The Light of Days

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'Original and compelling, an untold story of rare and captivating power' Philippe Sands

'A fascinating history about a little-known group who took on the Nazis . . . The individual tales of these courageous young women are remarkable' Independent

'Rescues a long-neglected aspect of history from oblivion, and puts paid to the idea of Jewish, and especially female, passivity during the Holocaust. It is uncompromising, written with passion - and it preserves truly significant knowledge. ... Judy Batalion has uncovered a trove of unknown or forgotten information about the Holocaust of genuine import and impact.' Eva Hoffman, TLS

One of the most important untold stories of World War II, The Light of Days is a soaring landmark history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who inspired Poland's Jewish youth groups to resist the Nazis.

Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland - some still in their teens - became the heart of a wide-ranging resistance network that fought the Nazis.

With courage, guile and nerves of steel, these 'ghetto girls' smuggled guns in loaves of bread and coded intelligence messages in their plaited hair. They helped build life-saving systems of underground bunkers and sustained thousands of Jews in safe hiding places. They bribed Gestapo guards with liquor, assassinated Nazis and sabotaged German supply lines.

The Light of Days at last reveals the real history of these incredible women whose courageous yet little-known feats have been eclipsed by time.

“Original and compelling, an untold story of rare and captivating power”

- Philippe Sands

JUDY BATALION is the author of White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood and the Mess in Between. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Forward, Vogue and many other publications. Judy has a BA in the history of science from Harvard, and a PhD in the history of art from the Courtauld Institute, University of London, and has worked as a museum curator and university lecturer. Born in Montreal, where she grew up speaking English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish, she now lives in New York with her husband and three children.

Judy Batalion, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, discovered an extraordinary story of women who fought the Nazis. The "ghetto girls" paid off Gestapo guards, hid revolvers in loaves of bread and jars of marmalade, helped build systems of underground bunkers. They flirted with Nazis, bought them off with wine, whiskey and home cooking, and shot and killed them. They helped the sick and taught the kids, they bombed German train lines and blew up Vilna's water supply. There has been no book in the English language that brings together the incredible and integral stories of Jewish female resistance fighters. A propulsive narrative history, THE LIGHT OF DAYS will at last tell the true story of these incredible women. It follows a group of intimately bound resistance fighters in the harrowing year of 1943 as they prepare for insurgence and find themselves in ever graver danger. At its center is Renieh Kukelkohn, a smuggler and messenger from a small city in Poland who scurried by foot and by train across her war torn country at constant risk of death in service of defeating Hitler. The result is an unforgettable story about feminism, female friendship and revolt.

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