Unwilling Survivor
A Jewish Officer's True Account of the WWII Eastern Front
By Michael Kopiec
July 2011
Urim / Devora Publications
Distributed by Coronet Books
ISBN: 9781934440612
336 pages, Illustrated
$21.95 Paper original
In October 1941, Misha was a Soviet Intelligence Officer leading a special squad on a dangerous mission behind Nazi lines. Probing Nazi supply routes around the recently fallen city of Kiev, he witnesses the immediate aftermath of the mass murder of Jews at Babi Yar, and becomes convinced the Nazis intend to destroy all of European Jewry. Because, like the victims of Babi Yar, Misha is also Jewish, he realizes he must return home to save his family members who are trapped in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Setting out from the wintry depths of the Ukraine, Misha disregards the danger of traveling over one thousand kilometers through Nazi-held territory because his entire being is focused on a single mission: reaching his family in time.
The Unwilling Survivor is about the incredible commitment to family of a man who, despite coming of age in a world blackened by unimaginable cruelty, refuses to abandon the morality and code of ethics with which he was raised.
Beyond being a fantastic, untold and true story, at its core The Unwilling Survivor is about the indomitable strength of the human spirit.
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