During the summer and fall of 1944, life became perilous. Strassman’s family was deported, and he became a fugitive, but he quickly determined that he was unsuited for a life in hiding. He joined a partizan unit, and took part in military actions and survival efforts during the brutal winter months that followed.Strassmann’s memoir reflects on the reasons he chose to take up combat as a means of escaping the Germans. Not only does he provide the reader with recollections of various partizan campaigns, but he also offers tender portrayals of those he loved and eventually lost. In addition, the memoir addresses how the Slovak government methodically organized the impoverishment and then the annihilation of Slovak Jews—actions that Strassmann describes as the "bureaucratization of genocide." will appeal to World War II historians as well as to general readers drawn to gripping memoir, as Strassman brings to life a lesser-known area of World War II history in a vivid way.