The Youngest Partisan: A Young Boy Who Fought the Nazis

by A. Romi Cohen, Leonard Ciaccio

A Jewish boy, on the run amidst the Holocaust in the forests and swamps of Czechoslovakia, joins a partisan band wreaking havoc on the German trains, gaining vengeance against the Nazis who are destroying his people. Instead of running he turns and fights to prevent his father from being shipped to Auschwitz. "The rare Jew who turned from fugitive to hero...a true life adventure like few others.

Genres: Jewish, Childrens

286 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but I have no trouble rounding up to 4. Very effectively conveys the sense of claustrophobic, paranoid terror for people living in a police state bent on their destruction, struggling to find safe lodgings and dodging discovery and capture, and then the unglamorous realities of living in the woods as a partisan fighter, and the practical and internal difficulties faced by survivors trying to rebuild their lives after the war. The writing is easy to read and peppered with short footnotes briefly explaining certain terms, places, and events, which might be useful for readers who are not very familiar with this time period or with the Holocaust, and with photos of some of the people and places involved in the author's story, which gives some immediate context to the telling. The author was a boy from a very religious Jewish family and interprets his experiences through that lens, but this doesn't interfere with the core story, showing mostly when he waxes poetic at some especially emotional points.
Overall, I recommend this as an illuminating personal account of the experiences of ordinary people considered 'undesirable' in and around Nazi-controlled territories. It gives a very good idea of how it felt, how things progressed to the point they did, and how difficult it was to survive both as a regular civilian in town and as a resistance fighter in the country. There is also a sense of hope and even joy in small victories, so despite the terrible times it is not a depressing read. It's a story that needs to be told and heard.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different perspective from a young boy. Good youth book. Fast read

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent true account of a young boy's life during the Holocaust.