R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

Holocaust Fighters

Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers

Jeffrey Sussman

A remarkable portrait of the heroic people who faced the threat of extermination by the Nazis and resisted by any means possible—whether through boxing, exposing the reality of death camps, armed guerrilla attacks, or deadly acts of vengeance.

In Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers, Jeffrey Sussman shares the riveting stories of those who fought back against the Nazis. The lives of five boxers who were forced to fight for their lives while imprisoned in concentration camps are explored in depth, followed by the stories of those who managed to escape captivity and reveal the truth about the death camps. Sussman also depicts in fascinating detail the acts of the Avengers, a military unit that hunted down and killed Nazi war criminals. The final portraits are of the prosecutors who brought the Nazi leaders to justice, those same leaders who watched Jewish and Gypsy boxers beat each other for their own personal entertainment.

Holocaust Fighters is an incredible account of the many ways people resisted Nazi rule, providing moving portrayals of the resilience of the human spirit even in the face of incredible horrors.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Features
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 216 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-1-5381-3982-0 • Hardback • October 2021 • $40.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-5381-3983-7 • eBook • October 2021 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
Subjects: History / Holocaust, Sports & Recreation / Boxing, Sports & Recreation / History

Jeffrey Sussman is the author of 15 nonfiction books. His most recent titles include Max Baer and Barney Ross: Jewish Heroes of Boxing; Rocky Graziano: Fists, Fame, and Fortune; Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science; and Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York, all published by Rowman & Littlefield. Sussman is president of Jeffrey Sussman Inc., a marketing and PR firm.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Hitler and Boxing

Chapter 2: Men of Unsurpassed Evil

Chapter 3: The Biggest Little Champ: Victor Perez

Chapter 4: The Miracle of Life in a Pair of Fists

Chapter 5: 200 to 1

Chapter 6: Sinto Into the Ring

Chapter 7: Harry Haft: Contender

Chapter 8: Run for Your Life

Chapter 9: Vengeance is Mine

Chapter 10: The Nuremberg Trials

Chapter 11: German Boxing: Before, During, and After the War

Chapter 12: Anti-Semitism in Germany and America

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Sussman delivers a gut-wrenching, one-two punch in this revealing account of Jewish boxers who were forced to fight in life-and-death bouts for the sick and twisted pleasure of their Nazi captors. A heavyweight of a book.


— Allan Zullo, author of We Fought Back: Teen Resisters of the Holocaust and Escape: Children of the Holocaust


This powerful book reminds me of why I am haunted by the Holocaust. It is a fine and thorough narrative that gives true meaning to fighting for survival in the face of the horror and cruelty of the Nazi's genocide against the Jews.


— Steven A. Ludsin, member of the President's Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council that created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC


Holocaust Fighters is a powerful, moving, emotional, hard-hitting look at one of the darkest eras in history. It will brand its imprint in your mind and make you want to shout, 'NEVER AGAIN!'


— Randy Gordon, host of Sirius XM’s “Friday Night Fights”, former New York State Athletic Commissioner and editor in chief of Ring Magazine


A fresh perspective into the Nazi thirst for power and the fighters who battled for victory. Readers will be swept up by Sussman’s provocative insights.


— Thorin R. Tritter, museum and programming director, The Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, Long Island


So who were those gladiators whose fists won them the right to go on living?” asks Jeffrey Sussman in the opening pages of this masterful work. It’s a poignant question, and he does an excellent job answering it. Sussman doesn’t merely offer brief thumbnail sketches of these remarkable men--he fleshes them out. We feel their pain, their sense of anguish, and come to understand their heroism. In an evil-infested Nazi Empire bent on the systematic destruction of the Jewish People, the reader is introduced to tough, clever, and magnificent men who refused to be beaten.


— Peter Wood, author of The Boy Who Hit Back, Confessions of a Fighter, and A Clenched Fist; middleweight alternate in the 1976 Maccabiah Games


Jeffrey Sussman's Holocaust Fighters comes at an important time. Knowledge of the Holocaust is fading as the years pass. This book is for those who need to improve their knowledge of the Holocaust. Jewish boxing fans will appreciate it as an introduction to Holocaust boxers.


— The Jewish Boxing Blog


10/16/21, WLIW (Long Island, NY): Jeffrey discussed the book with host Gianna Volpe.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQ0mPDrLEY



11/1/21, Princeton Club: Jeffrey gave a virtual talk about the book.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fe4ozgf_cM



11/6/21, East Hampton Library: Jeffrey Sussman discussed the book in this Author Talk.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj0FYVlvEYY



11/14/21, The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center: Jeffrey helped mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht by discussing the stories of resistance featured in the book.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt9QjlDs7F4



12/13/21, Gangland Wire: Jeffrey Sussman was interviewed about the book.

