Set before and during the days of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Say
No to Despair, part of the new They Said No series of
histories, is a compelling and profound look at the final days of the
life of Mordechai Anielewicz, leader of the Jewish Fighting
Organization that led the insurrection against Nazi control in Poland
during the Holocaust. Tracing the moments before and during the
uprising up to Mordechai’s death in 1943, Hausfater delivers an
uncompromising story of a revolutionary with a lesson all readers
must take with them. Both disturbing and moving, thrilling and
devastating, Anielewicz’s story elucidates the immense power of
resistance and the obligations we have to defend each other from
violence and capture—no matter the costs. As Anielewicz himself
puts it, “The opposite of despair is not hope, it’s struggle.”