Book Review: Tunnel of Hope by Betty Brodsky Cohen

January 16, 2025

About:

Tunnel of Hope: Escape from the Novogrudok Forced Labor Camp by Betty Brodsky Cohen is giving names, and some faces, to those who history has almost forgotten. Ms. Cohen is the daughter of Fanya Dunetz Brodsky, an escapee herself.

  • 716 pages
  • Publisher ‏ : Gefen Publishing House
  • Language ‏ : English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : 965780129X

Book Review: Tunnel of Hope by Betty Brodsky Cohen
My rating for Tunnel of Hope 5

Buy Tunnel of Hope from Amazon.com*
More Books by Betty Brodsky Cohen*

Thoughts:

This is not a literary book, but a historical and immensely important book. But above all else, this is a memorial to the biggest escape from a work camp during World War II.

Tunnel of Hope by Dr. Betty Brodsky Cohen refers to a tunnel dug with primitive tools, or by hand, to escape the Novogrudoc labor camp. The inmates/slaves were survivors of Nazi massacres in the surrounding towns. Many of them witnessed their parents, siblings, friends, relatives, or even children murdered before their eyes.

The tunnel was secretly dug under the watchful eyes of the Nazis. On September 26, 1943, it was used by 227 people to escape, at least 133 of them we know survived. A list of the escapees exists, as they were supposed to crawl through the narrow tunnel to help one another.

The author’s remarkable and diligent research, with the aid of scholars, genealogists, and testimonies, is to be commended. It was inspiring to read how people from different backgrounds who went through horrific events worked together in hellish conditions.

Many of the escapees who made it to the forest joined either Russian Partisans, or the Bielski partisans (memorialized in the book Defiance, and a movie by the same name). The author lists the escapees in the order in which they made their way through the tunnel. Every person on there should be remembered as a hero. Avraham Rakovski, for example, a resistance leader and electrician managed to get lights into the tunnel which was dug at night, and delay the Nazis’ searchlight which was a major concern for the escapees.

This book, more than anything, is a tribute to those who crawled to freedom, the Bielski brothers, and the Christians who helped the survivors, risking their own lives. The author managed to trace the life of many of the escapees, and even contact their family members to tell them about their heroism.

Buy Tunnel of Hope from Amazon.com*
More Books by Betty Brodsky Cohen*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer:I got this book for free from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books

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Summary
Review Date
Reviewed Item
Tunnel of Hope: Escape from the Novogrudok Forced Labor Camp by Betty Brodsky Cohen
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Wrap Up

Tunnel of Hope: Escape from the Novogrudok Forced Labor Camp by Betty Brodsky Cohen

Book Review: Tunnel of Hope by Betty Brodsky Cohen

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