The Brigade : An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation and World War II - Softcover

Howard-blum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067103779X ISBN 13: 9780671037796

Publisher: Pocket Books, 2002

Synopsis

THE BRIGADE brings to life a fascinating chapter of holocaust history in which three Jewish men rise above bitterness and hatred to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands. 'We came as an angel of life to the Jewish people...Soldiers are supposed to fight, kill, or be killed, and what we did as soldiers, we found dead people and helped them go back to life.' November 1944. The war in Europe is drawing to a close when the British government finally agrees to send a brigade of 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine to Europe to fight the German army. Among those soldiers are Israel Carmi, a veteran of the Haganah underground; Johanan Peltz, who dreams of returning home as an officer in the British army; and Arie Pinchuk, a former student, who has returned to Europe with his own agenda - to rescue his last remaining family member, the little sister he left behind. The Brigade charge into battle and emerge triumphant, but when the war ends and the soldiers witness firsthand the horrors their people have suffered in the concentration camps, they launch a brutal and calculating campaign of vengeance, forming secret squads to identify, locate and kill Nazi officers in hiding. Their own ferocity threatens to overwhelm them until an encounter with an orphan girl sets the men on a course of action - rescuing Jewish war orphans and transporting them to Palestine - that will not only change their lives, but also forever alter the course of history.

About this title

About the Author

As a reporter for the NEW YORK TIMES, Howard Blum was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Currently he is a contributing editor to VANITY FAIR and author of five acclaimed non fiction books, including WANTED! THE SEARCH FOR NAZIS IN AMERICA and, most recently, THE GOLD OF EXODUS.

From 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. (Nov. 2)Forecast: A BOMC and Traditions Book Club alternate, this book should get a push from Blum's journalistic cronies. Rights have been sold in Germany, Holland and the U.K., and to Miramax. Blum's The Gold of Exodus is currently in development with Castle Rock.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 067103779X
• ISBN 13: 9780671037796
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304