The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos

The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Jude Batalion is my latest World War II read. <br /><br />This non-fiction book is told in chronological order shifting perspectives between the various female fighters, spotlighting one fighter in particular, Renia. During the Holocaust, Jewish factions, many of them led by women, fought the Nazis. <br /><br />This novel focused on the female Jewish resistance in Poland. Women frequently transported forged documents and led others to safety. Many raised funds for weapons and hosted soup kitchens. They also helped to form some semblance of routine and normalcy for the children by organizing education in the midst of chaos and upheaval. <br /><br />The Light of Days walks the reader through the events leading up to the ghettos, the resistance, and the fate of many of the fighters (which often included death and being forced to Auschwitz). During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, many women fought the Nazis with weapons. The Light of Days astounded me because there were Jewish women who were free of the ghettos and fought to get back in to help!<br /><br />This book and I were destined for each other. I tried to request this book on NetGalley and was rejected. Then, I entered the GoodReads giveaway. When speaking to my underground book club, I was venting that I was not sure that GoodReads giveaways were even legit because I never won a single giveaway. And I entered hundreds of GoodReads giveaways.<br /><br />Then, I won this book in a GoodReads giveaway! Woot! Woot! <br /><br />The historical narrative for Jews in World War II is that the Nazis rounded them up against their will and were cast as helpless against monsters. This book aims to change that narrative. Some Jewish groups actively and forcibly resisted the Nazis and attacked them. They did not go quietly. Many risked their lives, and many did die. For that, I am grateful for reading this book.<br /><br />This book changed my perception of World War II, and it gives voice to the females’ efforts and bravery during a horrific time of unimaginable cruelty. <br /><br />However, the World War II literary space is very competitive with chilling first-hand accounts in The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. <br /><br />The Light of Days was written in the third-person perspective to its detriment. Why The Diary of Anne Frank and Night are so riveting is that it feels like Anne or Elie is sitting on the couch next to you, as a friend, recounting their experience and all of their feelings. The Light of Days is a bit light on dialogue, and it reads more like a research article. <br /><br />The Light of Days also departs sharply from Night and The Diary of Anne Frank in that it rotated between the various female fighters. Again, it was to its detriment. Personally, I would have liked to see one section for each female fighter instead of rotating. Each rotation was really confusing, because there would be an entirely new set of characters, and I would forget where we left off from the previous section.<br /><br />This book also needed an editor. There were multiple errors that I was surprised to find in a book from a traditional publishing company. For example, on Page 16, “What they would be without her?” Clearly, it is meant to be “What would they be without her?” There was also an instance (and I’m so sorry that I can’t direct quote it because I have a physical copy of the book and not the electronic version), but there was a paragraph where it said that a neighborhood was chasing someone when it clearly meant a neighbor.<br /><br />As mentioned earlier, this book read more like a research article. The author clearly did her research and was quite passionate about the topic. However, storytelling is an art, and The Light of Days might have been better if Batalion teamed up with a ghost writer such as what Jennifer Robertson did with Stephen Kimber in Bitcoin Widow.<br /><br />In my opinion, the ending of the book should have been stronger. The author ends the book with her personal experience crafting the book, and her journey researching, translating, traveling, and interviewing people. However, I think that the book should have ended much like a movie, with very short paragraphs about each of the women. Like a gut punch. <br /><br />Overall, I enjoyed this book very much, and it is important to change the historical narrative around the Holocaust. Strong, brave female subjects always earn extra points in my book. However, the changing perspectives are distracting, and The Light of Days is competing with some extremely compelling World War II literature. <br /><br />2023 Reading Schedule<br />Jan Alice in Wonderland<br />Feb Notes from a Small Island<br />Mar Cloud Atlas<br />Apr On the Road<br />May The Color Purple<br />Jun Bleak House<br />Jul Bridget Jones’s Diary<br />Aug Anna Karenina<br />Sep The Secret History<br />Oct Brave New World<br />Nov A Confederacy of Dunces<br />Dec The Count of Monte Cristo<br /><br /><b>Connect With Me!</b><br /><a href="https://lisaoftroy.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Blog</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Lisa_of_Troy" rel="nofollow noopener">Twitter</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvmSewQ0IGOzDnuMZNUKTbg" rel="nofollow noopener">BookTube</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LisaofTroy" rel="nofollow noopener">Facebook</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lisa_of_troy/" rel="nofollow noopener">Insta</a>

