I would like to share a new war book called Zaidy’s War: Four Armies, Three Continents, Two Brothers. One Man’s Impossible Story of Endurance (Holocaust Survivor True Stories) by Martin Bodek that I received in exchange for this review. Inside this post is my affiliate links. If you click on the links and you make a purchase I will make a small percentage off the items you purchase.
Zaidy’s War is the story told by Author Martin Bodek of his grandfather’s remarkable survival during World War II under the most dire of conditions, all the while maintaining his human decency and his religious beliefs. This is book about serving in Romanian, Hungarian, German, and Russian armies during WW2, staying alive through starvation and hard work, and, after the war, living with the knowledge that almost all your relatives were killed in Auschwitz.
Zaidy’s War covers the lives of Benzion and Eliezer Malik, two Romanian Jews whose family perished during the Holocaust. By focusing on one family’s perspective, the book describes Jewish everyday life, rooted in centuries-long traditions, before the war and how this life was disregarded during the war. WW2, like any other major conflict, brought everything dirty on the surface, resulting even in authorized cannibalism in a Russian military camp, as per Zaidy’s words.
About the book:
Benzion Malik was on a path of discovery. He was keen to learn about everything in life through the teachings of his faith and only something cataclysmic could throw him off this course. In 1939, the 21-year-old Benzion was called up to the Romanian Army. Little did he know that he would not be a free man until 1945.
During six long years, Benzion served in three further armies. He was forced into hard labor and was constantly abused because of his Jewishness by the Hungarian army. He was then made to serve the German army which simply needed disposable bodies to be targets for Soviet bullets. Finally, the Soviet army needed young men like Benzion to help with the effort to fight the Nazis.
None of these acts of service and servitude were easy. Benzion was in a continuous dance with death but clung to life through the goodness of strangers. When WWII was over, Benzion had to make the 2,600-kilometer walk home and narrowly escaped being poisoned to death by mushroom soup. At home he was confronted with the ruins of his family, community, and people. Yet, he was not defeated.
Lovingly written by his grandson, this book provides an account of a man’s resilience to not give up on the world after extreme destruction, but instead to help rebuild a community and practice Tikkun Olam – Repairing of the World – by believing in cosmic justice and leaving an imprint on his family, friends, and strangers for generations.
Meet the Author: Martin Bodek
Martin Bodek is co-founder of TheKnish.com – a Jewish version of The Onion. He is the beat reporter for JrunnersClub.org, an emerging Brooklyn-based organization for athletes. He researches surnames for Jewishworldreview.com (e-mail onsurnames@gmail.com with yours and he’ll do the legwork for you!). He has been writing freelance for more than 20 years for The Huffington Post, The Denver Post, The Washington Times, The Jewish Press, bangitout.com and other sites and media outlets as well as Germany’s only weekly Jewish newspaper, The Judische Allgemeine.’
His books have been featured at the YU Seforim Sale. He was born and raised in the wilds of Brooklyn, New York, has worked most of his life in the badlands of New York City and settled in the jungles of northern New Jersey with his strong wife and three above average children. As you can tell, he wants to be a writer if and when he grows up.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
