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Triumph of hope: from Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to Israel
By Ruth Elias. 2020
Ruth Elias, a Jewish woman who was taken to Auschwitz while several months pregnant, recounts her challenging and unthinkable story…
of confronting perhaps the most agonizing choice. This award-winning and internationally acclaimed testament features accounts of the aftermath of her imprisonment and the difficult path to a new life in a new land: Israel, where new challenges and obstacles awaited her40 thieves on Saipan: the elite Marine scout-snipers in one of WWII's bloodiest battles
By Joseph Tachovsky. 2020
Behind enemy lines on the island of Saipan-where firing a gun could mean instant discovery and death-the 40 Thieves killed…
in silence during the grueling battle for Saipan, the D-Day of the Pacific. Now Joseph Tachovsky-whose father Frank was the commanding officer of the 40 Thieves, also called Tachovsky's Terrors-joins with award-winning author Cynthia Kraack to transport listeners back to the brutal Battle of Saipan. Built on hours of personal interviews with WWII veterans, their personal papers, letters, and documentation from the National Archives, 40 Thieves on Saipan is an astonishing portrayal of elite World War II combat. It's also a rare glimpse into the lives of World War II Marines. The poorest equipped branch of the services at that time, Marines were notorious thieves. To improve their odds for victory against the Japanese, they found it necessary to improve their supply chains through "Marine Methods" -stealing. Being the elite of the Sixth Regiment, the Scout-Sniper Platoon excelled at the craft-earning them the nickname of the "40 Thieves" from their envious peers. Upon returning from a 1943 trip to the Pacific theater, Eleanor Roosevelt observed, "The Marines I have met around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marines."Dutch girl: Audrey hepburn and world war ii
By Robert Matzen. 2019
Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her…
role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was." Audrey Hepburn's war included participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor's assistant during the "Bridge Too Far" battle of Arnhem, the brutal execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of 1944. She also had to contend with the fact that her father was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation. But the war years also brought triumphs as Audrey became Arnhem's most famous young ballerina. Audrey's own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime diaries, and research in classified Dutch archives shed light on the riveting, untold story of Audrey Hepburn under fire in World War II. Also included is a section of color and black-and-white photos. Many of these images are from Audrey's personal collection and are published here for the first timeThe nine: The true story of a band of women who survived the worst of nazi germany
By Gwen Strauss. 2021
This program includes a bonus conversation with the author, as well as an archival recording of Martine Podliasky singing the…
Champs de Marais at her mother, Hélène Podliasky's, funeral. The Nine follows the true story of the author's great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris. The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo. They were subjected to a series of French prisons and deported to Germany. The group formed along the way, meeting at different points, in prison, in transit, and at Ravensbrück. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape. Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative from Gwen Strauss is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press "A compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship and survival. The story of Women's resistance during World War II needs to be told and The Nine accomplishes this in spades."—Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author of Cilka's Journey "This haunting account provides yet more evidence not only of the power of female friendship but that the often unrecorded courage and resilience of ordinary women must be honoured and celebrated. It's a most inspiring read...Utterly gripping." —Anne Sebba, author of Les Parisiennes "The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable women...Gwen Strauss melds a poet's pen and a decade of research into a tale of friendship, courage, and indomitable will." —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling authorThe light of days: The untold story of women resistance fighters in hitler's ghettos
By Judy Batalion. 2021
One of the most important stories of World War II, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture:…
a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters—a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now. Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland—some still in their teens—helped transform the Jewish youth groups into resistance cells to fight the Nazis. With courage, guile, and nerves of steel, these "ghetto girls" paid off Gestapo guards, hid revolvers in loaves of bread and jars of marmalade, and helped build systems of underground bunkers. They flirted with German soldiers, bribed them with wine, whiskey, and home cooking, used their Aryan looks to seduce them, and shot and killed them. They bombed German train lines and blew up a town's water supply. They also nursed the sick and taught children. Yet the exploits of these courageous resistance fighters have remained virtually unknown. As propulsive and thrilling as Hidden Figures, In the Garden of Beasts, Band of Brothers, and A Train in Winter, The Light of Days at last tells the true story of these incredible women whose courageous yet little-known feats have been eclipsed by time. Judy