tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54897935759615026852023-11-26T13:28:28.016-05:00Writing the HolocaustA Blog about the Poetry, Fiction, Films, and Art of the HolocaustJohn Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-22868259915486422832022-01-27T16:16:00.000-05:002022-01-27T16:16:01.589-05:00The Day My Mother Died<p> The Day My Mother Died</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDjd0bwRLed0kvX0IKuoEZ3P9Y8SiItXz3PlbP3TbD4w4Z3F6JY-eJweI8h4CvgLcLbMNqtktXgJAqR6b-TXIe8jlq5fwA2rnlpLSlmjN3zdn4aNYP5UJmV-R3wP3cx9X5EtkAr0kHqIy_oNa7J0DkXmfI5XpLSO-regvh1ck7bbSI1YCJN8i-jf4i=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="800" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDjd0bwRLed0kvX0IKuoEZ3P9Y8SiItXz3PlbP3TbD4w4Z3F6JY-eJweI8h4CvgLcLbMNqtktXgJAqR6b-TXIe8jlq5fwA2rnlpLSlmjN3zdn4aNYP5UJmV-R3wP3cx9X5EtkAr0kHqIy_oNa7J0DkXmfI5XpLSO-regvh1ck7bbSI1YCJN8i-jf4i=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>My mother died sixteen years ago, January 27, 2006. </p><p>She died in a hospice in Sun City, Arizona. It was a beautiful place, out in the desert, cactus and sage and rocks and reddish sand all around. She would have liked it. Before she got too sick, she used to like sitting outside and enjoying the little bit of desert that she had in her own back yard.</p><p>She had come a long way to die.</p><p>She was born in a forest outside a small village west of Lvov, Poland in 1922. She loved that forest and probably would have stayed there her whole life except for the Germans. They came to her house and killed her mother and her sister and her sister's baby. My mother fled into the woods, but the soldiers caught her and put her on a train that took her to a slave labor camp in Germany. Once I asked my mother to tell me what happened on that train. She said that even though I was a grown man and a professor, she saw things she couldn't tell me about.</p><p>For a long time, she also wouldn't tell me much about the slave labor camps in Germany. She would wave her hand at me and just say, "If they give you bread, you eat it. If they beat you, you run away." When she did start telling me about the things that happened in the camp, some times I had to ask her not to tell me.</p><p>At the end of the war, my mother met my father, another Pole who had been in the slave labor camps. When my mom saw my dad, he was a scarecrow in rags. He weighed about 70 pounds and had only one eye. He had lost the other when a guard clubbed him for begging for food.</p><p>She was 23, he was 25. She had been a slave for 2 years, he had been one for 4.</p><p>They married and waited in the refugee camps in Germany until someone in America would agree to sponsor them so that they could come here. They waited for 6 years. During that time, they had two kids, my sister Danusha and me.</p><p>In June of 1951, we came to America. For a while my mom and dad worked on a farm to pay off their passage here. Then, we moved to Chicago, and my mom worked in a factory.</p><p>The way I remember it my Mom was always working, working in one factory or another and working around the houses she and my Dad bought. She would plaster walls, paint, sand floors, and varnish them too. There was no work that she wouldn't do.</p><p>When my parents retired, they finally moved out to Sun City, Arizona, a long way from the village in Poland my mom grew up in. After he died out there in 1997, she lived there alone, taking care of her house and the garden, making friends and thinking about her grandchildren.</p><p>I've written a lot of poems about her over the years, and since the day she died, I've been trying to write a poem about her dying. Let me tell you, it's not coming. I've got pages of notes and half starts for the poem, but for some reason none of the words and lines say what I want them to say about my mom and how I feel about her and how her death touched me. Maybe I'll be able to write the poem someday, but I can't do it right now.</p><p>So I want to end this with one of my favorite poems about my mom from my book Echoes of Tattered Tongues.</p><p><br /></p><p>My Mother's Optimism</p><p><br /></p><p>When she was seventy-eight years old</p><p>And the angel of death called to her</p><p>and told her the vaginal bleeding</p><p>that had been starting and stopping</p><p>like a crazy menopausal period</p><p>was ovarian cancer, she said to him,</p><p>“Listen Doctor, I don’t have to tell you</p><p>your job. If it’s cancer it’s cancer.</p><p>If you got to cut it out, you got to.”</p><p><br /></p><p>After surgery, in the convalescent home</p><p>Among the old men crying for their mothers,</p><p>And the silent roommates waiting for death</p><p>she called me over to see her wound,</p><p>stapled and stitched, fourteen raw inches</p><p>from below her breasts to below her navel.</p><p>And when I said, “Mom, I don’t want to see it,”</p><p>She said, “Johnny, don't be such a baby.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Six months later, at the end of her chemo,</p><p>my mother knows why the old men cry.</p><p>A few wiry strands of hair on head,</p><p>Her hands so weak she couldn’t hold a cup,</p><p>Her legs swollen and blotched with blue lesions,</p><p>She says, “I’ll get better. After his chemo,</p><p>Pauline’s second husband had ten more years.</p><p>He was playing golf and breaking down doors</p><p>When he died of a heart attack at ninety.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Then my mom’s eyes lock on mine, and she says,</p><p>“You know, optimism is a crazy man’s mother.”</p><p><br /></p><p>And she laughs.</p>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-70537135858610670512022-01-25T12:08:00.001-05:002022-01-25T12:08:10.697-05:00Guzlowski’s Poetry about the War<p> </p><p><br /></p><header class="amp-wp-article-header" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; align-content: stretch; align-items: center; caret-color: rgb(53, 53, 53); color: #353535; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; justify-content: space-between; margin: 1.5em 16px 0px;"><h1 class="amp-wp-title" style="flex: 1 0 100%; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.625em; width: 343px;">Lightning and Ashes: The Poetry of John Guzlowski</h1></header><div class="amp-wp-article-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; caret-color: rgb(53, 53, 53); color: #353535; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; margin: 0px 16px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">John Guzlowski is arguably the most accomplished Polish-American poet on the contemporary scene, a writer who will figure prominently in any history of Polish-American literature; and Lightning and Ashes firmly establishes Guzlowski’s artistic standing not just in Polonia but in the world of American letters. A proper appreciation of Guzlowski’s vision and achievement, however, requires some biographical background.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">John Guzlowski is the son of Jan Guzlowski and Tekla Hanczarek, Polish nationals who were deported to Germany during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Born in 1920 in farming village north of Poznań, Jan was arrested by Nazi soldiers in 1940 and transported with other men of his village to the Buchenwald Concentration District where he worked for five years as a slave laborer on farms and in factories. Tekla was born in 1922 west of Lwów in eastern Poland; she was taken into custody in a roundup in 1942, after the murder of her mother, sister, and niece, and also relocated as a forced laborer. Jan and Tekla were married after the war and spent six years in refugee camps. John Guzlowski—properly Jan Zbigniew Guzlowski—was born in a displaced persons’ camp in Vienenburg, Germany, in 1948.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">In 1951, the family, including an older daughter, Danuta (Kapustka), came to the United States as “DPs” (“displaced persons,” the term Guzlowski uses to describe their status). After working on a farm to pay for the cost of their passage to America, the family eventually found its way to Chicago and settled in the area around St. Fidelis Parish in Humboldt Park. Jan and Tekla Guzlowski worked in various factories in Chicago. John attended St. Patrick High School, took a bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus, and earned a doctorate in English from Purdue University.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Guzlowski taught for twenty-five years at Eastern Illinois University, achieving an impressive record as a teacher and scholar. Twice in his career (1987 and 1993) he was presented with the Eastern Illinois University Faculty Excellence Teaching Award, in addition to two Achievement and Contribution Awards and recognition as the Distinguished Honors Faculty Member of 1992. He also produced a fine record of scholarship, publishing various articles on contemporary fiction and eventually emerging as a leading American authority on the writings of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Guzlowski maintains an active blog, had one of his poems read by Garrison Keillor on the prestigious Writer’s Almanac on public radio, and he has recently been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.</p><div class="mv-ad-wrapper" style="margin: 15px auto; text-align: center;"><amp-ad class="i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-built i-amphtml-layout" data-amp-slot-index="1" data-block-on-consent="" data-site="history-cooperative" height="250" i-amphtml-layout="fixed" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 320px;" type="mediavine" width="300"><iframe allow="sync-xhr 'none';" class="i-amphtml-fill-content" data-amp-3p-sentinel="0-2185566794538958910" height="250" name="{"host":"d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net","bootstrap":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/vendor/mediavine.mjs","type":"mediavine","count":2,"attributes":{"site":"history-cooperative","blockOnConsent":"","ampSlotIndex":"1","width":300,"height":250,"_context":{"ampcontextVersion":"2201071715000","ampcontextFilepath":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/ampcontext-v0.js","sourceUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp","referrer":"https://www.google.com/","canonicalUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/","pageViewId":"586","location":{"href":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp"},"startTime":1643130247148,"tagName":"AMP-AD","mode":{"localDev":false,"development":false,"esm":true,"test":false,"rtvVersion":"012201071715000"},"canary":false,"hidden":false,"initialLayoutRect":{"left":38,"top":1839,"width":300,"height":250},"domFingerprint":"1340388052","experimentToggles":{"canary":false,"a4aProfilingRate":false,"doubleclickSraExp":false,"doubleclickSraReportExcludedBlock":false,"flexAdSlots":false,"flexible-bitrate":false,"ios-fixed-no-transfer":false,"disable-a4a-non-sd":true,"amp-cid-backup":true,"story-ad-placements":false,"story-disable-animations-first-page":true,"story-load-first-page-only":true,"story-load-inactive-outside-viewport":true,"amp-story-page-attachment-ui-v2":true,"amp-sticky-ad-to-amp-ad-v4":false,"esm":true,"amp-story-first-page-max-bitrate":true,"story-ad-page-outlink":false},"sentinel":"0-2185566794538958910","clientId":null,"container":null,"initialConsentState":3,"consentSharedData":null,"pageViewId64":"EtqlOZSPUiCgC4jHQaPw3Q","initialIntersection":{"time":2467,"rootBounds":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":375,"height":620,"bottom":620,"right":375,"x":0,"y":0},"boundingClientRect":{"left":38,"top":1626,"width":300,"height":250,"bottom":1876,"right":338,"x":38,"y":1626},"intersectionRect":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":0,"height":0,"bottom":0,"right":0,"x":0,"y":0},"intersectionRatio":0}},"type":"mediavine"}}" sandbox="allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms allow-modals allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts" scrolling="no" src="https://d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net/2201071715000/frame.html" style="border-style: none; display: block; height: 250px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; width: 320px;" title="Advertisement" width="300"></iframe></amp-ad></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">More to the point of this study, Guzlowski began writing poetry. His poems have been published in a wide variety of journals including Atlantic Review, Spoon River Quarterly, Poetry East, Proteus: A Journal of Thought, and Periphery in the United States and such venues as Akcent, Nowa Okolica Poetów, and Tygodnik Powszechny in Poland, and Kalligram in Hungary. Guzlowski’s first collection of poems was entitled The Language of Mules; and in addition to its American edition, it was translated into Polish in 2002 by the Biblioteka Sląska in Katowice. Lightning and Ashes is Guzlowski’s second collection of poems; a third volume, Third Winter of War: Buchenwald, was published in 2006.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Guzlowski’s work has already attracted widespread recognition and garnered a number of awards. The Language of Mules, for example, earned for Guzlowski an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award in 2002; and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for Poetry. Beyond that, he has been honored as featured poet by journals such as Spoon River Review and Margie: An American Journal of Poetry.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The primary subject of much of John Guzlowski’s poetry is the experience of his parents in the slave labor camps of Nazi Germany during World War II. With some modifications, this is true as well for the poems in Lightning and Ashes. In that volume, however, Guzlowski has broadened his focus and provides something of a family history. The primary focus of the collection remains the experience of his parents as slave laborers during the war; but now Guzlowski also reports more extensively on his parents’ lives in Poland before the war and on the story of the family’s experiences in the United States; he also wrestles with and tries to understand the legacy of the war for his parents and for himself and his sister—and even for his daughter.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">This is part of the reason why John Guzlowski’s poetry is so important. For American audiences in general, he is telling a story which few have ever heard: the history of non-Jewish victims of World War II, the experiences of Polish Christian victims. At the Sixty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, two prominent leaders of the Jewish American community commented on precisely this problem. Robert Cherry of Brooklyn College, coeditor of Rethinking Poles and Jews, observed that “the brutality experienced by Polish Catholics is a story that’s not known by people outside of the Polish community”; and Guy Billauer of the American Jewish Committee commented that “Polish suffering [during World War II] is virtually unknown and needs to be disseminated.” In telling the story of his family in his poetry, Guzlowski is addressing this need; he is also reporting the experiences of a segment of the Polish American community which has probably been most neglected in the literary record of Polonia: that of Polish displaced persons who relocated in the United States after the war.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Most of us recognize, I think, that the majority of Americans are woefully ignorant of the story of Polish Americans and of Poles in America; this is partially a result of the selective indifference of American culture and of the American educational system to particular ethnic groups; but it is also a consequence of the Polish American community’s failure to find and support those voices which tell their story. This makes Guzlowski’s poetry doubly important: he is recording the story of a particularly neglected segment of the Polish American community, including that segment’s experience in World War II; and he is telling that story with great skill and recognition to both other members of Polonia and to the American public at large. Nowhere has he done this more powerfully than in Lightning and Ashes.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">For the most part, the poems in this volume report the stories of the war experiences which his parents shared with him—sometimes willingly and eagerly and at other times reluctantly and under some duress. Guzlowski refuses to forget these stories and to allow others to forget or to remain ignorant. In a poem entitled “What My Father Brought with Him,” he recounts: “Once he [the father] watched / a woman in the moments before she died / take a stick and try to write her name / in the mud where she lay.” This desperate effort of a dying woman to be remembered motivated both the father’s report and the son’s effort to capture the memory in poetry. Guzlowski is not content, however, with simply reporting the tales of others; he wants the experiences of his parents to be remembered.</p><div class="mv-ad-wrapper" style="margin: 15px auto; text-align: center;"><amp-ad class="i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-built i-amphtml-layout" data-amp-slot-index="2" data-block-on-consent="" data-site="history-cooperative" height="250" i-amphtml-layout="fixed" style="--loader-delay-offset: 1ms !important; display: inline-block; height: 250px; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 300px;" type="mediavine" width="300"><iframe allow="sync-xhr 'none';" class="i-amphtml-fill-content" data-amp-3p-sentinel="0-8720292383767116162" height="250" name="{"host":"d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net","bootstrap":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/vendor/mediavine.mjs","type":"mediavine","count":3,"attributes":{"site":"history-cooperative","blockOnConsent":"","ampSlotIndex":"2","width":300,"height":250,"_context":{"ampcontextVersion":"2201071715000","ampcontextFilepath":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/ampcontext-v0.js","sourceUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp","referrer":"https://www.google.com/","canonicalUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/","pageViewId":"586","location":{"href":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp"},"startTime":1643130273600,"tagName":"AMP-AD","mode":{"localDev":false,"development":false,"esm":true,"test":false,"rtvVersion":"012201071715000"},"canary":false,"hidden":false,"initialLayoutRect":{"left":38,"top":5121,"width":300,"height":250},"domFingerprint":"730195093","experimentToggles":{"canary":false,"a4aProfilingRate":false,"doubleclickSraExp":false,"doubleclickSraReportExcludedBlock":false,"flexAdSlots":false,"flexible-bitrate":false,"ios-fixed-no-transfer":false,"disable-a4a-non-sd":true,"amp-cid-backup":true,"story-ad-placements":false,"story-disable-animations-first-page":true,"story-load-first-page-only":true,"story-load-inactive-outside-viewport":true,"amp-story-page-attachment-ui-v2":true,"amp-sticky-ad-to-amp-ad-v4":false,"esm":true,"amp-story-first-page-max-bitrate":true,"story-ad-page-outlink":false},"sentinel":"0-8720292383767116162","clientId":null,"container":null,"initialConsentState":3,"consentSharedData":null,"pageViewId64":"EtqlOZSPUiCgC4jHQaPw3Q","initialIntersection":{"time":28919,"rootBounds":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":375,"height":620,"bottom":620,"right":375,"x":0,"y":0},"boundingClientRect":{"left":38,"top":1164,"width":300,"height":250,"bottom":1414,"right":338,"x":38,"y":1164},"intersectionRect":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":0,"height":0,"bottom":0,"right":0,"x":0,"y":0},"intersectionRatio":0}},"type":"mediavine"}}" sandbox="allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms allow-modals allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts" scrolling="no" src="https://d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net/2201071715000/frame.html" style="border-style: none; display: block; height: 250px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; width: 300px;" title="Advertisement" width="300"></iframe></amp-ad></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Not infrequently, his parents, especially his mother, don’t want to discuss their experiences; this very reluctance reveals much. In one of his most widely anthologized and re-printed poems, “Cattle Train to Magdeburg,” also included in Lightning and Ashes, Guzlowski recreates, as he envisions it, the experience of his mother’s deportation to Germany:</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgba(127, 127, 127, 0.125); border-left-color: rgb(4, 67, 137); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; margin: 8px 0px 24px; padding: 16px;"><h6>My mother still remembers</h6><h6>The long train to Magdeburg<br />the box cars<br />bleached gray<br />by Baltic winters<br />The rivers and the cities<br />she had never seen before<br />and would never see again:<br />the sacred Vistula<br />the smoke haunted ruins of Warsaw<br />the Warta, where horse flesh<br />met steel and fell</h6><h6>The leather fists<br />Of pale boys<br />boys her own age<br />perhaps seventeen<br />perhaps nineteen<br />but different<br />convinced of their godhood<br />by the cross they wore<br />different from the one<br />she knew in Lvov</h6><h6>The long twilight journey<br />to Magdeburg<br />four days that became six years<br />six years that became sixty</h6><h6>And always a train of box cars<br />bleached to Baltic gray.</h6></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The first poem in Lightning and Ashes, entitled “My Mother Reads My Poem ‘Cattle Train to Magdeburg,'” presents the guarded response of Guzlowski’s mother to this poem about her deportation; and it sets the tone for his inquiry, his determination to remember, and for his effort to understand:</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgba(127, 127, 127, 0.125); border-left-color: rgb(4, 67, 137); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; margin: 8px 0px 24px; padding: 16px;"><h6>She looks at me and says,<br />“That’s not how it was.<br />I couldn’t see anything<br />except when they stopped<br />the boxcars and opened the doors</h6><h6>And I didn’t see<br />any of those rivers,<br />and if I did, I didn’t know<br />their names. No one said,<br />‘look, look, this river<br />is the Warta, and there<br />that’s the Vistula.’</h6><h6>What I remember<br />is the bodies being<br />pushed out—sometimes<br />women kicked them out<br />with their feet.</h6><h6>Now it sounds terrible.</h6><h6>You think we were bad women<br />but we weren’t. We were girls<br />taken from homes, alone.<br />Some had seen terrible things<br />done to their families.</h6><h6>Even though you’re a grown man<br />and a teacher, we saw things<br />I don’t want to tell you about.</h6></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The things his mother saw took a toll on her, and Guzlowski is truthful in reporting that toll of “four days that became six years / six years that became sixty.” In “What the War Taught Her,” Section 3 of “My Mother Talks About the Slave Labor Camps,” Guzlowski reports the effects of those experiences with understanding but also with understated pain:</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgba(127, 127, 127, 0.125); border-left-color: rgb(4, 67, 137); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; margin: 8px 0px 24px; padding: 16px;"><h6>My mother learned that sex is bad,<br />Men are worthless, it is always cold<br />And there is never enough to eat.</h6><h6>She learned that if you are stupid<br />With your hands you will not survive<br />The winter even if you survive the fall.</h6><h6>She learned that only the young survive<br />The camps. The old are left in piles<br />Like worthless paper, and babies<br />Are scarce like chicken and bread.</h6><h6>She learned that the world is a broken place<br />Where no birds sing, and even angels<br />Cannot bear the sorrows God gives them.</h6><h6>She learned that you don’t pray<br />Your enemies will not torment you.<br />You only pray that they will not kill you.</h6></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">This sort of candor gives one a flavor of the power and pain of the collection and is also one of its many literary virtues.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">In a paper of this length there is not sufficient time to review the poetic technique and skills of John Guzlowski in detail; but some aspects must be addressed—even if only briefly—to support the claim that Guzlowski is a powerful voice for Polonia on the poetic scene.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Like Robert Frost and Czesław Miłosz, two poets whom he very much admires, Guzlowski is primarily a lyric-narrative poet. This means, of course, that his poetry tells stories laden with a powerful emotional content in poetic form; and his poetry is successful precisely because his poems display an impressive mastery of the skills peculiar to both narrative and poetic literature.</p><div class="mv-ad-wrapper" style="margin: 15px auto; text-align: center;"><amp-ad class="i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-built i-amphtml-layout" data-amp-slot-index="3" data-block-on-consent="" data-site="history-cooperative" height="250" i-amphtml-layout="fixed" style="--loader-delay-offset: 0ms !important; display: inline-block; height: 250px; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 300px;" type="mediavine" width="300"><iframe allow="sync-xhr 'none';" class="i-amphtml-fill-content" data-amp-3p-sentinel="0-24875926513001694302" height="250" name="{"host":"d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net","bootstrap":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/vendor/mediavine.mjs","type":"mediavine","count":4,"attributes":{"site":"history-cooperative","blockOnConsent":"","ampSlotIndex":"3","width":300,"height":250,"_context":{"ampcontextVersion":"2201071715000","ampcontextFilepath":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/ampcontext-v0.js","sourceUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp","referrer":"https://www.google.com/","canonicalUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/","pageViewId":"586","location":{"href":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp"},"startTime":1643130278591,"tagName":"AMP-AD","mode":{"localDev":false,"development":false,"esm":true,"test":false,"rtvVersion":"012201071715000"},"canary":false,"hidden":false,"initialLayoutRect":{"left":38,"top":9241,"width":300,"height":250},"domFingerprint":"456448214","experimentToggles":{"canary":false,"a4aProfilingRate":false,"doubleclickSraExp":false,"doubleclickSraReportExcludedBlock":false,"flexAdSlots":false,"flexible-bitrate":false,"ios-fixed-no-transfer":false,"disable-a4a-non-sd":true,"amp-cid-backup":true,"story-ad-placements":false,"story-disable-animations-first-page":true,"story-load-first-page-only":true,"story-load-inactive-outside-viewport":true,"amp-story-page-attachment-ui-v2":true,"amp-sticky-ad-to-amp-ad-v4":false,"esm":true,"amp-story-first-page-max-bitrate":true,"story-ad-page-outlink":false},"sentinel":"0-24875926513001694302","clientId":null,"container":null,"initialConsentState":3,"consentSharedData":null,"pageViewId64":"EtqlOZSPUiCgC4jHQaPw3Q","initialIntersection":{"time":33911,"rootBounds":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":375,"height":620,"bottom":620,"right":375,"x":0,"y":0},"boundingClientRect":{"left":38,"top":329,"width":300,"height":250,"bottom":579,"right":338,"x":38,"y":329},"intersectionRect":{"left":38,"top":329,"width":300,"height":250,"bottom":579,"right":338,"x":38,"y":329},"intersectionRatio":1}},"type":"mediavine"}}" sandbox="allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms allow-modals allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts" scrolling="no" src="https://d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net/2201071715000/frame.html" style="border-style: none; display: block; height: 250px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; width: 300px;" title="Advertisement" width="300"></iframe></amp-ad></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The narrative skill of Guzlowski’s poetry is especially important to the success of Lightning and Ashes because the volume tells stories at two levels: the level of the individual poems which almost invariably report some specific incident or conversation in the history of his family (particularly the experiences of his mother and father in the war) and the level of the volume as a whole which gathers these particular poems together in a deliberate fashion in order to provide an overview, although not a complete picture, of the family’s story.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">At the level of narrative, several skills are evident. For one thing, the poems present vivid portraits of their major characters: Guzlowski’s mother and father, the poet-son, and, to a lesser degree, Guzlowski’s sister and even his daughter, although the daughter appears in only one of the poems, the final one. In the course of the poems, readers will, I think, come to know and identify with these characters, notwithstanding the fact that the characters, especially Jan and Tekla (the parents), have been deeply scarred by their experiences in the war and are, consequently, flawed and frequently not sympathetic. We come to understand that the parents are not heroes who ultimately triumphed over their circumstances but traumatized victims who were never quite able to escape or overcome their wartime experiences—experiences which had grave consequences for their selfidentity and for their marriage. In the heartrending poem “Why My Mother Stayed with My Father,” the wounds of the parents are painfully apparent:</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgba(127, 127, 127, 0.125); border-left-color: rgb(4, 67, 137); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; margin: 8px 0px 24px; padding: 16px;"><h6>She knew he was worthless the first time<br />she saw him in the camps: his blind eye,<br />his small size, the way his clothes carried<br />the smell of the dead men who wore them before.</h6><h6>In America she learned he couldn’t fix a leak<br />or drive a nail straight. He knew nothing<br />about the world, the way the planets moved,<br />the tides. The moon was just a hole in the sky,</h6><h6>electricity a mystery as great as death.<br />The first time lightning shorted the fuses,<br />he fell to his knees and prayed to Blessed Mary<br />to bring back the miracle of light and lamps.</h6><h6>He was a drunk too. Some Fridays he drank<br />his check away as soon as he left work.<br />When she’d see him stagger, she’d knock him down<br />and kick him till he wept. He wouldn’t crawl away,</h6><h6>He was too embarrassed. Sober, he’d beg<br />in the bars on Division for food or rent<br />till even the drunks and bartenders<br />took pity on this dumb polack.</h6><h6>My father was like that, but he stayed<br />with her through her madness in the camps<br />when she searched among the dead for her sister,<br />and he stayed when it came back in America.</h6><h6>Maybe this as why my mother stayed.<br />She knew only a man worthless as mud,<br />worthless as a broken <a href="http://historycooperative.org/history-of-dogs-the-journey-of-mans-best-friend/" style="color: #044389;">dog</a> would suffer<br />with her through all of her sorrow.</h6></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">This process of identification and even of empathy with the parents is possible partially because the character of the narrator, the poet-son, is itself handled with great success. Through the first-person point of view which Guzlowski employs artfully, we experience a very immediate and intensely personal contact with the parents and their struggles; as a result, it is not possible to de-humanize them. Furthermore, along with the first-person narrator, we attempt to capture and comprehend the experiences of the parents—even in their most unattractive moments.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The action of the poems is also handled deftly for effect. The individual poems often build to climactic endings which provide a focus but not an easy resolution of the incident described. Recall the endings of the poems cited in this review.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">In “Cattle Train to Magdeburg” the “four days that became six years / six years that became sixty” forces readers to confront the lifelong trauma of the war years on the mother while in “My Mother Reads My Poem ‘Cattle Train to Magdeburg'” the climax of the poem in a very powerful way stresses the mother’s futile efforts to protect her son and herself from the experiences: “Even though you’re a grown man / and a teacher, we saw things / I don’t want to tell you about.” In a similar fashion, the conclusion of “What the War Taught Her” documents the ultimate lesson which the mother has learned: “She learned that you don’t pray / Your enemies will not torment you. / You only pray that they will not kill you.” And, of course, in “Why My Mother Stayed with My Father,” just cited above, the last two stanzas provide an insight into the dynamic of the parents’ relationship which changes everything.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">At a different level, the arrangement of the poems in Lightning and Ashes manipulates the action in a way that reveals a deliberate movement from the universal to the particular circumstances of this ethnic group, this generation, and this family. Part I, “What It’s Like Now,” deals primarily with the death of his parents a half century after the war and is, in many respects, universal in its appeal. Some of the details of the deaths of Guzlowski’s parents, however, will not become clear until the poems of the later sections of the volume reveal specific details of the family’s history. The poems of Part II, “When My Mother and My Father, My sister Danusha and I Came to America,” tells the story of the family’s arrival in America as displaced persons with the peculiar challenges which these circumstances created, thus taking the universal story of immigration and adapting it to this family’s special situation both for general American audiences and even for Polish American audiences. The final section of the volume, Part III, “What the War Was Like,” records the experiences which have made his parents who they were and forces all readers to deal with the peculiar history of this family; it introduces audiences, many for the first time, to the Polish experience of the War and confronts them with the tragedy of all wars. Finally, the single poem of the Epilogue, “How Early Fall Came This Year,” returns to the present, introduces the poet’s daughter, and forces a consideration of the effects of the family’s history in the war on the third generation; it also suggests the need and the difficulty of preserving memories of the war and the difficulty of doing so properly. This violation of chronology in the overall plan of the volume skillfully brings the reader into the story in a way which provides maximum engagement.</p><div class="mv-ad-wrapper" style="margin: 15px auto; text-align: center;"><amp-ad class="i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-built i-amphtml-layout" data-amp-slot-index="4" data-block-on-consent="" data-site="history-cooperative" height="250" i-amphtml-layout="fixed" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 320px;" type="mediavine" width="300"><iframe allow="sync-xhr 'none';" class="i-amphtml-fill-content" data-amp-3p-sentinel="0-1233065281649168557" height="250" name="{"host":"d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net","bootstrap":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/vendor/mediavine.mjs","type":"mediavine","count":5,"attributes":{"site":"history-cooperative","blockOnConsent":"","ampSlotIndex":"4","width":300,"height":250,"_context":{"ampcontextVersion":"2201071715000","ampcontextFilepath":"https://3p.ampproject.net/2201071715000/ampcontext-v0.js","sourceUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp","referrer":"https://www.google.com/","canonicalUrl":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/","pageViewId":"586","location":{"href":"https://historycooperative.org/journal/lightning-and-ashes-the-poetry-of-john-guzlowski/?amp"},"startTime":1643130280617,"tagName":"AMP-AD","mode":{"localDev":false,"development":false,"esm":true,"test":false,"rtvVersion":"012201071715000"},"canary":false,"hidden":false,"initialLayoutRect":{"left":38,"top":13871,"width":300,"height":250},"domFingerprint":"684526231","experimentToggles":{"canary":false,"a4aProfilingRate":false,"doubleclickSraExp":false,"doubleclickSraReportExcludedBlock":false,"flexAdSlots":false,"flexible-bitrate":false,"ios-fixed-no-transfer":false,"disable-a4a-non-sd":true,"amp-cid-backup":true,"story-ad-placements":false,"story-disable-animations-first-page":true,"story-load-first-page-only":true,"story-load-inactive-outside-viewport":true,"amp-story-page-attachment-ui-v2":true,"amp-sticky-ad-to-amp-ad-v4":false,"esm":true,"amp-story-first-page-max-bitrate":true,"story-ad-page-outlink":false},"sentinel":"0-1233065281649168557","clientId":null,"container":null,"initialConsentState":3,"consentSharedData":null,"pageViewId64":"EtqlOZSPUiCgC4jHQaPw3Q","initialIntersection":{"time":35936,"rootBounds":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":375,"height":620,"bottom":620,"right":375,"x":0,"y":0},"boundingClientRect":{"left":38,"top":1415,"width":300,"height":250,"bottom":1665,"right":338,"x":38,"y":1415},"intersectionRect":{"left":0,"top":0,"width":0,"height":0,"bottom":0,"right":0,"x":0,"y":0},"intersectionRatio":0}},"type":"mediavine"}}" sandbox="allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms allow-modals allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts" scrolling="no" src="https://d-26843559462879946502.ampproject.net/2201071715000/frame.html" style="border-style: none; display: block; height: 250px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; width: 320px;" title="Advertisement" width="300"></iframe></amp-ad></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The lyric dimension of Guzlowski’s poetry is conveyed largely through narrative strengths; but at least three specific poetic strategies deserve comment. The first of these is Guzlowski’s innovations with verse and meter. In a decision dictated in large measure by his subject matter, Guzlowski has adapted traditional meters and verse forms to suit the topics he addresses: the tragedy of war, the trauma of displacement, the pain of immigration, and the consequences of all these experiences for family life. Thus, instead of traditional blank verse—i.e., unrhymed iambic pentameter—in his longer poems Guzlowski alters the normal patterns, varying the number of syllables allowed per line (sometime more than ten, sometime fewer) and the regular iambic foot. The effect is a less harmonious verse form which underscores the complexity and anguish of so much of his subject matter. In a similar fashion and for much the same reason, in his shorter poems Guzlowski resorts to what he terms “exploded sonnets.” Here he trades the number of lines traditionally employed in sonnets, the usual rhyme patterns, and the meter for “repeated sentence units” such as prepositional phrases or compounded elements to create the effect for which he is striving. Here is not experimentation for the sake of experimentation but creativity in the service of art and artistic effect and affect.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">One particular effect to which these adjustments to meter and form contribute is a certain conversational tone—not always a pleasant or flowing conversation but a spoken tone, nonetheless. Remember that many of Guzlowski’s poems originated in conversations which he had with his parents; some were conversations which he initiated and in which he pressed his parents; others were exchanges in which his parents forced the issue. Regardless of the circumstance, Guzlowski strives to recreate that reportorial and conversational impression.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Despite the pain of some of these conversations and the complexity of the subject matter, perhaps precisely because of these considerations, Guzlowski makes every effort to ensure the accessibility and clarity of his poems. This should not be confused with a simplicity of vision or with easy answers to the issues raised. Complexity notwithstanding, Guzlowski insists that his readers not be daunted by convoluted forms or language; and this points to one other feature of his poetry, and that is his diction—his choice of words. Guzlowski’s poems are written in accessible and earthy language but with words that convey both clarity and emotional power; his poems are direct, almost blunt, but not inflated. On the topic of diction, it is also worth mentioning that Guzlowski’s poetry, although non-traditional in form and meter, makes careful use of repetition and sound patterns to achieve its effects.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Like all good poets, John Guzlowski writes poems that have universal relevance; his poems, for example, deal with parent-child relations, husband-wife bonds, new beginnings, death (especially the death of parents), family connections (and disconnections), tragedy, trauma, and endurance. In the case of Guzlowski, however, these universal themes are anchored in Polish and Polish American experiences and also importantly in a segment of the Polish American community which has, until recently, been virtually voiceless—without, at least, a strong and clear literary voice. As a talented poet and a powerful voice for Polonia, John Guzlowski deserves our attention, our thanks—and our support.</p></div>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-22718996414239665232022-01-24T09:31:00.003-05:002022-01-24T09:32:29.562-05:0077th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsj9ZBt81Bd0RxiD3_XOIa9zc3F7veUipFETXiAN32kZmnqtNmkxeabEk33E1dlovGxPe_Zt9C_yMJnFtNnDhA0t2fpLZykzm3ef-jBO19iQZHbzloZ82oaxXqez49UPLo1ML3EPqfIpiAUXhLB45roDhknDoqDO9kbPVmrNgyj8mniXiXyKAGStDf=s604" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="439" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsj9ZBt81Bd0RxiD3_XOIa9zc3F7veUipFETXiAN32kZmnqtNmkxeabEk33E1dlovGxPe_Zt9C_yMJnFtNnDhA0t2fpLZykzm3ef-jBO19iQZHbzloZ82oaxXqez49UPLo1ML3EPqfIpiAUXhLB45roDhknDoqDO9kbPVmrNgyj8mniXiXyKAGStDf=s320" width="233" /></a></div><br />77th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz<p></p><p>On January 27, 1945, the Russian army came upon Auschwitz and its various camps and subcamps. </p><p>What they found was terrible.</p><p>Afraid of anyone seeing what they had been doing in Auschwitz, the Germans went on a killing spree before the arrival of the Russians. They also tried to blow up the ovens where the murdered had been burned for years. </p><p>When the Russians arrived, they found corpses and 7000 starving prisoners.</p><p>A conservative estimate is that 1,000,000 people died there. Two of the them were my mother's aunts, Polish girls who married two Jewish boys. </p><p>Here is a poem I wrote about Auschwitz. It is based on an incident Tadeusz Borowski, a survivor of Auschwitz, describes in his memoir This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. </p><p>I wrote the poem after a student at one of my readings asked me if I had one word for everything that happened in Auschwitz and the other German camps. </p><p>The word was fear.</p><p>The poem appears in my book Echoes of Tattered Tongues. </p><p>Fear</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>During the war, there was only work and death.</p><p>The work broke you down, filled your stomach</p><p>with rocks and threw you in the river to drown.</p><p>The work shoved a bayonet up your ass</p><p>and twisted the blade till you were dead.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the camps, there was only what we ate</p><p>and those we worked with—sometimes women.</p><p>But we never made love. I’ll tell you why.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fear. I remember once a thousand men</p><p>were working a field with sticks, and trucks came</p><p>and dumped naked women in front of us.</p><p>Guards were whipping them to the ovens,</p><p>and the women screamed and cried to us, pleaded</p><p>with their arms stretched out—naked mothers,</p><p>daughters, and sisters, but not one man moved.</p><p><br /></p><p>Not one. Fear will blind you, and tie you up</p><p>like nothing else. It’ll whisper, “Just stand still,</p><p>soon it will be over. Don’t worry, there’s nothing</p><p>you can do.” You will take this fear to the grave</p><p>with you. I can promise. And after the war,</p><p>it was the same. I saw things that were as bad</p><p>as what happened in the camps. I wish</p><p>I had had a gun there. I would have</p><p>pressed it here to my forehead, right here.</p><p>Better that than what I feel now. This fear.</p><p><br /></p><p>—</p><p><br /></p><p>The painting is by Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk from his series of paintings of Dante’s Divine Comedy</p>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-59589748035971332032021-08-11T11:43:00.001-04:002021-08-12T10:45:36.228-04:00Danusha Goska’s Review of The August Trials: The Holocaust and Postwar Justice in Poland<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic;">The August Trials: The Holocaust and Postwar Justice in Poland</span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Andrew Kornbluth </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Published March, 2021</span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Harvard University Press </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials: The Holocaust and Postwar Justice in Poland </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">was published in March, 2021 by Harvard University Press. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The book</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">addresses post-war trials of World-War-II-era Polish collaborators with the Nazis. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Author Andrew </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth focuses on trials of Poles who caught, handed over to German Nazis, or murdered Jews seeking refuge. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth estimates that Poles killed </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">tens of thousands</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> of Jews</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. I</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">addition, in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the post-war era, Poles killed 'anywhere from </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">6</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">00 to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">3,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">000 Jews.' </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cites previous work by Polish-Canadian scholar Jan Grabowski, author of </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Hunt for the Jews, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish scholars Dariusz Libionka, Alina Skibinska, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Barbara Engelking, and Polish-American scholar Jan Tomasz Gross. Kornbluth is a Research Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. He is a former fellow of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">has received laudatory reviews. Mark Glanville, writing in the </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jewish Chronicle, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reports that 'As a result of actions taken by Germans and Poles … 90 per cent of Poland’s 3.5 million Jewish population was exterminated.' The reader will note </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Germans and Poles.