This book, somewhat reminiscent of Harmel's "The Forest of Vanishing Stars" a fictional account of the Polish people's migration to the forest, gives an account of the movement of some of the Polish people into the woodlands during the German occupation of Poland and the European struggle against oppression. It was a move made for survival and proved a hardship and struggle for a long two years. For those who are interested in the history of the era and want to find out more about the many struggles of the Polish people, this is a good book. Thanks to #IntotheForest#NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I received an ebook copy of Into the Forest by Rebecca Frankel in exchange for a honest review.I loved this book.After reading many historical fiction accounts of the Holocaust , it was refreshing to read a non fiction account of a remarkable and brave family ,the Rabinowitzes, and their overwhelming quest for survival during a terrible time in history.This book tells the story Miriam and Morris and their daughters Ruth and Tobi as they struggle to survive the elements they encounter during their 2 years living in the forest.Not only do they survive but so does many of their group that lived with them.It also tells the story of how Miriam saves a little boy during a selection who will later in America become her son in law..After they are liberated by the Russians in 1944 the story tells about the Rabinowitzs’ struggle to get to Palestine and ultimately America.This is a fast moving and engrossing story about people who are desperate to survive .Highly recommend.

This was an amazing story that reads like a suspenseful dystopian novel except you know the horrors, massacres and struggles were all real. Before the war life for the Rabinowitz in the town of Zhetel in Poland was relatively italic where the Jewish population escaped the most outrageous discrimination most Jews experienced through out pre-war Europe. The invasion of Poland quickly ended this peace. Fortunately for the family, Zhetel fell into the section of Poland captured by the Soviet Union. Jews weren’t treated well by the Soviet army, but they didn’t generally brutalize and murder them. Operation Barbarossa and the fall of the rest of Poland to Nazi Germany’s hands turned all the lives of the Polish Jews into a living nightmare. Once the SS reached Zhetel, the Jews were eventually forced into a Ghetto and the Nazis began a series of Massacres. Into the Forest highlights how narrow escape the Rabinowitz family and a few other who escaped the Nazis and their collaborators brutal extermination and the struggles they faced during this dark period of history. A few Jews escaped into Lipiczansky forest, some joined with Soviet agents into a resistance force, creating havoc with the German supply lines while others simply fought the cold, starvation, sickness, and constant Nazi attacks to survive. The will to live and survive against such odds is truly astounding.

I will be writing a full review for this book for Hippocampus Magazine (https://hippocampusmagazine.com) for October 2021's issue.

Into the Forest is a nonfiction book about the Rabinowitz family living in Zhetel, in what is now Belarus. It's an astonishing tale of hardship, survival.and, in the end, love.

A chance meeting at a weeding puts a young man on a path to find the woman who saved him from being shipped off to a camp and killed.

There is a brief introduction in the first few chapters about the family - how they landed in Zhetel, what their businesses were, what their houses looked like, and so on. Normally, this would be well less than interesting, an infodump that the author did not weave into the narrative, but it works here, as the immersion into that time and that place are both necessary and fascinating.

The woods of the title refers to the large forested area in the vicinity. As WWII begins, and Nazi troops begin pouring through the country, first depriving Jews of their rights and then of their lives, the Rabinowitz family escapes the ghetto and hides in the forest for an amazing two years. They dig dugout shelters and disguise them to hide from Nazi (and their collaborators) due to raids. There is never enough food during the years, and never enough heat in the harsh winters. Disease runs rampant, and the family is forced to relocate their shelter when the smallish community of those hiding in the woods is found by the Nazis.

Throughout it all, the family stays together, occasionally making contact with friendly farmers in the area - people the Rabinowitz family knew to be sympathetic to their plight even before the Jews were rounded up in the area.

Eventually, WWI ends, and the family, along with other survivors, heads over another dangerous pass, this time to sneak into Italy as a step of making their way to what is now Israel. They ultimately give up on that idea and head to America instead.

It's a fantastic story, well told, and I loved it. Highly recommended.

Five out of five stars.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.

This was a really good, detailed book. I really enjoyed it and would like to read more by the author. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Oh my, what an absolutely awesome read. This is by far one of the best WWII books I have come upon. I came to feel as if I knew Morris and Miriam as my friends. This is my first Rebecca Frankel novel; I will be looking for more. The writing was excellent, the research was stellar.
This book covers how it was, to live in the forest and so many times I backtracked just to hear the telling again. Miriam and Morris’s love for each other, their dedication to their family and their kindness and determination to make a life after, was inspiring. Based upon true events – wonderful book…..
Wonderful read. The highest 5 stars!!!
I want to thank St. Martin’s Press along with NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC.

This is yet another good book from WWII, written by Rebecca Hankel. It focuses on the Rabinowitz family and their experiences after escaping to the forest to avoid capture by the Nazis. I enjoy reading about different aspects of this time period to further my knowledge of history. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Rebecca Frankel, and the publisher.

"Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love" by Rebecca Frankel
Release Date: 9.7.2021

The Rabinowitz family eacape from the Nazi ghetto by disappearing into the Bialowieza Forest in 1942. For two years, the family hid, living through the harsh winters, disease and sickness, hunger, and Nazi raids.

The Red Army liberated the family in 1944; the family travels across Europe to Italy, until they immigrate to the United States.

Wow! Based on real life, readers experience the harsh reality and losses Jewish families like the Rabinowitz's endured during Nazi occupation and World War II. It is difficult to even imagine what needed to be done to survive.

Thank you, @NetGalley, for the opportunity to read for my honest review.

#netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #2021bookreleases #worldwarii #worldwariibooks

A story of survival of the Rabinowitz family during the Holocaust. It is honest, emotional, and raw and people need to realize stories like these still matter for historical accuracy. Because I was so emotional and taken by the honesty, I was able to read it in a few sittings even though some of cruelty was graphic.

Recommended for people that like untold stories in world history. Well written and researched.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rebecca Frankel and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 9/7/21

Into the Forest is one family's story of survival during the Holocaust, and is an intimate look at the Holocaust along the Eastern front. The Rabinowitz family- father Morris, mother Miriam, and two little girls, lived in Zhetel with their extended family. Now located in Belarus, the town was occupied by the Soviets during the first years of the war. When the Nazis marched into town in 1941, the Jews of Zhetel and the nearby villages were placed in a ghetto. Unlike the Holocaust of Western Europe and parts of Poland occupied by the Nazis prior to 1941, there were no deportations from Zhetel to camps. Instead, the Nazis would periodically hold selections and take everyone they deemed unnecessary to a mass grave to shoot them. Knowing that escape was their only option to live, the family flees into the forest of Belarus.

It sounds terrible to say that I enjoyed reading a book about such horrible events, so perhaps enjoyed isn't the right word. This book was compelling. We don't often hear Holocaust survival stories from this part of the world, much less those that focus on a family unit rather than an individual. The family story is interwoven with the story of the community and it's surrounding area- how the Judenrat tried to resist the Nazis, how the partisans in the woods lived and interacted with each other and their various ideologies. This is a definite must-read for anyone interested in Holocaust history.

I had just finished a soon to be published fascinating fictional book of people hiding in the woods to escape the nazis, so when I saw this new NF account I had to request it. Besides reading about resistance fighters hiding for a while in the woods, this is the first time Ive read or heard about this little known chapter in WW2. To stay hidden in the woods for over two years trying to survive through the cold weather, lack of food and continuous nazi raids is an incredible feat, and one we should hear more about. This story is incredible, the writing great, the subject matter riveting. I highly recommend Into the Forest.