Jews in the Garden: A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II

1944: Heavy footfalls thud on the road on a rainy May night. A band of gunmen scour a hilltop farm, acting on rumors that it harbors a Jewish family. For 18 months, the Rozeneks have been hiding safely, but their luck is about to run out. Only one from the family of six will live to see the sunrise. Sixteen—year—old Hena Rozenek shelters in the woods until morning… and then she runs.

Forty years later: When Holocaust survivor Sam Rakowski and his cousin Judy, an investigative journalist, return to rural Poland decades after World War II, they are determined to uncover the fate of their relatives and expose truths the world would rather keep hidden.

This book takes you on a globe—spanning journey through archives, secret interviews, and memory—laden landscapes. The story Poland presents to the world is that Poles saved more Jews than citizens of any other nation; that any murders in Poland were committed by Nazis and Nazis alone. As Sam and Judy peel back layers of denial and erased history, they reveal the unsettling reality that not all killers wore Nazi uniforms.

"An intriguing look into a little—understood and largely unrecognized part of Holocaust history." —Kirkus Reviews