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Glanville and Kornbluth's goal is to locate Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poland</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and Polish culture</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and Catholicism </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">same</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> historical dock occupied by </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">German </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazis, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazi</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Germany</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and Nazism</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The crime of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">which </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">both</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> sets of perpetrators</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> stand accused, and, in the author's belief, convicted, is</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> genocide. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth refers to Poles killing Jews as 'the conveyer belt of genocide.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish blue police and village leaders constituted 'genocidal infrastructure.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Konstanty Gebert, writing in </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Moment, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reports that Kornbluth describes a </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Soviet-era </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">process that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">strengthened the legend of Polish innocence.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Ronald Grigor writes that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish Communists asserted the wartime innocence of all Poles.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Communists, Kornbluth argue</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, thereby earned the support of the Polish populace. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'Innocence' is a concept that appears repeatedly. Kornbluth dedicates his book 'To the innocent.' Kornbluth's first chapter title invokes the Biblical Cain. Cain introduced murder into the human experience, and was forever afterward stigmatized. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'Cain' is eponymous with 'guilt.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles are Cain; Poles cannot escape stigma for the murder of Jews. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">T</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">he </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">transcendent </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">power of myth, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the authority of Genesis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">must be invoked </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">to</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> establish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the quality of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish guilt. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west on September 1, 1939. The USSR invaded from the east </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">later</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> that same month. After World War II, The USSR again invaded and took control of Poland. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">P</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ost-war </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland occupied a different geographic territory than the Poland of 1939. Poland lost eastern territory and moved west, into formerly German territory. Soviet domination ended in 1989. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The years</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> 1939-1989 </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">were not </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland's only experience of foreign domination. Poland had been a large and wealthy country in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Beginning in 1772, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland was partitioned and colonized by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Poland regained political status as a nation after W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">orld </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ar</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> I, in 1918. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth does not dwell on this history; I mention it that readers might better understand subsequent summaries of Kornbluth's points. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In the immediate post-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">World-W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ar</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-II</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> period, a reconstituted</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, USSR-dominated</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poland conducted </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">more than </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">32,000 'August trials</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The term 'August trials' is a reference to the August 31, 1944 decree that established the</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">m</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. These trials were </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of Poles who </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">had </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">collaborated with the Nazis. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Over the course of twelve years, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">judges handed down</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">20,000 guilty verdicts and 1,835 death sentences. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth's study focuses on 'over 400 trials conducted between 1944 and 1952 for crimes committed against Jews by Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> in the Generalgouvernement (General Government). The Generalgouvernement was name </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">German Nazis </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">g</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ave</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">center</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and southeast</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> of Poland</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The bulk of Kornbluth's book consists of one-or-two-paragraph summations of crimes, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">summaries of how the accused pleaded, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and also of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">how judges and attorneys handled cases. Kornbluth</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'s </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">introduction telegraphs his intention. Th</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">e introduction's title is</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A Country without a Quisling?</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Those outside the fevered realms of Polish-Jewish relations will not recognize the import of that title. Poland was exceptional among European countries occupied by Germany. Occupation was </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">longer and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">much harsher in Poland. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Depending on what calculations are used, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">is often assessed as having </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">lost a greater percentage of its prewar population than any </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">other </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">country. Poland produced the Home Army, one of the largest resistance forces in occupied Europe. Nazi </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Generalplan Ost </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">called for the elimination of Poles and Poland. Kornbluth does not mention these facts; I mention them in order that the reader of this review can better understand the meaning of</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> introduction's title. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In spite of the uniquely</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">horrific conditions of occupation in Poland, Poland, as a state, did not collaborate with the Nazis. In Norway, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazi collaborator </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Vidkun Quisling was the nominal head of state during Nazi occupation. Poland's government was in exile, in London. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles fought against the Nazis in an organized way from the first day of the war to the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">final</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Nazi presence. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish patriots are proud to say that, under the hell-on-earth that the Nazis instituted in Poland, Poland was a state without a Quisling. With his introduction's title, Kornbluth announces that one of the goals of his book is to disprove that statement</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and to remove Poland's source of pride. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth is a skilled writer. The book is well organized and never succumbs to academic jargon. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Throughout, Kornbluth's writing is economical. He never uses more words than necessary; thus, accounts are clipped in style. For the most part, his writing is dry. Anger does seep through, especially in the book's conclusion and in a couple of spots where trial proceedings a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">re assessed as</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> 'galling.' Kornbluth uses anachronistic phrases like 'outsourcing genocide' and 'it takes a village.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth also protests against resistance in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">today's </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland to gay rights. C</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ontemporary phrases applied to past events reflect Kornbluth's intention to use past events to reinforce his position in contemporary debates</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, for example, the debate over Jewish claims for financial restitution from Poland</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Though </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth's</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> accounts </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of Poles' crimes against Jews are</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> skeletally brief, Kornbluth manages to include repugnant details. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ssailants are spectacularly stupid, crude, and sadistic. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">If they revealed any decent human characteristics at all, none of those characteristics are included in Kornbluth's summaries. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">One </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">criminal </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">takes pleasure i</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> shooting Jews in their genitals. Another leads a captured </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">teenage </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jew by a rope around his neck. Others murder Jews </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">they had </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">previously </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">agreed to rescue. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazis </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">most notoriously </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">murdered their victims with modern machinery and chemicals</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ith Jew</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ish Sonderkommando</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> handling the dirty work, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazis could keep their Hugo Boss uniforms clean. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish peasant villagers killed their victims with fists, axes, and shovels. More than one victim was buried while still breathing. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Parents had to watch their children </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">being </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">killed. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles pick</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ed</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> over the possessions of dead Jews, laying claim, inter alia, to blood-spattered linens. This is a grand guignol inhabited by ghouls. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In spite of the brevity of these accounts, the sensitive reader will live these </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">atrocities</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">through the eyes</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> hearts</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and final breaths</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> of the victimized Jews. One can imagine being Jewish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">during</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poland's interwar period, 1918-1939. Poland was reborn, a cause for celebration</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and hope</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, but in that reborn Poland, in a reflection of wider world trends, anti-Semitism was rising. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Thugs beat Jews in the streets</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">university seats were limited</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">anti-Semites called for </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jews'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> expulsion. Polish Jews watched Hitler's rise in Germany, and, finally, Nazi Germany's invasion. They watched Einsatzgruppen massacre Jews and Catholic Poles and ghetto walls arise. Finally, in desperation, they begged Polish neighbors for help</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. These neighbors toyed with them, promising help, but respond</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ed</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> with the back of a shovel against a head. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Former neighbors rifled through the pockets of the dead for 'Jewish gold.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The reader wishes that her hands could reach through time itself and pull victims back from </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">shallow</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> grave</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, wishes that her fingers could rewrite history. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The reader has no such power, and must soldier on, and read the next account. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">What propels this reading of account after a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ccount</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of multiple</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> set</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> of foreign names that she will soon forget and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">struggles to</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> pronounce, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">even when reading silently, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">is the conviction that at least to read is to witness, is to relieve, retroactively, the victim's anonymity and isolation at that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">intimate, sacred </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">moment of confused, horrifying, and unjust death. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">May the pain of these deaths, may the outrage the reader feels, inform future action</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> with compassion</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> understanding</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and an unbending commitment </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">to</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> justice</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and against hate</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland's thousands of rescuers appear in </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">only to reinforce the author's point. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The rarely mentioned r</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">escuers </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">here </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">are too afraid to let others know that they have rescued Jews, because they will be punished by their fellow Poles for that rescue. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Readers familiar with World War II in Poland will have read, or have heard from survivor friends, of entire villages that conspired to keep one Jew safe in a hayloft or behind a false wall. Kornbluth never attempts to reconcile the disconnect between accounts of villages that sheltered Jews and other villages where many united to persecute Jews and profit from their elimination. Roman Solecki</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, a Jewish Pole</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> who served in the Home Army</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, was my friend</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. I don't know how to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reconcile</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> his accounts </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">with this book's accounts of Home Army units killing Jews. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Perhaps a future volume will </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">systemize what differentiates not just individuals who rescue </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">from</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> individuals that persecute, but the village collectives that made the same choices. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Those interested in Polish-Jewish relations should and will read </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. We want to know about these victims. We want their pain to inform our involvement in Polish-Jewish dialogue. I want to say that Hersz Flechtman, who was bashed in the head by the nephew of the Polish man who was hiding him, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">three-year-old Mojzesz Kwint, drowned by a Polish woman who didn't receive enough money to keep him, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the unnamed Jewish woman who was repeatedly raped by a </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">szmalcownik</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, or blackmailer, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">were seen, known, heard and mourned by me. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth reports on the various rationalizations for their crimes offered by Polish perpetrators, their defense attorneys, or judges. Poles killed Jews or handed them over to Nazis because the Nazis threatened to kill any Poles who didn't do so. Poles wanted Nazi rewards, for example food. Poles wanted Jewish people's possessions. Poles were overwhelmed by the brutality of the occupation and had sunk into lawlessness. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles suspected Jews of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">banditry,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> that is theft of limited food and other resources. Poles suspected Jews of collaboration with Soviet communists. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Inevitably, blame-the-victim excuses are offered. A given Jew didn't do enough to save himself, so his killers had no choice. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth argues convincingly that there were important differences between crimes</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles committed against other Poles and crimes Poles committed against Jews. Crimes committed against Jews</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">were more public, communal, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">deadly, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and sadistic than crimes committed against Poles. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles who otherwise served honorably in anti-Nazi resistance also committed crimes against Jews; thus, one cannot write off </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">anti-Semitic violence</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> as the signature of social deviance. To be a Polish hero </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in the war against Nazism </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">was not mutually exclusive with being a sadistic anti-Semitic killer. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">As mentioned, the Soviet Union invaded Poland in 1939 and then again</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, during and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">after the war. The USSR dominated Poland until the fall of communism in 1989. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Post-war Soviet crimes against Poles interfered with Poland's ability to address Polish criminals who collaborated with the Nazis. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In the post-W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">orld-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ar</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-II era, heroic Poles who had fought </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">honorably </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">against Nazism were variously defamed, arrested, tortured, paraded in show trials, killed, buried in unmarked graves, and all but erased from history. Their persecutors were </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Soviet-allied </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">communists. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Most of these communists were Poles. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A disproportionate number of communists were Jews, including Maria Gurowska, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the judge who sentenced anti-Nazi hero August Emil Fieldorf to death, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and Helena Woli</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ska-Brus</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, who prosecuted Fieldorf</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Under Jakub Berman, at least 200,000 Poles were arrested for alleged political crimes and at least 6,000 were executed. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth writes</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> 'Of roughly 400 "leading" positions in the Ministry of Public Security between 1944 and 1954, it has been calculated that 37 percent were occupied by ethnic Jews.' Note the word 'ethnic.' Kornbluth differentiates between those descending from Jewish ancestry and those who actually practice the religion. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Space is created between </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jewishness and crimes committed by Jews. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Equity would require</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the same treatment accorded to Catholics. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Witold Pilecki, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">who volunteered to be smuggled into Auschwitz in order to help the resistance against Nazism, was also killed. Other notable victims include </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">those persecuted in the Trial of the Sixteen, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that is, Home Army leaders who were tortured in Moscow and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">falsely </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">accused of fascism and Nazi collaboration. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The last of these </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cursed soldiers,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Jozef Franczak, was not killed until 1963. Post-war communist propaganda de</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">nigrated</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">heroic </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Home Army</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, anti-Nazi</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> soldiers as </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">spittle</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">flecked dwarves of reaction.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Further, many Poles believe that the post-war Soviet occupier exploited the Kielce pogrom to discredit Pol</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">es as hopelessly primitive and violent anti-Semites incapable of self-government,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and to boost Western acceptance of Soviet hegemony. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In other words, Poles know that enemies of Poland weaponized the criminal behavior of anti-Semitic Poles to defame </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and disempower </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">all Poles. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In any case, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the West </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">had </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">aligned itself with</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the Soviet Union in order to defeat Nazi Germany, and any </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Soviet </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">propaganda against Poland may have been merely gratuitous. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Roosevelt and Churchill both knew about the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">for example, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and Roosevelt and Churchill both lied about the event, attributing it, falsely, to German Nazis. The West never protested the Trial of the Sixteen. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">For the above-mentioned reasons, many Poles reflexively dismiss post-war trials in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Soviet-dominated </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poland as illegitimate. Kornbluth argues that the August Trials, though, were carried out by dedicated, respectable judges and attorneys and that they cannot be dismissed as Soviet-influenced propaganda. At the same time that he asks for respect for the trials, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">however</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Kornbluth argues that the trials were not really legitimate, because the communist state and Polish society came to a cozy agreement to erase Polish crimes against Jews from memory, and rewrite W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">orld </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ar</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> II history in Poland as one of complete Polish innocence and heroism. This reader accepts Kornbluth's argument that the trials record real crimes that deserve attention. This reader was not convinced of Kornbluth's latter point. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Andrew Kornbluth </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">deserves recognition </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">for his research into material that would </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cause many to shrink back in horror</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and for his presentation of that material</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">to the public</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Readers should be aware of th</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">e brute Polak</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> stereotype and its uses when reading Kornbluth. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Normal people do not </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">drown defenseless children</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. What makes it possible for a human being to defy normal behavior? </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth attributes these crimes to 'racial hatred and greed,' plus Polish Catholicism and nationalism. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth describes Roman Dmowski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, an interwar politician, diplomat, and author,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> as the 'father of modern Polish nationalism' and leader of interwar Poland's 'single strongest political grouping.' Polish nationalism existed long before Dmowski, and its various incarnations include an expansive understanding of Polishness that includes Jews. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Dmowski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">was a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Social Darwinis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">t</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Social Darwinism was </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">a significantly anti-Christian innovation from Western Europe and the United States. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Social Darwinist ideas</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> were very popular</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> on American campuses and in American</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">culture in the early twentieth century. A co-founder of the Bronx Zoo</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">;</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the president of the Museum of Natural History, whose tenure lasted twenty-five years</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">;</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the inventor of what became the SAT</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">;</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and the founder of Planned Parenthood were all invested</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in Social Darwinis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">m</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. American Social Darwinists declared Poles, Italians, and other Eastern and Southern Europeans to be a lesser subspecies of humanity, and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">imped</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ed their entry to the US as immigrants on those grounds in 1924. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The Catholic Church actively opposed Social Darwinism. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth does not so much as allude to th</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ese facts</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth quotes Dmowski praising Germans. In fact Dmowski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, wrote, 'Every Pole will be an enemy of every German he meets.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Thirty-three percent of Germans were Catholic</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">; their Catholicism earned these Germans no acceptance from Dmowski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Dmowski's anti-Semitism was not informed by his devout Catholicism – he wasn't a devout Catholic. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth describes Dmowski as </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">leader of interwar Poland's 'single strongest political grouping.' Interwar leader Jozef Pilsudski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">supported a traditional concept of Polish nationalism that included Jews. Pilsudski is revered by Poles, both in Poland and abroad, in a way that Dmowski has never been. In fact Pilsudski's nickname is '</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">dziadek,' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">grandfather. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth makes brief references </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">to Cardinal August Hlond and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Archbishop Adam</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Sapieha. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">For example, of Sapieha, Kornbluth says, 'Sapieha declined to protest the Holocaust.' Kornbluth cites Dariusz Libionka. Indeed, as of this writing (6/1/21) Wikipedia includes Kornbluth and Libionka's </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">accusation against Sapieha</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> in its page dedicated to Sapieha. Sapieha criticized Jews; Sapieha did not </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">inform</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the Nazis that genocide was a bad idea; Catholicism is responsible for the Holocaust. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This review cannot fully address this </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">charge or this </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">logic, but this reader was not convinced by Kornbluth's reasoning. One cannot help but mention, though, that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Sapieha was responsible for the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">priestly </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">formation </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and ordination </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of Karol Wojtyla</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Indeed, Sapieha saved Wojtyla from a Nazi roundup of 8,000 Polish men and boys. Wojtyla, as John Paul II, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">would later be praised as the most pro-Jewish pope in history.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Hlond and Sapieha both did make critical comments about Jews, comments that should never have been made. Neither made genocidal comments. Both were persecuted by Nazis and participated in anti-Nazi resistance, including resistance against Nazi persecution of Jews. Both condemned violence against Jews. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Regarding the practice of selecting unattractive quotes and using those quotes to prove a religion's complicity in genocide. Perform an internet search of the word </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Talmud</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and immediately encounter pages that select unattractive passages from the Talmud and go on to argue that these passages prove that Jews are complicit in communist genocides and world domination. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This is not a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n intellectually</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> respectable exercise. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">To return to the question of how a Polish woman could drown a Jewish child she volunteered to safeguard. There is scholarship that addresses such atrocities, scholarship Kornbluth does not </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cite</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Reading </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reminded </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">this reader of</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">other works, including accounts of Ukrainian genocidal activity against Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that also took place under Nazi occupation</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Death toll estimates </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of Poles killed by Ukrainians </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">range between fifty and one hundred thousand. These killings were public, communal, and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">sadistic</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Ukrainians sawed Poles in half</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, including Father Karol Baran,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> crucified Poles, gang-raped Polish women, and cut off their breasts. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I would not see the logic of conflating these crimes with Nazism and identifying Ukrainians as German Nazis' co-equals. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nazism, not Ukrainian nationalism, was the author of Poland's devastation. Saying that does not exculpate Ukrainian killers of Poles. It merely acknowledges what Nazism was and what its intent was in relation to Poland, and Nazi Germany's horrifically awesome ability to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">realize</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> those intentions, no matter what Ukrainians decided to do. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I have read accounts of Ukrainians' crimes against Poles, and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">not fe</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">lt</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">animus against Ukrainians per se, or come to understand these crimes as expressions of any Ukrainian essence. Historians like Timothy Snyder have worked to explain the tensions between Ukrainians and Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and the pressures of occupation,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> that contributed to anti-Polonism among Ukrainians. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Reading </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reminded me </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">also </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of first-person accounts of the Rwandan genocide. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Neighbor turned on neighbor, not just to kill, but to torture. One method was to rape </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Tutsi </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">women with spiked plants. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">One thinks, too, of the 1846 Szela jacquerie. Polish peasants killed and in many cases decapitated an estimated 1,000 nobles and destroyed 500 homes. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Again, in reading these accounts, authors worked to make me, the reader, understand why a human like myself would commit hideous crimes against a neighbor. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">While reading </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I also confronted </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">vexing</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> events in my own country</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">on the streets of my own city</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. A Jewish family, mother, father, and infant, were all stabbed in broad daylight in Manhattan on March 31. An 84-year-old Thai grandfather was murdered on the street in San Francisco on January 28, 2021. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In May, 2021, a 67 year old </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Asian </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">woman was raped</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in an otherwise quiet and safe neighborhood. Her assailant broke her bones. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">On March 23, 2021, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Mohamm</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">d Anwar, an Uber Eats driver and recent immigrant from Pakistan, was killed by </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">a thirteen-year-old girl and a fifteen-year-old girl</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, just three miles from the White House</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">All of these attacks took place in broad daylight. Video of these attacks are visible on the internet. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">On December 10, 2019, five people were killed in an attack on a kosher grocer in Jersey City. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The attackers had bombs and planned much </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">greater</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> carnage. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">On December 28, 2019, five Jews were stabbed inside a private home by an intruder. One died. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Hate crimes against Asians have increased in the US by 164%. Hate crimes against Jews have increased by 63%. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In the attacks</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> mentioned above</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, the attackers are African American</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">African Americans are disproportionately represented among the committers of hate crimes. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Influential African American leaders have made anti-Semitic statements, including </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Patrisse </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Cullors, the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and James Baldwin. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">My state's poet laureate, Amiri Baraka, accused Jews of complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">His son is the mayor of New Jersey's largest city. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">After the Jersey City terror attack against </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jews</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, a black school board member, Joan Terrel-Paige, accused 'Jewish brutes' of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'threatening, intimidating, and harassing'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> black people by 'waving bags of money.'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Terrell-Paige is still a Jersey City school board member. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Open discussion of black anti-Semitism </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and anti-Asian racism are</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> all but taboo in America. Ross Douthat, a columnist at the </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">New York Times</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, states that media is afraid fully to cover these attacks because of the demographics. For thorny reasons too complicated to plumb here, it would be far easier to cover attacks by white supremacists against Jews and Asians. Covering African American attacks on Jews and Asians violates too many taboos, so the attacks are under-covered, little understood, and ongoing. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">On May 21, 2021, Aaron Keyak, who led Jewish engagement for the Biden-Harris campaign, advised </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">American </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jews to remove kippah and stars of David for their own safety. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">There is an unstated premise in </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles got it wrong, and they got it wrong </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">because of flaws in Polish character, flaws rooted in nationalism and Catholicism</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">e</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, the readers and authors of books like </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">are not Polish, not Catholic, and not nationalist. We </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">do not share </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> flaws, and, therefore,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> we are in a position to correct </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">We have figured out </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and transcended </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ethnic strife. We have mastered free speech. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The contrast</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> between</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> our superiority </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poles' inferiority emphasizes how badly Poles are handling things, and how flawed is their nature. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">These premises are wrong. America has never known, perhaps no other country has ever known, the extreme conditions Poles suffered during World War II. And yet America faces the same problems Poland faces in addressing ethnic strife. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'Polish Catholicism' or 'Polish nationalism' are inadequate</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> tools to understand anti-Semitic crimes or any suppression of discussion of anti-Semitic crimes</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. America is rapidly secularizing, and yet, America is playing, in a more subdued way, the same games that Poles who would cover-up Polish crimes play. Secular Americans do not hold the same things sacred as Polish Catholic nationalists, but secular Americans also have taboos and sacred cows that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Americans protect against</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the harsh glare of truth. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A jacket blurb calls </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">courageous. It doesn't take courage to condemn anti-Semitism in Poland. It would take great courage to speak plainly about the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">American </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">hate crimes mentioned above. