The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising

by Elizabeth Hyman

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five young, Polish Jewish women—champions who helped lead the resistance, sabotage the Nazis, and aid Jews in hiding across occupied Poland and Eastern Europe.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is one of the most storied events of the Holocaust, yet previous accounts of have almost entirely focused on its male participants. In The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto, Holocaust historian Elizabeth Hyman introduces five young, courageous Polish Jewish women—known as “the girls” by the leadership of the resistance and “bandits” by their Nazi oppressors—who were central to the Jewish resistance as fighters, commanders, couriers, and smugglers. They

Zivia Lubetkin, the most senior female member of the Jewish Fighting Organization Command Staff in Warsaw and a reluctant legend in her own time, who was immortalized by her code name, "Celina"

Vladka Meed, who smuggled dynamite into and illegal literature out of the Warsaw Ghetto in preparation for the uprising

Dr. Idina “Inka” Blady-Schweiger, a young medical student who became a reluctant angel of mercy

Tema Schneiderman, a tall, beautiful and fearless young woman who volunteered for smuggling and rescue missions across Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe

Tossia Altman, a heroic courier with a poetic soul, who helped bring arms into the Warsaw Ghetto, fought in the Uprising, and ferried communiques to the outside world

Interspersed with the stories of other Jewish women who resisted, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto rescues these women from the shadows of time, bringing to light their resilience, bravery, and cunning in the face of unspeakable hardship—inspiring stories of courage, daring, and resistance that must never be forgotten.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Biography, Feminism, Holocaust, War

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Elana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true story shed light on one of the more famous uprisings of WWII, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. As a WWII history enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Most of the previous information out there focuses on the male leaders of the uprising, but this one focuses on female leaders. A lot of research went in to bringing this story to light. Anytime a WWII story of resistance and resilience can be written, I'm here for it. It's so important that these stories are told.

This one is filled with A LOT of information, and sometimes it does read very much like a textbook even though the narrator does a good job with not sounding robotic or boring. With fact heavy writing like this, it can sometimes be hard to cram in all the relevant information and still keep interest levels up.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank You NetGalley for the free ARC digital.

This was such an emotional roller coaster. I knew going in it was going to be a heavy subject, as most Holocaust stories are. It was obvious the author put a lot of time and effort into research. There is a lot of information to digest and some information was very new as I had not heard of these girls turned women. I don't know that I could have done what they did and have some moments for laughs. The girls/women were very daring. The author does a great job of giving information about these women and what they did.

What sets this book apart from other Holocaust books and Warsaw Ghetto books? New names, their actions, more information about the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto, the concentration camps, etc. Definitely worth the read.

[Texas · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GIRL BANDITS OF THE WARSAW GHETTO - I like that book is more of history, economics, politics, and informative data that was faced at this time, instead of a historical novel. There may be too much information for an average reader wanting a story, instead of actual history to go along with the actions of the individuals. The stories of these women are interesting and intriguing. Only 58 percent of the book is the story. There other 42 percent contains the Bibliography, a glossary, an index, acknowledgements, and author and publisher information. Source: Netgalley. 4*

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a true story, written by a master storyteller, about one of the most fearless uprisings in history...the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising...

Elizabeth Hyman writes with empathy and courageous insights into this shadowy history...the 'girls' of the ghetto who challenged the Nazis at their own game...

One of the best books ever written on 'collective determination' to save a country and take down a corrupt regime...

Highly Recommended!

[Mary Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply love women and their stories!!!

[Phoebe Proctor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brutal on all accounts…what these people went through and I what I endured reading this 😴 was not fun. I don’t like nonfiction so will not be doing something like this again

[Donna Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book. So much history I didn't know. I'm not sure why more hasn't been written about the Polish resistance, particularly in fiction. It was an engaging read. Parts of it were difficult to listen to. If you are interested in WWII history, this is a must-read book, and the audiobook is really well done. Read full review at Girl Who Reads.

[LeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3 or 3.5. The story, based on fact, was amazing. I learned more than I ever knew before about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The writing was uninspired, though. It was sentence after sentence, but without a lot of description and "color". It was also a bit confusing, since at the beginning of the book, five women are introduced as the Cabinet of Girls, and then three of those are hardly, if ever, mentioned again. Except for a few of the characters (like Zivia), the people in the book aren't described much more than "Jewish" or "Polish Jew" and the like.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction>Holocaust, WWII

Such a heartbreaking story. Very much worth your time to read, but be prepared to allow some recovery time because the material is hard. Not hard to follow, and not hard to get into, but hard to imagine the suffering, heartache, and evil that is described. I am not even someone who tends to absorb the atmosphere of books I read very well--I don't hear the character's voices talking or imagine the scenes described. Even I couldn't help be be sucked into the world of the Warsaw Ghetto.

