Hermann Wygoda,Mark L Wygoda, In the Shadow of the Swastika

Hermann Wygoda, Mark L. Wygoda, In the Shadow of the Swastika - A quiet, Jewish man of courage, determination and a strong sense of right and wrong wrote his "memoirs" of survival. They are a factual, almost detached account of how he made it through the war years as a German-Polish Jew gifted with languages and grit and ingenuity. Wygoda reflects on the choices he made during that time, choices that saved his life several times, describes how he melted into a group of Italian partisans to fight the Germans, only to emerge as one of their regional leaders. Somehow he seemed able to leave his bitterness towards the German war and genocidal crimes behind in the descriptions of how he successfully dealt with them, German soldiers and prisoners, during the last year of the war. This is, in the details and undertones, a very moving story of Jewish survival, resistance against evil and courage to stand up, not for oneself but for others in need of help. Highly recommended.