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No one would argue that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the current epidemic of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">black attacks on Jews and Asians render</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">b</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">lack </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">p</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ride invalid. No one would argue that black attacks on Jews and Asians means that blacks have never been victimized by white supremacy. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No one would argue that</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, because some blacks were free and did own slaves, that</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> black slaves were not 'innocent' and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">did not deserve to be</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> enslaved. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">And yet the hideous crimes of a minority of Poles during World War II invalidate Polish celebration of Polish heroes, and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">erase</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Nazi and Soviet aggression. Particularly disturbing is the use of the word </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">innocent.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles are not innocent, these commenters insist, including in quotes above. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">If </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles are not 'innocent,' the implication is that Poles </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">deserved what </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">they</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> suffered under the Nazis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">One</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> read</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> account after account of Polish peasant villagers behaving like monsters. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">One</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> watch</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">es</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> video after video of blacks violently assaulting innocents in broad daylight. The easiest thing to do, the conclusion our Darwinian lizard brain, hardwired to us</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">them dichotomies wants us to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reach</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, is to write the behavior off as the sole possession of the hated ethnic other. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Ron Slate, writing in </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">On the Seawall, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">illustrates his review </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">with a photo of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">who sheltered </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">2,000 </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jews in his monastery, and gave his life for another in Auschwitz. Even the good Poles are bad</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, this juxtaposition informs the viewer</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Slate begins his review of </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">with an anecdote about </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">rabidly anti-Semitic</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> illiterate </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">janitors. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">For Slate, e</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ven the heroic Poles are stupid</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, have low-class jobs,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">are </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">infested with a disease associated with dogs: rabies</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">he appears to believe, licenses him to</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> perpetuate ethnic stereotyping and</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> hate. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Anyone arguing that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles committed atrocities against Jews because they are Catholic and nationalist</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> rewrites important Holocaust history</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and human psychology</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In the same way that we ask how Poles could commit the atrocities Kornbluth records, we ask how rescuers could save Jews. Rescuing a Jew in Poland was a life-threatening, all but impossible task, and yet Yad Vashem tallies 7,112 Polish rescuers, an incomplete number. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">To make that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">impossible </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">task possible required a mythology more powerful than just being a nice person. Many</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">rescuers cited their Catholicism and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">their </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">nationalism as their </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">very </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">reason</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> for rescuing Jews. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Myths of Polish heroes and Polish saints </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">were powerful enough to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">inspire humans to transcend a manmade hell. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The entire Ulma family was murdered by Nazis for helping Jews. Their devout Catholicism inspired their sacrifice. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Just like the monsters in </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the Ulmas</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> were Polish</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Catholic,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> peasant villagers. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Liron Rubin</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, an Israeli and my friend,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> is married to a man whose mother was rescued by </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Sister Teresa Janina Kierocinska, a Polish nun and daughter of a nationalist </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">family. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">As Yad Vashem puts it, 'The survivors of the Sosnowiec convent later remembered Mother Teresa-Janina as someone of exceptional humanity whose love of mankind was rooted in her deep religious faith.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Liron's mother-in-law </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">remained</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> a Jew</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> but in honor of the nun who saved her life</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> she took the name Teresa. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Scholars have struggled to understand what, other than psychosis, would predispose an otherwise normal person to commit heinous crimes. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Edna Bonacich, Amy Chua, and Thomas Sowell have worked on what they variously call middleman minorities and market dominant minorities. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish anti-Semitism reached its peak in the interwar period. Why? The middleman minority theory helps to explain why. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">How to understand atrocities? Thomas Sowell describes Sinhalese in Sri Lanka clapping and dancing as they burned a random Tamil woman alive. Sinhalese are largely Buddhist. No serious scholar would attempt to write off Sinhalese violence </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">against Hindu Tamils, against mosques, and against Christians </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">as prompted by Buddhism. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth tells his reader that Poles killed Jews because Poles saw Jews as implicated in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Christ-killing.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> But</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Kornbluth quotes Polish anti-Semites mouthing typical grievances voiced in middleman minority economies. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth quotes one such Pole saying that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles interpret Nazi removal of Jews as liberating them from 'their former state of slavery to the Jews' 'a nightmare never to be repeated.' Without an understanding of Poland's caste-like socioeconomic structure, readers could never understand such a comment.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Early in the twentieth century, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Booker T. Washington, a former slave, traveled to Poland in search of 'the man farthest down' and found that man in Polish peasants, whom he felt to be comparable to the descendants of former slaves in the US. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Numbers support Washington's assessment. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In 1913, the </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Negro Almanac </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">published a comparison between freed slaves and their descendants and descendants of Russian serfs, a population that include</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">d</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poles. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">H</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ard numbers showed that African Americans had made greater </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">economic </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">progress than former serfs. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'Wherever in Poland money changes hands, a Jew is always there to take charge of it,' Washington wrote. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This is the middleman minority pattern, and it has been applied in analyses of atrocity not just in Poland, but in Southeast Asia, regarding </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">vicious </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Indonesian pogroms against Chinese, and in reference to African American conflict with Korean</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> shopkeepers</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> in Los Angeles. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Any attempt to understand Polish peasants' sadistic and criminal behavior towards Jews during World War II is not complete unless it addresses middleman minority theory, and how populations around the world have behaved in these economies. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Scholars James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose, in their 2020 bestseller </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Cynical Theories, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">describe how modern leftwing scholarship often rejects class-based analyses in favor of identity-based analyses. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish Catholicism and nationalism make for convenient</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and currently trendy</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> targets, but their use as explanatory tools is limited. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">W</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">hen discussing the support that some Jews offered the Soviet invasion of Poland in September, 1939, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and later Soviet hegemony over Poland, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">it is customary for responsible authors to argue against any association of support for communism with Jewish identity. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles collaborated with Nazis, we are too often told, because Poles are Catholic and nationalist. No responsible historian would argue that Jews collaborated with communists because of Jewish theology or </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">pride in Jewish identity</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles collaborated with Nazis because they were Poles, but Jews collaborated with communists because they faced </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">temporary, changing, and unique historical </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">circumstances that </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">militated for their collaboration</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Given anti-Semitic hostility, Kornbluth writes, 'it was unsurprising' that some Jews 'embraced a utopian ideology … that espoused colorblindness</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">' </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">That 'utopian ideology</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Soviet communism, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">was genocidal in its persecution of Poles. As early as 1921, in its anti-religion campaign, communists in Russia began killing tens of thousands of priests, monks, and nuns. The Holodomor, the wartime ethnic cleansing of Poles from eastern Poland, and the Katyn Massacre announced in neon that the communist road to a 'colorblind' 'utopia' was paved with the bodies of Slavic Christians. Anyone, of any ethnicity, who supported communists in 1945 had every reason to know </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that. Communists should not be robbed of their agency retroactively, any more than Nazi collaborators should. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">It is logical and ethically necessary to point out that those Jews who did support or collaborate with invading Soviets did not do so out of any </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">treacherous or power-hungry </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jewish essence, biological or theological, but, rather, because of changing and changeable historical circumstances peculiar to a given time and place. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Any person, no matter his ethnicity, might make the same decisions under the same circumstances. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">It is important to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">point out the universality of human decision</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">making</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> because Jews are subject to stereotyping and ethical people do not want to fuel that stereotyping. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No scholar unfamiliar with stereotyping of Jews could be relied on to produce scholarship about crimes committed by Jews under the aegis of communism. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">We must apply the same approach to Polish Catholics. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Any scholar writing about crimes committed by Poles should be familiar with, and should resist, stereotyping. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Besides contemplating what causes ugly ethnic violence, readers of </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">will wonder how justice could have been</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> achieved </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in Poland's post-war circumstances. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Warsaw, the capital, was flattened. The population was decimated</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and in flux, as borders changed</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. Poles were returning from battlefields, concentration camps, and guerilla warfare with Soviets. G</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">iven th</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">e</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">se c</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ondition</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s, it is remarkable that any attempt at justice took place at all. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Criminal Poles were accused by other Poles who witnessed their crimes. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The accusers express outrage, horror, and pity, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and they repeatedly cry, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">just as we, the readers, do. Apparently not all Polish peasants were monsters. But v</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">illage life is inescapably communal. How do you continue to exist in a tiny village after accusing your neighbor of hideous murder? A comparison of how post-war Poland handled this question with how it was handled in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa might offer insights. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth and others, as mentioned in the reviews quoted above, insist that Poland crafted a self-image as a blameless nation of heroic victims. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'Unflattering stories' of collaboration 'disappeared from view' until </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">white knight </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jan Tomasz Gross </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">rode to the rescue </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in 2000. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In this Promethean scenario, Gross must be depicted as outside Polish identity. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles are too intellectually stunted and morally venal to confront their own flaws. Thus, Kornbluth, Gross, Grabowski, et al, provide the conscience that Poles, given their </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">debased </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">nature, lack.</span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I do not recognize my own </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">admittedly limited </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">experience of Poles or Poland in this assessment. During my first visit to Eastern Europe, that is </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Slovakia in 1974, my relatives told me stories about a local man who had done labor for the Nazis. One of my aunts, I was told, physically assaulted him. He protested that he was doing it only for food. He was hungry. People volunteered such stories </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">of Nazi collaborators. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I first visited Poland in 1978. In a university classroom, I was introduced to Tadeusz Rozewicz's poem 'Saved' ('</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Ocalony</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'). 'I saw,' Rozewicz writes, 'A human that was at </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">once / Vicious and virtuous.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">' Subsequent discussions touched on the ambiguities of the war.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> Poles taught me the word '</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">szmalcownik</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">' – 'blackmailer.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A Polish woman volunteered to me that she suspected that her brother-in-law had collaborated</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and that was why her family kept their distance from his family. Conversations like this were every bit as troubling as reading </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Tadeusz Borowski's </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">(</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Pozegnanie z Maria</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">), published in 1946, hardly reflects the charge that Poles saw themselves as uncomplicated heroes. Borowski c</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">lear</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ly presents the difference between the fate of most Jews sent to Auschwitz and most Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and he acknowledges that the despoiling of murdered Jews is what feeds him during his imprisonment there</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In films like </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Ashes and Diamonds</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> I encountered a far more ambiguous treatment of the cinematic World War II hero than I ever saw in any American movie. Though made in 1958, the film still spurs discussion. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Czechoslovakia produced </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The Shop on Main Street</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> in 1965 and Agnieszka Holland directed </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Angry Harvest </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">in 1985</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">; both films treat material goods stolen from murdered Jews.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">M</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">any </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Poles</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, for the past eight decades,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> have struggled to come to terms with every aspect of World War II in Poland</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, including </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">anti-Semitism</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and Nazi collaboration</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. One need only mention</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Zofia Kossak-Szczucka</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Czeslaw Milosz, Jan Blonski, Alina Cala, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Father John </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">T. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Pawlikowski. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Marcel Lozinski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, a child of Jewish parents,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> made a </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">devastating</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> documentary about the Kielce pogrom in 1987, the same year that the Kosciuszko Foundation ran a summer session at the Jagiellonian University in Polish-Jewish relations. I participated and I can report that no one shrank from the topic's darkest aspects. From the early days of the internet, Polish and Jewish </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">participants</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">have been having frank conversations in online groups. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In 1946, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Auschwitz survivor and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cofounder of Zegota, cofounded the All-Polish Anti-Racist League in response to the anti-Jewish violence in post-war Poland. Bartoszewski would later write, </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Both in the Polish press and on the radio at that time there was no lack of voices to oppose these tragic incidents, and the recent suffering and extermination of Jewish society in Poland were also mentioned. Articles, memoirs, and references to the subject can be found … [Former members of Zygota] </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">w</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ere unanimous in recognizing the importance of using their own authority and enlisting the public support of others of importance in the struggle against the degrading chauvinism in Poland, against manifestations of national, religious, and racial hatred, and, above all, against all unsympathetic or hostile attitudes towards Jews who had survived</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> … </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">An initiative was taken during the first weeks of 1946 by former members of the Council for Aid to the Jews. This was to establish a loosely structured, all-Polish society to discuss the problem for the moral and political danger for Poland and the Poles of actions dictated by anti-Semitic views and anti-Jewish prejudices, whatever their causes.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">More recently, Polish diplomat Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska said, 'If I want to have a moral right to justified pride in [Polish] rescuers, then I must admit to a sense of shame over [Polish] killers.' She speaks for me and millions of others. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nor have I ever encountered a culture that has done a better job of assessing its past than Poland. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I don't say that as a compliment to Poland. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I remember the look on the faces of Chinese-born students when a Japanese-born student gave a speech in my English language class about how peace-loving Japanese people are. Turks still refuse to acknowledge the Armenian genoci</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">de</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. An sui generis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> giant of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">America</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n culture, </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Gone with the Wind</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> – both as a novel and as a film –</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">distort</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s slavery, the Civil War, and the KKK. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Processing the Holocaust</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, crafting the narrative, revising it and telling it again,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> has taken decades in the United States</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> at large,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> among American Jews, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">and </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">among </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Israelis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. See the 2001 </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This American Life </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">broadcast "Before It Had a Name," Peter Novick's book </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The Holocaust in American Life</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">the documentary </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Lucy Dawidowicz's articles "Indicting American Jews" and "American Jews and the Holocaust,"</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and Tom Segev's </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The Seventh Million</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">: The Israelis and the Holocaust</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Americans</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">never-occupied, enjoying free speech,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> a stable government and domestic peace and security </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">still </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">stumbled for decades, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">struggl</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ing</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> to tell the story of the Holocaust accurately. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">American anti-Semitism, American Jews' s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">urvival guilt</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, and a fear of offending Germany, and cutting off important markets, impeded that struggle</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> over narrative</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">To attribute Poland's missteps to rotten Polish nationalism and Catholicism is to fall into stereotyping</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and to create a chimeric ethnic other scapegoat we sacrifice for our own sins. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Indeed,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> the</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> scholars </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">that Kornbluth relies on, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">like </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Grabowski</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Gross, Libionka</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Engelking,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and Skibinsk</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> are themselves products of Poland</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Polish educations, Polish ethics, and Polish conversations</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Years ago in Poland, a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">t dinner one night</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> a friend took a call from her grandfather. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Afterward, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I absentmindedly asked, 'Did you talk to your grandmother, too?' My friend, whom I had known for months and who had never mentioned this previously, replied coolly, 'No, she died in Auschwitz.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">She never mentioned this death again. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I knew people</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"></span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">who never disclosed their wartime heroism, or their wartime suffering. Later I learned from others what they had done, or what they had gone through. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In contrast, in my own country, America, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">it is normal to believe that Americans single-handedly defeated the Axis powers. In America people are encouraged to dwell on their suffering and to use that suffering to obtain scholarships, jobs, or government apologies. The concept of 'microaggression' is taught to students and employees to encourage sensitivity to every imaginable slight. No American</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, or indeed anyone in the Woke West,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> is in any position to tell Poles that they think or talk too much about their suffering. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The very first sentence of Kornbluth's book establishes Poland as economically well off and militarily secure, 'prosperous and stable.' Kornbluth is discussing 2018 Poland, but this sentence's initial position is powerful, and Kornbluth does little to revise the impression it creates. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No extreme circumstances help to render comprehensible the depths to which Polish society sank. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No invitation is extended to Kornbluth's reader to </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ask, 'If overwhelming forces took over your country, and put a price on the head of a subset of your fellow citizens, what would happen?' </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">In </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The August Trials, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">German Nazis and Soviet Russians are remote presences who don't do much to interfere with Polish life. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Occupying German Nazis</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, rather, were fearful of Poles. Germans</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> 'lived under the threat of partisan attack.' </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">No one reading this book, without previous knowledge, would have any idea of the realities of Nazi or Soviet occupation, or the predecessors, the Russian</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, Austrian,</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> and Prussian</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">culturally genocidal</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, colonial</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> presence. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This depiction of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Polish villages as peaceful places during World War II is contradicted by </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Norman Davies</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, who</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> writes, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The well-known fate of the one Bohemian hamlet of Lidice, whose 143 men were killed in retaliation for the assassination of SS General Reinhard Heydrich, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">was</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> repeated in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">hundreds</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> of Polish villages. An incomplete post-war count put their number at 299.</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">'</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Kornbluth refers to a Polish 'SS volunteer.' I contacted Herbert F. Ziegler, an historian of the SS. He confirmed that the SS would not accept Polish volunteers because of their racial inferiority. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">As for the Soviet occupation, as Jan Tomasz Gross has written, 'Very conservative estimates show that [between 1939 and 1941] the Soviets killed or drove to their deaths three or four times as many people as the Nazis from a population half the size of that under German jurisdiction.' </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">n the West, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">a</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">cknowledged victims gain platforms, respect, and remuneration for having suffered. Poles cannot be allowed these commodities. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">T</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">hat Poles were themselves victims, and that, even in the midst of their victimization, they victimized others, is an uncomfortable reality </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">with equally uncomfortable repercussions for </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">those Jews who, under the worst imaginable coercion, worked for Nazis. No, there is no moral equivalence between a Polish woman who drowns a defenseless Jewish child she had agreed to shelter and the Sonderkommando</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. But crafters of master narratives resist ambiguity. They have to – large audiences respond poorly to ambiguity. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Jews must be victims and victims must be pure. Poles must not be victims and must not be innocent. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Innocence itself, as Shelby Steele has pointed out in the American context, is a coveted commodity. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Reading about atrocity isn't easy. When reading such material, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">one can sense that one is in the hands of an author who is not much different from a </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">computer </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">search engine. That is, the author is cold, has no agenda, and is merely coughing up facts in response to the reader's query. One can sense that the author is a mensch, that is, someone who is as tormented by the material as the reader is. This author has reached some higher state, and is writing about this material as part of an effort, however quixotic, to make the world a better place</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, t</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">o expand understanding of what humans are capable of, and to commission the reader to take part in an effort of tikkun olam, or the repairing of the world. One can sense that the author has an agenda, one of </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">score-settling</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">enemy-</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">creat</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">ing, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">othering, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">or </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">one-ups-man-ship. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">This kind of writing, rather than trying to untie the knot of human hate, pulls the ends tighter and makes the knot more intractable to unraveling. </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">While reading this book, I had the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">un</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">comfortable feeling that I </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">might be</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> in the hands of the final kind of author. </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Danusha V. Goska </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">I thank Karen A. Wyle for reading this review and offering very helpful comments.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"> </span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">——-</span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></p><p class="s3" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">Danusha V. Goska, PhD has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe, and on both coasts, and in the heartland, of America. Her work has received a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant, a Stephen King Haven Award, and others. Her essay "Political Paralysis" appears in the book "The Impossible Will Take a Little While." Her memoir "</span><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Save-Send-Delete-Danusha-Goska/dp/1846949866/ref%3Dcm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie%3DUTF8&source=gmail&ust=1628865613945000&usg=AFQjCNEsgZ6SJOdXjMbz1aTbp-z13dcKaQ" href="https://www.amazon.com/Save-Send-Delete-Danusha-Goska/dp/1846949866/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;" target="_blank">Save Send Delete</a><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">" tells the true story of her debate about God, and love affair, with a prominent atheist. Julie Davis named "Save Send Delete" one of the ten best books of the year. Her latest book is "God through Binoculars," available now through</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"> </span><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/God-Through-Binoculars-Hitchhiker-Monastery/dp/1947067613/ref%3Dsr_1_10?s%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1543001410%26sr%3D1-10%26refinements%3Dp_n_publication_date%253A1250228011&source=gmail&ust=1628865613945000&usg=AFQjCNGnlnny0xMAxpek41fqha8_ZnRP1A" href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Through-Binoculars-Hitchhiker-Monastery/dp/1947067613/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543001410&sr=1-10&refinements=p_n_publication_date%3A1250228011" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;" target="_blank">Amazon</a><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">and</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"> </span><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/GOSKA_GOD.html&source=gmail&ust=1628865613945000&usg=AFQjCNHP_uGDPakxF49Uf4Un1-uBHt1atA" href="https://www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/GOSKA_GOD.html" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;" target="_blank">Shanti Arts Press</a></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;"> </p><p data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-originalfontsize="12pt" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;">Goska's book "<a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Bieganski-Stereotype-Polish-Jewish-Relations-American/dp/1936235153/ref%3Dcm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie%3DUTF8&source=gmail&ust=1628865613945000&usg=AFQjCNGOIax60mMPiWkMbhinQIaQQqWYdQ" href="https://www.amazon.com/Bieganski-Stereotype-Polish-Jewish-Relations-American/dp/1936235153/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8" style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 1rem;" target="_blank">Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype</a>" won the PAHA Halecki Award. The Shofar Journal of Jewish Studies called it "Groundbreaking." American Jewish History said that Bieganski points out that the Brute Polak stereotype "gives the illusion of absolving those who failed in their own test of humanity" during the Holocaust. The book has been the subject of cover stories in the highly respected "Tygodnik Powszechny" and the "Polish American Journal."</p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;"> </p><p data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-originalfontsize="12pt" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;">Goska has been an invited speaker at Brandeis, Georgetown, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, at Krakow's Galicia Jewish Museum as part of the world famous Jewish Culture Festival, and in American synagogues, churches, libraries and universities. She has appeared on WABC's longest-running talk show, "Religion on the Line," hosted by Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Deacon Kevin McCormack.</p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(49, 49, 49); color: #313131; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in; word-spacing: 1px;"><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bieganski-the-blog.blogspot.com/&source=gmail&ust=1628865613945000&usg=AFQjCNHSYrRiQZ1KT3ATYVYoBlEaYwIVfw" href="https://bieganski-the-blog.blogspot.com/" style="color: #4285f4; font-size: 1rem;" target="_blank">https://bieganski-the-blog.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a> </p>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-82618938275957339552018-12-07T16:24:00.002-05:002018-12-07T16:24:39.145-05:00Israel Gutman Interview Parts 1-3<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
In spring of 2014, Writing the Holocaust ran a three-part series of interviews with Israel Gutman. </div>
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Besides being an historian of the Holocaust, <span style="background: white;">Israel Gutman was a leading fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; a survivor of Auschwitz (where he was a member of the Jewish underground), two other Nazi camps, and the death marches; he helped create Yad Vashem, edited the <i>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust</i>, and was a key witness at the Eichmann trial and an important advisor to the Polish post-war government. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The interviews were conducted by Breindel Lieba Kasher. The Introduction was done by Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem.</div>
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You can access the three parts of the interview by clicking on the following:</div>
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<a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-israel-gutman.html">Part 1</a></div>
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<a href="https://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/05/israel-gutman-interview-part-2.html">Part 2</a></div>
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<a href="https://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/05/israel-gutman-interview-part-3.html">Part 3</a></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-38882756577527752142016-12-05T15:09:00.005-05:002017-01-06T06:09:17.611-05:00TATTOOED by Carine Topal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61WtAXVfRnL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61WtAXVfRnL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="237" /></a></div>
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Carine Topal's recent book <b><i>Tattooed</i> </b>about her family's experiences during the Holocaust has earned praise from such fine writers as Kelly Cherry, Cyrus Cassells, Dorothy Barresi, and Robert Garcia.</div>
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Here for example is a statement by my friend Kelly Cherry, former Poet Laureate of Virginia:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Many, many histories have been written about the Nazis and
their victims, but because horror tends to overwhelm attempts at lyricism, the successful
Holocaust poem is rare and distinguished. This collection has managed to do the
nearly impossible: the poems here are deeply moving, make effective use of
metaphor and narrative, retain their integrity by steering clear of sentiment,
lay bare the truth, and enlighten. With splendid economy, the poem has placed
the reader on death’s porch. “Faith is impossible,” says a girl or young woman
in Auschwitz. The marvelous thing, the unexpected thing, is that the poet puts
us in touch with those irreplaceable human beings. There is no false hope. What
there is, is life. We see it slaughtered, burned, torn, poisoned, but still it
is life because the poet has made it so. This brave book is crucial."</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Carine Topal has kindly agreed to let us publish several of the poems from Tattooed, and she has also provided a brief piece on the writing of the book:</span></div>
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<b>The Writing of “Tattooed”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext;">I started writing “Tattooed,”
in 2012, while in Poland, after visiting Auschwitz. I started writing
“Tattooed,” 25 years ago when I wrote my first poem related to the Holocaust.