4.5 stars rounded up.<br /><br />We have to keep reading these books so we don’t forget . I say that every time I read a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust or a memoir of someone who survived it. Having read this non fiction account of courageous, strong Jewish women of the resistance in Poland, it should go without saying, but not only do I have to say it again - we just can’t forget - but I have to say how important it is to remember these women and pay tribute to them. I haven’t read much about organized Jewish resistance, about the Jewish youth movements and not much about the role of Jewish women in the resistance . I have not read about the harrowing acts of Jewish women carrying resistance documents or arms until now. I’ve read a lot about the horrific treatment of Jews during this time, but not some of the things that are related here, unrelenting truths of what happened. These accounts are so disturbing, and that’s exactly why I recommend that people read this book . We need to know and we need to remember. The real life stories of Renia Kukielka, Zivia Lubetkin, Frumka Plotnicka, Tosia Altman and others whose stories we find here represent so many women who carried documents, arms, and money in and out of the ghetto, conducted attacks on Nazis. How did they get their strength and determination and resilience? Maybe because:<br /><br />“On another memorable evening, several buses of Gestapo forced Jews, half naked, barefoot in nightclothes, to go outside and run around the snow-filled market while the Gestapo chased them with rubber clubs, or told them to lie down in the snow for thirty minutes, or forced them to flog their fellow Jews with whips, or to lie on the ground and have a military vehicle run over them.”<br /><br />“Nazis had Jews dig their own graves and made them sing and dance in the pits until they shot them...Elderly Jews were also made to sing and dance, the Nazis plucking out their beard hairs one by one and slapping them until they spat out their teeth.” <br /><br />“Through hysterical sobs, these starving women told her that their town had been surrounded. Gunshots flew in every direction. Their children had been playing outside and ran to their houses. but a Nazi caught them and beat the kids to death ,one by one.” <br /><br />There are so many more of these vile and violent attacks on Jews told here, and some may choose not to read this because of the horror of it all. I have included these quotes here because if someone chooses not to read this book, they will at least know some of it, if they read this review. This fell a little short of 5 solid stars because I felt the narrative lacked cohesiveness and at times felt like it could have been better organized. BUT in spite of that, what is told here is just so important and it needs be read widely. I have to up it to 5 stars. I liked that the author lets us know the fates of these women in the last part of the book and in the moving epilogue and relates to us her personal connection as the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Her extensive research efforts are notable, with pages of references and notes from documents written by some of these women and numerous other sources. Kudos to Judy Batalion for discovering and bringing to light the stories of these amazing women. If you think it can’t happen again, think about the neo Nazis who marched with torches in Charlottesville just a couple of years ago . <br /><br />I received a copy of this book from William Morrow/Harper Collins through Edelweiss.

<b>“Zivia [Lubetkin] was one of thirty fighters posted on the highest floors of a building at the intersection of Nalewski and Gensia Streets – the first unit to encounter the Germans. The anxiety, the excitement, was nearly overwhelming. While they were no army, they were so much more organized than they’d been…hundreds of them in strategic locations armed with pistols, rifles, automatic weapons, grenades, bombs, and thousands of Molotov cocktails…As the sun rose, Zivia saw the German forces advancing toward the ghetto, as if it were a real battlefront. Two thousand Nazis, panzer tanks, machine guns. Polished, lighthearted soldiers marched in, singing tunes, ready for an easy final coup…”</b><br />- Judy Batalion, <i>The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos</i> <br /><br />The Second World War effected just about everyone on the globe in some way or the other. Half of those people were women. Like everyone else, women were victimized. In places like Nanking, Berlin, and Manilla, they were subjected to sexual violence. In places like Hamburg, Tokyo, and Leningrad, they struggled to keep families together beneath a rain of bombs and artillery shells, while food stocks dwindled. Women were held in internment camps, concentration camps, and death camps. <br /><br />But their roles went far beyond simply enduring punishment. Women served as air wardens, spotters, and antiaircraft gunners. They were doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers. They worked in factories building tanks and planes. They served in the uniformed services, not only typists, radio operators, and clerks, but as pilots and snipers. Women also acted as spies, saboteurs, and resistance fighters. <br /><br />Despite this multitude of experiences, the literature on the Second World War has been slow to recognize women. While