Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe With the Author Matti Friedman

The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special Talking Memory conversation marking the launch of Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe.

In 1944, a group of young Jewish men and women – having escaped Europe – made the decision to return. Parachuting into Nazi-occupied territory under a British mission, they went back to the continent that had tried to destroy them. Out of the Sky tells their story: the gap between the mission’s tragic reality and its powerful afterlife in Israeli memory, and the question of what heroism means when it ends in failure.

The programme will feature:

Matti Friedman, author of Out of the Sky, in conversation on the Jewish parachutists of 1944, the archival research behind the book, and the role of narrative in shaping collective memory.

Dr Rochelle Saidel will speak on Haviva Reick (1914–1944), one of three women among the parachutists, who operated in Slovakia during the Slovak National Uprising – aiding Allied airmen, working to rescue Jews, and ultimately captured and murdered by Nazi collaborators.

Shlomit Dagan, CEO of the Hannah Senesh House, will reflect on Hannah Senesh and the ongoing work of remembrance and education.

This event is presented in partnership with the Remember the Women Institute, the Hannah Senesh House, Classrooms Without Borders, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University.