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An inspiring story of unarmed civilians of all ages who took on the Gestapo, the SS, and the Wehrmacht—and outwitted them at least 20,000 times.
More than a thousand people in Nazi-occupied Poland were executed for helping Jews: men and women, young and old, grandparents, teenagers, and school children. What inspired courage such as that demonstrated by the Zegota member who reasoned, "To save a Jew could cost you your life. So for the same life, why not save ten?"
Code Name: Zegota: Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe tells the story of the only secret organization in occupied Europe set up for the sole purpose of saving Jews. The first book on the subject in English, it details the danger and complexity behind Zegota rescue attempts, clarifying the relationship of the Germans, who had total control; the Poles, who were relegated to sub-human status and treated as slave labor; and the Jews, designated nonhuman and collectively condemned to death.
Illuminating the moral dilemmas that arose as one life was pitted against another under the lawless apartheid conditions created by the Nazis, Code Name: Zegota explores the critical situation in occupied Poland and the personalities that responded to desperate conditions with a mix of courage and creativity. It profiles the key players and the network behind them and describes the sophisticated organization and its mode of operation. The cast of characters ranges from members of prewar Poland's cultural and political elite to Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, who worked as couriers. As this inspiring book shows, all of these brave souls risked torture, concentration camps, and death—and many paid the price.
Features
• Individual profiles of and insights from the rescued and the rescuers
• 28 photographs including the Warsaw ghetto, a prisoner's letter from the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and Nazi posters issuing regulations in occupied Poland
• Primary sources such as archival documents, first person memoirs, including unpublished testimonies of the period, and interviews with both rescuers and rescued
• Early interviews with Irena Sendler the subject of the Hallmark film, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, which was watched by 10 million viewers
• A map of Poland showing areas annexed or occupied and partitioned for administrative purposes by Germany
Highlights
• Raises issues of fundamental ethics and provides unmatched role models—people who, armed only with brains and courage, defied one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century
• Details the strategy and logistics used by the Zegota to secretly help Jews escape from, and remain in hiding from, the German authorities
• Covers the five years of World War II least known in Western historiography—the occupation of Poland from 1939-45—describing the conditions Germany imposed upon the citizens of Poland
• Reveals the little-known fact that most of the Zegota heroes, including Irena Sendler, were later persecuted by the Communist regime installed by the Soviet Union
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Features
- Hardcover
- 184 pages
- Size 6.5" x 9.5" - 16.5cm x 24cm
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