a lot of backfilling has been done by historical fiction, nonfiction still has a way to go before any semblance of balance can be restored. <br /><br />To that end, Judy Batalion’s <i>The Light of Days</i> is a welcome volume. In presenting a true account of female Jewish fighters in Poland, she doesn’t merely highlight an under-told story, but does so in ways that are frequently gripping, and always inspiring. It reminds you that there are still a lot of stories to tell. <br /><br />*** <br /><br />When Poland fell to the Germans in 1939, Germany promptly divided the ill-starred country into three parts. One part went to the Germans themselves, another to the Soviet Union, who – in their devil’s bargain – had also invaded Poland, while the final segment became the so-called “General Government.” In this administrative territory, the Nazis planned to warehouse undesirables until such time as the land could be colonized with German settlers. <br /><br />Very soon, Jews found themselves legally declared non-humans. They were rounded up into ghettos, worked as slaves, and summarily executed. As the “Final Solution” unfolded, they began to be shipped to death camps as well. Resistance to this calamity came in many different forms, including groups that gathered maps and information, smuggled necessary supplies, and hid those who were able to escape. A smaller number decided to mount an armed struggle. <br /><br />Among these active resisters, young women played important roles as intelligence operatives, couriers, and warriors. These women, Batalion explains, had important advantages over men, which allowed them to move more freely outside the ghettos. For one, they avoided the circumcision test, which the Nazis used to catch males suspected of trying to pass as gentiles. For another, classic chauvinism meant that females were often underestimated or unsuspected. <br /><br /><i>The Light of Days</i> follows the exploits of around twenty of these female resisters. Some we follow throughout the book. Some we only know for a short while. No matter how long they are around, they hold the page with immediacy. <br /><br />*** <br /><br />Initially, <i>The Light of Days</i> is a bit slow, as Batalion works to introduce all the characters, as well as the organizations to which they belonged, which were often in ideological conflict. The pace picks up drastically once the battle is joined during the Warsaw Uprising. Despite being well over 400 pages of text, the pages fly by with the swiftness of a thriller. <br /><br />Occasionally, I thought Batalion’s obvious passion for this subject matter led to overwritten passages with a few too many flourishes, such as rhetorical questions, repeated phrases, inferred thoughts and emotions, and a dubiously-high number of exclamation points. Given the inherent vitalness of the underlying action, these novelistic touches felt unnecessary, even distracting. Batalion is far better when she is restrained in her telling, because an unadorned recounting of these women’s experiences is quite potent without being goosed with one-word sentences and one-sentence paragraphs. <br /><br />*** <br /><br /><i>The Light of Days</i> is well-researched, as attested by Batalion’s annotated endnotes. This is history, not an act of imagination. That said, it is subjective rather than objective, and told strictly from the perspective of the Jewish women. The male fighters are mentioned as necessary, but are never allowed to hijack our focus. The Germans exist only as unnamed, faceless antagonists, a shadowed evil. Adolf Hitler does not appear, while Heinrich Himmler, head of the murderous SS, shows up only twice, and quite briefly. Save for an epigraph, the rabid antisemite General Jurgen Stroop never joins the narrative, despite being in charge of the Germans who razed the Warsaw Ghetto <br /><br />This is a bit odd, but I understood Batalion’s intent. Sometimes, the only way to correct a distortion is by another distortion. She wants to center her characters without our attention being drawn away. In that, she succeeds. <br /><br />*** <br /><br />The downside to this approach, in my opinion, is that Batalion has avoided not only German perspectives, but apparently German documentation. During the Warsaw Ghetto fight, for instance, one of Batalion’s sources claims 300 Germans killed, while Stroop reported less than twenty. Obviously, the Germans might have been lying, yet this discrepancy is not reported, much less explored. <br /><br />This can be forgiven, as <i>The Light of Days</i> is about humans, not statistics. Nevertheless, Batalion narrates some thinly-sourced scenes without any explanation. She relies heavily on memoirs, which can be notoriously tricky as primary sources. The reason is that they often combine eyewitness testimony with supposition, rumors, and secondhand information. Batalion states that she tried to corroborate and cross-index. Ultimately, however, she sides with the woman telling the tale, regardless of plausibility. <br /><br />The starkest example comes during an episode that purportedly took place at a liquidation camp. According to a prisoner, an unidentified Nazi commandant plucked beautiful Jewish women from the crowd, dressed them in fancy dresses, brought them to a party, and forced them to dance with SS members. During the dance – a literal <i>danse macabre</i> – the women were shot in the head by the commandant. Having read thousands of pages about the Holocaust, this might be the single most shocking thing I’ve seen. Unfortunately, the source is a person who was not there, and who heard it from a person who also could not have been there. Once they constructed Auschwitz, the Germans lost the benefit of the doubt. Still, this feels like hearsay that – while figuratively true, and symbolic of Nazi depravity – is not based on hard evidence.