I read this with a work book club and we all felt it was thought-provoking and makes us see our First-World-Problems in a new light. That's why I enjoy reading things like this so much (well, enjoy is probably the wrong word...but bare with me here...): the perspectives that we learn by reading about other times and other places and situations other than our own is something that cannot be understood or taught any other way. Of course, living through the times and the hardships offers a completely different outlook, but at least spending some time to focus on what suffering is out there puts things like not finding enough time to cook fancy dinners or frustration with 5 days of going to a job every week in a new light.

The author really attempted to show (and I got the message) that Jews are not a united, monolithic, single-minded group. There were divisions, skeptics, cautious individuals, and warriors. The part of this story that hit me the most was how unbelievable the situation was--so much so that some people in the Warsaw Ghetto didn't believe what was really going on. I can see how it would be very hard to imagine or believe that anyone, even a war-hungry enemy, would be rounding up Jews, putting them on trains, and sending them off to mass deaths. The stories told here of members of the resistance just trying to get their own people to understand what was really happening was something I didn't expect. All of us have learned about the atrocities from the future looking back, and this story makes you consider what it was like in-the-moment.

The second most heartbreaking part to read about was the ignorance of (or willful disregard) the Poles who lived near the Warsaw Ghetto. Could they all really have no ideal? All be so scared to do anything if they really knew? Seeing some of our main characters get to the outside only to realize that the Poles were mostly against them...so hard to think about.

"The fundamental conflict between the right-wing, nationalist vision of Poland enshrined in the politics of such parties as the Endecja, which understood Poland to be an exclusively Polish, Catholic nation-state, and the leftist League of Nations–endorsed vision of Poland as a pluralistic, multiethnic state was never truly resolved."

"In short, the socialization they received from their mothers, combined with their educational experiences, granted this generation of Polish Jewish girls the social contacts, the social skills, and an understanding of Polish culture and language that Jewish boys could not similarly access."

"When the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out in April 1943, these women fought, conveyed battlefield communiqués, printed and distributed appeals to the Polish population, and assisted with fighter escape plans."

"When starting or waging a war, it is not right that matters, but victory. Close your hearts to pity.”

"And on November 16, 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest Jewish ghetto in Poland, occupying 2.5 percent of the city’s total area, with approximately 30 percent of the city’s population behind its walls, was sealed, with German and Polish guards stationed outside each of its twenty-two gates."

"The faces of these Jewish leaders grew pale, either from sudden fear or from anger at our audacity. They were furious. They reproached us for irresponsibly sowing the seeds of despair and confusion among the people, and for our impertinence in even thinking of armed resistance."

"Until the summer of 1941, Hitler had planned for a territorial solution to the so-called Jewish Problem, involving mass deportations of the Jews to either Madagascar or the vast northern regions of the Soviet Union. British control of the seas, however, effectively negated the possibility of enacting the Madagascar Plan, and Stalin rejected the second idea out of hand."

“When conversations among the Poles on the train turned to talk about Jews, I felt compelled to take part. I must say that I did not speak about Jews in a neutral way; I made caustic comments. To this day I feel remorse, because maybe I sinned in doing so.”

"Thus, Himmler determined that they needed a new, more removed, industrial approach to the ongoing slaughter, and toxic gas—first used in Nazi Germany to euthanize disabled individuals—seemed the most promising option. Its first use on the Jews took place in November 1941 in Poltava, southern Ukraine."

"According to both Jewish underground and official Nazi accounts, the Nazis murdered between 275,000 and 310,000 Jews*—in Treblinka and in the streets of the Warsaw Ghetto—between July and September 1942."

"Once they acquired the chemicals, the women slept with the cyanide, hydrochloric acid, and further explosive chemicals under their beds..." ... "Chavka, meanwhile, was sharing a room on the Aryan side with Tema and Tosia. They slept with a suitcase full of pistols and grenades hidden under their bed."

[Elevetha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was overall really good; well-written and engaging (especially when compared to my last WWII read), and it was a lot of information on this time period and specific area that I didn't know much about.

The title and the description of the book are not really that accurate. Yes, we do read about the females that are part of the resistance and yes they played a large role, but I would not at all say that this book is the "story" of those five women. This is really mostly an overview of the history of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Jewish resistance therein, with a minor focus on the woman (mostly Zivia) vs the men.

