A Surplus of Memory

This absorbing, important memoir by a leader of the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto uprising is a great human drama that reaffirms the moral dignity and courage of ordinary people in the most extreme circumstances. Zuckerman (1915-1981), known by his underground pseudonym Antek, was a founder and commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization, which waged guerrilla warfare against the Nazis in April and May 1943. After the doomed uprising, he helped countless Jews who hid in ``Aryanized'' Warsaw. He and his wife, Zivia Lubetkin, a fellow resistance fighter, assisted the exodus of Jews to Palestine, where they themselves later emigrated. First published in Israel in 1991 and issued in this fluent translation to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising, Zuckerman's autobiographical narrative extends from the German invasion of Poland in 1939 to Polish pogroms against Jews in 1946. The book sheds invaluable light on Jewish resistance to the Nazis and on Jewish-Polish relations. Photos. (Apr.)