“An insightful and intimate portrait of a true Woman of Valor.”
A Force for Good
by Anita Wyzanski Robboy
A Force For Good is the biography of the remarkable life of Gisela Warburg Wyzanski. Unlike many wealthy German Jews, Gisela chose to remain in Europe to combat the horrors wrought by Hitler and the Nazis. From both Europe and the United States, she worked tirelessly to bring war-torn European children to a new life in the land now known as Israel.
Advance Readers’ Comments
“This inspiring, revelatory biography, based on newly discovered letters, restores Gisela Warburg Wyzanski to her rightful place in 20th century Jewish history. It shows how a young woman of privileged birth, mentored by Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, risked her life to save Jewish refugee children, crisscrossed the United States raising funds to sustain them, and lived a life of service to others. Along the way, she found love, marrying one of Boston’s most eminent jurists. A rare and unusually intimate portrait of an unforgettable Jewish woman.”
—Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, and Chief Historian, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
“A majestic biography of an extraordinary woman. History comes alive through Gisela’s life and letters— from Hitler’s cruelties to the founding of Israel. Sheer goodness and courage lead this fearless woman to devote herself to rescuing children from the Nazi menace despite personal dangers. Written with grace and honesty.”
—Francine Klagsbrun, author of Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream
“Brimming with fresh perspectives on Judaism, Zionism, and Palestine, this page-turning saga leaps off the page from a cache of love letters hidden in a Cambridge attic to draw the reader into a romantic triangle involving a famous American judge and the daughter of one of Germany’s wealthiest Jewish families, a woman who escaped the Gestapo to devote her life to the rescue of desperate children.”
—Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
A Force for Good, the biography of Gisela Warburg Wyzanski is an intimate, loving, admiring portrayal by her daughter Anita Wyzanski Robboy of the extraordinary and heroic work of a young German Jewish women of privilege and stature who heeded the call of Zionism and was instrumental in rescuing Jewish children by sending them to Palestine while there was still time, just in the nick of time. Often told in her words through her extensive correspondence, the book offers unique insight into the early days of Zionist history and two of its fabled leaders Chaim Weizmann and Henrietta Szold -- Gisela’s mentors -- and Jewish Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s. One relives her adventures and the dangers she faced, and my admiration for her grew from decade to decade as her life unfolded. Gisela Warburg Wyzanski was indeed a force for good, and the good that she did made all the difference between life and death for desperate Jewish children. The scion of one of German Jewry’s most influential and affluent families, her embrace of Zionism gave depth and meaning to her life, an important reminder of its significance and its potential at our time of turmoil. The work is inspirational. Gisela was a lioness, and Anita does her justice.
—Michael Berenbaum Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, American Jewish University, Former Project Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
