"In this groundbreaking study, Professor Barbara Engelking sheds light on an aspet of the Holocaust in Poland that has not been thoroughly discussed. While many books have been dedicated to the suffering and murder of Jews in the ghettos and various camps, relatively little is known about the struggle of those who managed to escape to the Polish countryside and the threats and challenges they faced. Jewish refugees tried to hide in distant areas, further away from the tightening grip of the occupier. Some of them found shelter with a local farmer, some managed to create hiding places in the forest. Ultimately, however, many encountered a hostile environment of local Poles ready to denounce them to the Germans or to participate in manhunts for rewards. In cases where they found refuge with Polish families who took them in, the dangers for both the Jews and their rescuers grew more acute as time passed, as did the possibility of deadly reprisals against them and their familes. Based on a large number of survivors' accounts and never-before cited documents from post-war trials, this important book tells the untold story of Jewish struggle for survival in a complex landscape of fear, betrayal and death." --Back cover.