Summary In 1941, life as the Jews of Eastern Poland knew it was brought to an abrupt and brutal end. Entire populations were wiped out, but nearly 30,000 Jews escaped the ghettos and work camps. Taking to the nearby forests, they joined the growing underground resistance army, actively fighting the Nazis. Vengeance reveals this little known chapter in history through four such partisans who tell their incredible stories of losing everything and fighting back. Norman, Sara, Faye and Eugene grew up close to the Russian border in villages across Poland and Lithuania, where Jews and gentiles lived side by side. Once Germany invaded Russia, however, neighbours turned into enemies, villages into ghettos. After being herded into the ghetto, Norman hid for an entire day in a hole left from an artillery shell. If he was going to die, he says, he wanted to die fighting. He made it to the woods, but never saw his family again. Faye, a photographer, was ordered by the ghetto commissar to develop photographs of mass graves containing the bodies of her entire family. She wanted revenge. There were over 100,000 partisans across 16 countries throughout Europe. Formed into brigades, they lived in shelters built of logs and branches. For food, medical supplies and ammunition, they launched raids on local villages or Nazi headquarters. Fear of discovery was constant and local collaborators were everywhere, but they persevered. In Vengeance, these partisans describe how they sabotaged Nazi missions, blew up railroad tracks, looked after one another and killed, proving that survival is the ultimate revenge.

• War
• Documentary
• History