The Holocaust Books

Book SynopsisReined into the service of the Cold War confrontation, antifascist ideology overshadowed the narrative about the Holocaust in the communist states of Eastern Europe. This led to the Western notion that in the Soviet Bloc there was a systematic suppression of the memory of the mass murder of European Jews. Going beyond disputing the mistaken opposition between “communist falsification” of history and the “repressed authentic” interpretation of the Jewish catastrophe, this work presents and analyzes the ways as the Holocaust was conceptualized in the Soviet-ruled parts of Europe. The authors provide various interpretations of the relationship between antifascism and Holocaust memory in the communist countries, arguing that the predominance of an antifascist agenda and the acknowledgment of the Jewish catastrophe were far from mutually exclusive. The interactions included acts of negotiation, cross-referencing, and borrowing. Detailed case studies describe how both individuals and institutions were able to use anti-fascism as a framework to test and widen the boundaries for discussion of the Nazi genocide. The studies build on the new historiography of communism, focusing on everyday life and individual agency, revealing the formation of a great variety of concrete, local memory practices.Table of ContentsIntroduction Historiography Katarzyna Person, Agnieszka Żółkiewska: Edition of documents from the Ringelblum Archive (the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto) in Stalinist Poland Peter Hallama: “A great civic and scientific duty of our historiography.” Czech historians and the Holocaust in the 1970s and 1980s Benjamin Lapp: The Conflicted Identities of Helmut Eschwege: Communist, Jew and Historian of the Holocaust in the German Democratic Republic Sites of Memory Kata Bohus: Parallel memories? Public memorialization of the antifascist struggle and martyr memorial services in the Hungarian Jewish community during early Communism Gintarė Malinauskaitė: Holocaust Narrative(s) in Soviet Lithuania: The Case of the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas Yechiel Weizman: Memory Incarnate: Jewish Sites in Communist Poland and the Perception of the Shoah Artistic Representations Anja Tippner: Toward a Soviet Holocaust Novel: Traumatic Memory and Socialist Realist Aesthetics in Anatolii Rybakov’s Heavy Sand Daniel Véri: Commissioned Memory. Official Representations of the Holocaust in Hungarian Art (1955–1965) Richard S. Esbenshade: Towards a Shared Memory? The Hungarian Holocaust in Mass-Market Socialist Literature, 1956-1970 Media and Public Debate Alexander Walther: Distrusting the Parks: Heinz Knobloch’s Journalism and the Memory of the Shoah in the GDR Miriam Schulz: ‘We pledge, as if it was the highest sanctum, to preserve the memory.’ Sovetish Heymland, facets of Holocaust commemoration in the Soviet Union and the Cold War Stephan Stach: “The Jewish diaries […] undergo one edition after the other.” Early Polish Holocaust Documentation, East German Anti-Fascism and the Emergence of Holocaust Memory in Socialism Conclusion

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Book Synopsis“Extraordinary storytelling about unfathomable horror.” — Library Journal (starred review)"[A] worthy tribute to the extraordinary bravery of a remarkable woman.” — Publishers WeeklyIn World War II's Poland, thirty year old Zofia Sterner and her husband Wacek refuse to be classified as Jews destined for extermination.Instead, they evade the Nazis and the Soviets in several dramatic escapes and selflessly rescue many Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and a labor camp, later becoming active participants in the Warsaw Uprising where they are taken prisoner. This retelling, captured through diaries, interviews, war crime trial testimonies, and letters, detail the Sterners' heroic rescues, escapes, and ultimate survival. A true story of hope amid horrifying tragedy, How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis illustrates how war brings out the worst and the best in people, and how true humanity and heroism of ordinary people are revealed by their willingness to risk everything and help others. This story is about being human under the most inhumane conditions.Trade Review“The book reads like a fast-paced thriller with stories about … escapes, participation in the Warsaw Uprising and subsequent arrests… Extraordinary storytelling about unfathomable horror. At the core of it is a remarkable woman and her family who not only refused to allow the Nazis to exterminate them, but they also saved others. For readers who enjoy history, Judaic studies, and human-interest stories.” — Library Journal (starred review)“Dziarski debuts with a dynamic narrative … [and] renders in palpably urgent, first-person, present tense writing the remarkable story of a woman who was driven by her belief that ‘every life was precious’ to save strangers. … It’s a worthy tribute to the extraordinary bravery of a remarkable woman.” — Publishers Weekly“In the vast literature on the Holocaust, few memoirs are told from the point of view of the rescuers. Roman Dziarski’s reconstruction of the story of a Polish-Jewish couple under German occupation stands out for its presentation of events from the perspective of Zofia, an ethnic Pole married to her Jewish husband and member of the Polish resistance, Wacław Sterner. Under Nazi racial laws, both are to don the Star of David armband and report to the Warsaw ghetto, which they refuse, taking their chances on the so-called Aryan side. With ties to the Polish underground and the milieu of assimilated Warsaw Jewry, the couple is involved in a sort of grassroots ‘Żegota’ rescue operation that helps dozens of Jews escape the ghetto. The story, punctuated by counterintuitive twists, demonstrates the difficulty of generalizing about Polish-Jewish relations during the Second World War and beyond. This creative retelling, pieced together from sources found in the family's archive by the author, a nephew of the protagonists, saves this remarkable story from oblivion.”— Tomasz Frydel, PhD, Concordia University“How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis reads like a thriller. It is a page-turner. What makes it unique is that the story conveys the precarious lives of Poles under the German occupation and after liberation without whitewashing the antisemitism that existed. If, like Roman Dziarski, Poles and Jews can acknowledge the suffering of each group, perhaps these groups can transcend the argument about ‘who suffered most’ and work together to teach the history of World War II and its aftermath.”— from the foreword by Eva Fogelman, author of Conscience & Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust“[T]here is such a confidence . . ., such a gift, such abandon of Good! I am greatly struck by it, when Zofia Sterner tells me how she led her charges out of the ghetto. . . . [D]uring all the occupation, the Sterners devoted heart and soul to the cause which they had voluntarily chosen: to save Jews, give them comfort, and to help them leave for more secure places, with passes in their pockets.”— Marek Halter, La force du Bien (Stories of Deliverance: Speaking with Men and Women Who Rescued Jews from the Holocaust) Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1: FleeingChapter 2: Getting helpChapter 3: Mob and lossChapter 4: Reunion and fleeing againChapter 5: Back with the familyChapter 6: EvadingChapter 7: BirthChapter 8: ResistanceChapter 9: RescuesChapter 10: Passing and hidingChapter 11: Working for the enemyChapter 12: BlackmailChapter 13: UndergroundChapter 14: UprisingChapter 15: PrisonerChapter 16: DeportationChapter 17: Escape and freedomChapter 18: ReturnChapter 19: Back homeChapter 20: Epilogue – Zosia and Edek KosmanThe main charactersAfterwordPostfaceJewish situation in Poland before WWIIPolish-Jewish relations, Polish help, and Polish atrocities on Jews in WWIIHuman cost of WWIIA note on terminologyAbbreviations and glossaryAcknowledgementsReferencesList of FiguresFigure creditsIndex

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Book Synopsis"This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)Ita Dimant’s gripping diary is a detailed account of her experiences during the Holocaust. She describes the chaotic living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and her dramatic escape to the ‘Aryan’ side. She wrestles repeatedly with the burden of losing close friends and family, revealing her emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy. As one ghetto after another is liquidated, she becomes a courier carrying vital information and supplies between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits, skillful deception, and a few trusted friends, as she seeks to evade the noose closing around her. Trade Review“In this posthumous soul-wrenching memoir, Dimant… reconstructs and expands a diary she’d kept during the Nazi occupation of the Warsaw Ghetto… There’s a palpable urgency to Dimant’s writing, which is haunted by the specter of almost unbearable regret… This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Archiv­ing the vast, diverse expe­ri­ences of Jews dur­ing the Holo­caust is an impor­tant his­tor­i­cal task — and Sur­vival is a wel­come addi­tion to the canon. … [T]he memoir’s com­bi­na­tion of eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny and trea­sure-trove pho­tographs makes Ita’s sto­ry come to life. Those who are inter­est­ed in Jew­ish-led resis­tance move­ments, as well as women’s roles with­in them, will find this book par­tic­u­lar­ly compelling.”