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Uncle Misha's Partisans
During World War II in the Ukraine, an orphaned Jewish boy joins a band of partisans who give him an important assignment against the Nazis.
- GenresJuvenile
211 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 8, 2011
If you think that Europe’s Jews passively met their fate during the Holocaust, then you are seriously misinformed. There were a number of known occurrences of organized resistance, as well as who know how many individual acts of resistance that also took place. One of those who spent a great deal of time researching and studying cases of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust, beyond the most well-known of these – the Warsaw Uprising – was Yuri Suhl. He has documented those cases of partisan activities in his non-fiction work They Fought Back, a very worthwhile book for readers age 14 and up.
Mr. Suhl also wrote the novel Uncle Misha’s Partisans about a group of Jewish fighters living in a Zhitomir forest in the Ukraine.
When 12 year old Mitek comes home from his violin lesson one day, he finds his mother, father, and beloved sister Basha have all been shot to death by Hitler’s Einsatzgruppen, or death squads.* He decides to run away and find the group of armed Jewish resisters he has heard about called Uncle Misha’s Partisans. On his way there, the Luftwaffe flies overhead spraying the area with a shower of bullets. They are after the two partisans, Yoshke and Berek, who have just blown up a German troop train. The two men find Mitek, but are hesitant because his name is Ukrainian and he speaks that language fluently. His family, he explains, had passed for being non-Jews until someone found out the truth and reported them. The men take him to the camp where the partisans live, where he can once again be Jewish and go by his Yiddish name Motele.
Yoshke takes Motele under his wing and introduces him to everyone, including Uncle Misha. Even though Motele wants to be a partisan, he finds he must work at the camp, at first with Avremel in the supply tent. There he learns how to care for weapons, including the Vyntovka or Vintovaka, a high powered military rifle which Motele covets as a symbol of a true partisan. Motele loves camp life and quickly grows very attached to Yoshke. He is taught some of the songs they like to sing there, figuring out how to play them on his violin, providing much appreciated entertainment to the partisans.
Not long after settling in, however, Motele is allowed to go out on a mission with Yoshke and several others including a nurse named Luba. They are transporting a seriously wounded partisan to the family camp where there is a hospital and a doctor. Hidden in Motele’s violin case is a Vyntovka. On the journey, they are forced to stop at the house of a village elder. The elder is out, but his wife lets Luba in. She finds the house is filled with furniture, clothing, jewelry and other items, which the woman proudly shows Luba and explains the things were taken from the homes of the Jews in the area that have been shot by the Einsatzgruppen. Sadly, by now the wounded man has died, so when her husband returns, the partisans take him in custody, tell his wife to get their two girls out of the house quickly and as they depart, they blow it up.
Unfortunately, Motele ends up in the family camp hospital himself after suffering a case of “forest” a mystery disease involving high fever and chills. At family camp Motele befriends Chanele, a young girl who with her sister Surele had been rescued by Avremel. The two become very close and she teaches him the Partisan’s Song so he can play it on his violin for everyone’s pleasure when there is a wedding in the camp. His growing friendship with Chanele and his new job with the blacksmith cause Motele to have mixed feelings about returning to Uncle Misha’s camp or staying at the family camp.
The decision is taken out of his hands when Yoshke arrives in family camp to bring him back to Uncle Misha. There Motele is told that he is to be disguised as a Ukrainian beggar in a nearby town where the Germans have set up their regional command. Motele is to find out where the administrative offices are, how well they are guarded and when the guard is changed.
But Motele plays his violin so nicely that a German officer takes him to the Deutsches Offizieren Haus (German Officer’s House), a place for German officers to eat, drink and talk. Motele is told he will be playing there everyday for 2 hours afternoons and 4 hours evenings, along with an aged piano player.
Motele doesn’t like this, but is told Uncle Misha is delighted. Motele is told to study the insignias, unit numbers and rank of the various officers as well as listen to the conversations around him, particularly about any troop trains going through. Everyday, he is to report what he knows to their contact Keril, who will relay it to Partisan Headquarters in Moscow.
Eventually, as he becomes more of an accepted fixture in the Officer’s House, he is told to look for an empty room and measure it. Then Motele is to slowly dig a hole in a wall there where bombs could be put. Next, he is to sneak bombing equipment into the house, and set it up to go off one night when there officer’s are all in the house. Does Motele succeed or will he go down in partisan history as the youngest partisan to die for the sake of the resistance?
Motele’s two missions make for very exciting, tense drama and Suhl’s in-depth descriptions show his knowledge of the subject of partisan resistance. Uncle Misha’s Partisans can be a little slow at times and then very exciting at other times, but taken as a whole it is certainly worth reading. However, I think the picture of the partisan camp is more realistic that that of the family camp. The family camps, because of their size and nature were more vulnerable that the smaller partisan camps, which could be moved more easily whenever necessary. Partisan life was hard and extremely dangerous, though admirable. And it is most definitely an overlooked area.
