The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis

The Book Smugglers is the nearly unbelievable story of ghetto residents who rescued thousands of rare books and manuscripts-first from the Nazis and then from the Soviets-by hiding them on their bodies, burying them in bunkers, and smuggling them across borders. It is a tale of heroism and resistance, of friendship and romance, and of unwavering devotion-including the readiness to risk one's life-to literature and art.



And it is entirely true. Based on Jewish, German, and Soviet documents, i...