The Counterfeit Cossack

THE COUNTERFEIT COSSACK, THE LIFE OF ARTHUR FEDER, is the story of one man so packed with adventure you could base ten exciting biographies on it.

Arthur Feder was born in a tiny Polish town of just two thousand souls. His parents were pious merchants, but World War II disrupted their lives for good. Arthur was plucked from his provincial existence by the Soviet state, and sent far away learn engineering. Due to class tardiness, the fanatical Soviets sent him to jail for a year, and inadvertently saved him from the Nazi invasion. Imprisoned in the Ukraine, he grew up fast, struggling just to eat. The Luftwaffe bombed the jail, and he was freed. Hopping freights and robbing to survive, he wound up on a collective farm where a bizarre destiny led to a brief career as an entertainer. Seeking warmer climes, he headed south, but the Germans were headed the same way, and their invasion of Russia was to determine his life for the next four years. Arturo made it to Stalingrad just in time to be rounded up by the authorities and placed in the Communist Youth League, manufacturing war goods. But he found it so boring that he volunteered for combat duty, despite being too young to serve. He was assigned to a Cossack brigade where he had to hide his faith even deeper. He learned to ride and shoot with the best of them, and became the general's aide. He rode with two thousand savage warriors, charging into battle, sabers raised high, and didn't retreat until they were drenched in Nazi blood. In countless battles, Arturo blasted away at the retreating Germans with rifle, pistol, and submachine gun. Standing out from the other battles was the ambush at the train station, where his comrades trapped thousands of wermachte troops and left no prisoners. Grievously wounded by a German dive bomber, Arturo was evacuated to Baku, on the Caspian Sea, to convalesce. Then he made his way to Moscow where he was personally decorated by Joseph Stalin. Determined to discover his family's fate, he hitch-hiked back to Poland where he learned of his family's grim end. Assigned as Commissar he hunted his family's betrayers, but also found love. He was sent to Krakow to hunt collaborators. At war's end, he and his bride made their way to France and a boat to Palestine.

A struggling pioneer, Arthur was witnessed the birth of the State of Israel, and joined the fight to defend it from the invasions of five Arab armies. When peace finally came he still found it hard to earn a living, so he returned to Europe to initiate immigration to America. After managing a Jewish wrestler in Germany, he was granted passage to New York. He wound up waiting tables in Miami Beach, where he met the famous playwright Arthur Miller who befriended him and entrusted his wife, Marilyn Monroe, to his care.

Finally achieving success as a builder, Arthur takes a vacation to Puerto Rico where he eventually becomes its biggest builder. His company ends up going public on the New York Stock Exchange and Arthur becomes wealthy. Then he returns to Europe to hunt for his parents' wartime betrayer.

Arthur Feder's life has never ending twists and turns, and it's told with a great eye for detail. Events from fifty years ago come alive, and one can feel one's self inside his skin.