Link: https://ganglandwire.com/jeffrey-sussman-and-holocaust-fighters/



2/16/22, Amagansett Library: Jeffrey Sussman gave a talk about the book.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1qlFsfNv0M&t=329s



4/28/22, East Hampton Star: Jeffrey Sussman wrote a guest post about victims of the Holocaust and his book.

Link: https://www.easthamptonstar.com/index.php/guestwords-opinion/2022428/guestwords-nazi-avengers



Holocaust Fighters

Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • A remarkable portrait of the heroic people who faced the threat of extermination by the Nazis and resisted by any means possible—whether through boxing, exposing the reality of death camps, armed guerrilla attacks, or deadly acts of vengeance.

    In Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers, Jeffrey Sussman shares the riveting stories of those who fought back against the Nazis. The lives of five boxers who were forced to fight for their lives while imprisoned in concentration camps are explored in depth, followed by the stories of those who managed to escape captivity and reveal the truth about the death camps. Sussman also depicts in fascinating detail the acts of the Avengers, a military unit that hunted down and killed Nazi war criminals. The final portraits are of the prosecutors who brought the Nazi leaders to justice, those same leaders who watched Jewish and Gypsy boxers beat each other for their own personal entertainment.

    Holocaust Fighters is an incredible account of the many ways people resisted Nazi rule, providing moving portrayals of the resilience of the human spirit even in the face of incredible horrors.

Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
    Pages: 216 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
    978-1-5381-3982-0 • Hardback • October 2021 • $40.00 • (£30.00)
    978-1-5381-3983-7 • eBook • October 2021 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
    Subjects: History / Holocaust, Sports & Recreation / Boxing, Sports & Recreation / History
Author
Author
  • Jeffrey Sussman is the author of 15 nonfiction books. His most recent titles include Max Baer and Barney Ross: Jewish Heroes of Boxing; Rocky Graziano: Fists, Fame, and Fortune; Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science; and Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York, all published by Rowman & Littlefield. Sussman is president of Jeffrey Sussman Inc., a marketing and PR firm.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: Hitler and Boxing

    Chapter 2: Men of Unsurpassed Evil

    Chapter 3: The Biggest Little Champ: Victor Perez

    Chapter 4: The Miracle of Life in a Pair of Fists

    Chapter 5: 200 to 1

    Chapter 6: Sinto Into the Ring

    Chapter 7: Harry Haft: Contender

    Chapter 8: Run for Your Life

    Chapter 9: Vengeance is Mine

    Chapter 10: The Nuremberg Trials

    Chapter 11: German Boxing: Before, During, and After the War

    Chapter 12: Anti-Semitism in Germany and America

    Notes

    Bibliography

    Index

    About the Author

Reviews
Reviews
  • Sussman delivers a gut-wrenching, one-two punch in this revealing account of Jewish boxers who were forced to fight in life-and-death bouts for the sick and twisted pleasure of their Nazi captors. A heavyweight of a book.


    — Allan Zullo, author of We Fought Back: Teen Resisters of the Holocaust and Escape: Children of the Holocaust


    This powerful book reminds me of why I am haunted by the Holocaust. It is a fine and thorough narrative that gives true meaning to fighting for survival in the face of the horror and cruelty of the Nazi's genocide against the Jews.


    — Steven A. Ludsin, member of the President's Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council that created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC


    Holocaust Fighters is a powerful, moving, emotional, hard-hitting look at one of the darkest eras in history. It will brand its imprint in your mind and make you want to shout, 'NEVER AGAIN!'


    — Randy Gordon, host of Sirius XM’s “Friday Night Fights”, former New York State Athletic Commissioner and editor in chief of Ring Magazine


    A fresh perspective into the Nazi thirst for power and the fighters who battled for victory. Readers will be swept up by Sussman’s provocative insights.


    — Thorin R. Tritter, museum and programming director, The Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, Long Island


    So who were those gladiators whose fists won them the right to go on living?” asks Jeffrey Sussman in the opening pages of this masterful work. It’s a poignant question, and he does an excellent job answering it. Sussman doesn’t merely offer brief thumbnail sketches of these remarkable men--he fleshes them out. We feel their pain, their sense of anguish, and come to understand their heroism. In an evil-infested Nazi Empire bent on the systematic destruction of the Jewish People, the reader is introduced to tough, clever, and magnificent men who refused to be beaten.