<br /><br />*** <br /><br />The dramatic climax of <i>The Light of Days</i> comes during the war. My favorite parts, however, are the closing chapters, in which Batalion follows the survivors – many of them “premature orphans” who have lost their <i>entire</i> families – as they attempt to forge the semblance of a normal life. It is an effecting struggle, one in which not all triumphed. These summation chapters also delve into the reasons these women’s stories were downplayed in the first place, sometimes sacrificed to the necessities of Israeli politics. <br /><br />Batalion concludes <i>The Light of Days</i> with a bit of explanation regarding her methodology, and the choices she made. Her reasoning is sensitive, and though I stand by my critiques, I appreciated her motivations.<br /><br />*** <br /><br />In general, the resistance movements around the world did little to change or even shorten the war. The Jewish resistance in particular could not stop the Holocaust, and Batalion stays well clear of any such claims. <br /><br />Instead, the decision to fight back was an act of agency. It was a seizure of a small semblance of control in an otherwise vast and impersonal conflict. Moral victories can be overstated; they can also be too easily dismissed. <br /><br />Whatever the true casualties suffered by the Germans in the Warsaw Uprising, it is worth noting that the female fighters <i>terrified</i> them. They are emphasized in Nazi accounts for their ferociousness, their nimbleness, their suicidal willingness to die, as long as they took a German with them. “Devils or goddesses,” General Stroop called them, also referring to them as hallucinations. It’s fair to ponder whether, as they faced this resistance – these women with pistols and grenades, shouting curses with their last breaths – the Germans first realized that despite their best efforts, they would never succeed in their annihilationist quest, and that the Jewish people would persevere and live on.

<br><br>For the most part, war histories have been written by men, and brave women have been given short shrift. Judy Batalion helps correct this by telling the stories of Jewish women in Poland who resisted the Nazis during World War II. These women served as couriers, caretakers, and fighters, especially in Będzin, Krakow, Warsaw and other cities that had relatively large Jewish communities.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795879._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Jews in Warsaw before World War II</b><br><br>After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Jews in cities were relegated to cramped ghettos where living space, food, medicine, clothing, money, sanitation, work papers, etc. were in short supply. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795870._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Warsaw Ghetto</b><br><br>Women smugglers who could pass for Polish Christians would sneak out, round up supplies, pass messages, and do what had to be done....with no thought to their own safety.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795875.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Some Jewish women in Poland could pass as Aryans</b> <br><br>A female memoirist describes the girls in a diary: 'Heroic girls; boldly they travel back and forth through the cities and towns of Poland. They are in mortal danger every day. They rely entirely on their Aryan faces and on the peasant kerchiefs that cover their heads. Without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, they accept and carry out the most dangerous missions. If someone needed to travel to Vilna, Białystok, Lemberg [or other cities], to smuggle in contraband such as illegal publications, goods, money, the girls volunteer as though it's the most natural thing in the world. If comrades have to be rescued, they undertake the mission. Nothing stands in their way. The missions are dangerous; the women are often arrested and searched. But they are indefatigable.' <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795871._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Jewish women resistance fighters</b><br><br>The book, which is almost 600 pages long, contains the stories of many women - all of them memorable. To provide a feel for the narrative, I'll briefly summarize one woman's tale. <br><br>In 1942, Renia Kukielkher was a 17-year-old girl living in the Warsaw Ghetto with her family. Jews who made their way to the ghetto from outside told horrible tales. Renia heard the story of a German, foaming at the mouth who killed two infants by kicking them with spiked boots. The mother was ordered to watch, then dig them graves. The German finally crushed the mother's skull with the butt of his rifle. <br><br>On another day Renia saw a group of half-insane women - raggedy, pale, blue-lipped, and shaking - who told her that their town had been surrounded. Gunshots flew and the Nazis beat their children to death.