Among other things, if we are to mention that the Catholic Church "taught" or believed that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of Christ and owed an eternal debt, perhaps we might also mention that that was no longer their position since the mid 16th century.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising told through the lens of five women who became integral in the fight against Nazis, this is an integral piece of writing for anyone studying or just interested in this history. The author really humanizes the women in addition to sharing their bravery throughout the resistance, learning who they were and why they were fighting which was just as fascinating and important as what they did to help the cause.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of these fighters is fascinating, but the writing? Not so much. It's quite a lot to wade through. If you're interested in the topic it's worth the work. but this book is not for the casual reader.

[Desirae · Rating 4 out of 5]

History remembers the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as an act of defiance. What it often forgets is who carried the defiance in their hands—smuggling pistols beneath coats, slipping past guards with forged papers, and stitching together a rebellion from the fragile threads of survival. In The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto, Elizabeth Hyman forces a recalibration: the uprising was not only fought by men with guns, but sustained—logistically, emotionally, and tactically—by young Jewish women whose contributions were systematically minimized in both wartime and postwar narratives.

Hyman’s study is at once a work of historical recovery and a critique of historiography. Traditional accounts of the 1943 uprising have canonized figures like Mordechai Anielewicz while relegating women to the periphery. Hyman dismantles this imbalance by centering five women—Zivia Lubetkin, Vladka Meed, Tosia Altman, Tema Schneiderman, and Idina Blady-Schweiger—and reconstructing their roles not as auxiliary, but as indispensable. These women were couriers (kashariyot), smugglers, intelligence operatives, and, when necessary, combatants. Their ability to pass as non-Jewish on the “Aryan side” allowed them to move weapons, forge networks, and maintain communication channels that made organized resistance possible.

The book’s most significant intervention lies in its exposure of gendered invisibility. Women were often referred to dismissively as “girls” by their male counterparts, even as they undertook the most dangerous assignments. Hyman reclaims the derogatory Nazi label “bandits” and transforms it into a title of honor, signaling both defiance and historiographical correction. This reframing is not merely semantic; it is methodological. Drawing on diaries, letters, and testimonies, Hyman reconstructs a layered narrative that demonstrates how women’s labor—frequently clandestine and therefore less documented—was foundational to the uprising’s infrastructure.

Equally compelling is the book’s portrayal of the Warsaw Ghetto itself, not as a static backdrop but as an active site of engineered catastrophe. Established in 1940, the ghetto confined approximately 350,000–375,000 Jews—nearly a third of Warsaw’s population—into a space comprising just a fraction of the city. Overcrowding reached staggering levels, with densities approaching 200,000 people per square mile. Starvation and disease were not incidental but systemic; by mid-1942, tens of thousands—around 83,000—had died from these conditions alone. This slow violence set the stage for the mass deportations to extermination camps such as Treblinka, where hundreds of thousands more perished.

Hyman does not allow these statistics to remain abstract. Instead, she integrates them into a narrative of lived experience, showing how deprivation shaped resistance. Hunger, disease, and constant surveillance forced the inhabitants into a state of perpetual precarity, yet it was precisely within this environment that networks of defiance emerged. The couriers’ work—smuggling food, weapons, and information—was both a response to and a rejection of the conditions imposed upon them. Resistance, in Hyman’s telling, was not a singular event but a continuum of actions, many of them small, all of them perilous.

The uprising itself, which began on April 19, 1943, is depicted with a balance of immediacy and inevitability. Approximately 750 fighters, vastly outnumbered and outgunned, managed to hold off German forces for nearly a month. The initial success—repelling German troops in the first hours—was as shocking to the fighters as it was to their adversaries. Yet the outcome was never in doubt. The Nazis returned with overwhelming force, systematically destroying the ghetto. Around 13,000 Jews were killed during the suppression of the uprising, many burned alive or suffocated as buildings were set ablaze. Tens of thousands more were deported and murdered in camps.

What distinguishes Hyman’s account is her insistence that the uprising cannot be understood without acknowledging the gendered dynamics that underpinned it. Women’s relative mobility—stemming from the fact that they were less likely to be immediately identified as Jewish—became a strategic asset. This mobility enabled them to act as the connective tissue of the resistance they linked isolated cells, coordinated efforts across geographic boundaries, and ensured the flow of resources necessary for sustained resistance. In this sense, the “girl bandits” were not merely participants but architects of the uprising.

The book also gestures toward a broader reconsideration of female resistance during World War II. The experiences of Jewish women in the Warsaw Ghetto resonate with those of women in other resistance movements across Europe, from the French Resistance to partisan groups in Eastern Europe. Yet, as Hyman implicitly argues, these contributions have often been marginalized or subsumed under male-dominated narratives. By foregrounding women’s agency, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto participates in a larger historiographical shift that seeks to recover the complexity of women’s wartime experiences—not only as victims but as actors, strategists, and revolutionaries.