    — Peter Wood, author of The Boy Who Hit Back, Confessions of a Fighter, and A Clenched Fist; middleweight alternate in the 1976 Maccabiah Games


    Jeffrey Sussman's Holocaust Fighters comes at an important time. Knowledge of the Holocaust is fading as the years pass. This book is for those who need to improve their knowledge of the Holocaust. Jewish boxing fans will appreciate it as an introduction to Holocaust boxers.


    — The Jewish Boxing Blog


Features
Features
  • 10/16/21, WLIW (Long Island, NY): Jeffrey discussed the book with host Gianna Volpe.

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQ0mPDrLEY



    11/1/21, Princeton Club: Jeffrey gave a virtual talk about the book.

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fe4ozgf_cM



    11/6/21, East Hampton Library: Jeffrey Sussman discussed the book in this Author Talk.

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj0FYVlvEYY



    11/14/21, The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center: Jeffrey helped mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht by discussing the stories of resistance featured in the book.

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt9QjlDs7F4



    12/13/21, Gangland Wire: Jeffrey Sussman was interviewed about the book.

    Link: https://ganglandwire.com/jeffrey-sussman-and-holocaust-fighters/



    2/16/22, Amagansett Library: Jeffrey Sussman gave a talk about the book.

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1qlFsfNv0M&t=329s



    4/28/22, East Hampton Star: Jeffrey Sussman wrote a guest post about victims of the Holocaust and his book.

    Link: https://www.easthamptonstar.com/index.php/guestwords-opinion/2022428/guestwords-nazi-avengers



ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Fourth Edition
  • Cover image for the book War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz
  • Cover image for the book The Holocaust: A Concise History
  • Cover image for the book Nazis after Hitler: How Perpetrators of the Holocaust Cheated Justice and Truth
  • Cover image for the book Journal 1935–1944: The Fascist Years
  • Cover image for the book Forgotten Crimes: The Holocaust and People with Disabilities
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution, 1933–1946: A Source Reader
  • Cover image for the book Soccer under the Swastika: Defiance and Survival in the Nazi Camps and Ghettos, Revised Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Political Diary of Alfred Rosenberg and the Onset of the Holocaust
  • Cover image for the book German Jews and Migration to the United States, 1933–1945
  • Cover image for the book The Holocaust in Hungary: Evolution of a Genocide
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book War, Pacification, and Mass Murder, 1939: The Einsatzgruppen in Poland
  • Cover image for the book The Pendulum: A Granddaughter's Search for Her Family's Forbidden Nazi Past
  • Cover image for the book
  • Cover image for the book How Did It Happen?: Understanding the Holocaust
  • Cover image for the book Holocaust Memories: A Survey of Holocaust Memoirs, Histories, Novels, and Films
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1942–1943, Volume 4
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1933–1938, Volume 1
  • Cover image for the book Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1941–1942, Volume 3
  • Cover image for the book The Diary of Samuel Golfard and the Holocaust in Galicia
  • Cover image for the book Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future
  • Cover image for the book War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Fourth Edition
  • Cover image for the book War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz
  • Cover image for the book The Holocaust: A Concise History
  • Cover image for the book Nazis after Hitler: How Perpetrators of the Holocaust Cheated Justice and Truth
  • Cover image for the book Journal 1935–1944: The Fascist Years
  • Cover image for the book Forgotten Crimes: The Holocaust and People with Disabilities
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution, 1933–1946: A Source Reader
  • Cover image for the book Soccer under the Swastika: Defiance and Survival in the Nazi Camps and Ghettos, Revised Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Political Diary of Alfred Rosenberg and the Onset of the Holocaust
  • Cover image for the book German Jews and Migration to the United States, 1933–1945
  • Cover image for the book The Holocaust in Hungary: Evolution of a Genocide
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book War, Pacification, and Mass Murder, 1939: The Einsatzgruppen in Poland
  • Cover image for the book The Pendulum: A Granddaughter's Search for Her Family's Forbidden Nazi Past
  • Cover image for the book
  • Cover image for the book How Did It Happen?: Understanding the Holocaust
  • Cover image for the book Holocaust Memories: A Survey of Holocaust Memoirs, Histories, Novels, and Films
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1942–1943, Volume 4
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1933–1938, Volume 1
  • Cover image for the book Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema
  • Cover image for the book Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1941–1942, Volume 3
  • Cover image for the book The Diary of Samuel Golfard and the Holocaust in Galicia
  • Cover image for the book Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...