The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos
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Book Talk
Admission: Free
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Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland—some still in their teens—helped transform the Jewish youth groups into resistance cells to fight the Nazis. These “ghetto girls” paid off Gestapo guards, hid revolvers in loaves of bread and jars of marmalade, and helped build systems of underground bunkers. They bombed German train lines and blew up a town’s water supply. They also nursed the sick and taught children.
Judy Batalion's new book, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos—already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture—brings these largely unknown stories to light. Join us for a conversation with Batalion about this new book led by Andrew Silow-Carroll (New York Jewish Week).
We are pleased to offer a limited number of autographed copies of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Judy Batalion. The first 75 donations of $40 or greater will be sent a copy the week of April 19. Donate for your copy here.
About the Speakers
Judy Batalion was born and raised in Montreal, where she grew up speaking English, French, Yiddish and Hebrew. She studied the history of science at Harvard then moved to London to pursue a PhD in art history. Batalion has written essays and articles for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vogue, the Forward, Salon, the Jerusalem Post and many other publications. Her stories about family relationships, the generational transmission of trauma, pathological hoarding and militant minimalism came together in her book White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess in Between (NAL/Penguin, 2016). White Walls was optioned by Warner Brothers for whom Batalion is currently developing the TV series “Cluttered.”
Andrew Silow-Carroll is New York Jewish Week's editor in chief and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Previously he served as editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, editor in chief and CEO of the New Jersey Jewish News, and wrote an award-winning weekly column in the Times of Israel. He was also the managing editor of the Forward newspaper, editor of the Washington Jewish Week, senior editor of Moment magazine, and a reporter for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.