Until Our Last Breath: A Holocaust Story of Love and Partisan Resistance"A powerful tale of the triumph of love under extremely difficult conditions," tells the story of a married couple who were part of the Jewish Resistance ( Publishers Weekly). At his father's funeral, one of the mourners told Michael Bart that the gravestone should include a reference to the Freedom Fighters of Nekamah, to honor Leizer Bart's involvement in the Jewish resistance movement in Vilna (now Vilnius), Lithuania, at the end of World War II. Michael had never heard his parents referenced as Freedom Fighters. Michael embarked on a ten-year research project to find out more details about his parents' time in the Vilna ghetto, where they met, fell in love, and married, and about their activities as members of the Jewish resistance. Until Our Last Breath is the culmination of his research, and his parents' story of love and survival. Zenia, Bart's mother, was born and raised in Vilna. Leizer fled there to escape the Nazi invasion of his hometown of Hrubieshov in Poland. They were married by one of the last remaining rabbis ninety days before the liquidation of the ghetto. Zenia and Leizer, along with about 120 members of the Vilna ghetto underground, escaped to the Rudnicki forest. They became part of the Jewish partisan fighting group led by Abba Kovner—known as the Avengers—which carried out sabotage missions against the Nazi army and eventually participated in the liberation of Vilna. Until Our Last Breath is intensely personal and painstakingly researched, a lasting memorial to the Jews of Vilna. "A work of exceptional historical importance." — Booklist "Appeals equally to the head and the heart." — Kirkus Reviews |
Contents
Two THE CITY THAT WENT FORTH A THOUSAND | |
Three THE STONES BURST INTO TEARS | |
Four DAYS WITH NO ANSWER | |
Five A DIFFERENT RHYTHM | |
Six WE DREAMERS MUST TURN SOLDIERS | |
Seven GRAVES ARE GROWING HERE | |
Nine LOVE AS FIERCE AS DEATH | |
Eleven VANISHED LIKE SMOKE | |
Twelve SUMMON THAT ELUSIVE HAPPINESS | |
Thirteen UNDER THE LOFTY SILENT HEAVENS | |
Fourteen A WORLD WAS HERE | |
Epilogue PERHAPSUNTIL LIGHT | |
NOTES | |
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Until Our Last Breath: A Holocaust Story of Love and Partisan Resistance Michael Bart,Laurel Corona No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Abba Kovner Aktion Arad arms arrived Avengers BART FAMILY COLLECTION Bart told Michael began Betar Bluma bunker COURTESY OF LEYZER courtyard Dessler dialogue re-created Dworzecki escape Etingin Fania Jocheles-Brancovski fight fighters FPO members friends Gens Gens’s German soldiers Germans Gestapo GHETTO FIGHTERS ghetto gate Ghetto in Flames ghetto police Glazman Ha-Shomer ha-Tzair hiding Hillel Holocaust Israel JERUSALEM OF LITHUANIA Jewish partisans Jews of Vilna Judenrat killed knew Kovno labor camps leader Leizer and Zenia Leizer Bart Lewinson LEYZER RAN’S JERUSALEM lived Lizzie look Maks Etingin's videotape maline missions mother Motl Gurwitz Narocz Nazis night Oszmiana parents partisan camps Ponary rabbi Rudnicka Street Rudnicki forest Scene and dialogue Schein Scheinbaum Shashka Shneidman shot Soviet Soviet partisan stay story Strashun Street survive took train underground villages VILNA GAON Vilna ghetto Vilna’s Jews walked wanted weapons Wittenberg Yechiel Struggle Group YIVO Zenia and Leizer