Batalion—the granddaughter of Polish Holocaust survivors—takes us back to 1939 and introduces us to Renia Kukielka, a weapons smuggler and messenger who risked death traveling across occupied Poland on foot and by train. Joining Renia are other women who served as couriers, armed fighters, intelligence agents, and saboteurs, all who put their lives in mortal danger to carry out their missions. Batalion follows these women through the savage destruction of the ghettos, arrest and internment in Gestapo prisons and concentration camps, and for a lucky few—like Renia, who orchestrated her own audacious escape from a brutal Nazi jail—into the late 20th century and beyond. Powerful and inspiring, The Light of Days is an unforgettable true tale of war, the fight for freedom, exceptional bravery, female friendship, and survival in the face of staggering oddsHitler: Downfall: 1939-1945
By Volker Ullrich. 2021
From the author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939-a riveting account of the dictator's final years, when he got the war he…
wanted but his leadership led to catastrophe for his nation, the world, and himself. In the summer of 1939 Hitler was at the zenith of his power. The Nazis had consolidated political control in Germany and a series of foreign-policy coups had restored Germany to the status of a major world power. He now embarked on realizing his lifelong ambition: to provide the German people with the resources they needed to flourish and to exterminate those who stood in the way. Yet despite a series of stunning initial triumphs, Hitler's decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 turned the tide for good. Now, Volker Ullrich offers fascinating new insight into Hitler's character and personality, vividly portraying the insecurity, obsession with minutiae, and narcissistic penchant for gambling that led Hitler to overrule his subordinates and then blame them for his failures; and, ultimately, when he realized the war was not winnable, to embark on the annihilation of Germany itself in order to punish the people who he believed had failed to hand him victory. This is a masterful account of a spectacular downfall, and an essential addition to our understanding of Hitler and the Second World WarLes enfants de la Nouvelle-France
By Gilbert Desmarais, Pierre-Alexandre Bonin. 2020
À travers onze portraits d'enfants, le lecteur est invité à explorer les multiples aspects de la vie en Nouvelle-France, à…
différentes époques, tels que : la traversée de l'Atlantique à bord d'un grand voilier, la prise de possession du territoire, l'économie, les vêtements, la médecine.Montréal et la bombe
By Gilles Sabourin. 2020
Pour prendre de vitesse Hitler et ses physiciens, les Britanniques ont choisi Montréal. C'est là qu'ils ont implanté en catimini,…
en pleine guerre, un laboratoire de recherche nucléaire. En déménageant leurs meilleurs scientifiques, ils ont en tête deux objectifs : mettre au point une bombe et trouver une source d'énergie nouvelle. Montréal et la bombe fait revivre cette saga palpitante pendant laquelle des réfugiés européens ont bâti un laboratoire stratégique dans le plus grand secret, au sein d'une université. Cet épisode méconnu de la Seconde Guerre mondiale jette un éclairage trouble sur l'alliance avec des Américains rapidement devenus concurrents dans la course à l'atome. Le livre est donc l'occasion de pénétrer les coulisses d'un projet où d'importantes avancées scientifiques ont été réalisées. On y croisera de grandes figures de la physique, des chimistes audacieux et des espions ; tous ont une seule idée en tête : dompter l'atome pour le meilleur et pour le pire.Unstoppable
By Joshua M. Greene. 2021
Winner of Best of Los Angeles Award "Best Holocaust Book - 2021" "A must-read that hopefully will be adapted for…
the screen. Greene lets Wilzig's effervescent spirit shine through, and his story will appear to a wide variety of readers." - Library Journal Unstoppable is the ultimate immigrant story and an epic David-and-Goliath adventure. While American teens were socializing in ice cream parlors, Siggi was suffering beatings by Nazi hoodlums for being a Jew and was soon deported along with his family to the darkest place the world has ever known: Auschwitz. Siggi used his wits to stay alive, pretending to have trade skills the Nazis could exploit to run the camp. After two death marches and near starvation, he was liberated from camp Mauthausen and went to work for the US Army hunting Nazis, a service that earned him a visa to America. On arrival, he made three vows: to never go hungry again, to support the Jewish people, and to speak out against injustice. He earned his first dollar shoveling snow after a fierce blizzard. His next job was laboring in toxic sweatshops. From these humble beginnings, he became President, Chairman and CEO of a New York Stock Exchange-listed oil company and grew a full-service commercial bank to more than $4 billion in assets. Siggi's ascent from the darkest of yesterdays to the brightest of tomorrows holds sway over the imagination in this riveting narrative of grit, cunning, luck, and the determination to live life to the fullestDays of steel rain: The epic story of a wwii vengeance ship in the year of the kamikaze
By Brent E. Jones. 2021
An intimate true account of Americans at war, Days of Steel Rain is an epic drama about an unlikely group…
