The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939-1945

Joshua D. Zimmerman is an Associate Professor of History and the Eli and Diana Zborowski Professorial Chair in Holocaust Studies and East European Jewish History at Yeshiva University in New York. He is the author of Poles, Jews and the Politics of Nationality: The Bund and the Polish Socialist Party in Late Tsarist Russia (2003) and the editor of two contributed volumes: Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and its Aftermath (2003) and Jews in Italy under Fascist and Nazi Rule, 1922–1945 (Cambridge, 2005).

• Introduction; Part I. The Polish Underground and the Jews under the German-Soviet Partition, 1939–41: 1. Polish politics and the 'Jewish question', 1936–9; 2. Formation of the Polish resistance movement, September 1939–June 1941; 3. The Polish Underground and the Jews, October 1939–June 1941; 4. From ghettoization to mass murder, June–December 1941: the Polish Underground and the prelude to the Nazi Final Solution; 5. The Polish Underground's initial response to the Nazi Final Solution, December 1941–July 1942; Part II. The Polish Underground and the Jews under Nazi Rule, 1941–5: 6. The Great Deportations from the Warsaw ghetto and their aftermath, July–December 1942; 7. Transformation of the Polish Underground policies towards the Jews, November 1942–April 1943; 8. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Polish Underground, April 19–May 15, 1943; 9. In the aftermath of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, May–November 1943; 10. When the Home Army turned its guns on the Jews; 11. When the Polish Underground helped the Jews: institutional aid; 12. When the Polish Underground helped the Jews: individual aid; 13. The Polish Underground and the Jews, Fall 1943–July 1944; 14. The Polish Underground and the Jews from the Warsaw Uprising to the dissolution of the Home Army, August 1944–January 1945; Conclusion.

'This is a superb history of one of the oddest episodes of World War II. Zimmerman has emerged as one of the best experts on the history of the controversial Polish-Jewish relations. His matter-of-fact style further dramatizes the Polish-Jewish affairs during World War II when the Polish underground army heroically fought against the Nazis, sometimes killing and sometimes helping the Jews who also participated in the anti-Nazi struggle. A shocking drama and a wonderfully researched, documented and written book - a real page-turner.' Ivan T. Berend, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles