Nine Months in a Forest. With Nazis. And He Still Kept a Journal!!
Berl Kagan escaped the Kovno Ghetto, hid in Lithuanian forests for nine freezing, starving months, and somehow wrote it all down in real time. The audacity is staggering. It's raw, it's immediate, and it hits all the feels. No memoir-distance, no soft edges, just a man scratching notes at death's doorstep with remarkable clarity.

A Jew in the Woods offers another harrowing perspective into life during the holocaust. Berl Kagan was among the few who escaped the Kovno Ghetto during Hitler’s reign. Despite escaping the ghetto prior to its destruction, the following months were plagued by fear and misery as the group hid while completely at the mercy of the people that helped them and the elements.

This diary serves as another important reminder of the Holocaust, but also shows that everyday people doing the right thing is a force in itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and White Goat Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the English translation of a Yid in Vald, a firsthand account of Berl Kagan and his family as they escape into hiding from a condemned Lithuanian Jewish ghetto. Rather than seeking shelter within the walls of a home, he and his family flee to the countryside, hiding in the forest in the day, emerging in the night and sleeping in barns when they are fortunate enough to be able to - “Children of a people who ‘brought light unto the nations’ now seek protection from the dark.”

This is a dark read, a reminder of atrocities that should never be forgotten. At the same time, it is beautifully written and beautifully translated. This book is very much in the same vein as The Diary of a Young Girl and Incidents in the Live of a Slave Girl, in that it offers valuable insight into the inhumanity of a dark time from the perspective of the oppressed. If you are researching the holocaust or WWII, this will be an especially vital read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the family of Berl Kagan, and White Goat Press for sharing an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This incredible account is presented with both introductory and concluding remarks bracketing the original text, translated into English. It is absolutely fascinating and an important part of the truth which is the Jewish experience of World War II. The horror and disbelief which the author expresses at finding himself in the situation he is in absolutely resonates as we look back and wonder how on earth the persecution of the Jews of Europe could have been allowed to happen. The raw truths about the Lithuanian people who helped - or did not help - are at time inspirational and at times heartbreaking, but always honest and human. The account represents the Holocaust beyond the camps and is so important as part of the complete picture. Deeply moving and absolutely heartbreaking in its brutal honesty, this is an incredible book.

A Jew in the Woods is an incredibly powerful and harrowing read. I found myself completely absorbed in Berl Kagan’s diary entries, even though the content is often difficult and deeply heavy. Knowing these were written in real time while he was hiding in the forest makes everything feel immediate and very personal.

What struck me most is the sheer persistence of daily life under unimaginable conditions—hunger, cold, fear, and constant danger, all while still trying to document what was happening. There’s something very human and grounded about his voice, even in the middle of extreme suffering, which makes it even more affecting.

It’s not an easy book, but it’s an important one. I came away thinking a lot about survival, witness, and the act of recording history while still inside it.

This is the diary of one man and the story of the people he survived with and those who risked what little they had to keep them safe during World War II.

Berl Kagan was one of a small group of Lithuanian Jewish people who, after escaping from the Kovna Ghetto, became some of only approximately 500 people out of the 35,000 interned there, to survive the war. Their survival was, in part, down to the decisions of others to do what they knew to be right in a world where the most despicable behaviour was being celebrated and rewarded. Barbora Urbonavičiūtė-Bacevičienė and Tadeusz Pocius could have chosen to ignore what was happening in their community or could even have improved their lives by reporting Berl Kagan and the rest of the group, but instead risked everything to protect strangers because it was the right thing to do.

Unlike many diaries, Berl Kagan wrote this to be read. He believed in the power of stories to "remain as a reminder - and as an inspiration." I think that there are a lot of people in the world today who could do with the reminders and inspiration in this book. I don't just mean those in positions of authority (though that would be a cracking start) but the normal, everyday people like Berl, Raja and Nechama, who had no choice but to fight for survival and Tadeusz and Barbora who did have a choice but made the most difficult one. Maybe reading books like this will help people now to realise the importance of our own power to do the right thing, even - or especially - when it isn't the easiest option.