of men forced to work together in the face of an increasingly desperate enemy during the final year of World War II. Sprawling across the Pacific, this untold story follows the crew of the newly-built "vengeance ship" USS Astoria , named after her sunken predecessor lost earlier in the war. At its center lies U.S. Navy Captain George Dyer, who vowed to return to action after suffering a horrific wound. He accepted the ship's command in 1944, knowing it would be his last chance to avenge his injuries and salvage his career. Yet with the nation's resources and personnel stretched thin by the war, he found that just getting the ship into action would prove to be a battle. Tensions among the crew flared from the start. Astoria 's sailors and Marines were a collection of replacements, retreads, and older men. Some were broken by previous traumatic combat, most had no desire to be in the war, yet all found themselves fighting an enemy more afraid of surrender than death. The reluctant ship was called to respond to challenges that its men never could have anticipated. From a typhoon where the ocean was enemy to daring rescue missions in the Philippines, a gallant turn at Iwo Jima, and the ultimate crucible against the Kamikaze at Okinawa, they endured the worst of the final year of the war at sea. Days of Steel Rain brings to life more than a decade of research and firsthand interviews, depicting with unprecedented insight the singular drama of a captain grappling with a prospective mutiny amidst some of the most brutal fighting of World War II. Throughout, Brent Jones fills the narrative with secret diaries, memoirs, letters, interpersonal conflicts, and the innermost thoughts of the Astoria men. Days of Steel Rain weaves an intimate, unforgettable portrait of leadership, heroism, endurance, and redemptionThe bomber mafia: A dream, a temptation, and the longest night of the second world war
By Malcolm Gladwell. 2021
In The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell, author…
of New York Times bestsellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. This "Bomber Mafia" asked: What if precision bombing could, just by taking out critical choke points — industrial or transportation hubs – cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal? In Revisionist History, Gladwell re-examines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time. In The Bomber Mafia, he employs all the production techniques that make Revisionist History so engaging, stepping back from the bombing of Tokyo, the deadliest night of the war, and asking, "Was it worth it?" The attack was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives but may have spared more by averting a planned US invasion. Things might have gone differently had LeMay's predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. As a key member of the Bomber Mafia, Haywood's theories of precision bombing had been foiled by bad weather, enemy jet fighters, and human error. When he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of warThe spectre of war: International communism and the origins of world war ii
By Jonathan Haslam. 2021
The Spectre of War looks at a subject we thought we knew-the roots of the Second World War-and upends our…
assumptions with a masterful new interpretation. Looking beyond traditional explanations based on diplomatic failures or military might, Jonathan Haslam explores the neglected thread connecting them all: the fear of Communism prevalent across continents during the interwar period. Marshalling an array of archival sources, including records from the Communist International, Haslam transforms our understanding of the deep-seated origins of World War II, its conflicts, and its legacy. Haslam offers a panoramic view of Europe and northeast Asia during the 1920s and 1930s, connecting fascism's emergence with the impact of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. World War I had economically destabilized many nations, and the threat of Communist revolt loomed large in the ensuing social unrest. As Moscow supported Communist efforts in France, Spain, China, and beyond, opponents such as the British feared for the stability of their global empire, and viewed fascism as the only force standing between them and the Communist overthrow of the existing order. The appeasement and political misreading of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy that followed held back the spectre of rebellion-only to usher in the later advent of warFacing the mountain: A true story of japanese american heroes in world war ii
By Daniel James Brown. 2021
&“Masterly. An epic story of four Japanese-American families and their sons who volunteered for military service and displayed uncommon heroism……
Propulsive and gripping, in part because of Mr. Brown&’s ability to make us care deeply about the fates of these individual soldiers...a page-turner.&” – Wall Street Journal &“ A masterwork of American history that will change the way we look at World War II."—Adam Makos, author of A Higher Call From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat , a gripping World War II saga of patriotism, highlighting the contributions and sacrifices that Japanese immigrants and their American-born children made for the sake of the nation: the courageous Japanese-American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe; their families, incarcerated back home; and a young man who refused to surrender his constitutional rights, even if it meant imprisonment. They came from across the continent and Hawaii. Their parents taught them to embrace both their Japanese heritage and the ways of America. They faced bigotry, yet they believed in their bright futures as American citizens. But within days of Pearl Harbor, the FBI was ransacking their houses and locking up their fathers. And within months many would themselves be living behind barbed wire. Facing the Mountain is an unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on Daniel James Brown's extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. But this is more than a war story. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to shutter the businesses, surrender their homes, and submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of a brave young man, one of a cadre of patriotic resisters who stood up against their government in defense of their own rights. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best—striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduringMy name is selma: The remarkable memoir of a jewish resistance fighter and ravensbrück survivor