— Leah Grisham, Jewish Book Council“Ita Dimant's diary is an extraordinary and harrowing account of bravery, resilience, and loss. Translated by Teresa Pollin and edited by Martin Dean, with an introduction by the author's son, Jacob Dimant, this new volume will serve as a valuable and compelling resource for researchers, educators, and general readers, detailing one woman's story of courage and survival, amidst the destruction of a people. This is a fascinating account written and re-written three times over during the course of the war, a testament to Ita’s determination not only to survive, but to bear witness to the tragic scenes she endured in the ghettos of Warsaw, Częstochowa, and elsewhere in Poland through her work as an underground courier, as well as in slave labor in Germany. Ita's survival was a product of remarkable courage, determination, profound resilience, occasional acts of kindness, and no small measure of luck.”— Avinoam J. Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut; author of The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw: The Afterlife of the Revolt“When I first read the manuscript of Ita Dimant’s diary, I was very touched by the author’s personality, her literary talent, her detailed description of everyday life in the Warsaw and Częstochowa ghettos, and by the power of Ita’s spiritual resistance. This extraordinary testimony of the Holocaust should be read by as many people as possible.When I met Ita Dimant in person, she was full of warmth and had a great sense of humor. For me, she will always remain a heroine of everyday life, despite the hunger and suffering, covering the table in the ghetto with a white tablecloth. Her moving diary describes with compassion and accuracy the struggles Jews endured in German-occupied Poland, both inside and outside the ghetto.”— Barbara Engelking, Founder and Director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research“What makes this diary stand out from other diaries of women Holocaust survivors is not only the multi-layered and readable character at the heart of its narrative, but the fact that we are able to follow the story of a woman who did not consider herself special or brave but had no other choice but to become so as she fought to survive. During this process, she learned a lot about how easy it would be to forget how important doing good in the face of evil could be. Always keeping a good pair of shoes nearby, she never allowed herself the luxury of not remaining vigilant or preparing her loved ones for possible flight. With the help of an excellent translator and editor, her diary shares the moving story of becoming a survivor against all odds.”— Andrea Peto, Professor, Central European University, ViennaTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: A Story of Courage and Survival by Jacob DimantPrologue by Ita Dimant (published originally with the 1993 English and Hebrew editions)The DiaryThe Warsaw Ghetto YearsThe Częstochowa YearLeaving for GermanyFreedom Epilogue by Jacob Dimant Courage and Survival—Symcha Dymant by Jacob DimantAppendix 1: The Brust Notebook DiaryAppendix 2: A Diary in Note FormAppendix 3: Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts Donated to the USHMM by the Dimant FamilyAppendix 4: Miodownik Family TreeList of Illustrations

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Book Synopsis"This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)Ita Dimant’s gripping diary is a detailed account of her experiences during the Holocaust. She describes the chaotic living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and her dramatic escape to the ‘Aryan’ side. She wrestles repeatedly with the burden of losing close friends and family, revealing her emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy. As one ghetto after another is liquidated, she becomes a courier carrying vital information and supplies between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits, skillful deception, and a few trusted friends, as she seeks to evade the noose closing around her. Trade Review“In this posthumous soul-wrenching memoir, Dimant… reconstructs and expands a diary she’d kept during the Nazi occupation of the Warsaw Ghetto… There’s a palpable urgency to Dimant’s writing, which is haunted by the specter of almost unbearable regret… This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Archiv­ing the vast, diverse expe­ri­ences of Jews dur­ing the Holo­caust is an impor­tant his­tor­i­cal task — and Sur­vival is a wel­come addi­tion to the canon. … [T]he memoir’s com­bi­na­tion of eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny and trea­sure-trove pho­tographs makes Ita’s sto­ry come to life. Those who are inter­est­ed in Jew­ish-led resis­tance move­ments, as well as women’s roles with­in them, will find this book par­tic­u­lar­ly compelling.”