Fighter in the Woods: The True Story of a Jewish Girl who Joined the Partisans in World War II

Gr 3-7–A gripping and graphic biography of a young Holocaust survivor based on interviews with the subject. This is the true story of Celia Cimmer, a young Jewish teen living in Poland at the start of World War II, who showed incredible bravery and determination in the face of unimaginable brutality and loss. Cimmer was away at school when the war started, and after bombs fell on her school she made her way home only to find that former friends and neighbors have turned against her, the family home has been taken over by the Nazis, and the area has been turned into a Jewish ghetto. Cimmer and her siblings had to choose either to work for the Nazis or join the resistance. Most of Cimmer’s family were murdered trying to escape from the ghetto, but Cimmer and her sister survived and made their way to join their two older brothers in the Partisan resistance fighters in the woods. After the war, Cimmer married and emigrated to the U.S., where she eventually agreed to tell her story. A series of nine explanatory text blocks on subjects including antisemitism, the Holocaust, various types of camps, and resistance appear throughout the book, providing critical historical background without disrupting the narrative. Back matter includes an extensive author’s note, historical photographs, and previews of other Focus books on the same topic.