I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me quite some time to get through. The author definitely did a lot during WW2 and his story was fascinating. I just found that the story ran on and on without natural transitions or breaks, which made it hard for me to read. There was also some sexual content I wasn’t expecting. Overall, it was an interesting memoir.

The Art of Resistance by Justus Rosenberg was a great read. I was intrigued from the start to finish.
Five stars.

life in the Resistance

Justus Rosenberg tells the story of his time working in the resistance against the Nazi’s during WWII. Written in first person it is told as he lived and experienced it.

Much of the book covers the politics involved in that time period and the different groups and kinds of people that believed in those particular beliefs. Where he felt the most comfortable and with the groups of people with whom he felt the most uncomfortable.

He tells about the different countries and nationalities he worked with in the resistance. He recalls how his knowledge of several languages came in handy during this time in his life.

He was a young student when it all started, he grew along the way in life and in knowledge. At times it appeared that he was unsure of the future, but he forged ahead anyway. With courage and fortitude he helped in whichever way he could against the Nazi’s to avenge the wrongs they had done and to stop them from spreading and causing more harm. He very often put his life at Fisk to carry out these objectives.

It was an interesting book. There were many concepts I didn’t understand. It took me a while to read the book because I kept looking up those things I did not understand because I wanted to know what he was talking about, not just read on past. I think I know a bit more now than when I started reading the book.

It was a interesting book about this time in history, and I would recommend
It.

Thanks to Justus Rosenberg, HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review and advance copy of this book.

With The Art of Resistance, 98-year-old Justus Rosenberg has written a poignant account of his time as a young resister in France during World War II. Born in Danzig to Jewish parents, Rosenberg recounts his early memories of Nazis coming through his town, tormenting and insulting local Jewish residents and businesspeople. Upset, one day Rosenberg tells his father about what he's witnessed in town, to which his father counsels him not to be concerned because "that's what they want probably." Once his father realizes how dire the situation has become, he and his wife decide to send Justus to France for his own safety, and for one of the best possible educations he could get in Europe. In turn, they would do what they could to get to Palestine. Once Rosenberg is nestled in Paris studying literature, the Nazis launched their war on the continent. Rosenberg, like so many other young and idealistic students of the time, decides that he must "do something" to fight this and he embarks on a daring four years as a courier, a cog in the wheel of the American Emergency Rescue Committee (which ferried several prominent Jewish artists to safety), a recruiter, an intelligence officer, and then a warrior in the ragtag maquisards, so named for the scrub in which they hid. Rosenberg's story is compelling and important, especially in a tumultuous time like ours when there is hatred, intolerance and a lust for unchecked power. Then as now, as long as these things exist, there will be heroes, and Rosenberg is certainly one of them.

This book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in World War II and the French Resistance.
Justus Rosenberg at age 99 tells the story in great detail of four years as a jew in dangerous times. I
found myself reading this book every spare minute I had until the end. The Art Of Resistance is written
very well.

Thank you so much, Justus Rosenberg, the Publisher, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity
to read and review this wonderful book!

If you're going to read any World War II memoir this year make sure it's Justus Rosenberg's The Art of Resistance. Rosenberg is currently a 98 year old retired university professor and his life during the war was something else. In fact, he's a Jewish survivor of the war who has been cut off from his family and has found himself working with the French Resistance during the occupation. His memoir reads like fiction and it's very accessible, but it's not exactly an easy read knowing that he was constantly dealing with and the danger around every corner. Highly recommended for those interested in historical adventure and real life stories that deserve to be more widely known.

THE ART OF RESISTANCE

This was a terrific memoir. Written by 99 year old Justus Rosenberg, he tells the story of his youth as a Jewish survivor during WWII serving in the French Resistance. Born in the Free City of Danzig, a seaport on the Baltic, Justus is a student at the Sorbonne in France when the war breaks out. Unable to join the regular army in France because of his background, he becomes involved with the French Underground.

Working his way south in Vichy France, he joins up with the American Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseille helping surrealist intellectuals, artists, and writers in their efforts to leave Europe. Later he works as a recruiter for the Resistance in Grenoble and as a guerrilla fighter with the Maquisards. He was briefly attached with the Tank Destroyer Battalion Reconnaissance Company 636 in the American army. He also spends time as a logistics officer with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UN) working after the war with displaced persons and on denazification.

This memoir reads like an adventure story with a terrific amount of historical information provided along the way. The writing is fantastic in that his explanations of situations and events are so simply and clearly described; you get a great understanding of what it means to be part of a resistance. The learning is easy and the story of this young man’s eventful time during WWII is fascinating. Very enjoyable to read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Justus Rosenberg, and Harper Collins Publishers Inc. for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This memoir is incredible! Brilliantly and beautifully written, a story of a few years that lasts a lifetime. I literally could not put it down, and it followed me in my dreams... (I also did end up reading parts of it in the middle of the night when one of my kids woke me up).

Justus Rosenberg’s journey from Danzig to the US via France and Germany during and after just WW2 is quite simply amazing. He left Danzig to study in Paris (a great decision made by his parents at the time), and after the invasion of France in 1940 ended up in Marseille, then Grenoble, then various areas in the Drôme, before joining a US battalion and then the official refugee aid agency at the time (before it became the UNHCR). He spent time working to help refugees get out of France while being a refugee himself, escaped capture to then join the Résistance proper. I loved reading about his experiences making his way around France, living with Surrealists such as André Breton, working undercover in Grenoble (the city where I grew up), and his days as a flâneur in Paris. I really enjoyed the author’s descriptions of flânerie, descriptions that match my own personal way of discovering a new place I call home as well as old ones. I also loved how his memoir is peppered with his own personal thoughts and interpretations of events and possible future events, memories clear as day to both author and reader all these decades later.

Justus Rosenberg knows his story of survival and resistance is incredible but also knows that it was very much a mix of circumstance, luck, place, time, his observation skills, his quick thinking, his education, and also due to how he looked (young for his age and blond with blue eyes). But to me Justus didn’t just survive, he made the most of his circumstances to help others as much as he could, even when his own situation was pretty dire. He is such as inspiration and I can’t wait to read about more of his life (those FBI files sound very interesting!).

Justus Rosenberg will be 100 years old in 2021. His story is amazing, and in my opinion a must read, both in terms of how we need to remember the past, but also because his life philosophy is something that I think would bring hope to many, and maybe inspire many more to be like him. I am certainly inspired.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this amazing memoir in exchange for an honest review!

A fantastic memoir by a very brave resistance fighter during World War II. Justus Rosenberg was a resistance fighter throughout France. His excellent skill set helped him to become a valuable asset to the French resistance and the allied armies during World War II. He managed to navigate through many different obstacles and acclimate to any environment he was thrown in. His wartime experience was very interesting to read about and his impact on others throughout the war shows within the memoir. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in World War II and the French Resistance.

An amazing memoir about the incredible story of Justus Rosenberg, who against all odds made it through WWII as a Jew, part of Varian Fry’s Emergency Rescue Committee, a student at the Sorbonne, a short attachment to a US Tank division, not to mention speaking several languages fluently and being a self taught cartographer. This amazing man kept his wits about him against incredible odds. I can’t recommend this book enough. Thank you, Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this ARC.