— Leah Grisham, Jewish Book Council“Ita Dimant's diary is an extraordinary and harrowing account of bravery, resilience, and loss. Translated by Teresa Pollin and edited by Martin Dean, with an introduction by the author's son, Jacob Dimant, this new volume will serve as a valuable and compelling resource for researchers, educators, and general readers, detailing one woman's story of courage and survival, amidst the destruction of a people. This is a fascinating account written and re-written three times over during the course of the war, a testament to Ita’s determination not only to survive, but to bear witness to the tragic scenes she endured in the ghettos of Warsaw, Częstochowa, and elsewhere in Poland through her work as an underground courier, as well as in slave labor in Germany. Ita's survival was a product of remarkable courage, determination, profound resilience, occasional acts of kindness, and no small measure of luck.”— Avinoam J. Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut; author of The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw: The Afterlife of the Revolt“When I first read the manuscript of Ita Dimant’s diary, I was very touched by the author’s personality, her literary talent, her detailed description of everyday life in the Warsaw and Częstochowa ghettos, and by the power of Ita’s spiritual resistance. This extraordinary testimony of the Holocaust should be read by as many people as possible.When I met Ita Dimant in person, she was full of warmth and had a great sense of humor. For me, she will always remain a heroine of everyday life, despite the hunger and suffering, covering the table in the ghetto with a white tablecloth. Her moving diary describes with compassion and accuracy the struggles Jews endured in German-occupied Poland, both inside and outside the ghetto.”— Barbara Engelking, Founder and Director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research“What makes this diary stand out from other diaries of women Holocaust survivors is not only the multi-layered and readable character at the heart of its narrative, but the fact that we are able to follow the story of a woman who did not consider herself special or brave but had no other choice but to become so as she fought to survive. During this process, she learned a lot about how easy it would be to forget how important doing good in the face of evil could be. Always keeping a good pair of shoes nearby, she never allowed herself the luxury of not remaining vigilant or preparing her loved ones for possible flight. With the help of an excellent translator and editor, her diary shares the moving story of becoming a survivor against all odds.”— Andrea Peto, Professor, Central European University, ViennaTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: A Story of Courage and Survival by Jacob DimantPrologue by Ita Dimant (published originally with the 1993 English and Hebrew editions)The DiaryThe Warsaw Ghetto YearsThe Częstochowa YearLeaving for GermanyFreedom Epilogue by Jacob Dimant Courage and Survival—Symcha Dymant by Jacob DimantAppendix 1: The Brust Notebook DiaryAppendix 2: A Diary in Note FormAppendix 3: Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts Donated to the USHMM by the Dimant FamilyAppendix 4: Miodownik Family TreeList of Illustrations

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Book SynopsisThis book comprises interviews with the last veterans of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB), accompanied by never previously published photographic “postcards” from ghettos in the Warsaw region, and a reconstruction of the only existing list of the (ŻOB) soldiers.The first part of the book, a collection of conversations with the last soldiers of the ŻOB, which fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, is called “Still Circling”. The first of the interviews was recorded in 1985 with ŻOB commander Marek Edelman, and the last another conversation with him from 2000. Grupińska’s other interlocutors are also ŻOB veterans—rank-and-file soldiers, men and women. They relate the stories of their homes and backgrounds—some were Bundists, others from Zionist or religious families—followed by their recollections of how they experienced and remembered the uprising. This provides several unique perspectives on shared episodes. Images include portraits of Grupińska’s interlocutors, as well as never previously published photographs of the ghetto and its surroundings that are reminiscent of postcards.The second part of the book, “Rereading the List,” is intended to function like a litany of the names of the ŻOB members who fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This list was compiled by a group of fighters in 1943 and rediscovered by the author in 2000. Each name is accompanied by a short story about the fighter—sometimes only a sentence or two—as well as any available photograph of them. The list is followed by a reconstruction of the ŻOB army, its divisions, and the places they fought. Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPart One. Still Circling: Conversations with Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting OrganizationRecording the HolocaustWhat Was of Importance in the Ghetto? Nothing! Nothing! Don’t Be Ridiculous! Back Then, There Were Many Legends . . .Someone Must Have Pushed That Closet up Flush from Outside . . .I’m Telling You so Superficially Because I Don’t Remember Well, I’m Here, Aren’t I?! Truth Be Told, I Left My House in 1942 and Never Went Back And That’s All My Life Story I Know What I Know, And I Remember What I Remember None of It Is of Any SignificancePart Two. Rereading the List: Stories about the Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting Organization List of Those Who Fell in the Defense of the Warsaw Ghetto A Rereading of the List A Cemetery of Letters, a Cemetery of Words Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book comprises interviews with the last veterans of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB), accompanied by never previously published photographic “postcards” from ghettos in the Warsaw region, and a reconstruction of the only existing list of the (ŻOB) soldiers.The first part of the book, a collection of conversations with the last soldiers of the ŻOB, which fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, is called “Still Circling”. The first of the interviews was recorded in 1985 with ŻOB commander Marek Edelman, and the last another conversation with him from 2000. Grupińska’s other interlocutors are also ŻOB veterans—rank-and-file soldiers, men and women. They relate the stories of their homes and backgrounds—some were Bundists, others from Zionist or religious families—followed by their recollections of how they experienced and remembered the uprising. This provides several unique perspectives on shared episodes. Images include portraits of Grupińska’s interlocutors, as well as never previously published photographs of the ghetto and its surroundings that are reminiscent of postcards.The second part of the book, “Rereading the List,” is intended to function like a litany of the names of the ŻOB members who fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This list was compiled by a group of fighters in 1943 and rediscovered by the author in 2000. Each name is accompanied by a short story about the fighter—sometimes only a sentence or two—as well as any available photograph of them. The list is followed by a reconstruction of the ŻOB army, its divisions, and the places they fought. Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPart One. Still Circling: Conversations with Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting OrganizationRecording the HolocaustWhat Was of Importance in the Ghetto? Nothing! Nothing! Don’t Be Ridiculous! Back Then, There Were Many Legends . . .Someone Must Have Pushed That Closet up Flush from Outside . . .I’m Telling You so Superficially Because I Don’t Remember Well, I’m Here, Aren’t I?! Truth Be Told, I Left My House in 1942 and Never Went Back And That’s All My Life Story I Know What I Know, And I Remember What I Remember None of It Is of Any SignificancePart Two. Rereading the List: Stories about the Soldiers of the Jewish Fighting Organization List of Those Who Fell in the Defense of the Warsaw Ghetto A Rereading of the List A Cemetery of Letters, a Cemetery of Words Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable, untold story of one Holocaust survivor''s resilience against all odds, discovered through a chance encounter with a collection of her wartime poetry.Originally from Nuremberg, Germany, Else Dormitzer dedicated much of her life to combating antisemitism in a city that became synonymous with Nazi propaganda and spectacle in the Third Reich. Drawing on materials from the family’s extensive personal archive, Traces of Memory follows her life from pre-war Nuremberg to war-torn Amsterdam, from the confines of the Theresienstadt ghetto to post-war life in London. The result is a deeply personal story of a woman at the margins of memory. Accompanied by historical photographs, the book includes Dormitzer’s original poetry collection from Theresienstadt and three testimonial accounts of her Holocaust experience to keep alive the work and story of a singular woman.

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