Both statements are true. My first attempt was heartfelt but factually
incorrect. I wanted to get it right and get it written. My mother escaped
Hitler’s Germany while public schools were closed to Jews, while Jewish owned stores
were looted, and just before the yellow
stars were sewn onto coats. My grandfather knew what was happening. They were
lucky and bought their freedom with all the money they had. My grandfather’s
relatives all died in Auschwitz, except for one cousin whom I call my Aunt
Lola, who was 15 when sent to Auschwitz. She was alone. She survived after 4
years in Auschwitz. Her parents, brothers, and a younger sister all died, in
the camps and by the hands of the Nazi’s.</span><span style="color: windowtext;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext;">For years my mother would
tell me bits of pieces of her life in Germany, but she hardly spoke about her
suffering in Germany. My Aunt Lola never again spoke Polish nor spoke about her
life in Poland until several years before she died. She consented to be
interviewed by the Shoah Foundation. Before the long interview was complete, she
was rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath. She had the courage to
relive the unimaginable and I decided never to be silent about the 11 million. I
do not want the world to forget the victims, the survivors, the perpetrators,
and the heroes, no matter how ugly the reality. What happened to the 11 million
Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, priests, Jehovah Witnesses, nuns, the handicapped,
and the political prisoners. Not just the Jews. All of them. I wanted to bear
witness for those who can no longer speak out, and stand up for those who were
and are marginalized and disenfranchised. My book may be small, but I perform
the poems (accompanied by the stark photographs I took at Auschwitz) and it
feels very large.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Poems</b></div>
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<b>A Survivor Remembers the Arrival<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Small fortunes neatly placed in rows. From where I stood they looked like
tender headstones. Then, later, ribbons tied to a pair of small shoes. Small
red shoes. Each of us brought a bundle, valise or satchel marked with name,
street, and city: <i>Goldstein Sara,
Nadelmann Clara</i>. While waiting in line we asked one another <i>should we hold the bundle or let it go,
travel lighter?</i> There comes a time when mercy is not called for, this being
the time to run, to pick up stones. Something to wield, to hold on to, to wonder,
<i>have we not come to the wrong town, taken
the wrong train</i>?</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">ii </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">{T<b>he Dissecting Room} <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You must
imagine a room bathed in light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whitewashed.
Well lit. Sterile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One large window overlooks a birch
grove.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The concrete floor is red—</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the color of a heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the center of the room a table of polished marble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Along its
edges several drains for the bleeding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Against the wall, three porcelain
sinks, and the second window, above the table<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">covered with
a screen to keep out the flies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
doctor holds a small head in one hand, documents the darkness <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of the hair in the other.
The distance between the brows. The circumference of the head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And staring
up at Mengele with dead gimlet eyes, the very blossom of mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This gypsy boy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like a
temple this child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This child like a temple.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Shoes</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Cork-soled, peep-toe, half-boots, heavy flannel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> First shoes—nested where the train stopped, after<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> it pulled thousands through, the scale of it cruel,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ash grey, brick red, russet, black, bone, amber.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> But the tiny shoes, from the smallest limbs,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> at the last stop— dare take your little one, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> have her try them on—walk where they were
taken, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> pocket-sized ankle straps, buckles undone,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> mounds of leather booties, blue marguerite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Such shoes, once stripped by winter, stripped
of grace <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> long since buried in fields planted by
grief. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Now turn away from them, the shoes, their
fate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Exactly like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Exactly like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dedicated
to Doris Mathes<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Born
June 14, 1942<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gassed January 17, 1944</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">________________________</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Tattooed </b>is available from <b>Amazon</b>. Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tattooed-poems-Carine-Perfect-Paperback/dp/0988809214/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480968351&sr=1-1&keywords=carine+topal+tattooed"><b>here</b></a>.</span></div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-44337671423704927612015-01-27T10:42:00.001-05:002015-01-27T11:08:33.188-05:0070th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79fljoTF77gUiTcbsS5mf8d0_bmGbS9k_dkIPdFhibDq5AKLY8do7Uf-5YgWjI2ytTD3IowxkAglHk7xgu-CcBxtWjDP50gZgdWXb2-A7LO5RYSR6VAjTlXScbHW6EL4w3tfF5fXFmbTG/s1600/birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79fljoTF77gUiTcbsS5mf8d0_bmGbS9k_dkIPdFhibDq5AKLY8do7Uf-5YgWjI2ytTD3IowxkAglHk7xgu-CcBxtWjDP50gZgdWXb2-A7LO5RYSR6VAjTlXScbHW6EL4w3tfF5fXFmbTG/s1600/birds.jpg" height="263" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">On January </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">27, 1945, the Russian army came upon Auschwitz and its various camps and subcamps. To commemorate this date, Charles Fishman offers these remarks and his poem "Eastern Europe after the War."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After WWII was over and the camps
were “liberated,” thousands of starved</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and brutalized survivors
died; hundreds of thousands more were kept in holding pens</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">that
we’ve learned to refer to as DP camps because so many displaced inmates</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">of the
concentration and death camps had no place to go and were often too weak and
sick</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">to travel or to be permitted entry to the handful of countries
that were inclined to offer them shelter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">From that darkest of times to our
own unsettled and still broken one, many have asked where God was</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">during
the Holocaust. I’ve heard observant Jews and Christians say that God almost
always answers our prayers,</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">but that sometimes He says </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">No</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.
When I hear assertions like this one, I always want to ask why God’s answer was </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">No!</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">when so many believers prayed for
their loved ones to live. As I see it, this is the key question that people of
faith</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">must ask their clergy and teachers. To this day, I’ve never
received an answer that satisfied my mind or heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Eastern Europe After the War”
grew out of these thoughts and feelings.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Eastern Europe after
the War<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wisps of memory ragged dips in the grass</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A few years earlier, millions died in
sub-zero <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">temperature Stripped to their underwear,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">they were whipped beaten with fists<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">and rifle butts their infants ripped <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">from their arms Their prayers to God <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">changed nothing Shot in the neck, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">they were kicked into ditch after ditch <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Those still living clutched at prayer
shawls <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">or thrice-blessed amulets but their words <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">their tears
called down no power <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Their deaths did not alter the sky, which
continues <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">to shelter their murderers The earth <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">that churned for days afterward has yielded
nothing <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">but fragments Years swept by, blurring <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">the landscape though, on occasion, something <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">in humanity
twitched A list of the names <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">of the missing slipped from official fingers <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">and drifted into history In Eastern Europe, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">not a stitch was mended The gash <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">in the abandoned universe could not be healed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-83996544590457654512014-11-19T11:28:00.000-05:002014-11-22T18:52:15.241-05:00Jerome Rothenberg's Dos Oysleydikn (The Emptying)<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<img src="http://img.ihned.cz/attachment.php/950/38590950/itv458F7GKLMOjPQbcdefhqry1SUw2AR/082-11-Rothenberg-1.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Continuing our occasional posting of poems from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Remember-American-Holocaust-Revised/dp/1568091133">Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust</a></i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(ed. Charles
Fishman), we offer Jerome Rothenberg's Dos Oysleydikn (The Emptying), a mediation on a world after the Holocaust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here's a link to Mr. Rothenberg reading the poem: <a href="https://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Rothenberg/Xavier-2011/Rothenberg-Jerome_13_Dos-Oysleydikn_Xavier-U_4-13-11.mp3">Click</a>. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dos Oysleydikn (The Emptying)</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">at honey street in ostrova<br />
where did the honey people go?<br />
empty empty<br />
miodowa empty<br />
empty bakery & empty road to warsaw<br />
yellow wooden houses & houses plastered up with stucco<br />
the shadow of an empty name still on their doors<br />
shadai & shadow shattering the mother tongue<br />
the mother’s tongue but empty<br />
the way the streets are empty where we walk<br />
pushing past crowds of children<br />
old women airing themselves outside the city hall<br />
old farmers riding empty carts down empty roads<br />
who don’t dispel but make an emptiness<br />
a taste of empty honey<br />
empty rolls you push your fingers through<br />
empty sorrel soup dribbling from their empty mouths<br />
defining some other poland<br />
lost to us the way the moon<br />
is lost to us<br />
sorrel in gardens mother of god at roadsides<br />
in the reflection of the empty trains<br />
only the cattle bellow in<br />
like jews the dew-eyed wanderers<br />
still present still the flies<br />
cover their eyeballs<br />
the trains drive eastward, falling<br />
down a hole (a holocaust) of empty houses<br />
of empty ladders leaning against haystacks no one climbs<br />
empty ostrova & empty ostrolenka<br />
old houses empty in the woods near vyzhkow<br />
dachas the peasants would rent to you<br />
& sleep in stables<br />
the bialo forest spreading to every side<br />
retreating the closer we come to it to claim it<br />
empty oaks & empty fir trees<br />
a man in an empty ditch who reads a book<br />
the way the jews once read<br />
in the cold polish light the fathers sat there too<br />
the mothers posed at the woods’ edge<br />
the road led brightly to treblinka<br />
& other towns beaches at brok<br />
along the bug<br />
marshes with cat tails<br />
cows tied to trees<br />
past which their ghosts walk<br />
their ghosts refuse to walk<br />
tomorrow in empty fields of poland<br />
still cold against their feet<br />
an empty pump black water drips from<br />
will form a hill of ice<br />
the porters will dissolve with burning sticks<br />
they will find a babe’s face at the bottom<br />
invisible & frozen imprinted in the rock<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">_______________________________</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"The Emptying" was originally published by New Direction in Rothenberg's book Krurbn (1989), and later republished by them in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Triptych-Poland-1931-Khurbn-Burning/dp/0811216926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416700306&sr=8-1&keywords=triptych+rothenberg">Triptych </a>(2007), along with Poland/1931 and The Burning Babe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Born on December 11, 1931, Jerome
Rothenberg was raised in New York City and graduated from the City College of
New York in 1952 with a BA in English. He went on to the University of Michigan
to receive his Masters in Literature in 1953. From 1953 until 1955, he served
in the U.S. Army in Mainz, Germany and afterwards returned to New York and
continued his graduate studies at Columbia University until 1959.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Rothenberg
began his literary career in the late 1950s working primarily as a translator;
he is responsible for the first English appearances of Paul Celan and Günter
Grass. He founded the Hawk’s Well Press in 1959, and with it, the magazine<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Poems From the Floating World</i>.
Hawk’s Well Press published Rothenberg’s first book,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>White Sun, Black Sun</i>, in 1960.
He remained in New York City teaching, writing, and publishing until 1972, when
he moved to the Allegany Seneca Reservation. In 1974, he moved to California to
teach at the University of California, San Diego.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Rothenberg
has published over seventy books and pamphlets of poetry. His books have been
translated into multiple languages; two of them have been turned into stage
plays and performed in several states. He has also assembled, edited and
annotated over ten anthologies of experimental and traditional poetry and
performance art and has been the editor or co-editor of several magazines. He
has translated an enormous amount of world literature, including Pablo Picasso
and Vítezslav Nezval. He has been deeply involved in performance art and has written
several plays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/jerome-rothenberg">(from Poets.org)</a></span></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-78264101566498508802014-10-30T08:14:00.002-04:002020-01-04T06:33:06.710-05:00Dreaming in Buchenwald<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<img height="324" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/%22These_are_slave_laborers_in_the_Buchenwald_concentration_camp_near_Jena,_many_had_died_from_malnutrition_when_U.S._troo_-_NARA_-_535560.jpg" style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;" width="400" /> </div>
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<b>Dreaming in Buchenwald</b></div>
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The world burns before our eyes,<br />
and the smell of everything red<br />
is on our skin.</div>
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We wait in line for bread<br />
that never comes. We speak<br />
to strangers thinking they will<br />
tell us where our lives are.</div>
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We pray in the barracks<br />
and the fields for the miracle<br />
of hope.</div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">____________________________</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">My father survived 4 years in Buchenwald. He never thought he would.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">A number of my poems in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Tattered-Tongues-Memory-Unfolded/dp/1607720213/">Echoes of Tattered Tongues</a> describe his struggle to keep going. </span></span><br />
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The photo is by American photographer Margaret Bourke-White. From her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Fatherland-Rest-Quietly-Collapse/dp/1258434598/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=">Dear Fatherland: Rest Quietly</a>, a memoir of her journey through wartime Germany with the American Army.</div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-33204606793749573772014-08-29T09:29:00.003-04:002020-01-04T06:27:50.825-05:00Poems from Blood to Remember--"I Remember Coming into Warsaw, a Child"<img 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" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">We're beginning a new
occasional posting of poems from <i>Blood to
Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust</i> (ed. Charles Fishman). The
second edition came out in 2007 and contains the work of 240 poets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first poem in this
series is by Helen Degen Cohen, a poet who survived the Holocaust and came to
the US as a Displaced Person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in;">I remember
coming into Warsaw, a child</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
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<span style="background: white;">out of a sheer, sunlit countryside, </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">where sometimes a goat made the only sound
in </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">all the universe, and a car engine would certainly </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">tear the wing of an angel. Entering burnt
Warsaw </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">and the Sound of the World, how strange, how
lonely </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">the separate notes of Everything, lost in a
smell of </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">spent shots still smoking, a ghost of bombs, a
silence </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">of so many voices, the ruined city singing not
only </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">a post-war song but an Everything hymn of dogs
wailing, </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">a car, a horse, a droning plane, a slow,
distant </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">demolition, hammers like rain, the hum, the
hum, </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">bells and levers and voices leveled and
absorbed </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">into the infinite hum in which the ruins </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">sat empty and low like well-behaved children,</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">the ruins, their holes, like eyes, secretly
open,</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">passing on either side, as we entered Warsaw, an
air </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">of lost worlds in a smoky sweet light ghosting</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">and willing their sounding and resounding
remains</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">______________________________________</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Helen Degen Cohen’s
(Halina Degenfisz’s) awards include a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
fellowship in poetry, First Prize in British Stand Magazine's fiction
competition, and three Illinois Arts Council Literary awards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Once an
Artist-in-Education and instructor for Roosevelt University, she co-edits <i>Rhino
Magazine</i> and coordinates its Poetry Forum workshop. Widely published
in periodicals, she was twice "featured poet" in <i>The Spoon
River Poetry Review</i>, and her work has been the subject of essays such as
"Rootlessness and Alienation in the Poetry of Helen Degen Cohen" (<i>Shofar</i>)
and "This Dark Poland" (<i>Something of My Very Own to Say</i>,
Columbia University, Press). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 2009 she had two
poetry collections published—<i>Habry</i> and <i>On A Good Day One
Discovers Another Poet</i>—as well as an excerpt from her novel, <i>The
Edge of the Field</i> (in <i>Where We Find Ourselves</i>—SUNY). A new
chapbook, <i>Neruda Nights</i>, is available from Finishing Line Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">______________________________________</span></div>
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A review of Helen Degen Cohen's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Habry-Helen-Degen-Cohen/dp/0981975607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409319575&sr=8-1&keywords=habry">Habry</a>, a collection of poems on the Holocaust, appeared several years ago in Writing the Holocaust. To go to the review, click <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2009/07/helen-degen-cohens-habry.html">here</a>. </div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-15190772146092519942014-07-29T15:46:00.003-04:002014-08-01T08:05:34.203-04:00MARKED: POEMS OF THE HOLOCAUST by Stephen Herz<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marked: Poems of the Holocaust</span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> by Stephen Herz is probably one of the best
poetic introductions to the Holocaust. In language that is clear and
resonant, Herz tells us what we need to know in images and lines that we will
not soon forget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Here are two poems from the collection ("Morgen Fr</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">ü</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">h" and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> "Whatever You Can Carry") and several stanzas from "Shot," followed by an interview with Mr. Herz regarding <i>Marked</i>, its genesis and intentions. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">POEMS </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Morgen</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> Früh</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>you</i> <i>know</i> <i>how</i> <i>one</i> <i>says</i> <i>never</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">in</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>camp</i> <i>slang?</i> <i>Morgen</i> <i>früh:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">tomorrow</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>morning.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> —Primo</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Levi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Will</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you wake on a plank of wood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">with</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> six others,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">wash</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> your face in your morning coffee,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> go to work in the mud?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Will</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you go to the latrine when<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">they</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> tell you,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">or</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> be shot at roll call<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">because</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you did it in your pants?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> boils and pus and lice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">will</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> be gone,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> blue tattoo will fade from your wrist,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> green dye will fade from your eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> sweet singed smell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">will</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> fade from your nostrils.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">they’ll</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> give you back your ovaries,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">give</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you back your children,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">give</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you back your old wool coat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">with</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> the yellow star,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> you’ll give them back<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> paper cement bag<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">stuffed</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> under your dress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">you’ll</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> run a comb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">through</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> your long black hair,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">tie</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> it with a bright red ribbon,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> someone will smile and say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Good</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<i>morning,</i>
<i>Lena.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> morning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">there’ll</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> be no more ashes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">to</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> fill the swamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">to</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> dump in the river<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">to</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> fertilize the fields. No more ashes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">to</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> spread on the paths like gravel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">under</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> the boots of the SS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<i>morning.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<i>morning.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Morgen</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<i>früh.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whatever</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<b>You</b>
<b>Can</b>
<b>Carry<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Twenty-nine</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>storerooms</i>
<i>were</i>
<i>burned</i>
<i>before</i>
<i>the</i> <i>liberation</i>
<i>of</i> <i>Auschwitz.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>the</i> <i>six</i> <i>that</i> <i>remained</i>
<i>they</i>
<i>discovered</i>
<i>348,820</i>
<i>men’s</i>
<i>suits,</i>
<i>836,255</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">women’s</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>coats,</i> <i>more</i> <i>than</i> <i>seven</i> <i>tons</i> <i>of</i> <i>human</i> <i>hair</i> <i>and</i> <i>even</i> <i>13,964</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">carpets.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Michael</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
Berenbaum: <i>The</i> <i>World</i> <i>Must</i> <i>Know</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> will work in the factory, work in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> fields, you will be resettled in the East,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">bring</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> whatever you can carry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> our dresses, shirts, suits, underwear,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">bedsheets,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> featherbeds, pillows,
tablecloths,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">towels,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> we carried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried our hairbrushes, handbrushes,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">toothbrushes,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> shoe daubers, scissors, mirrors,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">safety</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> razors. Forks, spoons, knives,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">pots,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> saucepans, tea strainers, potato<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">peelers,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> can openers we carried. We carried<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">umbrellas,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> sunglasses, soap, toothpaste,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shoe</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> polish. We carried our photographs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried milk powder, talc,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">baby</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> food.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried our sewing machines. We carried<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">rugs,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> medical instruments,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> baby’s pram.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jewelry</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> we carried,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">sewn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in our shoes, sewn in our corsets,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">hidden</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in our bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried loaves of bread, bottles of wine,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">schnapps,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> cocoa, chocolate, jars of marmalade,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">cans</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> of fish. Wigs, prayer shawls, tiny<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Torahs,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> skullcaps, phylacteries
we carried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Warm</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> winter coats in the heat of summer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">we</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried. On our coats, our suits,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">our</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> dresses, we carried our yellow stars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">On</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> our baggage in bold letters, our addresses,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">our</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> names we carried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> carried our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shot (excerpt)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> in the synagogue</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> up against the wall in the headlights<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">of</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> the truck<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the farmyard by the dung heap<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the hospital, the maternity ward<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the city, the town, the shtetl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in their houses, in the streets,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">in</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> the market square<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the cemetery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the warehouse after machine-gun muzzles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">were</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> pushed through holes in the walls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the roundups trying to escape<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in bed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in their cribs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the air, the baby thrown over its<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">mother’s</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> head<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> because they stole a potato<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> because they were betrayed for a kilo of sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> because they weren’t wearing the yellow star<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> because they <i>were</i> wearing the yellow star<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> by the <i>Einsatzgruppen</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Reserve Battalion of the German<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Order</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Police<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Gestapo Firing Squad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Waffen SS and the Higher SS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Hiwis-Ukrainian, Latvian,
and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lithuanian</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> volunteers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Hungarian Fascist Nyilas,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Arrow Cross<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Polish police and Polish partisans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Croatian Ustasa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the Romanian army, police, gendarmerie,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">border</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> guard, civilians, and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Iron Guard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by the <i>Wehrmacht</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by old men in the German Home Guard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> by young boys in the Hitler Youth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in <i>Aktion</i> after <i>Aktion</i> as if it was<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">“more</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> or less our daily bread”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the search-and-destroy mission,
the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jew</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
<i>Hunt</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the “harvest festival,”
the <i>Erntefest</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in order to make the northern Lublin district<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">judenrein</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> in Zhitomir, Poniatowa, Józefów,
Trawniki</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Lomazy, Parczew, Bialystok,
Kharkov<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Bialowieza, Luków, Riga, Poltava<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Międzyrzec, Khorol, Kremenstshug<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Slutsk, Bobruisk, Mogilev, Vinnitsa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Odessa, Lvov, Kolmyja, Minsk, Rovno<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Majdanek and Brest-Litovsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Neu Sandau and Tarnopol and Rohatin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Dnepropetrovsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Kovno, Pinsk, Berdichev, Tarnów<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Kamenets-Podolski<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Krakow, Szczebrzeszyn, Siauliai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Stolin, Kielce, Lutsk, Serokomla<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Drogobych, Luga, Delatyn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the Warsaw Ghetto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the ravine of Babi Yar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in Bilgoraj, Nadvornaya, Stanislawów<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in David Grodek, Janów Podlesia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> near Zamosc<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN HERZ</span></b></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>WTH: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>Can you tell our readers what first
moved you to write about the Holocaust?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b>SH:</b> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many years ago after
reading Anne Frank's poignant diary I was tormented by her life and death</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and I realized I was
born the same year as Anne<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white;">, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">1929. And I recall thinking "What was I doing </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">knocking around high
school with a big black </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">H</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> on my chest that said </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Football,</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
while Anne was wearing a yellow star that said </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jood </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and was
forced into hiding and deported to Auschwitz and to her death in
Bergen-Belsen. So I decided to write a poem on what would have been Anne's
sixty-fifth birthday</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">June 12, 1994. It was called </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">You Were Fifteen
That Day. </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The poem</span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ended with the lines:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">You were fifteen that
day<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And I, a Jew born in
America in 1929,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the same year you were
born, Anne</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">am in my sixty-eighth
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I was elated when the
poem was published. Around the same time, I started working towards </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">my Master's degree in
English and joined a poetry writing class. One of our first assignments </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">was to write a poem on
Thanksgiving. So, remembering as a kid hearing Hitler shouting on </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the Philco and my
grandfather showing me pictures of the Nazi Swastika flying from the windows </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">of his former home in
Oppenheim, Germany, and saying "I'll never go back, that Hitler's worse </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">than the Kaiser . . ."
So I decided to put that into my Thanksgiving poem and to show my family in conversation
at the Thanksgiving dinner table in 1938, a few weeks after the pogrom in
Germany and Austria called </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kristallnacht</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the night of the broken
glass</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">which was considered the start of what we now call the Holocaust or
Shoah. I called my poem</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Thanksgiving, 1938</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here's my grandfather's voice in the poem:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"What do you think
about the synagogues<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">burning? All those
synagogues, all those<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Torahs, all that glass
breaking in the stores.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Next thing they'll be
burning Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I wrote my brother:
'Ludwig, get out of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oppenheim, get out of
Germany,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">before soon you won't
anymore be able.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, what do you think?
