HEROINES, RESCUERS, RABBIS, SPIES

A collective biography of nine women who took on important roles during World War II but whose courage and contributions have been overlooked.

Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi; Faye Lazebnik Schulman, a photographer documenting Jewish resistance in White Russia; and writer and journalist Rachel Eiga Auerbach, who helped record the lives of Polish Jews under the Nazi occupation: These women and the others featured in Swartz’s book came from different backgrounds (including social class, religion, nationality), spoke different languages (though many, crucially, were multilingual), and took different paths during and after the war. However, common threads run through their stories, and many made it their life goal to preserve personal accounts of the Holocaust for future generations. Each chapter begins with an attractive, stylized portrait that effectively evokes the time period; the woman’s name and dates of birth and death; and a capsule description. These personal stories are illuminating and powerful, offering ways for readers to connect with and understand the past. Swartz writes from a feminist perspective, questioning why these heroic figures went unsung and frequently even unmentioned while male heroes received praise and recognition. With one exception, she chose to focus on women who survived the war, and her personal connection becomes poignantly clear in the final chapter about her mother and aunt, Regina Zlotnik Silberstein and Ruth Zlotnik Altman, Holocaust survivors who were active in the resistance in Warsaw.

Phenomenally done and more necessary than ever.