After the smoke cleared Book

I've read several books recently that followed experiences of people during WWII. And dealt with how people could mistreat the Jews the way they did. This book deals with the story of how a notorious outlaw saved the life of a young Jewish boy and then trained him to become his shadow and operative in mercenary and resistance operations. It is well written and I feel like the book itself could have been a story I sat in front of the author and listened to him tell me.

It does contain two descriptions, one witnessed by the author, and one anecdote from a concentration camp talking about how Jewish babies were killed. Tears filled my eyes reading about these two instances. How can monstrosities perpetrated on helpless children be acceptable to so many people. Isolated instances, while none the less terrible, are easier to comprehend in that one or two people can be easily viewed as outsiders and crazy. But these actions were done with the full knowledge and support of hundreds and cooperation of thousands. The author asks where was God while this was happening and struggled with that question. It is times like these that the answer is difficult to understand.

The book did remind me of the movie Defiance, about Polish Jews that hid in the woods from the Nazis and managed to escape capture and death that way. This book talks about interactions with people that lived that story.

Well written and worth the read if the subject matter sounds interesting.