Nitzotz: The Spark of Resistance in Kovno Ghetto & Dachau-Kaufering Concentration Camp

Under the brutal conditions of the Dachau-Kaufering concentration camp, a handful of young Jews resolved to resist their Nazi oppressors. Their weapons were their words. During the Soviet occupation of Kovno and, after the German invasion, within the Kovno ghetto, the members of Irgun Brith Zion circulated an underground journal, Nitzotz (Spark). In its pages, they debated Zionist politics and laid plans for postwar settlement in Palestine. When the Kovno ghetto was liquidated, several contributors to Nitzotz were deported to the Kaufering satellite camps of Dachau. Against all odds, they did not lay down their pens.

Nitzotz is the only Hebrew-language publication known to have appeared consistently throughout the Nazi occupation anywhere in Europe. Its authors believed that their intellectual defiance would insulate them against the dehumanizing cruelty of the concentration camp and equip them to lead the postwar effort for the physical and spiritual regeneration of European Jewry. Laura Weinrib presents this remarkable document to English readers for the first time. Along with a translation of the five remaining Dachau-Kaufering issues, the
book includes an extensive critical introduction. Nitzotz is a testament to the resilience of those struggling for survival.

Author: Laura M. Weinrib
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 11/30/2009
Pages: 201
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.99lbs
Size: 9.34h x 6.60w x 0.75d
ISBN: 9780815632337

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 01/22/2010 pg. 17
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2010 pg. 54

About the Author
Laura M. Weinrib is a Samuel I. Golieb Fellow in legal history at New York University School of Law. Her grandfather Shlomo Frenkel Shafir was the editor of Nitzotz during the Dachau-Kaufering years and after liberation.