A
Match Made in Hell
The Jewish Boy and the
Polish Outlaw Who Defied the Nazis
Larry Stillman
From the testimony of Morris Goldner
"From the first line, this Holocaust memoir grips you with
its searing action. . . . A riveting first-person narrative.
. . . Discussion groups will want this one."—Booklist
A Match Made in Hell is the award-winning memoir of shy Jewish teenager
Moniek (Morris) Goldner joining forces with hardened Polish criminal
Jan Kopec to survive in Nazi-occupied Poland. First trained as
Kopek's accomplice in robberies and black market activities,
the orphaned Goldner eventually becomes an accomplished saboteur
of the Nazi war effort for local partisan groups. Through it
all, Goldner and Kopec forge a remarkable friendship and co-dependency
born of need and desperation in a hellish time and place.
 Larry Stillman (left) is a writer living in Lake Forest, Illinois. Morris Goldner (right) now lives in Chicago and is retired
from the garment trade.
Description from the cloth edition:
When Moniek (Morris) Goldner and
his family were uprooted from their Polish farming village during
a German aktion, the child-sized sixteen-year-old fled
into the forests. He eventually met up with his father, who had
also escaped, and together they managed to survive until a former
friend betrayed the pair. Wounded and left for dead beneath his
father's murdered body, Goldner was rescued by the enigmatic
outlaw Jan Kopec, who was also in hiding, looking for ways to
profit from his criminal expertise.
For eighteen months Kopec hid the boy with him, moving from one
area to another, often staying in hideouts he had fashioned years
earlier. At first Kopec trained Goldner simply to serve as his
accomplice in robberies and black market activities. But before
long he pushed the training to a whole new level, making it possible
for him to sell Goldner's services to a shadowy resistance group
which was becoming interested in the daring young saboteur.
And through it all, these two disparate personalities—the
quiet, small-framed boy and the stocky, callous mercenary —forged
an remarkable friendship and codependency born of need and desperation
in a hellish time and place.
For information about other UW Press books
of related interest, see our page at Jewish
studies/Judaica titles
There is a press kit for this title. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)
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August 2005
LC: 2003005677 DS
258 pp. 6 x 9 map
The cloth edition ISBN 978-0-299-19390-4 is out of print.
"One of the most thrilling reads I've come upon in years.
It's simply written, even when dealing with such complex issues
as the political underground in wartime Poland, and such difficult
subjects as the ethics of war. . . . Adults and teenagers alike
will go for it. It's a winner."
—Felice Picano, author
of The Lure and Onyx
"A Match Made in Hell is a
bold, honest account of an ordinary young man thrust into extraordinary
circumstances."
—Tzivia Gover, author of Mindful
Moments for Stressful Days |
