Description
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, Vienna
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: A Story of Courage and Survival by Jacob Dimant
Prologue by Ita Dimant (published originally with the 1993 English and Hebrew editions)
The Diary
The Warsaw Ghetto Years
The Częstochowa Year
Leaving for Germany
Freedom
Epilogue by Jacob Dimant
Courage and Survival—Symcha Dymant by Jacob Dimant
Appendix 1: The Brust Notebook Diary
Appendix 2: A Diary in Note Form
Appendix 3: Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts Donated to the USHMM by the Dimant Family
Appendix 4: Miodownik Family Tree
List of Illustrations
