The Brigade
An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In November, 1944, World War II still raged, but the tide was beginning to shift. The Allies had made significant advances in Europe, and the Battle of the Bulge was about to irreparably harm the German military. At this time, the British government agreed to send a brigade of five thousand Jewish volunteers from Palestine to Europe to join the fight.
At the war’s end, the Palestinian brigade witnessed the horrors suffered by their fellow Jews, and embarked on a campaign of vengeance. But a chance encounter turned the soldiers away from violence and towards a more peaceful mission — rescuing Jewish war orphans. The Brigade is a thrilling historical adventure about how a Jewish army proved they could be victorious in both war and peace.
Howard Blum is the bestselling author of five critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America, Gangland, and The Gold of Exodus. As a reporter for the New York Times, Howard Blum was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Currently he is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Mr. Blum lives with his wife and three children in Connecticut.
“Howard Blum’s remarkably written and documented The Brigade is more than a story about memory, justice and vengeance; it is a moving evocation of events and people whose tears and dreams will continue to haunt humanity for centuries to come.” — Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and author of Night
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although the official history of the Jewish Brigade Group (a unit of some 5,000 Jews who fought with the British Eighth Army in Italy in the waning months of the conflict) has been written, Blum (Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America) breaks new ground by looking into the clandestine operations that occurred after the shooting had stopped. Once they learned the true extent of the holocaust, soldiers of the brigade began using intelligence reports to pinpoint the location of former SS officers and camp guards. The enraged Jewish troops took vengeance into their own hands, eventually slaying hundreds of Nazi death dealers. Blum follows the story of three men Israel Carmi, Johanan Peltz and Arie Pinchuk in detail, interviewed dozens of others, read unpublished personal memoirs and had Hebrew-language documents translated for him. During the war, the more daring Jewish soldiers formed a secret unit that appropriated British supplies trucks, weapons and food and diverted them to ships heading illegally for Palestine The plan included the "repatriation" of thousands of war orphans, who were clandestinely taken from displaced person camps and smuggled to Palestine. The underground Jewish Haganah figured prominently in these operations, which contributed directly to the creation of Israel. Blum, twice nominated for a Pulitzer as a New York Times investigative reporter, and now a Vanity Fair contributing editor, presents the material masterfully, building suspense and carefully documenting all the action. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW.
