Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your group's reading of Rich Cohen's
The Avengers
, a riveting and powerful look at the intrepid
individuals who fought against the Holocaust and the Nazi
occupation of Europe.
Discussion Questions
- "It is
like no Holocaust story I have ever heard. There are no cattle
cars in it, and no concentration camps. It takes place in
underground hideouts and forest clearings, and in the ruins of
German cities after the Second World War" [p. 3]. So begins Rich
Cohen's book The Avengers. Clearly Cohen is drawn to the
story of Abba, Ruzka, and Vitka because of its powerful
difference from most Holocaust stories that Jewish children are
told. What is the effect, particularly upon a child's mind, of
having the Holocaust as a formative narrative of identity?
- As in Tough Jews, Cohen is driven by a discomfort
with the idea of Jews as passive victims. Does The Avengers
alter the impression that Jews were led "like sheep to the
slaughter"? Why were the partisans largely unsuccessful in
getting Jews to join them in resistance to the Nazis? Is it
troubling that Abba, Vitka, and Ruzka left members of their own
families behind in ghettoes that would eventually be taken by
the Nazis?
- What are some of the possible ethical responses to the
genocide the Nazis engineered? Is the Talmud's "an eye for an
eye" a more appropriate response than the Christian concept of
"turning the other cheek"? Was Abba Kovner's plot to poison
Nazis in the Nuremberg camp a sensible and moral response? On
page 213, Cohen calls Kovner a "fanatic," the leader of a group
of avengers whose "mere existence was their victory." Should
Kovner be considered a fanatic, a hero, or both?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Vintage.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.