Great posting at MSNBC on the resistance movement that spawned Hanukkah... The whole piece is worthy of a read, but this story in particular really hit home with me... I dedicate my blog today to Niuta Teitelbaum who had the courage that we should all aspire to have.

I feel that more of these stories of heroism and courage in the face of tyranny need to be told... We will not go silently into the night...

MSNBC-Armed Jews Week

"Niuta Teitelbaum was a beautiful 24-year-old Jewish Polish woman who looked like she was sixteen. Known as "Little Wanda with the Braids," she was an expert smuggler of people and weapons, and instructed women's partisan cells. Her units blew up trains, artillery emplacements, and other German targets.

Once, wearing traditional Polish clothing and a kerchief on her hair, she talked her way past a series of Gestapo guards, whispering that she was going to see the SS commander on "private business." Alone with the commander in his office, she drew a revolver, shot him dead, and calmly left the building."

I was moved when I read this and realized that outside of the history I learned in school, I was woefully ignorant of the true picture of the Holocaust. I am grateful I was able to read this story.