This book is recommended for reader aged 12 and up.
This book was borrowed from the Juvenile Collection of the Hunter College Library.
Uncle Misha’s won the following well deserved awards
1973 The Sydney Taylor Book Awards
1974 National Jewish Book Awards Jewish Book Council (Children’s Literature)
Mr. Suhl also wrote the novel Uncle Misha’s Partisans about a group of Jewish fighters living in a Zhitomir forest in the Ukraine.
When 12 year old Mitek comes home from his violin lesson one day, he finds his mother, father, and beloved sister Basha have all been shot to death by Hitler’s Einsatzgruppen, or death squads.* He decides to run away and find the group of armed Jewish resisters he has heard about called Uncle Misha’s Partisans. On his way there, the Luftwaffe flies overhead spraying the area with a shower of bullets. They are after the two partisans, Yoshke and Berek, who have just blown up a German troop train. The two men find Mitek, but are hesitant because his name is Ukrainian and he speaks that language fluently. His family, he explains, had passed for being non-Jews until someone found out the truth and reported them. The men take him to the camp where the partisans live, where he can once again be Jewish and go by his Yiddish name Motele.
Yoshke takes Motele under his wing and introduces him to everyone, including Uncle Misha. Even though Motele wants to be a partisan, he finds he must work at the camp, at first with Avremel in the supply tent. There he learns how to care for weapons, including the Vyntovka or Vintovaka, a high powered military rifle which Motele covets as a symbol of a true partisan. Motele loves camp life and quickly grows very attached to Yoshke. He is taught some of the songs they like to sing there, figuring out how to play them on his violin, providing much appreciated entertainment to the partisans.
Not long after settling in, however, Motele is allowed to go out on a mission with Yoshke and several others including a nurse named Luba. They are transporting a seriously wounded partisan to the family camp where there is a hospital and a doctor. Hidden in Motele’s violin case is a Vyntovka. On the journey, they are forced to stop at the house of a village elder. The elder is out, but his wife lets Luba in. She finds the house is filled with furniture, clothing, jewelry and other items, which the woman proudly shows Luba and explains the things were taken from the homes of the Jews in the area that have been shot by the Einsatzgruppen. Sadly, by now the wounded man has died, so when her husband returns, the partisans take him in custody, tell his wife to get their two girls out of the house quickly and as they depart, they blow it up.
Unfortunately, Motele ends up in the family camp hospital himself after suffering a case of “forest” a mystery disease involving high fever and chills. At family camp Motele befriends Chanele, a young girl who with her sister Surele had been rescued by Avremel. The two become very close and she teaches him the Partisan’s Song so he can play it on his violin for everyone’s pleasure when there is a wedding in the camp. His growing friendship with Chanele and his new job with the blacksmith cause Motele to have mixed feelings about returning to Uncle Misha’s camp or staying at the family camp.
The decision is taken out of his hands when Yoshke arrives in family camp to bring him back to Uncle Misha. There Motele is told that he is to be disguised as a Ukrainian beggar in a nearby town where the Germans have set up their regional command. Motele is to find out where the administrative offices are, how well they are guarded and when the guard is changed.
But Motele plays his violin so nicely that a German officer takes him to the Deutsches Offizieren Haus (German Officer’s House), a place for German officers to eat, drink and talk. Motele is told he will be playing there everyday for 2 hours afternoons and 4 hours evenings, along with an aged piano player.
Motele doesn’t like this, but is told Uncle Misha is delighted. Motele is told to study the insignias, unit numbers and rank of the various officers as well as listen to the conversations around him, particularly about any troop trains going through. Everyday, he is to report what he knows to their contact Keril, who will relay it to Partisan Headquarters in Moscow.
Eventually, as he becomes more of an accepted fixture in the Officer’s House, he is told to look for an empty room and measure it. Then Motele is to slowly dig a hole in a wall there where bombs could be put. Next, he is to sneak bombing equipment into the house, and set it up to go off one night when there officer’s are all in the house. Does Motele succeed or will he go down in partisan history as the youngest partisan to die for the sake of the resistance?
Motele’s two missions make for very exciting, tense drama and Suhl’s in-depth descriptions show his knowledge of the subject of partisan resistance. Uncle Misha’s Partisans can be a little slow at times and then very exciting at other times, but taken as a whole it is certainly worth reading. However, I think the picture of the partisan camp is more realistic that that of the family camp. The family camps, because of their size and nature were more vulnerable that the smaller partisan camps, which could be moved more easily whenever necessary. Partisan life was hard and extremely dangerous, though admirable. And it is most definitely an overlooked area.
