Several Jewish authors have referenced Zvi Preigerson and his books in their works, namely: Jehoshua A. Gilboa,[1] Yosef Govrin,[2] Yaacov Ro'i,[3] Mordechai Altshuler[4] and Moshe Shamir.

[5] Zvi-Gersh (or Hirsh) Preigerzon was born on October 26, 1900, in his family home at Shepetivka, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, in what is today a part of western Ukraine.

Zvi's father made it his task to introduce his children to "new" Hebrew literature and commonly read from the works of Abraham Mapu and Judah Leib Gordon and Jewish periodicals of those days.

From the days of his early childhood, Zvi had developed a profound appreciation of the Hebrew language and was known to muse that (in translation) "the Jewish thrill has poisoned my blood forever".

As recapped in his book Unfinished Story[7] Zvi arrived in Palestine on the Steamship Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) with a group of other students bound for the school which the author attended for one year.

During his stay, the young writer strengthened his language skills and gained a profound appreciation for the Holy Land and its people and their songs.

Zvi instead continued his education in Odessa and upon passing the entry exams at the age of fifteen was admitted to Lublinska Academy as the school was relocated from Poland at the start of the war.

During those uneasy years Zvi graduated from a local Music Conservatory as a violin player, yet he never relinquished his love of the Hebrew language.

[8] It is at this Yeshiva that Zvi was mentored by the very Hayim Nahman Bialik who was responsible for the young author's visit to the Holy Land and by the Jewish historian Joseph Klausner.

His decision would shape the rest of his life as he chooses to pursue his education, acquire a profession and only than depart for Palestine; not knowing that very soon World War II and the Iron Curtain would make such departure impossible.

The stories center around loving and soft-spoken persona – people trapped in the reality of revolution, war and the destruction of their religious and cultural traditions.

Shortly after the initiation of the war, because of his profession Zvi was recalled from the People's Militia and sent by the Ministry of Natural Resources to Karaganda as the location became the prime provider of coal after the conquest of Donbas by the Third Reich.

This activity was ever risky, and the Stalin regime withheld as much information on Jewish war suffering due to increasing antisemitism in the Soviet Union.

While imprisoned in Vorkuta, Zvi was given the ability to use his professional education and was made the head of a research unit focusing on mineral processing.

Aside from the practical tasks assigned to Zvi and his team, the author conducted research and got a patent, while imprisoned, for the creation of an innovative coal collecting machine.

The book describes his experiences over the past decade and the many people he met and interacted with; among these the poets Samuel Halkin, Jacob Steinberg and Joseph Karler.

"Twenty Heroes" is a return to faith type story in which pensioners reopen an old synagogue in post World War II Soviet territory despite the misgivings of the local authorities.