Stylistically, Hyman’s writing is both rigorous and accessible. Her use of primary sources lends immediacy to the narrative, while her analytical framing ensures that individual stories are situated within broader historical contexts. The result is a work that is as emotionally resonant as it is intellectually robust. At times, the density of detail can be overwhelming, but this is arguably reflective of the subject matter itself—a history marked by fragmentation, loss, and the difficulty of reconstruction.

If there is a limitation, it lies in the inherent challenge of recovering voices that were deliberately silenced. Despite Hyman’s meticulous research, gaps remain—lives cut short, records destroyed, memories obscured by time. Yet rather than detracting from the work, these absences underscore its urgency. The book does not claim to offer a definitive account; instead, it presents a necessary corrective, an invitation to rethink what we know and how we know it.

Ultimately, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto is a powerful reminder that resistance is rarely singular and never simple. It is built from networks, sustained by courage, and often carried forward by those history overlooks. By restoring these five women to the center of the narrative, Elizabeth Hyman not only enriches our understanding of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising but also challenges us to reconsider the broader contours of World War II history. The result is a work that is both a tribute and a provocation: a tribute to the women who fought and a provocation to the histories that forgot them.

[Marisa Pruitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a feminist and WW2 history buff, I was instantly drawn to this title. I didn’t realize the level of resistance happening in the Warsaw ghetto and the accomplishments of these women were certainly impressive. While I’m glad I read it, I’m unlikely to recommend it. It was disorganized and slow moving, read like a textbook, and so heavily detailed it was hard to follow. Wish this author would’ve channeled a little Kate Moore for the topic!

[Gianna]

Very interesting but heavy on the facts. I wanted to know more about the women/get inside their heads

[Jessica Dury · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about the girl bandits, but the format of the book made it hard to keep track of the individual women

[Shawn Gipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto" by Elizabeth Hyman is a powerful and deeply affecting work of nonfiction that pulled me far outside my usual reading comfort zone, and I’m really glad it did.

I don’t typically reach for nonfiction, but the premise of this book immediately caught my attention. Hyman shines a long-overdue spotlight on the Polish female resistance fighters of World War II, focusing on their roles during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. These are stories that deserve to be told...and remembered.

What struck me most was just how emotionally heavy this book is. I knew, in a general sense, about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime, but reading firsthand accounts of what Jewish people in Poland endured was something else entirely. There were multiple moments where I had to pause, feeling both heartbroken and physically sick at the brutality described. It’s not an easy read, but it’s an important one.

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is how it explores the internal divisions within the Jewish community during this time. The differing responses...armed resistance, passive endurance, or attempts to delay suffering through wealth, add layers of complexity to an already devastating historical moment. It challenges the idea of a single narrative and instead presents a spectrum of human responses to unimaginable circumstances.

Above all, this book is a tribute to the women who risked and often gave their lives in resistance. Their courage, ingenuity, and sacrifice are nothing short of extraordinary. It’s hard not to come away from this story feeling that their contributions have been overlooked for far too long.

My biggest takeaway is simple: these women deserve to be more widely known. Their stories should never be reduced to a footnote in history.

If you’re willing to step into something heavy but meaningful, this is a book that will stay with you long after you finish it.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers or those familiar with the course of events of World War II and the Holocaust should be familiar with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. Elizabeth Hyman's The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising retells this history, but with the focus on the five specific young women: Zivia Lubetkin, Adi­na Bla­dy-Schweiger, Vlad­ka Meed, Tosia Alt­man and Tema Schnei­der­man.

Through extensive research and a chronological narrative, Hyman presents the wartime experience, accomplishments, and in the case of Altman and Schneiderman, the likely circumstances of their deaths. In the introduction, alongside extensive scene setting and contextualizing for pre-war Poland life, Hyman states the simple two reasons why women became the key couriers of news and weapons: one, men were frequently and much more likely to be randomly arrested or placed in forced labor work. Two, most Jewish men in Poland were circumcised, a quick and simple way to identification.
Therefore it was much easier for women to pass as non-Jews and their work, while not without risk, was less likely to lead to arrest. The women were couriers, but also fighters.

Hyman is detailed, building up to the establishment and the living conditions of the Warsaw Ghetto. It was a struggle for survival in a system designed for death. The narrative shows the contributions to the women, and focused significantly on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and later more widespread Warsaw Uprising (1944).

Recommended to readers or researchers of the Holocaust, World War II or Polish history.