asks my grandfather.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"It'll pass, I
think it'll pass,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">it usually does,"
says my father.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Do you think you can pass me some dark,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and some white?" I
ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">A</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> short time after I got my degree, I made a trip to Poland with a couple of my
college professors. W</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">e went through all the major killing centers</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Belzec,
Chelmno, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">it was mind-boggling. On
returning, I continued researching everything I could about the Holocaust,<span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">spent
several weeks at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, and also
became a sort of ersatz member of the Child Holocaust Survivors of </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Connecticut. E</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ven though I felt sort of strange not being a survivor, they
welcomed me with open arms. I found a survivor who was telling her story
to mostly schools</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">she asked me to join her and read some of my poems</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I did,
and it worked out swell</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I became sort of her </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Greek (or Jewish)
chorus, interspersing my poems with her poignant story of survival</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">her name </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">is Anita Schorr, and I wrote a poem about her</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">it's called MARKED</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">which also became the title
of my latest book of Holocaust poems. Here's the first stanza:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">at nine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">you wore the yellow
star,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the Star of David<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">that marked you <i>Jew</i>,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">marked you for Auschwitz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">where you lost your name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">for a number<o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">71569</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"><b>WTH: Has how you write about the Holocaust changed since you began
writing these poems?</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I'm not sure it's
changed, I would say it's grown, matured, as I became more aware of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">magnitude of this bloody
slaughter. I started out with a small chapbook of Holocaust poems, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">then another chapbook,
then a full volume, and now an even more extensive 4th collection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>WTH: What struck us
immediately was how many of the poems seem like found poems.</b></span><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The
first poem in the book of course is titled "Found Poem," but many of
the poems that </b><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">follow also appear to be "found," given that they are based on
statements made by </b><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Adolph Hitler, German soldiers, and survivors. Can you talk about your
process </b><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">of
transforming existing materials into poems?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> I've been doing
this</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">writing these poems for so long now</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I don't even think about using found
material </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">on the Holocaust if it
helps to give some meaning to the unfolding history of this dark bloody
time</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">but maybe a few
of my readers' responses might answer this question better than I
can:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"I admire your
cleverness with words, lists, names . . . your focus on detail, your sense of
history, makes this material importantly new . . . it feels like history
distilled."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"You have brought
many new dimensions to a worked over subject</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">reworking Reich orders,
excerpting quotes from Nazi propaganda of the time, and basically anchoring
everything you write in the bitter reality of history is a brilliant stroke. Most Holocaust reflections are personal and not communal as is yours. Most do not gather up the shards of glass from Kristallnacht and surround their art with them. You do, and because of this, and because of the
voice that you </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">adopt as a sincere and
horrified student of all the horrors, your poems stand out as a collection that
is actually designed to make the reader never forget."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">WTH: Please
tell us about your decision to apparently remove yourself from so many of the
poems.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> Sorry, I really can't
answer this question</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I wasn't conscious that I was removing myself from my
poems. Take, for example, a poem I wrote on looking at a picture of
children on the eve of their deportation from Westerbork in
Holland. H</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ere are some of the final stanzas from that poem:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And then it hits you
that this<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Westerbork is the same
place where<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anne Frank and her
family would<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">leave in the last
transport<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">for Auschwitz, leave
only months<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">after the children in
this picture<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">were deported. Was there
a similar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">picture somewhere of
Anne Frank?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Look: in the back row,
that chubby<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">boy in the sailor suit
is pulling<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">his mouth apart, hamming
it up:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">a class clown just like
you were<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">back in 1944, the year
this picture<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">was taken, the year you
graduated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">from Ravinia Grammar
School,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the year you remember
thinking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hitler and Goering were
some kind of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">comedy act, like Abbot
and Costello.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>WTH: </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">For us, one of the
remarkable things about your book is that it is not only a book of poetry, it
is also a historical document, even a history perhaps. We can see teachers
using it as the initial text in a course on the Holocaust itself or on
Holocaust literature. Was this your intention?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> Thanks, you're right on
here. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">A</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> short time after I got my degree, I made a trip to Poland with a couple of my college professors. W</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">e went through all the major killing centers</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">it was mind-boggling. On returning, I continued researching everything I could about the Holocaust,<span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">spent several weeks at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, and also became a sort of ersatz member of the Child Holocaust Survivors of </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Connecticut. E</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ven though I felt sort of strange not being a survivor, they welcomed me with open arms. I found a survivor who was telling her story to mostly schools</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">she asked me to join her and read some of my poems</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I did, and it worked out swell</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I became sort of her </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Greek (or Jewish) chorus, interspersing my poems with her poignant story of survival</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">her name </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">is Anita Schorr, and I wrote a poem about her</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">it's called MARKED</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">which also became the title of my latest book of Holocaust poems. Here's the first stanza:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">at nine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">you wore the yellow star,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the Star of David<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">that marked you <i>Jew</i>,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">marked you for Auschwitz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">where you lost your name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">for a number<o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span></div>
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</div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">71569</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"><b>WTH: Has how you write about the Holocaust changed since you began writing these poems?</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span class="yiv3902527595apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I'm not sure it's changed, I would say it's grown, matured, as I became more aware of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">magnitude of this bloody slaughter. I started out with a small chapbook of Holocaust poems, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">then another chapbook, then a full volume, and now an even more extensive 4th collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">WTH: And a related question: Whom do you see as
the audience for your book?</span></b></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> Hmm, I haven't thought
about that</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I guess I would say everyone and everybody,<span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">with a special
emphasis on making these poems available to the younger generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">WTH: Can you tell us about the writers who have
influenced you, especially in regard to your use of poetry as history, and
history as poetry?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> I was asked a similar
question not too long ago that appeared in a book called </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Poets Bookshelf
II</i><span style="color: #333333;"><i>:</i> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Contemporary Poets on Books That Shaped Their Art. </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here's what I said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Walt Whitman,<i> Leaves
of Grass</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Allen Ginsberg <i>Howl </i>(also
"<i>Kaddish</i>")<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mary Oliver, <i>New
and Selected Poems</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gary Snyder<i>, Turtle
Island</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Primo Levi, <i>Survival
in Auschwitz</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anne Frank, <i>The
Diary of a Young Girl</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Art Spiegelman<i>, Maus</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Martin Gilbert<i>, The
Holocaust</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Looking up at my
bookshelf at shelf after shelf of books on the Holocaust, I find it hard to make
a list</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">but I suppose if I were to pick just one, it would be Primo Levi's <i>Survival
in Auschwitz,</i> which is for me a remarkable, moving and memorable prose poem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But how can I leave out
William Carlos Williams, Richard Hugo, Donald Hall, Philip Levine, Yusef
Komunyakaa, Gerald Stern, Mark Doty, Thomas Lux, Galway Kinnel, Pablo Neruda,
Yehuda Amichai, Stanley Kunitz, Hayden Carruth. etc, etc.?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">WTH: Besides visiting the camps and killing centers and
interviewing survivors (and even a former Nazi boy soldier) . . . before
immersing yourself in the extensive literature and history and poetry
of the <i>Shoah</i>, is there anything
else that you can think of that influenced you as you wrote your
poems?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH:</b> Yes, one thing I still
keep going back to again and again, and that's Claude
Lanzmann's </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">powerful 9½ hour documentary film </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shoah</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Instead
of all those pictures of piles of bodies </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and historical
footage, what Lanzmann gave me (or, I should say gives us) is a
profound, moving, and insightful look into the mind-set of so
many of the killers, victims, and even the bystanders</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and he does
so by visiting the crime scenes.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">WTH: </span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif;">Y</span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">ou have two very very
long, one might call List Poems, "Shot" and "The Shooting
Never Stops." Each line in these poems starts with the word
"Shot." What can you tell us about these poems?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>SH: </b>Well, first of all I
would like to quote a few eye-opening words by </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">the writer David Denby
who recently said: </span><i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Roughly as many
Jews were killed by bullets </span></i><i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">as gas in the Holocaust,
a fact not widely known to this day."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, there's nothing much
to tell you</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">but I can, I hope, show you in these long poems some of the many
many shots from the killers. Here's a small example:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot in bed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot in their cribs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot in the air, the
baby thrown over its<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
mother's head<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot because they stole
a potato<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot because they were
betrayed for a kilo of sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot because they
weren't wearing the yellow star<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot because they were
wearing the yellow star<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I would also like to
mention how these "Shot" poems have made an indelible impression on
several classes of students in the Middle Schools</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">for example, kids would
stand in a long long line, each with a big sign in bold letters that said
SHOT</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">then each of them would take a turn </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and read a line from the
Shot poem and flip their sign down</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot after their eyes
were gouged out because they<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
refused to undress<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">(shot sign is flipped
down)</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">shot after being driven
into the grave and made to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
lie down on top of those who had been <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
shot before them"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">(<i>shot sign is flipped
down)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And so, on and on down
the long line of students being, one might say, felled by the shots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was very
startling and moving, to say the least.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;">__________________________________________</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Stephen Herz's poems have been widely
published. He's a winner of the New England Poet's Daniel Varoujan Prize. This
collection—</span><i>Marked</i>—is the culmination of two chapbooks, a volume of
poems—<i>Whatever You Can Carry</i>—and many new poems that cover the years of this
dark, bloody time of death and destruction and evil we call the Holocaust or
Shoah. Several schools and universities have adopted Herz's poems as part of
their Holocaust studies curricula. Mr. Herz lives in Westport, CT and New York
City.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Marked </span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">is available from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marked-Poems-Holocaust-Stephen-Herz/dp/1935520792/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=9781935520795&linkCode=ur2&qid=1393943787&sr=8-1&tag=poetscraftcom-20">Amazon </a>and <a href="http://books.nyq.org/title/marked">New York Quarterly Books</a>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-33057077876344952882014-06-13T13:33:00.002-04:002014-06-13T13:33:52.583-04:00Happy Birthday, Anne Frank<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAh3a2bvKnWkJynte5aY1QZ8rVD_P-0_y5ujWyPaHvwAfSBpyfo-ad_7GX39Na_GyprHnqtN_CTfgJi8ndN-g5rFr7N64nnLiuYHseBZ_Rus97GH1MX7MuA4SC87CH76rH0IbGNCZIez8/s1600/home_anne.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAh3a2bvKnWkJynte5aY1QZ8rVD_P-0_y5ujWyPaHvwAfSBpyfo-ad_7GX39Na_GyprHnqtN_CTfgJi8ndN-g5rFr7N64nnLiuYHseBZ_Rus97GH1MX7MuA4SC87CH76rH0IbGNCZIez8/s400/home_anne.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616961485270147442" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 344px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 216px;" /></a><br />
Anne Frank's birthday is June 12. She would have been 85 years old if the Nazis had not killed her.<br />
<br />
I first read her diary for a class in high school. I don't remember which class or which teacher or how old I was or what I was obsessing about, but I remember her book, the silence I felt as I read it, and I remember how slowly I read it because I didn't want the book and her life to end.<br />
<br />
There weren't a lot of books about the Holocaust available to me back then in the early 60s. This book was the first, and it taught me something profound about that experience. The suffering and death of even a single person can touch and change a person.<br />
<br />
Here's a link to one of the best website's about her: the Anne Frank page at the <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/af/htmlsite/index.html">US Holocaust Memorial</a>. Just click on the words US Holocaust Memorial.<br />
<br />
The site includes interviews with those who knew Anne Frank, information about her diary, weblinks, and the shared thoughts of many people who have read Anne's diary and been touched by her and her story.<br />
<br />
You might also want to take a look at a youtube done by the poet Lois P. Jones. It collects a series of photos of Anne and her family. Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stDDIcKaAu4">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Feel free also to leave a note here about Anne Frank.John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-78486804601927719622014-06-06T13:06:00.001-04:002014-06-06T13:07:19.412-04:00Remembering D-Day: 70th Anniversary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-q9Gfl2Q9CPBtlC8nJBOUGQVYl_190s5fMfHVaBYnBYE1erYhwSvAfPj2o-XvQgS_8QgXZ15NFH2cPQ9X33FlXXZOXJlbRcmMLi2ZbOchRJ5l4Gm06P_gh4OMUpVsvVNBKSQ2c09Nc-k/s1600/d-day.jpg" mce_href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-q9Gfl2Q9CPBtlC8nJBOUGQVYl_190s5fMfHVaBYnBYE1erYhwSvAfPj2o-XvQgS_8QgXZ15NFH2cPQ9X33FlXXZOXJlbRcmMLi2ZbOchRJ5l4Gm06P_gh4OMUpVsvVNBKSQ2c09Nc-k/s1600/d-day.jpg" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-q9Gfl2Q9CPBtlC8nJBOUGQVYl_190s5fMfHVaBYnBYE1erYhwSvAfPj2o-XvQgS_8QgXZ15NFH2cPQ9X33FlXXZOXJlbRcmMLi2ZbOchRJ5l4Gm06P_gh4OMUpVsvVNBKSQ2c09Nc-k/s320/d-day.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615164807573561906" mce_src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-q9Gfl2Q9CPBtlC8nJBOUGQVYl_190s5fMfHVaBYnBYE1erYhwSvAfPj2o-XvQgS_8QgXZ15NFH2cPQ9X33FlXXZOXJlbRcmMLi2ZbOchRJ5l4Gm06P_gh4OMUpVsvVNBKSQ2c09Nc-k/s320/d-day.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 202px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Today, June 6, is the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe. It's a day that means a lot to me. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">My parents were two of the 15 million or so people who were swept up by the Nazis and taken to Germany to be slave laborers. My mom spent more than two years in forced labor camps, and my dad spent four years in Buchenwald Concentration Camp. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Like almost every other Pole living in Europe at that time, they both lost family in the war. My mom's mom, sister and infant niece were killed by the Germans when they came to her village. Later, two of her aunts died with their husbands in Auschwitz. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">After the war both my parents lived in refugee camps for six years before they were allowed to come to the US. My sister and I were born in those refugee camps. June 6, 1944 was the day that long process of liberation for all of us began.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I've written a lot about my parents and their experiences, and here are two poems from my book </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Ashes-John-Guzlowski/dp/0974326453" mce_href="http://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Ashes-John-Guzlowski/dp/0974326453" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Lightning and Ashes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> about those experiences. The first poem is about what the war taught my mother; the second is about the spring day in 1945 when the Americans liberated my dad and the camp he was in:</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">What the War Taught Her</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
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My mother learned that sex is bad,</div>
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Men are worthless, it is always cold</div>
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And there is never enough to eat.</div>
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She learned that if you are stupid</div>
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With your hands you will not survive</div>
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The winter even if you survive the fall.</div>
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She learned that only the young survive</div>
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The camps. The old are left in piles</div>
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Like worthless paper, and babies</div>
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Are scarce like chickens and bread.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She learned that the world is a broken place</div>
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Where no birds sing, and even angels</div>
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Cannot bear the sorrows God gives them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She learned that you don't pray</div>
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Your enemies will not torment you. </div>
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You only pray that they will not kill you.</div>
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<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">In the Spring the War Ended</span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">For a long time the war was not in the camps.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">My father worked in the fields and listened</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">to the wind moving the grain, or a guard </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">shouting a command far off, or a man dying.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">But in the fall, my father heard the rumbling </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">whisper of American planes, so high, like </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">angels, cutting through the sky, a thunder </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">even God in Heaven would have to listen to.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">At last, one day he knew the war was there.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In the door of the barracks stood a soldier, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">an American, short like a boy and frightened, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">and my father marveled at the miracle of his youth </span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">and took his hands and embraced him and told him </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">he loved him and his mother and father,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">and he would pray for all his children </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">and even forgive him the sin of taking so long.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">_______________________________</span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The boy soldier in the liberation poem is in part modeled after Michael Calendrillo, my wife's uncle. He was one of the first American soldiers to help liberate a camp. His testimony about what he saw in the camps was filmed for a documentary called <b>Nightmare's End: The Liberation of the Camps</b>. You can see a youtube of him talking about what he saw in that camp by clicking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvBf29HaMQ">here</a>. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Here's a link to a presentation I gave at St. Francis College about my parents and their experiences in World War II: Just click </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWmcyuOUfKg" mce_href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWmcyuOUfKg" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">My daughter Lillian sent me the following link to color photos from before and after D-Day from </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Life</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> Magazine. The photos are amazing, and a large part of that amazement comes from the color. The color gives me a shock, a good one--it takes away the distance, makes the photos and the people and places in them immediate in a profound way. </span><br />
<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Here's the link: </span><a href="http://www.life.com/gallery/61121/before-and-after-d-day-in-color#index/0" mce_href="http://www.life.com/gallery/61121/before-and-after-d-day-in-color#index/0" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Life</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">.</span>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-17173614059517677442014-05-20T14:10:00.001-04:002014-05-20T14:13:47.791-04:00Israel Gutman Interview: Part 3<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
The following is the third part of a three-part series of interviews with Israel Gutman. </div>
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In addition to being an historian of the Holocaust, <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Israel Gutman was a leading fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; a survivor of Auschwitz (where he was a member of the Jewish underground), two other Nazi camps, and the death marches; he helped create Yad Vashem, edited the <i>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust</i>, and was a key witness at the Eichmann trial and an important advisor to the Polish post-war government. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The interviews were conducted by Breindel Lieba Kasher. The Introduction is by Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem. The interviews were edited by Charles Fishman. Further information concerning Gutman, Kasher, Fishman, and Bauer appears at the end of the interview.</div>
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(You can read the two earlier parts by clicking here: <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-israel-gutman.html">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/05/israel-gutman-interview-part-2.html">Part 2.</a> )</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" height="320" width="298" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Homeward Bound (1)</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>We left off in Italy where you were again
involved with a kind of underground work, smuggling Jews to Israel.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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It was not, and cannot be compared to,
underground work during the Nazi period. There was a movement from England and
America, to return survivors to their country of origin. The Russian Jews were
to be sent back to Russia, Polish Jews back to Poland, and the Lithuanian Jews
back to Lithuania. Most of these Jews were, by no means, ready or willing to
return to their country of birth. A small minority from the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, and Hungary returned. The East European Jews from Poland or
the Baltic states were not about to do that. The life they once had was
destroyed, their families were murdered, and all their belongings were stolen.
The Jews had more than enough of this from the Poles, Lithuanians, and
Russians. This was why we, in the Underground, worked with illegal immigration.
This Underground was no longer like that of the Zionists before the war,
idealists building a Jewish homeland. This Underground was a direct result of
the war. The Jews understood they had no other way. They had to build a home, a
Jewish country. Jews had a right to go to Palestine, despite the quota policies
of Great Britain. This was the reason
for the establishment of the Beriha [“flight, escape.”]: Jews from Poland,
Austria and Germany went to Italy. From there, they traveled, legally or
illegally, to Palestine. Some people had
family in the United States, or South America. They went there to rebuild their
lives. The great majority, especially from the youth, came to the conclusion
that their new life would be built in Palestine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>People always asked me:“How could any Jew return
to Poland after the war?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, you see, the Jews who returned to Poland
after the war were, for the most part, not Jews under German occupation but,
rather, Jews who, during the war, fled to Soviet Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Yes, that is true, but I met Jews who were under
Nazi occupation, who came from Chelm, Krakow or Lublin, who went through
Auschwitz, Majdanek or Sobibór, and yet I found them back in Poland.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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A relatively small group of people returned.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i> My
feeling is that no one really knows about a life, and what one needs to do, especially
for the survivors. No one can know why someone needed to go back to the place
where, once upon a time, they had a home, a family, and love. No one can know,
and no one can judge.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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They probably went back with the hope of finding
someone from their family, or perhaps, finding some of their belongings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Or perhaps, they went back to be close to the
dead they left?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But they could no longer have had a stable
connection to Poland as home. That would be impossible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>So, what did you do?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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For me, it was clear; I had nobody, no family in
Poland. I was not interested in any of my belongings. I had been a member of a
Zionist youth movement, and it was obvious I would go to Israel. I was going,
even while I was in Poland, so, it was a realization of what I was always going
to do. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What did it entail, your work with illegal
immigration to Palestine?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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My youth movement, and other youth movements,
organized survivors in Poland, Germany, and in Italy. I came to the South of
Italy. A colleague and I had the idea of building a kibbutz. The people of
Italy were very open, friendly, and warm. There was a vast difference between
the Italians and people of Poland or Germany. But, of course, in Italy, there
was no place for all of us, so they sent us deep into the south, to a resort
area, Bari. We organized ourselves there. I, and a friend, asked the youth
among us if they were ready to build a collective life. When we had enough
Jewish youth, we began building Kibbutz Aviv [Spring]. This was a very nice
time. The members of this kibbutz all journeyed, illegally, to Palestine via
Cyprus. I did not go because delegates from Palestine, involved with illegal
immigration, decided I should be a part of a group preparing the Aliya
movement. From Rome, they sent me to Germany for some time, and to Austria,
returning to Italy. I traveled all the time. “Aliya Bet” [illegal immigration
#2], all left from Italy to Palestine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>How old were you?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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I was 22. I worked all the time, as it was
becoming closer to the establishment of the Jewish State. I said, this is my
time; now I want to go to Israel. I went a special, illegal way, as did the
members of the Haganah, a part of a Jewish brigade, returning home. The English
knew nothing of this method of sending people. It was called “Aliya Gimel” [illegal
immigration #3]. I arrived in Israel at the very beginning of the state. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>You did not have to land in Cyprus?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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No.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What was the
first thing you did when you got off the boat?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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When I arrived, I wanted to go to a kibbutz.
They knew that I belonged to this organization in Italy and Austria, and after
a short time I was sent to a young kibbutz. My kibbutz was Lehavot Habashan in
the north Galilee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Where was it?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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It was close to the Syrian border. It was a new
kibbutz. The majority were young people, from different countries, who had been
in Palestine for a long time. I was a part of a small group of newcomers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What happened to Kibbutz Aviv?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Aviv was sent via Cyprus to Palestine. Those
people either became members of different kibbutzim, or a part of them went to
live in the cities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Your kibbutz was not made up of survivors.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No, on the contrary. The majority were not
survivors. The majority were children of families who lived a long time in
Palestine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When you finally arrived in Palestine, after
being a Zionist your whole life, how did you feel?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was a realization of a dream. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How was it, living with people who were not
survivors? Could they understand you? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was a problem for many reasons; there was a
question of language, a question of work, a question of a newcomer who had
nobody. It was a new lesson in life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So here you were, this small group of survivors,
were you welcomed?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, it is not so easy to say that
everything was fine, and I was happy to start a life with new people, in a new
place, even the climate; all these things had their influences, but it was my
home, that was clear. It was not always Gan Eden [The Garden of Eden].<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How did the Israelis receive the Jews who came
from Europe?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I believe that survivors who went to the States
had greater problems. The Jews, however, in Israel, did not fully understand
what happened in Europe. They did not know what sort of people we were, why we
survived, what happened over there. They worried about if we would fit in and
be like the others, after years in the camps, without family, with all our
struggles. They worried about the effect we would have on the others. It was
disappointing. But, when I think about those of us who were involved with
rescue work, those of us who remained in Poland and other countries, we
ourselves had doubts about the effect those years we spent under the Germans,
and in the camps, had on us. We wondered how we would be able to have normal
lives, fit into a normal society. The newcomers had so many doubts, and the
oldtimers were also in conflict. They
did not make it easy. There was not full cooperation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Of course the survivors found it difficult to
pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and begin again in a foreign land.
Wasn’t it the obligation of the Israelis to welcome their brothers and sisters,
and help ease their difficult adjustment, any way possible? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, those survivors who had some family
here, found it easier; but for those of us who were alone, who had to begin to
live again, to start a new life, everything was new, and it was hard. It was
very complicated and difficult; but, when I think about it today, I come to the
conclusion that there was never another group of immigrants like that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
After a short time we became a natural part of
the country. I see immigrants from Morocco or, now, immigrants from Russia;
after many years, they still have a specific character as newcomers, separate
from the society. It was not the case with the survivors. After a short time, a
year, two years, three years, we fit in with everyone else in society.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Really?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I think so. The young people learned quickly.
They learned the language, they met their partners and friends. They learned to
work. They were patriots.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>The Jews who went to America remained
immigrants, but the Jews who came to Israel were coming to their homeland.
Therefore, didn’t they deserve to be welcomed with open arms?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, the United States was a country of
immigrants, but there was a very large difference between the Jews who had
already been in America for many years and those Jews who came after the Second
World War. The older immigrants felt they were Americans. The newcomers, from
the beginning, never fit in to American society. They remained foreigners. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The newcomers to Israel, the survivors, after a
short time, became part of society, everyone building a new state. They began
to feel Israel was their country, and they belonged here, no less than anyone
else. It was, however, difficult because the Sabras had their specific way of
life, but the Sabras were also different from their elders, their parents. When
we speak of the older generation, the survivors were quickly able to unite and
build a home together. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">God, Tradition, and Yiddishe Ta’am</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When you were growing up, you said, “Shabbos was
Shabbos.” Your father went to a shteible [A place to pray]. You were
traditional Jews.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you feel you have kept any of that tradition?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, but even when I was young, I was different
than my father. I went to a different school. I was a Jew. This was clear. I
cannot imagine my life <i>not</i> as a Jew.
But I belonged to another generation, very interested in Polish culture and
literature.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>All members of Hashomer Hatzair were not
religious — is that right?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, absolutely. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Was one of the requirements not to believe in
God?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, this was how we felt, before the war. But,
you know, it was very difficult to believe in God, in the Warsaw Ghetto, in the
Camps. The first question each Jew asked himself was, If this is my God, and I
am close to him, and I believe in the one God, where is my God? Look what
happened to his people. This is the question I do not have any answers for. I
am not religious. I can only imagine the difficulty, the great problems,
religious people had trying to answer this. You know, there are people who,
because of the tradition they were raised in, because of their children,
continued to believe after the war, but it is impossible to think they did not
ask the basic question, <i>If there is a
God, where was he during this tragedy?</i> I don’t know what the answer is.
Perhaps there is no answer at all. Perhaps it was more important for some
people to pass down the idea, ‘What my father was, so am I.’ In any case, there
was no place to be religious in a ghetto. There was nothing kosher, no
synagogue to attend; no, religion could no longer be a part of the life, and no
one could find any hope in belief. Not only did the Jews lose more people than
any other nation, but the first Jews taken were the believers, the Polish Jews,
the first victims.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>There were, however, religious people in the
ghettos. I was wondering if you saw anyone who was religious in the barracks?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Anyone who says there were religious people in
the barracks is telling stories. In the barracks, a very small group of people believed
with all their heart. I told you about the group I was involved with, the Underground
in Auschwitz. Only after the war did I learn a few among them had been
religious. In the camp, they never told me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you see anyone in the camps doing anything
in terms of religiosity?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
One person, he did not eat. So he died. Today,
people tell different stories. Besides the very few who, against all odds, remained
believers, anyone with any sense could not, as a prisoner in camp, behave, eat
and work as a believer. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Well you know, I read Rebbe Shapira, the Esh
Kodesh [the Sacred Fire], The Rebbe of the Warsaw ghetto. He said something
that interested me, something I found revolutionary. To paraphrase:‘ The Nazis
could take everything from you, but the one thing they could never take was
your connection to God.’</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The truth is that the Rabbis, the leaders, most
of them, left. They went away. Only a few great human beings remained. The
majority left. Yes, after the war, when life returned to normal behavior,
belief changed. I know, for many people, religion is strong and important in
their lives. I don’t like the made-up
stories. In my opinion, we have to tell ourselves, and others, the full truth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You spoke of the days in Warsaw, when there were
so many Jews, they spoke Yiddish, read Yiddish newspapers, went to Yiddish
theater, prayed at little shteibeles. Prayers were heard in the alleyways, on
cobblestone streets; Jews walked with their own rhythm. There was a Jewish life
and a Yiddisher Ta’am [an essence of Jewishness].</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Jewish life was different. I like to be among
Jews. I am a Jew. When I am in other countries with people who are not Jews, I
feel I am not with my own. I have a feeling of “the other,” but, for me, the
most important thing is to be a good human being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When I think of Yiddishe Ta’am, I feel sad that
there seems to be so little Yiddishkeit</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>[an essence that was Jewishness]. There isn’t
even Yiddish any more.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, for me, the Jewish language had something
in it that no other language had. This is a loss, but — <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>This is a big loss. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, and we can never get it back, and it had
something in it that was so important, “chuchma” [a wisdom], something
original.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Yes, Yiddish was the heart of the Jewish People.
This is something of what I call ta’am.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Perhaps this <i>is</i>
Jewish ta’am. You are right. This is a loss in the same way as we lost the
generations of Jews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Yes. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is not a loss only because I was so close to
these people, and this was what I spoke in my home, with my friends, and my
family, but also because they were very clever people. They had so much
potential. The Poles had a theory about the Jews. They said the Jews were poor
so they didn’t have a clue about modern life. I say to them, please, look what
happened to these same Jews who went to the States. They became a part of a
sophisticated world, people who won Nobel Prizes, people who were a part of the
building of modern technology. Not only were they not the problem, they could
have been the people who changed your life, but they refuse to understand this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Yes, and Yiddishkeit was murdered with the
Yidden [the Jews]. The only Yiddish used now is with the Hassidim, and this
Yiddish is only a small part of the Yiddish world that was in Poland.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Each day I am looking at the news in the television.
They are presenting the people. There are Jewish murderers and robbers and all.
What kind of ta’am is this?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I am not talking about that. I understand that. I
am talking about a Jewishness that existed before the war, a world that is
described by Sholom Aleichem, Peretz, and Chaim Grade, a world that left almost
no traces.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
We try to imagine all the Jews who were murdered
as people who had great neshumas [souls], great believers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>No.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
With great morals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>No.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is not true.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I am not thinking of that. I just mean that our
people, unlike any other, did not go gently into the abyss. The Shoah murdered
our people and our past. When they took away our grandparents, they erased all
the secrets they would have passed down to us, their recipes and rhythms,
footprints we could have followed, looking for our own way. We were born on the
other side of an endless void, between here and there. Assimilation, among
the Jews, was not a natural dissolving and evolving process, from one
generation to the next. It was a violent cut that left us in total darkness.
We, the generations after, stumble in the emptiness, for some idea of where we
came from, to help us figure out who we are and where we are going . . . And "ta'am” was pushed into
the ovens with our people, and it will be impossible for the generations after
to have any inkling of that Jewish world that was. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Perhaps. All this was also primitive. There were
people who were not a part of a modern life and the modern life changed
everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But our change, unlike other people’s, was not a
gradual, natural process.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This is right, but it happened, not only because
of the Holocaust. Change happened when a Jew from a small town in Poland went
to the United States.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Okay, that was natural. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The truth is, the change that appeared in the
States was greater than what happened in Warsaw. Modern life changed Jewishness, as it had
been, in the small towns, in a very close human society. Then it was stronger
and deeper. What you call ‘Jewish ta’am’ changed with modern society. That was
normal. It had to happen. It was not just because of the Holocaust. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I can’t say I agree with that because nothing
was normal. This was not assimilation. The old world was gone, as if it never
existed; the earth swallowed up the ashes of our people. The generation after
continues on shaky ground. Don’t you find it sad that no one reads the Yiddish
writers any more?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
They don’t read them because they no longer
understand the old Jewish life. In the modern world, no one reads the great
writers, like Balzac. The average person no longer reads Balzac because society
has changed, and the youth no longer feel a part of or interested in the old
way. It has to do with cultural
development.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So you mean to say that the Jewish people don’t
have more of a gap in the continuity of their roots than the other nations?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I am not able to tell you. I am a Jew and I
cannot imagine myself among other nations. I spent a year in the States and I
had no ambition to remain there or assimilate into another society. I am a Jew.
