The Avengers | 
 enlarge | Author: Rich Cohen
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 219693
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 4.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0375705295
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318
EAN: 9780375705298
ASIN: 0375705295
Publication Date: October 2001
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Amazon.com Review
Rich Cohen, author of Tough Jews, has written what he calls "a Holocaust story without a concentration camp" about Jewish resistance fighters during World War II. The Avengers: A Jewish War Story describes how three young Jews--Cohen's cousin Ruzka Korczak, her friend Abba Kovner, and Kovner's future wife Vitka Klemperer--created an armed, underground movement behind the German lines in Poland with the goal of sabotaging the Nazis and helping the Russians advance. Cohen reports that Kovner described the group's dilemma this way: "If we act cowardly, we die; if we act courageously, we die. So we might as well act courageously." The group's fighting outlasted the war to exact revenge on the Nazis held in Nuremberg and finally to fight for Israel in the 1948 War for Independence. Researching The Avengers, Cohen spent time with the surviving resistance fighters in Israel and in Eastern Europe. The result is a deeply personal and impassioned defense of a movement that some readers will view with pride and others will condemn as vigilantism. This book, like Tough Jews, is a lively, intelligent, and heartfelt work of Jewish history. --Michael Joseph Gross
Product Description
Rich Cohen, author of the acclaimed Tough Jews, again narrates a little-known episode of Jewish history, this time altering what we thought we knew about the Holocaust.
Abba Kovner, Vitka Kempner, Ruzka Korczak-comrades, lovers, friends. In the Lithuanian ghetto of Vilna, they were the heart of a breathtakingly courageous underground movement, and when the ghetto was liquidated, they fled to the forests and joined other partisans in continued sabotage and resistance. Riveting, poignant and uplifting, The Avengers is a powerful exploration of resistance and revenge, of courage and dedication, and an inside look at some of the intrepid individuals who fought against the Holocaust and the nazi occupation of Europe.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 True Stories are Still the Most Riveting June 2, 2008
The Avengers may be out of print, but it's story will live on through those who are fortunate to read it. It is the true story of a small group that was part of the Jewish underground. For any of you who are not aware of the sheer bravery, the strength, the commitment, and the endurance of this band of heroes, you are in for a riveting, well written book. Don't miss this one.
Excellent book about courage and resistance April 8, 2005
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have read many books about Jewish resistance during World War II and this one is among the best I have read. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. The book covers the life of Abba Kovner, a Jewish resistance fighter from Vilna, through World War II and its aftermath. At the end of the war, Abba planned and executed acts of revenge against the Nazis. This is described in the book as well as Abba's participation in Israel's War of Independence. The book is well written and easy to read. It gives you two different pictures of Jewish suffering during the war. One picture is that of many of the Jews in the Vilna Ghetto.....one of fear and submission to the Nazi oppression. The other picture is that of Abba and his group of partisans.....one of resistance and hatred of the Nazi oppressors.
An Amazing Testimony of Courage February 6, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Rich Cohen has written an extraordinary tale of heroism and survival during the most horrendous and brutal moment in mankind's history. The tale of these three individuals, Abba Kovner, Ruzka Korczak and Vitka Kempner, shine through as living testimonies in the dark night of the Holocaust. You will not be able to put this book down as you race through the pages of "The Avengers." It is so well written and well documented that you wish you had 20 more books just like this one. It really is amazing how these individuals actually survived this horrible time, but they did in fact prevail and triumph against overwhelming odds. Perhaps the greatest challenge that these people faced in the end was not to end up like the monsters who had persecuted them. Rich Cohen has done an amazing and tremendous thing by writing this book, sharing with the world the incredible testimony of these three courageous individuals. After you finish reading this book, you will never think about the Holocaust in the same way.
One of the most engaging and horrifying books I have read July 14, 2004
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
The Avengers follows the life of Abba Kovner and his associates, through the horror of Nazism through attempts at revenge, and to a life in Palestine. Although I have read several books on the holocaust, I must admit, I could not bought this book down. Cohen's writing style is very engaging. Cohen makes no value judgements here; it is up to the reader to decide right and wrong. Although I think most people would have a tough time accepting what the avengers tried to do after the war, I cannot possibly judge them. I also cannot imagine living the horrors (which are spelled out in graphic detail) that these Jews went through. One is struck again and again by the brutality and sadism used by these Nazi animals. Although not a comforting book, I believe this book should be read by anyone with an interest in one of the most evil periods in history.
Is it Resistance or Terrorism? November 16, 2003
14 out of 22 found this review helpful
Cohen's story is brilliant and courageous in the way it forces the Reader to acknowledge their hypocracies with regard to terrorism. Specifically, he draws the reader to sympathize and care for Abba Kovner, but also notes that Kovner and his gang try (unsuccessfully) to poison the water supply of Germans, many innocent noncombatants, even children. In other words, these Avengers are also terrorists (if you use the current definitions).By exposing the grey are of terrorism/ resistance, Cohen subtly places the reader in the uncomfortable position of acknowledging a double standard between hero, terrorist and freedom fighter. While we all have to come to our own (hopefully consistent)conclusion in that regard, it takes someone like Cohen and his hero Kovener to make us realize that it is not a "cut and dry" issue.
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