I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley for an ALC of this book*

As someone who has read a lot of World War II books it seems strange to me that I have never heard of this part of the war experience.

This book is very well written (and excellently read by the narrator) and manages to tell the story of these women with empathy and care. At no point did I feel that the details were gratuitous, but the reality of the circumstances were not downplayed either. The story of these women and the work that they did for the Jewish resistance needs to be more widely known and this is the book to do it. The experience of women during war in general is always one that has less coverage, and this book also handles these subjects with care.

Whether you enjoy World War II nonfiction or not, this book would be an excellent addition or exception to your collection on the subject.

[Laura Lavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit when I first requested this book as an ARC, I expected it to be more of a “story”. That said, this is a well researched and well written, informative book that helped to give me true facts and examples of things that I’ve read about in historical fiction books that take place during the Holocaust. The things that these girls/women did during these dark and horrific times is nothing short of amazing. All of the Jewish women during this time were more courageous than I think I could ever be. I am grateful to have read this to build up my knowledge of facts of the Holocaust and to have it as a guide during my historical fiction readings.

Thank you Harper Perennial for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto by Elizabeth Hyman as part of my Her Story reading challenge on Goodreads—and I’m really glad I did. This is an incredibly powerful and well-researched account of five young women whose courage helped spark resistance in one of history’s darkest moments.

What stood out immediately was the depth of research. The amount of sourcing and detail woven into the narrative is honestly impressive, and it gives the story a strong sense of authenticity and weight. You can tell this book was built carefully, with real respect for the people it’s telling the story about.

I’ll admit the first ~20% took me a bit to settle into, but once it finds its rhythm, it absolutely takes off. From there, it reads like a page-turning masterpiece—tense, emotional, and incredibly compelling.

These women’s stories deserve to be told, and this book does them justice. A meaningful and gripping read that I’d definitely recommend.

[Book Jester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voihan harhaanjohtava mainonta! Brutaalein yksityiskohdin mässäilty tarina oli kyllä mielenkiintoinen alusta loppuun, mutta naisnäkökulman korostaminen oli kiltistikin sanottuna liioiteltu. Ihan yhtä suurella prosentilla tässä kuolivat ja urakoivat miehetkin, joten feministilippua on turha heiluttaa. Lisäksi korpesi näiden rohkeiden naisten tytöttely heti kannessa itse kirjailijan toimesta, sekä teoksen sivuilla viljelty täysin tarpeeton kauniin ulkonäön korostaminen: koska onhan se antikliimaksi jos sankarittaret ovat susirumia vanhoja piikoja..

Koko arvostelu: https://bookjester.blogspot.com/2026/...

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars! This book was well written and researched. The only reason this isn’t 5 stars for me is because I think the addition of some maps would have helped as a visual aid for the layout of the ghetto and greater Warsaw for the purpose of understanding where the walls were, where the resistance fighters would cross in and out of the ghetto, and where the heavy fighting areas were.

[Kara Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and researched of the events in Warsaw!!

[Amanda Geaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book selection was inspired by Amanda Barratt's 2024 Christy Award Winning book, The Warsaw Sisters.

The girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto is soul crushing history.

[Kimberly Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading about historical events. However, I feel the title is misleading; not truly the stories of 5 young girls. Many other characters/people were written about more. Full of facts, writing seemed disjointed and like a textbook. There were glimpses of situations where I was able to get a good feeling of the horrific events the people experienced, but there were many that I felt were just glossed over with a mere mention. Would not recommend this unless someone just wants factual information.

[Maren Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally interesting and informative, but it felt a little textbook-y and was hard to follow at times.

[Catherine McCabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to read, not just because of the nature of the story but because of how the story was written. Beyond Zivia, I had trouble following who everyone was and what role they played in the resistance. This was less of a true "story", and more of a sequential series of facts.

[Pamela Jo Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A historical novel with strong, fierce young women of unyielding faith and belief that life can be better; even if it won't happen for them, as long as they could have the way for those future generations, their battles won't have been for naught. Interesting, inspiring and a great read.

Disclaimer: This was a Goodreads win. I want to thank Goodreads, the publisher, and especially the author for trusting me with their words. ☺️

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book telling the stories of several female Jewess' and the Warsaw Ghetto. Starting before the war, what life was like to the German invasion, the final solution and the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the polish uprising against the Germans while the Russian Army stood by while the Poles and Nazis dukes it out. An incredible book giving in some cases a day by day account of what was going on in the ghetto. The major players, their concern when it came to their fellow Jews and the fight for survival. A great book to get the in-depth story of this period of WWII.