I live in Israel. I don’t know if Israel is better than any other nation. I am
a Jew, but I don’t know if we are better people than other human beings. It is
just that this Jewishness, it is ours. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
February 2007<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Homeward Bound (2)</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How could Israel have behaved better toward the
survivors?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Well, it was difficult for the people to deal
with the immigrants, but for the survivors it was more difficult. We had to
begin a new life in a new country, with all our memories, with our feeling of
aloneness. What happens to human beings who existed for years under constant
torture, and then it finally ends? What happens to a man when he begins to feel
the pain of his past? His future is overwhelming. We had no family and our
whole world, everyone, no longer existed. In the camps, all attention was
concentrated on one thing, how to survive each minute. There was no possibility
to think of the normal things a young man would be interested in like work,
politics, culture, building Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How does one build a life after so many years of
brokenness? How does it happen? Was it because you were young?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This was perhaps the most important thing. I was
young. Young people want to live. I did not know what it was like to have a
normal life, to grow up with parents. I had to become a man on my own. It
helped that I came to the place of my dreams. It was far more difficult for the
middle-aged, people who had a life, a wife or husband, children over there and
lost them. For these people, it was often impossible to start over. I also
think it was easier for us survivors who came to Israel, than for those who
immigrated to the United States. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I had a close friend. We planned to go to
kibbutz together. He was from Warsaw. We were together in Auschwitz. We made
it, this long way, together. It was clear, when I saw him again, in Austria,
that we would continue our dream and join a kibbutz. I went back to Italy. He
stayed in Austria. He married a young woman. His wife had her family in the
States. They settled in New York. For a long time, for years and years, I mean
almost twenty years, I broke my connection with him. I could not forgive him
for not coming to Israel. It broke our friendship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The first time I went to the States, I was no
longer a member of a kibbutz. I was living in Jerusalem. I was a professor at Hebrew
University. I was older. You know, when you are older, you begin to understand
things differently. You have more experience. I decided I wanted to find my
friend. I wrote to him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What was his name? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Finkelstein, and the funny thing is, his son,
Norman Finkelstein, is a famous author. In my opinion, he wrote anti- Jewish,
anti-Israeli books. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I went to New York and I met him. It was
unbelievable. He no longer lived with his family. He had three sons, but he
lived alone. I compared our lives, the differences between us. When we met in
Austria, we were the same young men from Warsaw; there was no difference. We
shared almost every idea. In New York, he never could assimilate. He was
unhappy with his family, unhappy with his way of life. I understood each person
had his own unique story. I could accept
the path he chose was different than mine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>My father, and all of the Yiddish writers from
Europe, never fit into American society. They remained outsiders. They spoke
Yiddish. They all called me their “Yiddishe tuchter”[Jewish daughter]. I didn’t
understand why I belonged to all of them. I didn’t know about the million and a
half Jewish children murdered. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did the survivors in Israel help one another
adjust?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, the survivors were, to some extent,
organized. I found this small group of survivors who were involved with the Underground
in Auschwitz. They lived in Tel Aviv and Haifa. I wrote my first book about
Auschwitz with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What was the name of the book you wrote?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
“Ana shim V’Efer” [“People and Ashes”].<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>In what year was that written?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was in 1949.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>On the kibbutz, did people ask you to tell them
what happened during the war, or were you not prepared to tell them?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was not very prepared to tell them, and they
were not waiting for my story. It was a new kibbutz. In some way, each of us
was in a new place. The difference was, some came from Haifa, Tel Aviv, or
Jerusalem, and some came from Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Mauthausen. This was the
difference. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Hashomer Hatzair was affiliated with the Socialists.
Is that correct?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
First of all, kibbutz life was a collective
life. It was a Socialist life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did most kibbutzim identify with Communism?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Until some time, to some degree, yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Until when?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Hashomer Hatzair never identified with
Communism, never at all. But Communism was a hope, until it became clear what
was happening in Soviet Russia, and the policies of Stalin. It took years to
gain this clarity. When we finally understood, Hashomer Hatzair, all the
society, no longer affiliated with Soviet Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You spoke about the difference of going from
Europe to Israel, as opposed to America. My parents were Communists in America.
The Communists’ political activities in America took on a different form than
here in Israel. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The difference was that America, for the most
part, was never close to living in a Communist society. Here in Israel, from
every point of view, our society identified with the ideology. Almost the whole
kibbutz movement was built with the ideology. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>My father also belonged to Hashomer Hatzair in
Poland. In New York, he wrote for the Freiheit, a left wing Yiddish newspaper.
In l952, when his friends, Yiddish writers living in Russia, were murdered, my
father quit the party, and quit the paper. What was shocking for me was how my
parents, who were intellectuals and dreamers, substituted one messiah, religion,
for a political messiah, mother Russia. They made such a big mistake.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, it was a dream. To believe this was simply
an illusion; it was a great shock.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>My parents, and the others who believed in a
world where all men and women, regardless of race or religion, should be
treated equally, followed a murderer, Stalin. Communism, dressed in doctrines
of peace, left a trail full of blood.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Little by little, every Jew began to understand
this ideology, and the truth of what was behind the regime was absolutely two
different things. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
*<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So, how did you fall in love? Where did you meet
your wife?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
My wife, I met on the kibbutz. She was from
Switzerland. She was not a survivor. I started to work. I worked the fields. I
was very happy doing physical work. It was not hard for me, even though the
work was not easy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I have interviewed many survivors. Most
survivors I asked said they would only marry other survivors. They felt, only
someone who went through what they did could possibly understand. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I read books so I knew what was happening
politically, and culturally. I forced myself to read books in Hebrew only. It
was not easy, but I felt it was necessary. I had no other choice but to learn
the language. After only a short time, I was able to read and write in Hebrew.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But how do two people, one a survivor, and one
not, understand each other?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This was not a great problem because everyone
knew some language to communicate in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I am not talking about language. I mean able to
understand where you came from, what you endured.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was a stable problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What does that mean, a stable problem?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The differences, coming from different
countries, we did not think about this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I don’t mean different countries; I mean coming
from the camps. Can someone who was not a survivor really understand you? That
is what I am asking.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
We were not in a time or place to think about
this. We were busy with our day-to-day problems, as members of a kibbutz. Until
today, I do not think my children know exactly what happened to me or who my
parents were. They were not interested. I was also not interested in telling
them the tragic story. I suppose today they know. They know my friends from
Europe. They know from the books I wrote, but they do not have any special
interest in this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>It is very complicated, this idea. Everyone was
quiet. No one really said anything.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t think so. On the contrary. Not my
children, but my grandchildren are very, very interested. In the university,
where I was a teacher for so many years, I saw the young students interested in
the past. I taught them. They read books. They read diaries. They wanted to
know everything. In Israel, the breaking point was the Eichmann trial. Until
this time, there was no great interest, except to hear stories of the uprising or things of a heroic nature.
Zionism interested them more. The tragedies were not spoken about until after
the Eichmann trial. When the simple people spoke out and told what happened to
their families, the people were able to grasp the individual, the human being,
and not only see
us as the millions without faces. This changed their
understanding. This understanding still exists today. The interest today is
much stronger than when I first came to Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I think when the survivors first came, they were
too close to what had just happened to them. Heartbroken, they did not, or were
not able to, open up and speak to their children. And the children were afraid
to ask painful questions. Even when I sit here with you today, I feel bad
asking you to go back and speak about such terrible times. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
They had a false image; every person had the
same, identical story, as if there were only one story. As a matter of fact,
each human being had a story. When this was understood, everything changed.
Today, schools teach this and students are interested in learning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I just want to say, I don’t think your children
were uninterested. I think it was a dynamic —
survivors not speaking, and children not wanting to dredge up sad
memories.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
There are families where parents not only told
them continually what happened but, when they gave their children food, they
said, “Eat because we were starving!” There were people like this. Perhaps I
belonged to the other group, the ones who tried never to do this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
End
of January 2007</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Oral Torah: Giving it
Over</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I am still thinking of the last time we spoke. You
said that Hashomer Hatzair was a left wing, non-religious movement. You came to
the land of Israel where democratic socialism, even Communism, fit in with the
philosophy of the state, and the kibbutz movements. Is that right?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, as a matter of fact Hashomer Hatzair<i> </i>never had any connection to communism.
On the contrary, Hashomer Hatzair<i> </i>was
the most active youth movement, from point of view of friendship, of organizing
social activities. Hashomer Hatzair<i>
</i>was, first of all, a Zionist movement. It had a utopian belief — friendship,
peace, and equality for all. It was not a party; it was a day-to-day, living
movement. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
When I was growing up, the Jewish youth of
Poland were built around Hashomer Hatzair<i>
</i>and two other main movements. Each of these movements had a special
orientation toward political life, social life, and religious life. Agudat
Israel was a
religious movement that included 30 to 35% of the
Jews.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The Bund was a political movement. They were
traditional, but not religious. The Bund had a Socialist philosophy. These Jews
were anti-religious. The belief that all Jews in Poland were religious,
speaking of the time before the war — well, that was not true. The Second World
War was not a great time for belief. The Jewish mothers and fathers lost their
faith. There is a well-known expression, “From your mouth to God’s ear,” and,
to our regret, in this time, the mouth of the Jew was filled with tragedy, each
and every day, and there was no sign giving us a feeling that God was
listening. There were, of course Jews who remained religious, but the majority
began to feel religion was a theory, a belief, the will of human beings, but
not a reality. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>My father was Polish, mother was from Hungarian
Hassidim. In America, they were
Communists who fought for workers’ rights and civil rights. Mother
was anti- religious, anti-nationalistic, anti- Zionist. My parents did not
speak about the Shoah. Most of my generation in America did not learn Yiddish,
or Hebrew. My question is, what would make this next generation Jewish? If you
live in Israel, whatever you choose to follow or not, you are a part of the
Jewish nation. But what would tie the generation after, my generation, living
in the Diaspora, to feeling Jewish? One had to have roots passed down. If not
nationalists, not religious, not traditional, what, prey tell, is one left
with?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
First of all, we had a culture in Europe, a folk
culture. We were not anti-religious; we just did not believe in mitzvoth, doing
something specific to connect you to God. We did not believe God made a daily
account of what a Jew did. Much of the religious practices seemed childish. My
orientation — and I have a strong
sentiment to Jewish tradition and Jewish behavior — is to be a good, moral man.
This is very important to me, and I try to live my life as such, as far as I am
able. A person who claims to be religious who is not menshlich [an upright
person] in regard to the Arabs, whose chauvinism is so strong that he believes
he is entitled to everything over another, well, I don’t believe in this
way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
There are some Jews who are so religious, like
some of the Haredim [ultra orthodox], they go off to Iran. They think there is
only one way to be Jewish, to behave exactly like them; and one who does not
think and behave like them is not really Jewish. There are also extreme
Zionists who believe that any Jews outside of Israel are not really Jewish. I
am a Zionist. I cannot think of living outside of Israel. As a member of Hashomer Hatzair, we undertook the
building of this country. It was very hard work and sacrifice. This was not the
achievement of the religious people. It was the achievement of the Zionists,
who clearly understood that, as Jews, we had no other way. And this is,
perhaps, the ta’am you were speaking of: the good feeling of being among Jews,
which is also my feeling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you know Felek Scharf?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Once we
were walking in Krakow together. We were talking about Yiddishkeit. We were
saying there was not much of it left in the world.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Felek Scharf, I knew him very well. We spent a
long time together. He was a Jew, but his family was not Jewish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>His wife . . .</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Wife and children . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And he was bemoaning the feeling that his family
didn’t really know him.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
He was crying about it, but he did nothing about
it. A wife is not chosen from heaven.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Unless you are religious.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I tell you, he was a real Zionist in Krakow. Of
course he had a great sympathy. All he did, he did with sympathy. He also had a
great sympathy for Poles. Until the end, I wondered which of his sympathies
were stronger — his connection with the
Poles or with the Jews? I am also very close to Polish culture. I have many
friends who are Poles. But, for me, it is clear that they belong to another
country, another nation. I know very well the difference between a Pole and a
Jew, in the eyes of the Poles. I have to say, my friends who are Poles, are
really close to me, but I know the difference that lies between them and me. I
am a Jew. I was not 100% sure that Scharf understood this difference. There
were times when we thought similarly. Every time we spoke, we were close. But
among the Poles, he was a Pole. Not like me. Among Poles, I am always a Jew.
Our Jewish history, and what happened to our Jewish People, this is always so
close to me, it lives in me, it keeps me different from them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>The last time I saw Felek, he said, “There is no
sense to come to Poland any more; all my energy I will give only to Israel.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, one time he felt that; the other time, he
could change his mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I think I understand Felek. He left Poland in
l938. Despite the fact that he knew and felt the horrors of the war, he left
before it. His memories of his childhood left him longing for, as he called it,
“my Krakow.” You, on the other hand, went through the horrors of the war. You
saw exactly what it was, to be a Jew in Warsaw. You saw Polish people turn on
their Jewish neighbors. Poland, your home and the country of your birth, died
with the Jewish people. What do you think Felek meant when he said, “There is
very little Yiddishkeit left in this world?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This is not just for the Jews. You must take in to
account a universal change. The fact that we live in a world with television
and the possibility to know what is going on all over the world. Almost every good book in English gets
translated into Hebrew. The generations are different. Once there was a kind of closed limitations
that made vast differences between societies. This has changed absolutely. This
is less national ta’am and more ta’am of an international, universalistic,
meaning. I don’t know, but if it is with friendship and understanding and a
common will to build a new kind of society, it could be a positive thing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You said you did not speak to your children
about Shoah.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, it is only one part of the fact. It is
true. I tried not to tell them too much, not to inundate them with my
suffering. Still, when a friend of mine came to visit, he asked my daughter if
I told her anything about the Shoah. She said, “He does not have to tell me. I
see all the books in my home. I see what he wrote and, from time to time, I
hear him speaking. I know enough of his past.”
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was impossible to build a normal life after
the war and to raise a family under the influence of all the tragic things that
befell me. I wanted my children to grow up free men and women, to look
positively toward the future. On the other hand, in order to build a new world,
a Jew must always remember what happened to their People.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did your silence include not speaking of your
parents, their grandparents, their aunts, your sisters? Did you talk to them
about the family you, and they, lost?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Of course, they knew about them but, for
instance, my wife was from Switzerland. They were a small family. She was the
only daughter, and I was the only survivor from my family. Our children had
only their parents for family. Our life was on the kibbutz. It was a
collective. It did not build family connections. This influenced the childrens’
character and affected how they felt about family, and that was a pity, but
this was not just my experience but also the results of the life of this whole
Israeli generation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I had a picture of my grandmother on my bedroom
wall. No one told me that she was murdered; they simply said she died. You told
me that during the war, Jewish life was so unique because the Jewish family
kept together.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You are right, but what happened to the family
was the result of the war.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Even the memory of who was in the family was
erased. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is not a question of memory. It is a question
of continuation. You cannot build sentiments or connections by telling stories.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But if you have nothing else?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The breakdown of family was also the result of
the way we are living today, in comparison to the past. I told you about the
modern society; feelings, behaviors, and our relations to the family changed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You are right, perhaps, but it is a fact even in
Israel today — the relationship between brothers and sisters — it is cold, it is not like the past. People
who had a great sentiment for tradition and the past felt they lost so much,
but there is a different reality today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I have almost no one from my youth in Warsaw,
but I have friends who were with me in Auschwitz. Most of the time, we spoke
together of family life and the past, but look, I have no connection with my
best friend’s children.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>That is too bad. I don’t have anyone from my
immediate family, a father or mother, brother, but I told my children, as much
as I could, about them.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I told them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Yes, you gave them some kind of a connection?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I will tell you, I was with my youngest daughter
in Poland. I took her with me to Warsaw. We were in some places in Krakow. Then
we went to Auschwitz. For her, it was something unbelievable. It was cold. It
was winter. It was snowing. It was impossible to walk from Auschwitz to
Birkenau, but she insisted, so I took her there. I told her everything that
happened. On this visit, while she was
there, she was very affected by the place and what I told her. On the other
hand, for her, it was something that happened a long time ago, and her life
existed today, a part of a whole other society, in another country. What I told
her did not radically change her life. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I can’t believe that. I think it did, no matter
what.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a fact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I can’t believe it, I don’t believe it.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a fact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
March 7, 2007<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Who is Jewish?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Many times throughout this interview, when I
mentioned someone who is Jewish by birth, your response was, “Oh, he is not
really Jewish.” What do you mean? How do you define Jewish identity today?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Jewish identity today is quite different. Of
course the Jewish identity today has to include the state of Israel. In other
countries, Jews live in an almost identical way to the non-Jews of the country.
They do not have a specific way of living, as did the Jews in Poland, who were
isolated, in their own groups, living in small villages. The Jewish “ kehilah ”
(community) was absolutely different, and separate from the rest of the people
of the country. Jewish children were educated in Jewish schools. Jewish life
was a different way of life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you think these differences exist anymore?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t know. There are groups in the United
States, but these are mainly made up of religious Jews. In other places, Jews
are assimilated, living, more or less, like the other people in their country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And when you say someone who was born Jewish is
not really Jewish, what do you mean?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Some people are Jews, as I am a Pole. They were
born that way. In their daily life, in their family life, they are not Jewish.
Their children do not consider themselves Jewish. They do not go to Jewish
schools. They are not living in Jewish communities. They have no Jewish
orientation. These people, I feel, are not Jewish. Living in Israel, it is
quite a different matter. You can be religious or not, but you know you are a
Jew.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So if you live in Israel you have no problem
with Jewish identity. For those who live in Boiberik [far away], like Europe or
America . . .</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a great problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Who is a Jew who is not from Israel?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a problem for the future. I am skeptical. First
of all, what percentages of the Jews today marry non-Jews? In some countries,
perhaps 50 per cent? In the future, in a few generations, perhaps the
percentage will be higher. I have no answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
(A telephone conversation with Professor Gutman.
)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Eichmann Trial</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How were you chosen to give testimony at the
Eichmann trial?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Gideon Hausner was looking for people who were
in Majdanek, and he was having difficulty.
Abba Kovner told him, “You have Israel. He is the right man.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Was that the first time a door opened for the
public to know what happened?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I had written two books before I got to
Jerusalem. It was before I started my scholarly work. The first book was on
Auschwitz. The second book was about Mordecai Anielewicz. These books were very popular and widely read.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Can you describe your feelings, seeing Eichmann?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was a strong and difficult feeling. The
entire trial was not easy. From the first moment of the trial, I knew this was
an historical event. The Eichmann trial changed the way the Israeli people
viewed what had happened, especially the younger generation who could not
understand the meaning of the Holocaust. They were under the impression that
the Jews of the Diaspora were slaves who were not ready to struggle and fight.
They believed we were another kind of people, very different from the society
here in Israel. We were considered another kind of human being. This view changed during the trial. They
were, for the first time, able to listen to simple human beings, not Antek,
Zivia, Kovner, and not I, but rather, the stories of mothers and fathers who
lost their families. They began to comprehend a little of what it meant to be
in the Holocaust. Never before had there
been such a catastrophic event of such magnitude. They began to get a glimpse
of how such a tragedy affected the survivors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I began to get a better understanding of how to
present the story of the Holocaust, how to help others, especially the young
people, understand. This was important. Because of the trial, I was moved to
write a textbook: “The History of the Holocaust.” It is used in middle schools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What were your feelings on Hannah Arendt’s book,
“Eichmann in Jerusalem?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Hannah Arendt was not Jewish and not human. She
only wrote from some political orientation.
She was anti-Zionist. I wrote an article opposing her views.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>There is a danger when people get so caught up
in their politics that they remove themselves from feeling.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
They believe they are wiser, and know better
than everyone else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You did not go to the Demjanjuk trial, did you?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you believe that time could make a survivor
forget the face of his torturer?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
That I cannot answer. It is different from man
to man. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you ever meet Toivi Blatt?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, I met him two times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you know that he was a witness against his
SS commander, Frenzel, from Sobibór? During the break, Toivi made perhaps the
only interview between a survivor and his SS commander. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, I know the story. He wrote a book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>He asked Frenzel: “Are you a religious person?
Do you attend Church?” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And Frenzel responded, “Yes, very often.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>“Do you have any conflict regarding your
religious belief and your political activity,” Toivi asked.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>“No, we were German Christians [a Nazi-
supported section of the Evangelical Church]; all of my children were
christened, like myself. My brother studied theology. My wife and myself, not
every Sunday because of the children, but every second or third, we always
attended church.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>“And you have not, as a Christian, any problems
with your past?” asked Toivi.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And he answered immediately, “I have nothing to
hide.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How can you understand this?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, it is clear; there are people who go to the
church like they eat breakfast in the morning. It is not something that changes
their mentality or morality. A great part of the generation of Germans during Hitler’s
time was built on super-patriotism, and the belief that the German nation was
better than all other nations of the world and that the Germans had the right,
as the most important nation, to be the rulers of mankind. Their racism ran
deep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you believe, that if the Church came out
against the Shoah, there could not have been any Shoah?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t know. I can not say what would have
happened if the Church did come
out against the Shoah, but I do know it was their obligation to do so, and they
did not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Poland is such a Christian country. Although we
cannot know what would have been, can’t we assume the Polish people would have
felt guilty committing crimes against the Jewish People, if the Church had condemned
such actions and called them sinful?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Of course, but the church in Poland had no great
influence. The main problem was the Vatican, but, also, the church in Poland
did nothing. The Church did nothing, or almost nothing. Pope Pius the 12<sup>th</sup>,
from the beginning, did not speak out against the Nazis. Not only did he do
nothing; more than this, he believed the main problem was the communists, not
the Nazis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Just as we have a responsibility to remember the
history of our people, what do you think is the responsibility of Christians,
and Germans, after the war?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You have a change. Religion, unlike politics,
does not change easily. It is more difficult to change a person’s beliefs. The
Polish Pope had the courage to admit to the responsibility that belonged to the
Germans and the Polish people during the Holocaust. So there were some changes
in the opinions and policies of the Church. It really was a lesson for
humankind that, during the Holocaust, the Church sided with the strong people
against the weak. When the Church was called on to fulfill its role in the
period, it did nothing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>The Church edicts and the doctrines of Martin
Luther were laden with antisemitism, prerequisites to Hitler.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, they are, in some way, guilty. They played
a part in the development of antisemitism. On the other hand, Nazism, and
Hitler, were not antisemites because of the Church doctrines. They used the
influence of the long period of antisemitism by the Church, but the Nazis,
themselves, were not really believers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Do you think there will always be antisemitism
in the world?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Not always; you cannot say that. Antisemitism
was different at different times, in different countries. There are times of strong
antisemitism, and there are times with less.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Why, since the beginning of time, do people hate
the Jews?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, people are people. We are people, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But why have the Jews been singled out?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
In life, there has always been people who do
positive deeds, and others who do negative deeds, and those who are on the side
of the negative, they need a scapegoat and the Jews became, from a historical
point of view, such a target of hatred. It is a fact that the Jews in the
Diaspora represented “the other,” different from the majority.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But in Germany, the Jews were assimilated. It
was not like in Poland, where many Jews looked so strange. In Germany, the Jews
looked like everyone else, did they not?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes. The hatred in Germany was political, and
not a part of the daily life like it was in Poland.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Yad Vashem</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How did you first get to work at Yad Vashem?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I came to Yad Vashem at the beginning, from the
70’s. I left the kibbutz and came here. I went to Jerusalem with my family. In
the kibbutz, you had no possibility to build a family life. I started to work
here for an income, but, from the first moment, it was not work; it was my
obligation. I felt I had to do something because of my past. This is the reason
I began working here and studied at the university. In the university, it was
not really I who decided to dedicate myself to the subject of Shoah. My
professors told me, you are fine in everything you are studying, but you will
be better than others in giving over the history of the Shoah; you have to take
this on. And so I decided, little by little, to devote myself to research,
writing, and teaching.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What do you think about the high technology of Holocaust
museums and Yad Vashem? It is certainly unrecognizable from the Yad Vashem you
began in.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, I don’t influence the development and
technical side of the coin. What I did mostly was to try to present, and help
others understand, this period of time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Are the changes pleasing to you?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
In my opinion, the modern way is not about the
contents; it is only the system, and the new system could help to present
things like films and music, which are all very important. You know, when you
are working on the subject for so many years, you cannot be satisfied. For each
thing you have done, other questions present themselves. I do not have the
feeling I have done everything I should have done, but I tried to do my best.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Well, I think you are one of the greatest Jewish
historians. You said that the Shoah made such an effect on humanity</i> — <i>to show how
something like this should never happen again. What I wonder and worry about is
if Shoah showed how the world remained silent, that no one did anything. Perhaps
the Shoah showed you could get away with atrocities, such as in Cambodia,
Rwanda, Darfur? Who really cares? Is that what they saw? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Things are so complicated. It is impossible to
know the answer. One thing is clear: in the period of the Nazis, it was not
only Germany that was guilty; all of Europe was guilty, and that is a
fact. The destruction of the Jews . . . it
was a kind of destruction of humankind. It was the first time such a thing
happened in the world, and if it happened once, we cannot say that such a thing
is impossible again. Our main obligation should be to prevent it. Because it
did happen, we must do everything to teach the new generations to be wiser and
remember the cruel experience, so there is not another catastrophe. On the
other hand, there is a big problem in the world today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The problem is that the ability to kill is not
only in the hands of the countries’ commanders or soldiers; it is in the hands
of simple people, who are the worst section of humankind. They have the
possibility to kill with the methods and techniques that, before, were only in
the hands of the state. This is a great problem for Jews, and for Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How do you deal with deniers of the Shoah?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t take them seriously. The deniers are the
same people who once believed in the blood libels, blaming Jews for things that
cost them a lot of lives. But, today, the Holocaust has been so well
documented, by Jews and non-Jews, so many details written, it can, perhaps, be
denied by some types of people, but not by the majority. This would be
impossible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So what are we to do about Iran today, the Iran that
has a figurehead who speaks about the genocide of the Jewish People?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Iran is a danger. Their plan is a political
plan, to liquidate a country, Israel. We have to do everything we can do to
prevent this. We are happy to have the United States as a friend of Israel.
They are a great help for the security of Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Hopefully.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
But there is a great danger to make any
comparison with the Holocaust. The Arabs have real conflicts with us. They say
they were here; that this is their country. I don’t agree with them, and this
country, it is ours. But the Holocaust, it was without any sense, without any
logic, without any reason.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i> I think
that we are a country made up of many people who are living with traumas from
so many wars, bombs, buses blowing up, a difficult economy, and the hardships
that come with living in this land. When you came to Israel, you had such
patriotism and idealism one doesn’t feel today. We do not have faith in our
leaders. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Why are so many Jews coming from France?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, Israel is not a simple country today
because Israel is a place for Jews who suffered in Soviet Russia, in Argentina;
Jews who became the victims of persecution could come here. This is the meaning
of Zionism. This is the meaning of the country; Israel is the answer for the
Jewish situation in the Diaspora, and the tragedy that happened then, and now. It
is, to some extent, the same story of what is happening in France. The basis
for Zionism, more than politically, is clearly to be a home where Jews are
welcome, especially when they are unwelcome in other countries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you see Polanski’s film, “The Pianist”?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was not enthusiastic about this film. The
pianist was not a Jew from the point of view of his self-orientation. Polanski
was a Pole, assimilated, among Poles, and was interested in being a Jew. The
whole story of what happened to the Jews as a nation was not shown; only the
pianist seemed to be portrayed: an individual case, the only victim. One has a
right to present his story but, for me, it was not a true story because the
true story was a Jewish tragedy that was not presented in this film.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Here it is again. You say, “He was not a Jew.” Is
it because he did not affiliate with Jews, or identify as Jewish?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
He was a Jew in the eyes of the non-Jews. He was
not a Jew, from the point of view of his own Jewish feelings, in terms of how
he viewed himself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So could you describe ta’am as a feeling of
belonging to the Jewish People?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You can say this is ta’am, yes, the feeling of
belonging or the feeling, I am one of many Jews. I am a part of the Jewish
history and the Jewish situation is a part of me. Yes, this is the meaning of
being Jewish. There could be a Jew who is absolutely not a Jew, but for the
fact that he was born Jewish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So what made you give me your interview; do you
have anything to say about that? Was there any reason?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You are very interested in things that I am
interested in. That is the reason.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But when I first saw you, you did not know me at
all. I asked you for an interview. You agreed.
Later on, I heard that you don’t really give interviews.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I generally do not give interviews. Most people
who give many interviews, they are, first of all, interested in themselves. I
am not interested in making a name for myself, or making money. I am interested
in sharing my views and telling the story I must tell. From time to time, when
I know this will be possible, not to speak about myself, but to make clear what
I think and wish to teach others — then I agree. I had the feeling this
interview would not be commercial. It would be more solid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But how did you get that feeling?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Is there anything else you would like to say?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
More or less, we covered everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Thank you. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Thank you. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The End of March 2007 at Yad Vashem<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
__________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Biographical Note
for Professor Israel Gutman (1923-2013)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Professor Gutman was Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem and
Deputy Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council. Born in Warsaw in
1923, he belonged to the Jewish underground in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Jewish
Fighting Organization (ŻOB) during the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. From
5 May 1943 until 5 May 1945, he was a prisoner in Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen
concentration camps. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From 1945 to 1971, he was an active member of the She’erit
Hapletah, and was one of the founders of the Aviv Kibbutz in Italy. He
moved to Mandate Palestine following the war and was a member of Kibbutz
Lehavot Habashan. He was one of the founders of the Anielewicz Remembrance
Center, Moreshet. After receiving his MA and PhD degrees from the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, he held the Max and Rita Haber Chair in Modern Jewish
History. He testified at the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dr. Gutman was a member of the Yad Vashem Academic Committee
and the Executive Committee of the International Institute for Holocaust
Research and was also a member of the Academic Research Committee of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum. His numerous publications include: <i>The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars</i>;
<i>Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews
During World War Two</i>; <i>The Jews of
Warsaw, 1939-1943</i>; <i>Resistance:
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising</i>: <i>Anatomy
of the Auschwitz Death Camp</i>; and <i>Nazi
Europe and the Final Solution</i>. He received the Salonika Prize for
Literature, the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for Military Studies, and the Polish
Unification Prize.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Background Note for
Breindel Lieba Kasher<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Father was from Poland. Mother was Hungarian. My
parents came to America before the war. When I was growing up, New York City
was filled with immigrants. I felt it differently than the other kids on the
block. I felt we had a secret: a whole world was missing, yet totally present.