By Selma van de Perre. 2021
An international bestseller, this powerful memoir by a ninety-eight-year-old Jewish Resistance fighter and Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor "shows us how…
to find hope in hopelessness and light in the darkness" (Edith Eger, author of The Choice and The Gift ). Selma van de Perre was seventeen when World War II began. She lived with her parents, two older brothers, and a younger sister in Amsterdam, and until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had not presented much of an issue. But by 1941 it had become a matter of life or death. On several occasions, Selma barely avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. While her father was summoned to a work camp and eventually hospitalized in a Dutch transition camp, her mother and sister went into hiding—until they were betrayed in June 1943 and sent to Auschwitz. In an act of defiance and with nowhere else to turn, Selma took on an assumed identity, dyed her hair blond, and joined the Resistance movement, using the pseudonym Margareta van der Kuit. For two years "Marga" risked it all. Using a fake ID, and passing as non-Jewish, she traveled around the country and even to Nazi headquarters in Paris, sharing information and delivering papers—doing, as she later explained, what "had to be done." But in July 1944 her luck ran out. She was transported to Ravensbrück women's concentration camp as a political prisoner. Without knowing the fate of her family—her father died in Auschwitz, and her mother and sister were killed in Sobibor—Selma survived by using her alias, pretending to be someone else. It was only after the war ended that she could reclaim her identity and dared to say once again: My name is Selma . "We were ordinary people plunged into extraordinary circumstances," Selma writes. Full of hope and courage, this is her story in her own wordsA general-turned-historian reveals the remarkable battlefield heroics of Major General Maurice Rose, the World War II tank commander whose 3rd…
Armored Division struck fear into the hearts of Hitler's panzer crews. Two months after D-Day, the Allies found themselves in a stalemate in Normandy, having suffered enormous casualties attempting to push through hedgerow country. Troops were spent, and American tankers, lacking the tactics and leadership to deal with the terrain, were losing their spirit. General George Patton and the other top U.S. commanders needed an officer who knew how to break the impasse and roll over the Germans—they needed one man with the grit and the vision to take the war all the way to the Rhine. Patton and his peers selected Maurice Rose. The son of a rabbi, Rose never discussed his Jewish heritage. But his ferocity on the battlefield reflected an inner flame. He led his 3rd Armored Division not from a command post but from the first vehicle in formation, charging headfirst into a fight. He devised innovative tactics, made the most of American weapons, and personally chose the cadre of young officers who drove his division forward. From Normandy to the West Wall, from the Battle of the Bulge to the final charge across Germany, Maurice Rose's deadly division of tanks blasted through enemy lines and pursued the enemy with a remarkable intensity. In The Panzer Killers , Daniel P. Bolger, a retired lieutenant general and Iraq War veteran, offers up a lively, dramatic tale of Rose's heroism. Along the way, Bolger infuses the narrative with fascinating insights that could only come from an author who has commanded tank forces in combat. The result is a unique and masterful story of battlefield leadership, destined to become a classicNarrative of the Great Plains, its native tribes, and America's western expansion. Highlights the story of nine-year-old settler Cynthia Ann…
Parker's 1836 kidnapping by Comanches and, later, her son Quanah's rise to chiefdom. Violence. Bestseller. 2010Killing Patton: the strange death of World War II's most audacious general (Bill O'Reilly's Killing)
By Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard. 2014
Political commentator O'Reilly and historian Dugard, authors of Killing Jesus (DB 77565), examine the last year and the death of…
General George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945); theorize that Patton's death was not due to complications of injuries sustained in a car accident; and detail possible motives for assassination. Bestseller. 2014Pie Town woman: the hard life and good times of a New Mexico homesteader
By Joan Myers. 2001
Pie Town, New Mexico, was immortalized in 1940 in the photographs of Russell Lee, who documented life in the high,…
dry farming community as part of the Farm Security Administration's New Deal survey of American life. This book tells the story of one of the women photographed by Lee, Doris Caudill. Joan Myers tells Doris's story and recounts the experiences of Russell and Jean Lee during their stay in Pie Town. Woven through Myers's narrative are her musings on the relationships among memory, photographs, and actual events. Included are a selection of Lee's iconic photographs, Doris's family snapshots, and photographs taken by Myers herself showing the visual residue of those bygone yearsWay out West: recollections and tales
By H. G. Merriam. 1969
A collection of brief accounts portraying the variety of life in the West. The stories included here were selected by…
H.G. Merriam from "Frontier," a regional magazine published in Montana from 1920 to 1939Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: the mavericks who plotted Hitler's defeat
By Giles Milton. 2017