Center for Jewish History Presents Leah Garrett, Author of 'X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II'

In June of 1942, amid Third Reich victories everywhere, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff formed an unusual plan. They would shape a new commando unit made up of German and Austrian Jewish refugees who had escaped to Britain.

Deemed "enemy aliens," these detainees were given a choice: continue to languish in a detention camp or go fight the Nazis.

The resulting volunteers were a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes. Many had lost their families, their homes-their whole worlds. They would stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top-secret unit would become known as X Troop.

Lauren Gilbert, Senior Manager for Public Programs at the Center for Jewish History said, "Many books are marketed as 'untold stories,' but that is rarely as accurate as it is here. Leah Garrett has done incredible research and detective work to uncover this history, piecing together the important role these soldiers played in the war effort." Gilbert will speak with Leah Garrett, author of X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II, on Thursday May 27^th at 4pm ET. The program will stream live.

Drawing on extensive original research, including interviews with the last surviving members, historian Leah Garrett, Professor and Director of Jewish Studies at Hunter College, follows this unique band of brothers from Germany to England and back again, with stops at British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and the hellscape of the Terezin concentration camp-the scene of one of the most dramatic, untold rescues of the war.