When my parents spoke about that world, they put their heads together and
whispered in Yiddish. Our language was full of euphemisms: Grandmother was
“gone,” Uncle Morris and Hedwig “went underground,” and Ruthie “had a hard
life,” so we couldn't judge her. I was named after her mother who
“disappeared,” and maybe that was why her father, Uncle Herman, who sat at the
kitchen table with a glass of tea and an arm full of numbers, was so sad he
never spoke. I can not say why, but at 5, I decided I was going “back” to
visit Poland. When I was old enough to do it, I traveled for over a decade
through eastern Europe. In the emptiness, I found survivors and recorded their
stories. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the opportunity to interview Israel Gutman came, I was
teaching at the International School at Yad Vashem. That day, Professor Gutman
was speaking about the Ringleblum diaries. When I heard him, I sat at the edge
of my seat. Without thinking, I went up to him afterwards and asked if I could
interview him. Our recorded interviews took place at Yad Vashem on October 26,
1999; November 9, 1999; November 15, 1999; January 9, 2007; the end of January,
2007; March 2007; and the end of March, 2007.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Biographical Note for
Yehuda Bauer<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yehuda Bauer is Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust
Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem. Bauer is
fluent in Czech, Slovak, German, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, French, and
Polish. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1926. His family
migrated to Israel in 1939. After completing high school in Haifa, he
attended Cardiff University in Wales on a British scholarship. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon returning to Israel, he joined Kibbutz Shoval and began
his graduate studies at Hebrew University. He received his PhD in 1960
for a thesis on the British Mandate of Palestine. The following year, he
began teaching at the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. He was the founding editor of the <i>Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies</i>. Bauer has written
numerous articles and books on the Holocaust and on Genocide. In 1998, he
was awarded the Israel Prize, the highest civilian award in Israel, and in 2001
he was elected a member of the Israeli Academy of Science. Dr. Bauer has
served as advisor to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust
Education, Remembrance and Research, and as senior advisor to the Swedish
Government on the International Forum on Genocide Prevention. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<b>Biographical Note for Charles Fishman<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Charles Fishman (<a href="http://www.charlesfishman.com/">www.charlesfishman.com</a>)
is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of English and Humanities at Farmingdale
State College, where he created and directed the Visiting Writers Program in
1979 and the Distinguished Speakers Program in 2001. His books include <i>The
Death Mazurka</i>, which was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry,
and <i>In the Language of Women</i> (2011),
recipient of the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. The revised, second
edition of his anthology, <i>Blood to
Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust, </i>was published in 2007 by Time
Being Books, which released his Selected Poems, <i>In the Path of Lightning</i>, in August, 2012. Fishman is poetry editor
of <i>Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators</i> and, with
Smita Sahay of Mumbai, India, is co-editing <i>Veils,
Halos and Shackles: International Poetry on the Abuse and Oppression of Women</i>.
With John Guzlowski, he co-edits the blog, <i>Writing
the Holocaust</i> (<a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/">http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/</a><span style="color: #17365d; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;"> ).<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-17326025979172431502014-05-07T11:27:00.000-04:002014-05-07T15:02:17.629-04:00Israel Gutman Interview: Part 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
The following is the second part of a three-part series of interviews with Israel Gutman. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
In addition to being an historian of the Holocaust, <span style="background: white;">Israel Gutman was a leading fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; a survivor of Auschwitz (where he was a member of the Jewish underground), two other Nazi camps, and the death marches; he helped create Yad Vashem, edited the <i>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust</i>, and was a key witness at the Eichmann trial and an important advisor to the Polish post-war government. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The interviews were conducted by Breindel Lieba Kasher. The Introduction is by Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem.</div>
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
(You can read the first part by clicking here. <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-israel-gutman.html"> Israel Gutman Interview: Part 1</a>.)</div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" height="320" width="298" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<strong>ORAL TORAH FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO<o:p></o:p></strong></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Personal Interviews with Professor Israel Gutman</b><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">by Breindel Lieba Kasher<o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Introduction by Yehuda Bauer</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Edited by Charles Fishman<o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;">___________________________________________</span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>1942/ A Complete Change </strong></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span><i>In </i>’<i>42, the organization changed its direction
completely. It had to change its focus
from education, cultural events, and
aid to the Jewish youth, in order to deal with the realization of the Nazis’
intent to annihilate all of the Jewish People. Besides the newspapers you were
sending out, was it the intent of your
movement to inform as many Jews as possible about the plan of mass destruction?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a very important question you are asking
now. Before the war, the youth movement was a marginal thing in the rich
framework of Jewish society. It was a group of youngsters with an ideology. We
were a Zionist youth movement with a clear perspective. We were going to
Palestine. We would be members of a kibbutz. This was the dream. We were young. This was our goal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The change occurred, not only during expulsions,
before that. More and more, the youth movement became involved with the
problems of the whole Jewish society. There were two reasons for this: One was
because the former leadership fled, leaving the leaders of the youth movement
with a responsibility to act. Secondly, there was this feeling that the whole
structure had collapsed. There were now but a few organizations that still
existed. They felt they must do something.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Was one objective of the leadership informing
the Jews about the intent of mass destruction?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was not in the leadership. I knew a little
then; I know more today. First of all, there was unification, a kind of
umbrella organization, all youth movements merged into one body. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Secondly, there was the press, which was an
underground press, originally for the youth movement. This changed. The
articles, and the language and the challenges were directed toward the whole society. The whole society read the
paper. Information spread. Our influence became more and more important. The
youth organizations voiced their opinions on the Judenrat [and] informed on groups that were collaborating with the Germans — there
were such groups and individuals in the ghetto. The youth movement, little by
little, began to take responsibility and
influence the whole Jewish society
living in the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What was the attitude of the Underground in
terms of the Jewish Police, and, in particular,
Szerynski, commandant of the Jewish police in the ghetto?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The Jewish Police were created during the time of the ghetto. Among the police were
many of high intelligence. They did not receive money. They had to keep order
in the ghetto. At first, they were very nice people who tried to help. Then
their work included sending Jews to forced labor, outside of the ghetto. There
were these provinces Jews were sent to. The Jews did not volunteer to go. They did not want to. The
Jewish Police ran around capturing Jews, forcing them to go. It was at this point that the Jewish
Police was viewed as an enemy. Some of the policemen believed they were better
than the ordinary Jews. The Germans promised them their lives. They wore
uniforms, with caps. Szerynski was not a Jew. He was of Jewish origin but he
converted to Christianity. He was, in fact, a member of the Polish police in
the pre war period, an occupation off limits to Jews. He was not the commander
of the Jewish Police during the great deportation; this was another man, Jacob
Lejkin. Lejkin was eventually killed by the Jewish fighting organization. There
was a decision within the fighting organization to kill traitors. This was
decided shortly before the uprising. The Jewish police tried to wipe out their past and no longer appear
as policemen. They felt a serious threat from the Jewish fighting organizations
that now became a strong force in the
ghetto. The Jewish Police and all collaborators feared for their lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I am thinking about one of the most horrible of
speeches Rumkowski made in the </i><i>Łódź</i><i> ghetto.
Rumkowski, head of the Judenrat, asks the Jews of </i><i>Łódź</i><i> ghetto to give
up their children and their old people.
Do you think, at that point, Rumkowski should have said, ‘They are coming to
take your children, your elderly; hide,
fight, resist, any way you can’?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This is the main difference between the youth
movements and the leaders. There were differences in the leaders in each
ghetto. Leaders like Gens in Vilna, Barasz in Bialystok, Rumkowski in Łódź. They believed, almost until the end, that the only recourse, in
the face of annihilation, was to keep alive as many Jews as possible. Rumkowski’s
speech was a reflection of the tragedy of the time more than the cruelty of the
person. He was not a cruel person. How a man was able to arrive at this speech
was indicative of what was happening at this time. I believe he really thought
there was a chance for him to save a part of the Jews, but he had to take such
an abnormal step of victimizing part of his society.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>If the Russian soldiers, situated by the Vistula,
would have come quicker, much of the Jews still alive in the </i><i>Łódź</i><i> ghetto would
have been liberated and Rumkowski would have been a hero.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
There were such things in Bialystok. The youth
movement confronted a similar situation in terms of the expulsion of the Jews.
They knew expulsion meant liquidation, but they hoped that the Russians would
come quickly. They decided not to start a revolt. They believed they had a
small chance to save Jews by waiting for this right moment when the Russians
would come. You see, it was also an illusion because we know that the Germans
were able to liquidate the Jews in a few days. When the Russians came closer,
the Germans did things like take full camps of Jews in Trawniki, in the
neighborhood of Lublin, and kill tens of thousands of Jews in a few days. The
same thing could have happened in Ghetto Łódź or the ghetto in
Bialystok. There was not a real chance. The real chance, of course, we can only
speak about afterward. There were survivors. I am also a survivor. How did this
happen? It happened.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Nearing the end of the war, a situation appeared
that some of the most hardened Nazis came to the conclusion that they had lost
the war. It not only made no sense to keep killing Jews, but some people, even
Himmler, thought that perhaps they could
save themselves by creating an alibi. This was why a small part of Jews
survived. You have to remember that this was such a small percentage of the
Jews. This was not a result of the policy of the Judenrat; it was a result of
the whole situation of the war, or the outcome of the war.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Were there
leaders of the Judenrat who said ‘Resist all German orders and do
anything to try and survive’?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
There were, but resist, what is the meaning of
the word “resist”? You have resistance in the ghetto. The resistance in the
ghettos was completely motivated by the idea that the Jews were
prepared to die. It was a small way to feel revenge against the killers,
against the murders, but it was without any perspective for rescue. There were
other forms of resistance, like the Partisans.
The Partisans still believed that, through resistance, they had a slight
chance, a hope for rescue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You were so young. Were you involved with
smuggling in arms?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Not personally. All the ways to get a hold of
arms were part of the Underground
organizations. It was the responsibility of one or two youth movements. Later,
the Jewish Fighting Movement became a
combination of youth movements. The whole thing of arms, this was of course the
aim of the Jewish Fighting Organization. There were people in the ghetto, on a
private basis, who bought and acquired arms, small pistols. The meaning of
arms, by today’s standards, was not the arms of the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><br /></o:p> </div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Preparations for an
Uprising</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What did you do when there was an action and the
Germans called the Jews to the Umschlagplatz?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
We were concentrated in one place. Because I had
no family, it was easier for me. For others with families, they found it
difficult to leave and go with the organizations. Abraham Gepner situated us in
a shop run under the auspices of the Germans. Gepner’s daughter was a member of
the Underground and he was
willing to hide many people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What kind of shop was it?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was the ostdeutsch Bau Wekstatte, a German
construction shop. In the back were the skilled workers. We, the members of the
fighting organization, were able to hide out there and live in the shop
undercover, with fake documents. We had places to live. We were on the
famous street, Mila Street, 55, 6, 8, 3, 1. During an action, we hid in the
cellars. I remember, at first, I went to the selections. I had papers. Then we
decided we would no longer participate. This was an order.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you have a pistol?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>It was official. The youth movement was now
armed and became a resistance movement. Is that correct?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, we understood what awaited the Jews of
Poland and perhaps all the Jews of Europe. The idea was now to organize a
Jewish fighting organization. We understood that defense meant no chance of
rescue. When the leaders started to plan their strategies, it became clear that
we had to be united. The first meeting took place in ’42.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Were you at the meeting?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No, the meeting was made up of a small group of
leaders. They did not succeed in coming to an agreement. The delegates of the
Bund were against creating a Jewish Organization. They believed the Polish Jews
were a part of the Polish Underground.
If there was to be a fight, it would have to be a united one, Poles and Jews. This
is what happened. The Jewish organizations were very interested in a partnership
with the Bund because everyone wanted the support of the Polish Underground and
the Polish resistance. This was the only way to get hold of weapons and
information on what was happening with the Germans. This first meeting was a
failure. Another attempt was made with the Communists. An anti-fascist
committee was established in the ghetto with leftist organizations — Zionists
and Communists. The Communist Poles were weak. They had no support from Polish
society. The Germans arrested Communist activists in the ghetto. After a few weeks, the whole structure
collapsed. It was shortly before the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The deportation began on the 22nd of July. All
the attempts to do something were in vain. We had only a few pistols. The
Germans were brutal. People were shot on the spot. The tension, the dynamic of
the expulsion, what was happening day to day, is beyond description. We had
almost no connection with each other. Every day, a part of the population, a part
of the Youth, was taken to the Umschlagplatz and then to Treblinka. Close to
the end of the deportation — I remember this well — there was a meeting with
the whole group, including the youngsters like me. There were many complaints,
many arguments. Some people said that it made no sense to plan for an uprising.
They saw no possibility for people to go into battle on the streets of the
ghetto. The organization should stop counting on the Polish Underground for
weapons. They clearly didn’t care about us. We simply had to respond with our
bare hands, with anything we had, attack the Germans. Everyone would be killed,
but this was the only chance. The elders, those with experience, were against
all this. They believed things should be done in an organized way — make an action that would be remembered, a
great Jewish uprising. One of these leaders was Arie Wilner. He was a Jewish
delegate on the Arian side. He succeeded in acquiring weapons, not too much.
They also thought the deportation would stop. Part of the Jews, around 35,000,
would remain. Wasn’t it our duty to remain alive? Between deportations, we
would organize. We saw no sense to making a desperate attempt; it would be
suicide, and nothing more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You were 18 at that time?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What were your thoughts about what action or
inaction to take?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was convinced that we should wait to organize
something that would be more effective.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And when you spoke of orders not to take part in
actions, who gave the orders?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
From each organization, the leadership, the
elders from before the war, gave the orders. From the Hashomer Hatzair, there
was Josef Kaplan and Shmuel Braslav and Arie Wilner. In the Dorr, there was
Zukerman, Zivia Lubetkin and Tuvia Buzikovski. In Akiva, there was Israel
Kanor. Each of these leaders made the
decisions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>During the big deportation you were in the shop?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, we all were. We lived together. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What was the address of the shop?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
First we were on Gensha Street. After, we moved
to Mila Street. The turning point for all the preparations was, in fact, when
Mordecai Anielewicz, who later became the commander of the Fighting Organization
and the Uprising, returned to Warsaw. He had been sent to the area of Silesia,
organizing the youth movement. At the end of the deportation, he returned. He
was the most qualified, with the ability to organize and lead. He had not been
in Warsaw during the deportation, so he was not broken from frustration and
pain. He came with some energy, confident that we would succeed. There was a great
change in the atmosphere. We felt we could do it. Weapons came into the ghetto.
Anielewicz organized small groups.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
After the deportation, there was a change in
most of the people in the ghetto. Some 50,000 or 60,000 people wanted to be a part
of the Underground. As long as the deportation lasted, it was impossible to do
anything but think about what was happening, hour after hour, to think about
how to save themselves and their dear ones, but after the deportation, a period
of “normal” returned to the ghetto.
Those who survived were without families. Their pain and desire for revenge,
the feeling of this tragedy, influenced them very strongly. The slogan we used
was: “Never again!” We would fight!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Was this slogan said in Yiddish?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, because even though we in the youth
movement spoke in Polish, the masses in the ghetto spoke Yiddish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did Mordecai Anielewicz speak in Yiddish?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No, he spoke in
Polish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>At the meeting with all the leaders, what
language was it conducted in?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was Yiddish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When did the deportation stop?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was from the end of September 1942 until
January 1943. We returned to the shop. Some kind of normalcy resumed. On
January 18, 1943, a new action and deportation began. Here we started the first
act of resistance. It was implemented by small groups from the Hashomer Hatzair
on Mila Street, under the leadership of Anielewicz. It was the first
confrontation between Jews and Germans in Warsaw on the way to the Umschlagplatz.
The first Germans were killed in the ghetto. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The Germans then changed their tactics. They
lost confidence. They saw that the Jews have weapons and their lives were
threatened. This seemed to bring a sharp change in their behavior.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The last
deportation took 6 weeks. They sent 300,000 Jews to their death. The second
deportation would be the final one. There were no more than 50,000 to 60,000
Jews left alive. This second deportation
stopped after 4 or 5 days. They took out 3,500 to 4,000 Jews. Despite the killing,
we felt there was a victory for the Jews. The Polish Underground reported that
the resistance forced the Germans to retreat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Of course, this was a mistake. The German plan
was to take out a small group, 8,000 Jews. It was not that the deportation
stopped because the Jews were defending themselves. In the ghetto, the feeling
was that our resistance stopped them and it gave us hope that perhaps we could
rescue the Jews.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Were you with Anielewicz on the 18<sup>th</sup>
of January?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No, I was not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>It must have been amazing for the Jews in the
ghetto to see the mighty conquerors could be killed.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The fact is that in those January days, it was
the first time the Jews decided not to go to the selection, not to respond to
the German order. They went into hiding. In the ghetto, there were many places
to hide, to disappear. It was difficult for the Germans to find them. What
happened in January influenced the whole Jewish population. There was no other
event like this in any other ghetto. The Jews began to believe; perhaps
resistance could be a tool to make the Germans stop the actions. Only in Warsaw
was there a partnership between the fighters and the people. Only in Warsaw was there a communal agreement
and a readiness to fight and resist. The Jewish fighting organization grew. The
different underground groups joined the fighting organization with backing from
the elders. We confiscated more weapons. The fighting groups spread throughout
the ghetto, so fighting would occur in every part of the ghetto. The people
started to build bunkers. The last months were devoted to defense and the
battle against the Germans. If they tried to make another deportation, we were
preparing ourselves for an uprising. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><br /></o:p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The last deportation and the uprising of the
ghetto started the l9th of April, l943. It was the first day of Pesach, so poignant. The Jews prepared
themselves for Pesach and the meaning of Pesach. The knowledge and information
spread by messengers. I cannot tell you exactly how the Jews were situated in
the different areas of the ghetto, but the main area of the ghetto was
mobilized for the fight because all the other Jews were in bunkers. The
fighters were in their places.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And it was known that on the first day of
Pesach, April l9, something would happen?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes it was known. We received information from
the Poles that, on this particular day, it would start. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What were you doing?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was in charge of a bunker for the wounded. We
kept one bunker for this. I was there with another two or three people. The
place was Franciszkanska 30. It is interesting that the first man who came
there was this Wilner that I mentioned already. He was wounded and captured by
the Germans, on the other side. Finally, he was brought to the ghetto. His foot
was wounded. He could not take part in the fighting. He was the first.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Where you up all night waiting?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I remember it very well. We were not outside.
There was not one living Jew on the streets. All the people were either in bunkers,
or in their positions, waiting. I will not tell you the story of the fighting.
It was written and described many times. In any case, there was the first real
uprising that took place in a town in Europe. It lasted until 15<sup>th</sup>
of May. It was an official battle reported by the Germans, and we have the
daily reports from the commander of the German force. He sent the description
of the battle to General Stroop. It was a daily battle with an army. The
reports from the Polish Underground were more explicit. They were used to
thinking about the Jews as a kind of population, a sort of people, who are
always submissive, who were not able to defend themselves, who were always
afraid. This act of fighting was something not only unexpected, but also
unbelievable for the Poles. Some of them wrote that perhaps a few Germans or
Russians came to the ghetto and they were the ones fighting. They could not
comprehend Jews fighting. In any case, after a few days of fighting,
face-to-face combat, the Germans started to use fire and bombs to liquidate the
ghetto. They went house to house. The people came out of the bunkers choking
from the gas. They captured the bunkers with a fight. The situation was,
thousands killed on the spot. Many who remained in the bunkers committed suicide.
Some were sent to Majdanek. I was among those who were sent to Majdanek. It was
a paradox: during the great deportation, all the people were sent to Treblinka
and killed immediately. During the April action, part of the people was sent to
a camp in which, after selection, they remained alive and worked. The
conditions in Majdanek were so terrible that there was no real chance to remain
alive for more than two months’ time. This was the maximum a human being could
survive. From Majdanek, a small part, a
few thousand, were sent to Auschwitz and another camp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What happened to you during the battle in the
ghetto?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was wounded in the battle. There were rumors
of a fire on Franciszkanska 30. I went to the roof with a few of my friends to
put out the fire. It was night. The Germans were never in the ghetto at night.
All of the actions took place in the day. Suddenly, a few soldiers or police
appeared in one place on the roof. We had pistols. I fired. They threw a
grenade. I was wounded around my eye. Another friend of mine was also wounded.
I went to the bunker. After a few days, the Germans captured the bunker. We
went out, everyone in a separate way. They guarded us. They took us to the Umschlagplatz.
Then they took us to Majdanek. I was with three very close friends of mine. We
had been friends for a long time. When we came to Majdanek, they separated the
men and women.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How many people were in this bunker when the
Germans came?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I cannot tell. There were some people they
brought out and killed immediately. Because I was wounded, they did not suspect
I was a fighter. The people who looked better, they killed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So you went to Majdanek with these few friends?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You were a fighter, a part of the uprising, one
of the Jewish warriors; were you able to hold on to this feeling?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I will tell you, as a matter of fact, I was
rescued in Majdanek only because of this. I came to Majdanek and I was not only
weak; I was ill because of the gas and the wound. They sent me to the hospital
in Majdanek.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Why did they have a hospital in Majdanek? It
seems so incongruous.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was not a hospital. It was, in fact, a place
for people who were no longer able to work. They could rest a few days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But that sounds so contrary.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This was the structure of the concentration
camp. There was a Polish doctor there in the hospital. He asked, “What happened to you there?” I was
afraid to tell him. He said, “We know exactly what happened in the ghetto. I
will try to help you. Don’ t be afraid.” And it was a fact that he brought me
some medicine that didn’t exist in Majdanek for the prisoners, and he rescued
me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Majdanek was not only a camp for Jews; it was
also a camp for Poles. Officially, it was a working camp. So if somebody was
ill, it made sense to help him in some way so he could continue to work. It was
also a continuation of the liquidation of the Jews. Officially, they were
interested in the working people. They were a part of a working camp. It was a
concentration camp, but many of the people there worked for the German war
industry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The gas chambers were for those no longer able
to work, for the elderly, for the children.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Which barrack were you in?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was in a field called the fourth field. The
number they gave me in Majdanek, I don’t remember. It was not that way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You mean not a tattoo, like in Auschwitz?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
No, it was not this way. They gave us a small
thing from metal to wear. It had a number here [he points to his wrist].<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>It was impossible for anyone to say that the
Polish people of Lublin did not know what was happening in Majdanek, since
Majdanek is only twenty minutes from the center of Lublin.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, of course they knew, but Majdanek was not
only a Jewish camp. It was also a Polish camp.
In this particular place, the new place where I was, it was exclusively
Jewish; but before we came, the Poles were the majority of the prisoners in
Majdanek.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Have you ever returned to Majdanek to see it
again?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was there one time. Majdanek is very
difficult. For someone who was there, it is a shock to see it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>In Majdanek, what were you forced to do?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
We had to work, but there was no work. They did
not know what to do with us. It was clear for all of us that our lives in
Majdanek, it was a matter of months. There was no food, no clothes. We were in barracks that were not made for
people, but rather for horses. What was supposed to be a place for 60 horses
held 500 people. The only objective of the work was to torture and kill the people. There was no constructive work. We
took rocks from one place to another and back again, all the day. The kapos and
block guards were so cruel, Jews among them. After some time, a German
delegation came, officers among them. They made an inspection of Majdanek. It seems they came to the conclusion that
Majdanek was not a working place. They would send those still able to work to
another place. They sent me to Auschwitz with a transport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How many people survived Majdanek?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I don’t know. You know, at the end of November,
l943, they took all the Jews of Majdanek and the Lublin area and they killed
them, 42,000 people in one day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How long were you in Majdanek?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was in Majdanek for more than two months<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Then you were sent to Auschwitz?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is a long story. From Auschwitz, I was sent
to a place called Buna. I was there for some time. I was no longer able to work. I was out of my
[mind]. I was a muselmann. They sent me from Buna again to
Auschwitz 1, the main part of the camp. There, I was sent to a hospital. It was
not a real hospital; it was a block called “ The Hospital,” in which they
concentrated people for liquidation. Every week, a German physician came and
made a selection — who could work — and who could not, was killed. And who
rescued me, again — a Pole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes. He did not know anything about me; it was
by chance that when he wrote down my name, he exchanged a few words with me. He
said he was a <i>schreiber</i>, a man who kept the list of the prisoners. He
asked me what school I went to? Who were
my teachers? It was completely strange. The same day, he brought me a soup.
When the German physician came for his selection, I was simply not on the list.
[The Pole had taken] me off. I stayed a few weeks there, and he cared that I
came back to my more-or-less normal self. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you ever see him after the war?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I tried, but I could not find him after the war.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>And what about the doctor in Majdanek?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
This was only for one time; but the other man,
we spoke, we had relations. He cared for me so that I was able to return to [being]
a human being. I could work. Then he cared for the work I would get, better
work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What kind of work was it?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It was a kind of factory in Auschwitz; it was
called Union. There I was among thousands of prisoners. I worked there for a
year, more than a year. I had friends. There was even resistance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you find friends from Warsaw?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Not from Warsaw — from Warsaw I was the only one
— but from other places, Jews from Poland, Jews from other places. There was
also resistance there in Auschwitz.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What resistance?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The resistance was an international
organization, mutual help, even preparation for fighting, but it was not
carried out. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>During the Eichmann trial you said that you
could never look in the face of a German, and when you did look, you couldn’t believe that they
took pleasure in all of the misery and they laughed when they murdered the
Jews. After all of these years, have you been able to understand how the Nazis
could have behaved so cruelly?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I will tell you; there is a difference between
knowledge and understanding. I am dealing with this history of the Holocaust
for so many decades. During this long time, I have a wide knowledge of what
happened — how the Germans organized the whole thing, who were the Germans,
what happened in every place, all the details. I can say, that the more I know,
the less I understand. How can one
understand? I do not go often to Germany. I was there one or two times. I asked
myself how it was possible that these same human beings were able to do the
things they did, but they did. They not only murdered, but many of them did it
with a kind of enthusiasm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When you were liberated from Auschwitz, did you
go back to Warsaw?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was not liberated in Auschwitz; I was
liberated in Mauthausen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>You went from Auschwitz to Mauthausen?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The Russians were close to Auschwitz. They
liquidated Auschwitz in January, l945. The Germans took us on a death march. We
came to Mauthausen. I was liberated in a camp close to Mauthausen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Where did you go after you were liberated?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I did not go back to Poland. I decided,
naturally, to go to Israel. It was impossible. So I worked with the Birchah,
and close, before the establishment of Israel. I came here illegally. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I wanted to ask you one last question. We spoke
about l933, l935, and you said, well it was happening in Germany and we in
Poland, we could not really know what effects it would have on Poland. Now you
read about Heider in Austria. One out of every four Austrians voted for the
right wing party. Antisemitism seems to be coming out of the closet in Europe
again. Do you have any idea about what kind of influence it could have on us
here in Israel?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I will tell you, I believe that you cannot
compare the antisemitism today to what happened then, between the wars. The
inter-war period was the most antisemitic period in the history of the Jews in
the Diaspora, not only in Germany, but also in the majority of the countries in
Europe. And we cannot say that the
Holocaust did not influence what happened in Europe after the war. It was a shock. The Holocaust was the
holocaust of the Jews, but it was also a bitter war for the non-Jews, and they
learned something from the hatred. How people arrived at such a level as to do
what was done to the Jews — it was not only a mentality, a human vicious cruelty
against the Jews; it brought out the beast, the barbarian, in the human being.