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795869._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Nazis killed Jewish children</b><br><br>Other women told stories of Poles adding to the persecution, blackmailing Jews for money and possessions, under threat of turning them in. <br><br>When the Nazis began liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto, and deporting Jews to work camps and concentration camps (extermination camps), Renia's family decided to leave. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795876._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Krakow`s Polish Jews arriving at German Auschwitz concentration camp</b><br><br>Renia made it to a Nazi-run Jewish labor camp, where the workers hoped to be safe from deportation. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795872._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Nazi-run Jewish labor camp</b><br><br>The camp wasn't safe, however, and Renia left and began wandering around Poland. Renia was caught by police with dogs, but looked Aryan enough to pass for a Christian, and got away. <br><br>At a train station, Renia found a woman's purse with some money and a Polish passport, which was her ticket to travel. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795874.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Polish train station during World War II</b><br><br>After a harrowing journey - during which Renia lived in constant fear of being exposed as a Jew - she got a job as a housekeeper in the home of a half-German family called the Hollanders. There Renia pretended to be Catholic, went to church with the family, was careful to speak like a Pole, etc....all the time fearful of being outed as a Jew, and suffering from anxiety and insomnia.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795878._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Polish Catholics attended church on Sundays</b><br><br>Renia received letters from her sister, and learned that her family was living in the woods and suffering. Though it was very dangerous, Renia made up her mind to join them. Renia told the Hollanders her aunt was sick, and got permission to visit her. A smuggler helped Renia travel, with her Jewishness deeply buried. Renia finally made it to a Jewish enclave in Będzin, but all her relatives - except for one sister - was lost.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219461i/30795882._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Będzin Ghetto</b><br><br>Wanting to help the Jewish cause, Renia became a courier for the resistance. If caught by Germans, couriers were imprisoned in filthy conditions, raped, beaten, starved, and either transported to concentration camps or killed. But Renia survived to tell her story.<br><br>Other women have tales similar to Renia's, and some even took part in armed rebellions. Women fought during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, for example, and German soldiers were amazed to see women hand-to-hand fighting, shooting guns, and throwing grenades. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795877._SX540_.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Warsaw Ghetto uprising</b><br><br>The book is hard to read because the disgusting, vicious, stomach-churning atrocities committed by the Nazis and (many) Poles are described in detail. Still, the bravery of the featured women is uplifting and inspiring, and it's good to see their stories told.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1612219275i/30795873.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Author Judy Batalion</b><br><br>In an afterward, Judy Batalion writes that she took 12 years to write the book, most of it spent researching diaries, memoirs, testimonies, books, and writings in a variety of languages, including English, Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Polish and Russian. Battalion also traveled around the world to meet the descendants of the featured women, sifted through photographs and letters, and learned how the ladies lived during the post-war phase of their lives. Many of the women suffered from survivor's guilt and/or mental illness, and some committed suicide.<br><br>The book tells an important story of remarkable women, and is well worth reading.<br><br>Thanks to Netgalley, Judy Battalion, and William Morrow Publishers for a copy of the book.<br><br>You can follow my reviews at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com">https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com</a>

The Light of Days is the first book I have encountered that tells the stories of heroic young Jewish women in Poland who fought the oppression and subsequent Holocaust of their people with fervor and an undeniable braveness that I cannot imagine. It is immediately evident how well researched this book was by Judy Batalion and how important is was to her to tell these stories with as much respect and accuracy as possible. Her forward and authors notes were my most favourite parts of the book. I approached this read thinking it would be a semi-fictional "based on real stories and real women" story, a "The Secrets we Kept" style novel, but it really is a non-fiction piece almost reading like a research paper, with authors thoughts and the use of interjections like, "in one instance" and "it is reported that she said" woven through the accounts.<br /><br />The audiobook was narrated by Mozhan Marno whose voice was very soothing yet strong and was the perfect compliment to tell these stories. It has quite a long running time at 16.25 hours. I am hopeful that, when released, Harper sets up an accessible webpage with a list of names, maps and photos to accompany the audiobook to round out the experience.