This book is recommended for reader aged 12 and up.
This book was borrowed from the Juvenile Collection of the Hunter College Library.
Uncle Misha’s won the following well deserved awards
1973 The Sydney Taylor Book Awards
1974 National Jewish Book Awards Jewish Book Council (Children’s Literature)
September 21, 2011
“Uncle Misha’s Partisans” by Yuri Suhl is a fictional book following the adventures of a Ukrainian boy during World War II. The book is meant for young adults (YA) and should be read as such.
Twelve year old Mitek comes home after his violin lesson to find that his family has been killed by Hitler's death squads. Mitek runs away and finds a group of armed Jewish partisans led by a man named Uncle Misha. He is met by Yoshke and Berek, two partisans who at first refuse to believe he is Jewish. However Mitek tells them that his family hid under the guise of Christians until they were outed, he goes back to camp under his birth name — Motele.
Once at the partisan camp, Yoshke takes Motele under his wing. Soon Motele is allowed to go mission against the Nazis.
The book, “Uncle Misha’s Partisans” by Yuri Suhl, first came to my knowledge through a post on The Children’s War blog. What caught my eye was the name of one of the partisans, Yoshke, which is similar to my great-uncles nickname (Yoseph or Yoshko) who was also a partisan during World War II.
We only know bits and pieces about my great uncle’s experiences as he never fully relayed them to anyone. He was fond of saying that he was ‘jealous of dogs’ during that time.
This award winning book (1973 The Sydney Taylor Book Awards, 1974 National Jewish Book Awards Jewish Book Council) reminded me of the books I used to love as a boy 10–13 or so, which is just about the age this book is recommended for. It is well written, excellent story which doesn’t insult the intelligence of young adults.
What I’m surprised is that I have never heard of Yuri Suhl before, I have my friend Alex at The Children’s War blog to thank for the belated introduction. Mr. Suhl, wrote poetry in Yiddish and children’s books in English. Born in Poland, Yuri Suhl came to the United States sometimes in the 20s, he graduated from night school and began teaching English to kids of Yiddish speaking families.
Yuri Suhl died in New York on November 17, 1986.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLabook.com
Twelve year old Mitek comes home after his violin lesson to find that his family has been killed by Hitler's death squads. Mitek runs away and finds a group of armed Jewish partisans led by a man named Uncle Misha. He is met by Yoshke and Berek, two partisans who at first refuse to believe he is Jewish. However Mitek tells them that his family hid under the guise of Christians until they were outed, he goes back to camp under his birth name — Motele.
Once at the partisan camp, Yoshke takes Motele under his wing. Soon Motele is allowed to go mission against the Nazis.
The book, “Uncle Misha’s Partisans” by Yuri Suhl, first came to my knowledge through a post on The Children’s War blog. What caught my eye was the name of one of the partisans, Yoshke, which is similar to my great-uncles nickname (Yoseph or Yoshko) who was also a partisan during World War II.
We only know bits and pieces about my great uncle’s experiences as he never fully relayed them to anyone. He was fond of saying that he was ‘jealous of dogs’ during that time.
This award winning book (1973 The Sydney Taylor Book Awards, 1974 National Jewish Book Awards Jewish Book Council) reminded me of the books I used to love as a boy 10–13 or so, which is just about the age this book is recommended for. It is well written, excellent story which doesn’t insult the intelligence of young adults.
What I’m surprised is that I have never heard of Yuri Suhl before, I have my friend Alex at The Children’s War blog to thank for the belated introduction. Mr. Suhl, wrote poetry in Yiddish and children’s books in English. Born in Poland, Yuri Suhl came to the United States sometimes in the 20s, he graduated from night school and began teaching English to kids of Yiddish speaking families.
Yuri Suhl died in New York on November 17, 1986.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLabook.com
December 15, 2025
Decided to revisit one of my Dad’s old favorites…
Overall, a bit simplistic and risks romanticizing the Jewish partisans. Even the partisans sparing the pianist’s life near the end was not very realistic. But, this is a children’s book and it’s a tale of a brave young Jew killing Nazis so can’t really be critical here (other than an abrupt ending with lots of unanswered plot points 🤷)!
Overall, a bit simplistic and risks romanticizing the Jewish partisans. Even the partisans sparing the pianist’s life near the end was not very realistic. But, this is a children’s book and it’s a tale of a brave young Jew killing Nazis so can’t really be critical here (other than an abrupt ending with lots of unanswered plot points 🤷)!
September 4, 2019
Loved this book as a kid.
Read
April 2, 2009WW2-Suh
February 18, 2011
so boring...but surprisingly interesting
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews