altered by it.