<br /><br />There are many young women featured here, all of whom sacrificed everything, even opportunities for personal freedom, to keep fighting in an attempt to secure those freedoms for others in the face of unspeakable brutality. I feel very well read on the atrocities of the Holocaust but had read very little about female freedom fighters in this time so was very interested to hear about these women. There were many tears shed listening to this, and many moments of thankfulness that my own life hasn't been subject to trials such as these women faced. Batalion does not shirk the atrocities here, the horrible sexual, depraved, barbaric, animalistic treatments are described in full. <br /><br />There is a lot of information and full stories of each of the women's lives included. It was really a different read and at times changed it's mind as to whether it was telling a story or detailing an historical event but that didn't detract in my opinion as the author clearly felt both after committing so much of her life to tell the stories of these women. When I was done the book and hearing the author tell her own stories of traveling to the birth homes of these women in Poland and meeting with their present day families, I felt so emotional and connected and she made some really wonderful points about why some of these stories were never told, reasons both political and personal. She also remarked that none of these heroic women who lived and grew old were given assistance dealing with the fact that they survived and what that left them with to deal with, especially after the tortures they had endured and the loss of their young adult lives. I wished she had been comfortable with weaving her thoughts throughout the book as her voice was so welcomed at the end. I do feel that she wanted to respect these women's stories and wanted to give them a vessel and a voice and not overlay her own.<br /><br />She did all of these women proud, they are portrayed with strength and compassion but still as women and although a dark and difficult read, I am grateful to Judy Batalion for telling their stories. <br /><br />I am thankful to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an Advanced Reader Copy of this Audiobook, it will be released in April 2021 and and has also already been optioned for movie production by Steven Spielberg.

Audiobook... read by Mozhan <br />Marno / synced with the ebook (own) <br /><br />From 1941 on, no Jews or anyone living in Poland were allowed to leave, the ghetto. <br /><br />“The Light of Days” is an unveiling of anonymous Jewish women who displayed acts of astonishing bravery. <br />We meet Renia Kukielka, not yet 20 years of age at the start — “neither an idealist or a revolutionary but a savvy middle-class girl who happened to find herself in a sudden and unrelenting nightmare. She rose to the occasion, fueled by an inner sense of justice and by anger”. <br /><br />Renia and other Polish Jewish women ( her sister Sarah, too), joined foreign resistance units. Some of these women went underground and established rescue networks to help fellow Jews hide or escape. <br />They resisted morally, spiritually, and culturally by concealing their identities distributing Jewish books, setting up soup kitchens for orphans.<br /><br />Author, Judy Batalion (love the *lion* in her name), did phenomenal research. Reading her notes are of great interest. <br /><br />This book is filled with stories about dozens of unknown young Jews who fought in the resistance against the Nazis, mainly from the inside of the Polish ghettos. <br />The “ghetto girls” paid off Gestapo guards....<br />“hid revolvers in loaves of bread, and helped build systems of underground bunkers. They flirted with Nazis, bought them off with wine, whiskey, and pastry, and, with stealth, shot and killed them. They carried out espionage missions for Moscow, distributed fake IDs and underground flyers, and were bearers of the truth about what was happening to Jews. They helped the sick and taught the children; they bombed German train lines and blew up Vilna’s Electric supply. They dressed up as non-Jews, worked as maids on the Aryan Side of town, and helped Jews escape the ghettos through canals and chimneys, by digging holes in walls and crawling across rooftops. They bribed executioners, wrote underground radio bulletins, upheld group morale, negotiated with Polish landowners, tricked the Gestapo into carrying their luggage filled with weapons, initiated a group of anti-Nazi Nazis, and, of course, Took care of most of the underground administration”. <br />The imprisonment,<br />mass shootings, forced labor, <br />starvation, and sterilization.... set up in the ghetto in the second half of 1941, was liquidated in 1943. Those who survived, were deported to the Belzec extermination camps and the Janowska concentration camps. <br /><br />Judy Batalion, herself, comes from a family of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors.