This is a story about the Holocaust that was new to me and I think unknown by many. Men and women that risked their lives to save Jewish historical and religious documents and books from the looting and destruction led by the Nazis. This book had to grow on me, because there are portions of the stories that are repeated and every time it happened I was taken out of the story. But I was captured as soon as I read...

Why did these men and women risk their lives for the sake of books and papers? Basically, they were making an existential statement and performing an act of faith. The existential statement was that literature and culture were ultimate values, which were greater than the life of any individual or group.

I connected to this incredibly tragic statement and I was all in for this incredible Holocaust story. The men and women that fought back in ways that spoke to their heart through hate and torture that I cannot fathom.

My heart broke more than once while reading what members of the paper brigade lived through. But my breath was taken away reading a letter Abraham Sutzkever wrote to Rachela Krinsky about living after their liberation.

"Rachela. I can feel (I used to think that I couldn't feel anything) how your heart is contorted with pain. But I don't believe that life deserves to be taken so seriously.... We must accept reality as it is. We must learn to discover the chemical formula for transforming sorrow into joy. Otherwise, it is impossible to live.... I reject resignation."

This story made an impact on my mind and heart. I'm grateful to the friend that gifted me the book and I want to thank all of the people that fought back any way they could during the Holocaust to allow for a future of Judiasm and Jewish culture and ideas.