<br />Her Montreal Jewish community was composed a largely of Holocaust survivor families—both Judy’s family and neighbors—who were each lived with painful and suffering family stories. <br /><br />In some ways reading this book felt like a thriller. Maybe that’s why Steven Spielberg knew this was not only important story....but would draw flocks of people to see this book adapted for the screen. <br /><br />This is non-fiction’ book that reads like a thriller....stories we wish ‘were’ fiction. <br /><br />The woman we learn about acted with so much ferocity, fortitude, and even<br />violence when necessary. <br />Several of them had a chance to escape yet did not, some even chose to return and battle. <br />Their rebellious acts <br />spanned the gamut— from simple acts to more -cautious- elaborate complex planning. <br /><br />Journeys with fake documents... escaping... facing danger every step of the way. <br /><br />For some Jewish women, the goal was to rescue Jews; for others, to die and leave a legacy of dignity. <br /><br />I tried to imagine what I would’ve done in some of these ladies situation. Would I have stayed to fight? Or would I have escaped if I had a chance? <br />There were cases where children were being taken to the extermination camps, and their mothers—who didn’t want them to be alone— went along with them, killing themselves as well.<br />I can’t think of anything much more sad than that. And I wouldn’t fault a mother for whatever choice she made. <br /><br />Writing, proved, like we’ve learned through history in war before, was a savior. These women wrote, documented, wrote and wrote and wrote, hoping that, maybe, one day their notes would be read. They made four copies, and hide them, under floorboards. <br /><br />The stories in here are so phenomenal. <br />I don’t care how many Holocaust books you’ve read, this isn’t those. <br /><br /><br />I have a friend, Lani, who is reading this book, along side with me —?— <br />This is a type of book one reads, and you’re happy to have somebody to discuss it with afterwards. <br /><br />Not an easy book to read as anyone can understand, but the women’s courageous resilience was mind-blowing extraordinary. <br />By the end I came to think of these Jewish women as professional spies and front line comrades. <br /><br />There was devastating horror ... as anyone of us can imagine.... but while fighting, planning, and working with purpose (while physically weak), they also told jokes, celebrated Shabbat when they could, chanted songs, found ways to keep each other’s spirits up. <br /><br />The ending &amp; photos included are really moving. <br /> <br />It worked well for me too sync ‘read &amp; listen’. <br />Both formats were gripping, and outstanding.<br />Both formats were relatively easy to easy to follow.<br />It never felt like a textbook in other words. <br /><br />Personally - I recommend it....<br />Yeah even during a pandemic. <br />I’m not sure when the movie is coming out but I can already imagine it.

Quick thoughts:<br /><br />A Steven Spielberg movie? One of the most important stories of WWII? The strength of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters? Why have we not heard their stories before? This book gave me chills and inspired me in the best of ways. <br /><br />It's a story of female friendship and bravery against all odds. I’m grateful Judy Batalion is shining a well-deserved spotlight on these remarkable women. I promise you, you will never, ever forget this true tale.<br /><br />I received a gifted copy.<br /><br />Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.jennifertarheelreader.com">www.jennifertarheelreader.com</a> and instagram: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.instagram.com/tarheelreader">www.instagram.com/tarheelreader</a>

I've read many holocaust books, which are always horrific. This one though was if possible even more so, but the bravery of these women left me without words. I had to keep.putting this book down, sometimes letting a day go by before picking it up again.<br /><br />Hitler invades Poland and soon the News are forced into ghettoes. I never knew of these resistance movements by the news, how much many risked. Women were often sent on missions, as couriers, surveillance, retrieving weapons and forged papers. Men were suspect and it was easy to prove they were Jews by their circumcisions. Their are many names, though some of the women are paid more attention than others, so they became familiar as was their family stories.<br /><br />The author spares the reader little. The murders in the ghettos, the cruelties of the camps, the sadistic guards, the killings of so many young children and infants, all graphically described. These women who did so much should be read about and remembered. Their bravery should be known.<br /><br />ARC from Netgalley.<br />

What I expected was the story of these amazing, courageous, brave women. I was disappointed.<br /><br />The author obviously did a great deal of research and she seems to have incorporated every bit of information she had at hand.<br /><br />The story of the women became bogged down somewhere within the pages of Polish history. The book is top heavy with information that could have been another book entirely. It’s one of those books that makes it hard for the reader to follow. There was TMI that added nothing to the women’s stories.<br /><br />

This book was a bit of an information dump. I'm really glad that she did this research and brought these young women's stories to light, but there were so many characters and events that it was hard to keep track of them. It ended up feeling to me like I was reading a string of separate anecdotes. They were all gripping, but not as much as if I had been able to get attached to any of the characters. I think others will likely use this book as source material to write something that feels more like a story.