This is what happened to the Germans. They brought antisemitism to such a state
that it became anti-human, not only in regards to Jews. It was such a force,
not only a danger for Jews but for human beings in general. After the war, there was a change, a very
substantial change in antisemitism. They understood that antisemitism was a
danger, not only for Jews, but for themselves as well. The fact that you say
Heider — but Heider was responded to immediately. After all, in no country in
Europe was a fascist regime created. One of the reasons was, perhaps, the
lesson of the Holocaust. It had its influence on the European countries. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What about the pogrom in Kielce, immediately after
the war? What about the antisemitic purges in Poland in 1968? Jewish graves are
still desecrated. Neo-Nazis are alive and thriving.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You are right, but it is still different.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I just want to say that I have been traveling to
Poland for the last 12 years. I have seen anti- semitic graffiti, swastikas on
trains, on walls, on buildings. Jewish gravestones are still being desecrated.
It seems to me that since the end of the Communist regime, when people are free
to be, both the good and the bad come out in the open. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I know the press, and I know the mentality and I
know the people, and there is a tremendous change. There are still antisemites.
Among the Poles, there is no lack of antisemitism, but the general trend is not
the same. They also suffered in the war. They paid with many lives. We cannot
forget this. We must not forget it. Of course the antisemitic trends in Poland
are very strong, but there is the intelligencia and the young people; they are
not the same.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I have one last question for you. I travel with
my camera. I go all over eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary, </i><i>Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, and the Ukraine, searching, looking for Jews,
survivors still living there. In your opinion, what is most important for me to
record?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The only thing that we are able to do is gather the remnants of Jewish life. There
will not be, and there should not be, a renewal of Jews in these places. Jews
lived in eastern Europe for hundreds of years. And now there is barely a trace of
our Jewish existence left. When I am in Warsaw, a city that had such a large
concentration of Jews, it is not the same Warsaw, not the same buildings, not
the same streets. From time to time, you have the same names of streets. Now there
are streets named Anielewicz and
Ringelblum, but the people do not know who Anielewicz or Ringelblum were.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>What should I be looking for? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, the only thing that we are able to do
is gather each document, each testimony, each diary, remnants of Jewish life,
bring it together, try to; it is also not an easy task. We must educate and
make people aware. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Thank you.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Thank you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><br /></o:p> </div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Oral
Torah from the Warsaw Ghetto</span></b></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh God,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was hard<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To feel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jews asked<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where is my God?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was the question.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No one had the answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Professor Israel Gutman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
January 9, 2007 until the end of March, 2007<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Death March</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The words used when speaking of the war are “Hurban, </i><i>” “ Holocaust, ” and “Shoah.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Which word do you find most correct?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I am against this word, “Hurban,” because a <i>hurban</i> describes what happened in the
Land of Israel, with the destruction of the Beit Hamigdash [The Temple]. The
tragedy of the Holocaust was the attempt to liquidate the entire Jewish People,
throughout Europe. This was quite a different situation. I use the word “Shoah.”
It is our Hebrew word. “Holocaust” is an international word. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>When we left off in our interview in l999, we
were at the point of your liberation. If I may, I would like to go back in
time, to ask you some questions about The Death March in Auschwitz, January,
l945. Given that you had been a prisoner
for so many years, were you able to hold onto a belief that one day you would
be liberated? Were you aware, in January, l945, that the Allies were close by?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, of course. I was a part of an underground
in Auschwitz. We were a small group of Jews. I had a very dear friend, Yehuda
Laufer, a Slovak Jew, who was like a brother to me. In Auschwitz, he was an old
prisoner, and I, a new one, but our friendship was close, until the last days
of his life in Israel. Our group was made up of mostly Polish Jews. We worked
at the Union Factory in Auschwitz. A small group of women worked with this
"pulver" [gunpowder], making grenades. Little by little, they smuggled small
amounts of this powder to us, and to the crematorium in Birkenau. We received a
message from the Underground, telling us to bring this powder into camp. It was
in preparation for an uprising. The sonderkommandos successfully blew up a
crematorium. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did you have any idea, in l945 that the war
would soon be over?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
We knew what was happening in the world. We knew
what was happening at the front.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>How?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
In the last few months, we knew more about the
situation of the war between the German and Soviet armies. In the last days, we
heard the Soviets were very close. We believed there would be an uprising, a battle,
in Auschwitz, by the prisoners who belonged to the Underground — leftists, including Zionist Jews. We hoped
for an uprising, but it did not happen. This group went out together on the
Auschwitz Death March. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is very difficult to give you a picture of
what the situation was. It was winter. We went, mostly on foot. Some days, we
rode on open freight wagons crowded together, without food, without anything at
all. We went in the direction of Austria, to Vienna, to Mauthausen. We marched
on the back roads. When we began the march, we were, more or less, in a better
condition because Auschwitz, in the last days, it was somehow better. We had
more to eat, we were a bit freer. We began to feel optimistic; perhaps there
was still a chance we could survive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It is difficult to convey how we arrived at
Mauthausen. We were no longer the same people. We had been together, helping
one another. Help meant holding up someone who could no longer take a step.
Those who could not march were shot. The whole way was strewn with the dead who
were simply shot on the spot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>I do not understand how you heard news that the
war was coming to an end while you were in Auschwitz.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
German prisoners, not Jews, were servants going
in and out of the living quarters of the SS, who were listening to the radio.
So they heard what was happening, and they gave the information to us. I
remember I wrote it, and I cannot remember how I had something to write with,
but I wrote down exactly what they told me. More or less, we knew what was happening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
In Majdanek, you gave up the will to live, and,
in Auschwitz, again you were a part of an underground, as you had been in
Warsaw.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
It took time. The story of Auschwitz is a
separate story. I was there from August ’43 until January ’45. That was a long
time to be a prisoner. But I must say that the last months, despite that it was
a concentration camp, and it was Auschwitz, in comparison to the conditions in
Majdanek, it was easier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>During the Eichmann Trial, Abba Kovner said he
was very offended by people asking, “Why didn’t they fight back?” The miracle,
he said, was that anyone was able to resist at all. How did it happen that you
were always involved with underground activities?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
I was brought into the group. As you said, I
came from Warsaw, with the belief that one must do whatever one can, if
possible. I found out about the Underground. I talked about the Warsaw
Uprising, and it became clear to the others that I would join the group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Did everyone go on the Death March?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Everyone was forced to go, except for the
prisoners who were in a bad condition, or in the hospital. Almost all the
prisoners went.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Why did the Germans have this march? Why didn’t
they just kill everyone?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
You know, they were in a situation of
collapsing. The Germans were unorganized. They had orders to take the Jewish
prisoners, and go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>But why? Why didn’t they want to murder all the
Jews who were left?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Why? They received the orders; that is why.
Their policy was no longer “normal.” It was the last chapter of time. They [had]
lost control of what was happening. Perhaps they thought it would be beneficial
for them to keep some Jews around; maybe it would help them. Perhaps they
thought it could appease the American army. We have no documentation of this,
so it may not be exactly right, but even Himmler thought in this direction. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>So, everyone marched?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Yes, the whole group went. On the sides of the
road, SS soldiers stood. If someone could no longer stand on his feet, he was
immediately shot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Did you have shoes?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
Shoes, what shoes? By the way, the people in the
Underground, in the last moments, got shoes.
Some members took shoes from the sorting barracks. I even received two
pairs of shoes and gave one pair to someone. This is a very difficult story to
tell because it was, again, the beginning of a very difficult time in
Mauthausen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i>Besides the shoes, did you wear any clothing
that could keep you warm?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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No, nothing but the uniforms. It was very cold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Was it snowing?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course snow, cold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>How long did the march take?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I don’t know how many days, perhaps ten days,
perhaps more, until we came to Mauthausen.
These last months were, perhaps, the most difficult time of all the war
years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>When you were on the march, did they let the
prisoners stop to sleep?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Sleep? Yes, outside, on the cold ground, with
nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Were you given any food?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Before we went out, we received some bread,
perhaps something more along the way, but really, all this time, we were
without food, without drink.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>What happened when you arrived in Mauthausen?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When we arrived, our group was no longer
together. Each of us was sent to a different place. I was sent to Viener
Neurshtadt, very close to Vienna. What was interesting is, there were no Jews
there, or perhaps there were a few, but I did not know of any. There was no
work. We had nothing to eat. I was in this place for a month, perhaps two, and
then they brought us, again on a death march, north, to Mauthausen, but this
was a camp, for Jews only. This place made Auschwitz look normal. We did not
work. It was difficult to walk ten meters. It was impossible for us to stand on
our feet, but we had the feeling that we were close to the end of the war,
until the American army came in. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What happened when the American soldiers
arrived?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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When they came, I remember, some people
celebrated their freedom. Many people began to eat. Their bodies could not handle the change, and
they died. I did not eat. I was not able to be glad. I was not able to feel anything. I remember
we went out of camp to the small town. It was a few kilometers away. We could
not go without holding on to each other.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>When the American soldiers came in, did the
German soldiers run away?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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No, in a moment there were no more German
soldiers. We were free.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Do you remember your first thoughts at that
time?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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No, I don’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>When you went into the town, how did the townspeople
react to you? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Some of the villagers gave us food, but mostly,
we had no contact with the townspeople. I was soon taken to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Where did you sleep, when you came to the town?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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We had a place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>For years, you were a prisoner, struggling every
moment for your survival. When you were finally liberated, was it then you began
to feel the depth of pain of losing an entire family?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I knew exactly that I had no family. Not even
for a moment did I think that I would go back to Poland to look for anyone. I
knew no one was alive — no family, no close friends. Nobody remained.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>So what did it feel like, these first moments of
liberation?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I was not really fully aware of what was
happening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Can you understand how you survived all those
years of suffering? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You know, a human being in a concentration camp
had no influence, no feeling that he was able to do something to stay alive. It
was like we were not human. We existed to work, and nothing else. Until today,
I do not understand how I survived. From the millions of people, I am one of a
few who remained. I had no part in this. It happened, without any possibility
for me to influence or do anything that would help me. It happened; I survived.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i> </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What did you do after you were liberated?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After liberation, I remained in a small town
named Wells. I was there a week, maybe two. I was still not able to eat. I was
sent to what had been the German Army Hospital. One day, a friend came to tell
me there were a few soldiers from the Israeli Brigade who were connected to the
British Army in Austria. They were coming from Italy with a plan to take us
back with them. From Italy, we would go
to Israel. Immediately, I decided, I am going. I got up from my bed and left,
taking nothing but the clothes on my back.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Where did you go in Italy?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Modena, a place filled with Jews. I was sent
from Modena to the South of Italy, to an area called Bari. My friends and I
began creating a kibbutz. This was the beginning of my involvement in illegal
Aliya [smuggling people into Israel]. I remained in the area of Bari until the
time close to the beginning of the state of Israel. When it was clear to me
that there would be a war in Israel, I went and joined a kibbutz. I was a
member of the kibbutz more than 20 years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>And then Israel says:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This will be enough for now. You know, it is so
hard to think back to this time, to all those people I loved, and lost. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
The first interview, January 9, 2007 is over.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPchZNHGXJ3FbH5MpzohWRrR5-DPrBgpr8A1DhhMYhU9DoiSOgdf_dzzqdG_1rnCdjJa4C_n1Ov2LeYR5FWhDG6J3iHjJkSKo0SDCU2ijKC8m90wK3oLCgegyBlLcRQ6pbVEyAhvCL2g/s1600/teool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPchZNHGXJ3FbH5MpzohWRrR5-DPrBgpr8A1DhhMYhU9DoiSOgdf_dzzqdG_1rnCdjJa4C_n1Ov2LeYR5FWhDG6J3iHjJkSKo0SDCU2ijKC8m90wK3oLCgegyBlLcRQ6pbVEyAhvCL2g/s1600/teool.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
<o:p><br /></o:p>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Breindel Lieber Kasher</span></strong></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><span style="color: black;"> was born in New York City and has lived more than half her life in Israel</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: black;">. She is</span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><span style="color: black;">a documentary film-maker and published poet. Her work has been translated into Hebrew, Polish and German and can be found in</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Midstream</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">21st Century Journal</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Cyclamens and Swords,</span></i><span style="color: black;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">International Poetry Journal,</span></i><span style="color: black;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Poets West</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Seventh Quarry</span></i><span style="color: black;">, and <em>Palabras</em>. She has twice been a winner of the Reuben Rose Prize from</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Voices Israel</span></i><span style="color: black;">.</span> </span></span><br />
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-78850112996342634112014-04-28T10:44:00.000-04:002014-04-28T10:44:31.119-04:00Holocaust Remembrance Day<img src="http://theflaneursturtle.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/auschwitz-birkenau.gif" height="300" width="400" /><br />
<br />
My father spent four years as a slave laborer in Nazi Germany, and my mother spent two and a half years there. They were two of about 12 million people who were taken to Germany to do the work the Germans needed done while their own workforce was out trying to conquer Europe.<br />
<br />
My parents weren't Jewish, but they knew people who were. Poland was a country with a large Jewish population, and Jews had lived in Poland for almost a millenium.<br />
<br />
Like I said, my parents knew Jewish people. Two of my mom's aunts in fact married two Jewish fellows, twins. The four of them died in Auschwitz.<br />
<br />
Here's a poem I wrote about what my mom thought about the war and the things that happened.<br />
<br />
<h1>
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">WHAT THE WAR TAUGHT HER<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
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My mother learned that sex is bad,</div>
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Men are worthless, it is always cold</div>
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And there is never enough to eat.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She learned that if you are stupid</div>
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With your hands you will not survive</div>
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The winter even if you survive the fall.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She learned that only the young survive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The camps. The old are left in piles</div>
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Like worthless paper, and babies</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are scarce like chickens and bread.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She learned that the world is a broken place</div>
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Where no birds sing, and even angels</div>
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Cannot bear the sorrows God gives them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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She learned that you don't pray</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your enemies will not torment you. </div>
<br />
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You only pray that they will not kill you.</div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-35420056319245818022014-04-15T13:42:00.002-04:002018-12-07T16:20:29.042-05:00An Interview with Israel Gutman: Part 1<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
The following is
the first part of a three-part series of interviews with Israel Gutman. </div>
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="margin: 0in;">
Besides being an historian of the
Holocaust, <span style="background: white;">Israel Gutman was a leading
fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; a survivor of Auschwitz (where he was a
member of the Jewish underground), two other Nazi camps, and the death marches;
he helped create Yad Vashem, edited the <i>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust</i>,
and was a key witness at the Eichmann trial and an important advisor to the
Polish post-war government. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The interviews
were conducted by Breindel Lieba Kasher.
The Introduction is by Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem: </div>
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<a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/images/fighters/31964_1.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">ORAL
TORAH FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Personal
Interviews with Professor Israel Gutman</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<b>by Breindel Lieba
Kasher<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Introduction by
Yehuda Bauer</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Edited by Charles Fishman<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Introduction by Yehuda Bauer</span></b></div>
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Israel Gutman is one of the great
historians of our time. He has concentrated his writing, in the main – though
by no means exclusively – on the history of Polish Jews during the Holocaust.
But he has done much more than that: he has written general overviews of
Holocaust history, has taken part in major historiographical debates on the
subject, and has helped formulate general theories of the destruction of
European Jewry. His emphasis has always been on Jewish reactions to German
policies; he has been, in the main, a historian of Jews, counteracting a
tendency that saw in the Jews an object, rather than a subject of history.</div>
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Beyond all that, he has been a
teacher and a guide to large numbers of students. He has edited the great books
that summarized the crucially important conferences on Holocaust issues
published by Yad Vashem, and has been an advisor and editor of memoiristic
literature, as well as of prose written about the Holocaust. He was the chief
editor of the <i>Encyclopedia of the
Holocaust</i> published by Macmillan, Yad Vashem and Sifriat Poalim.</div>
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All his academic work is,
basically, the result of a life full of tragic events, that led him from a
lower middle class family in Warsaw, through the formative experience of active
membership of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, to being a participant in
the Warsaw Ghetto Rebellion of April-May 1943. It was the youth movement that
shaped his life, more than anything else, the warmth and the comradeship, and
the tragedy of seeing his friends killed in that great attempt to shape the
Jewish response to the destruction of Jewish existence. Wounded in the
fighting, he was transported to Majdanek concentration camp, and from there to
Auschwitz. He was rescued from certain death by a former Polish class-mate from
Warsaw, a prisoner-clerk in the camp, who arranged to have him sent to the
industrial part of the Auschwitz complex, in Monowitz, where he managed to
survive. He was a member of the Auschwitz Jewish resistance group, a link in
the chain of resisters who smuggled out gunpowder from Monowitz to Birkenau and
the gas chambers, in an attempt to facilitate a revolt of the inmates there.
When Auschwitz was evacuated by the Germans, he was put on a train to
Mauthausen camp in Austria, and from there he was marched, with many others, to
the camp at Gunskirchen, some 28 kilometers from Mauthausen, in a terrible
death march. Starved and emaciated beyond recognition, the inmates were
liberated by the Americans. Israel Gutman, who barely survived, was sent to
Switzerland to recuperate, and then returned to Austria, where he became,
again, an activist in his youth movement, smuggling Jews to Italy and to
Palestine. In Israel he was for many years a member of a kibbutz in the north
of the country, and participated in the social and political life of his
movement. It was there that he wrote his first books, on the Warsaw ghetto
rebellion and Mordechai <span style="background-color: white;">Anielewicz</span>,
its leader, and on the Auschwitz concentration and death camp. From there, he
began his academic career – not an easy transition for someone whose formal
education was almost non-existent. </div>
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Israel became an academic, but an
academic of a very special sort. As a result of another tragedy, he and his
wife left the kibbutz, and he settled in Jerusalem. He wrote his MA thesis on
the Chassidic movement, and his PhD
on the Jews of Warsaw during the Holocaust. He became a professor at the
Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University, and then became its
head. He was always very active at Yad Vashem, and even before his retirement
he became the first Head of its Research Institute. After that, he became an
Academic Adviser to Yad Vashem.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Israel's
professional life is centered on Polish Jewry, and on Polish-Jewish relations.
He is a frequent visitor to Poland, and fulfills the function of an active
member of the Auschwitz Committee, which tries to deal with the shaping of the
memory of the erstwhile camp. But Israel also leads another life, devoted to
his daughters and their families, and to his friends. From a person with his
background and life experience, one would hardly expect a personality full of
humor and a kind of skeptic optimism based on a tremendous knowledge of Jewish
and general, basically European, culture. You cannot catch Israel not having
read things that belong to that cultural universe. Nor can you catch him not
having read any important Hebrew book, of the past or, indeed, the present. He
seems to swallow everything that is produced in the languages he reads –
Hebrew, Polish, Yiddish, German, English and French. His range of knowledge is
astounding, and therefore his insights are deep and persuasive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Israel loves controversy, and a
good, sometimes short-tempered, argument. But there is another dimension to his
personality which remains largely hidden – he is a 'Mensch', a warm and caring
individual, loyal to his friends, truthful and straightforward. Another
important thing, perhaps: he is very sparing in his description of his own,
personal, life. Israel is a very private person, not an egregious story-teller
about himself. He downsizes his ego very, very far below its actual worth – a
tendency that is as rare among academics as among others. He does get hurt when
attacked, or when he feels that a controversy is handled in a personal manner;
the point is that he seldom shows it. He conquers himself and he moderates his
public responses, often beyond what he perhaps should do. His self-discipline
is quite amazing; but, of course, in private conversation and in small circles,
he lets go.</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
I admit that I am not very
objective. I have been working with Israel for more than 35 years, and in some
senses we are really part of each other. We are a little but like non-identical
twins. We have a constant, close, very friendly, and productive relationship,
we disagree with each other and fight a great deal, and we have a basically
identical outlook, despite, or perhaps because, of completely different
personal life experiences.</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Israel Gutman is the product of a
combination of Polish Jewish and Polish culture, of a liberal European
civilization, and of modern, contemporary Hebrew civilization. This is a rare,
and tremendously important combination, that allows him to be what he is: a
truly great personality.</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
What else can one say, beyond
what he uncovers in the interviews that follow?</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
— Yad
Vashem, August 19, 2007</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><span style="background-color: white;"> </span> </o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>ORAL TORAH FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO (Part 1)</b></div>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">“There is a
teaching from the Baal Shem Tov on the verse, ‘my soul passed out at its
speaking’ (Song of Songs 5:6) that
states that a part of the soul of the speaker emerges when the person speaks.
It follows that for communication to occur, there must be an identification
between the essence of the soul of the speaker and the essence of the soul of
the person spoken to, since the speaker is not simply uttering words but
sharing a part of the essence of his soul.”</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
A drashah
[sermon] for Shavuot 5700 (June 12, l940 by Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the
Warsaw Ghetto, known as The Esh Kodesh [The Holy Fire].</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Interviews with
Professor Israel Gutman at Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem, Israel, were conducted on October 26,
1999, November 9, 1999, November 15, 1999, January 9, 2007,at the end of January, 2007,
March 2007, and at the end of March, 2007.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">CONTENTS</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Introduction: The Esh Kodesh<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
1. In the Beginning<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
2. Before the Ghetto<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
3. Inside the Ghetto Walls<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
4. The Youth Movement<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
5. 1942: A Complete Change<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
6. Preparations for an Uprising<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
7. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
8. Death March<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
9. Homeward Bound (1)<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
10. God, Tradition and Yiddishe Ta'am<br />
11. Homeward Bound (2)<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
12. Oral Torah: Giving it Over<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
13. Who is Jewish?<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
14. The Eichmann Trial<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
15. Yad Vashem<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>IN THE BEGINNING<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Where were you
born?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
I was born in
Warsaw.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>And were your
parents also from Warsaw?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
My parents were
from Warsaw. My grandparents were all born in Warsaw.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>So you must have
felt rooted in Warsaw?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, I felt
connected to Warsaw. I never left, except once, for several days, until the
outbreak of the Second World War.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>How old were you
in 1939 when the war began</i>?<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I was sixteen. I
was living with my parents. They were average Warsaw Jews, a family that
struggled for existence.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What did your
father do?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
My father had a
little shop, some small working house, but in the last few years before the
outbreak of the war, he was simply a worker for others.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>And your mother
was at home?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
And my mother was
always at home, yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What were your
parents’ names?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
My father’s name
was Binyamin. My mother’s name was Sarah. Her family name was Oberman.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>How many children
did they have?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
We were three
children, two sisters, and I. One sister was older. I was the middle child and
my small sister was nine when the war broke out.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What were your
sisters’ names?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
My older sister
was Rivka. My younger sister was Genya, Golda. We called her Genya.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Were your
parent's religious?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, I would say
traditional, more than religious, but my father went to a synagogue, a little
shteible [a little prayer house] on Shabbat. In Warsaw, in almost every
apartment house there was a shteible. Today there is one isolated synagogue.
Warsaw had three hundred and fifty thousand Jews; a whole quarter was entirely
Jewish. The Jews felt they were among Jews, free to be Jews. They spoke
Yiddish. They were members of clubs and organizations and political parties.
They read Yiddish newspapers. They went to Jewish schools. The whole family life,
all the neighbors and the street, was Jewish.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your family
keep Shabbos?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
To some extent,
yes. I would not say we were strictly religious, but Shabbos was <i>Shabbos</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your mother
bake challahs?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I believe she
bought the challahs, but perhaps, yes, I do believe there were times when she
baked the challahs herself.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Do you remember
your mother lighting Shabbos candles?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, of course.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your mother
cover her hair?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No, not my
mother, and I do not believe the majority of women covered their hair during
this time, as I remember; it was a matter of a generation. My grandmother, the
mother of my mother, covered her hair with a <i>sheitle</i> [a wig].<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your father
wear a kipa [a skullcap]?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>I have seen so
many photographs of Jewish boys in special Jewish caps. My father spoke of
these Jewish caps with so much tenderness. Do you remember these caps? Father
also said men tipped their hats when they passed people in the streets.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, special
Jewish caps; yes, I remember. Polish men wore hats, too, because of the
climate. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>On Shabbos, was
there a different feeling in the streets?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
For a long time,
our neighborhood was a mixed neighborhood with Jews and Poles and only a small
percent were Jews, so on Shabbos the Poles kept their shops open. The last
years before the war we were in the heart of the Jewish quarter. Shabbat was <i>Shabbat</i> in the whole quarter.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>You know, I have
been to Warsaw so many times. I walk down streets trying to imagine what
Shabbos must have felt like before the war. Did you see candles in windows?
Could you smell Shabbos food cooking? Did you hear prayers from the little
shteibles? Do you remember Jewish men running to shul, old Jews with long, gray Jewish beards? When people passed
each other in the street, did they say, Good Shabbos to one another? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, first of
all, there was no work and no school. We wore our special Shabbos clothes.
There was a kind of preparation for Shabbat, a special atmosphere in the street
and in my home, and this feeling was also for Jews who were not religious, this
atmosphere of Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you go to a
Jewish school?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The elementary
school I first went to was a very Polish public school. There were only two
Jews in my class. The Poles liked me and I liked them. We were very friendly. I
felt I belonged in the class and after hours my friends and I hung out. We were
one big group, but to other Jews who were not in our class, they acted with
hatred. This was why my parents decided to move from the mixed neighborhood to
the Jewish Quarter.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>How old were you
when you moved to the Jewish Quarter?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I believe I was
14. When I began high school, it was a Jewish high school.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you learn in
Yiddish?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No, in Polish. We
had, perhaps, one hour a week of Yiddish. Now all of my friends and my whole
class was Jewish.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you speak
Yiddish at home?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
We children spoke
Polish. Among my friends in the Youth Movement — I belonged to a Youth movement
from the age of 14 — we spoke Polish. It was a Zionist youth movement, and we
wanted to speak Hebrew, but it was only a wish. It was not the real language we
were able to speak or communicate in.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your parents
speak Yiddish among themselves?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Among themselves,
my parents spoke Yiddish.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did they speak
Yiddish to you children?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
They spoke
Yiddish and Polish.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your mother
call you Israel?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Srulik.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>When Hitler first
came to power, did it affect the Jews of Warsaw? Were they fearful?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
What do you mean
in power? Hitler came to power in 30 of January, 1933, in Germany.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Yes. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, of course,
we knew about what was happening. We read newspapers. The Jews were very
engaged and knowledgeable about what was going on in political life, what was
happening in Germany, who was Hitler, and what is the meaning of Hitler; yes,
we knew. The question was how did we interpret this information. Were we able
to absorb and understand what was the real meaning of Nazism? Well, this was
another story.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Poland in
January, February, 1934, had a kind of an agreement with Nazi Germany. This
greatly influenced the policies of the Polish government and the behavior of
the Polish people in regard to the Jews. From this point, we of course felt a
change. It was also a time of boycotting German products and economic life was
getting more and more difficult. So Hitler, in Germany, had some influence on
our day-by-day life, but still, Hitler was in Germany and we lived in Poland.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>In 1935, when
Germany enforced the Nuremberg Laws, did this affect the Jews in Poland? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, but still it
was happening in another country.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>And
Kristallnacht, 1938?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Oh yes,
Kristallnacht was important from another point of view. First of all, I was
older and more able to understand what was happening around me. I was a member
of a youth movement in which we discussed these questions. We were more aware
of what was happening. Information came with the Polish Jews who were expelled
from Germany, over the Polish border to Zbaszyn. Suddenly, the destiny, what
had happened to those Polish Jews, came very close to us. It touched us. Now,
it became our problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
These years
before the outbreak of the war was a period of intense antisemitism. The Polish
society, from an economic and political point of view, was in a situation of
deep crisis. There was high unemployment. It was a very difficult situation for
Polish people — so many disappointments and such deep disagreements with the
government and the political parties, especially with the Polish peasants. They
had no answers. On the one hand, there were the “Endeks.” They were a very
strong political party. They argued that the Jews did not belong to the Polish
nation. They were guests, strangers. They had no right to live in Poland. On
the other hand, there was a stream in Poland, a kind of movement, that was,
perhaps, less concentrated, less organized. It was not deeply antisemitic but
also from their viewpoint as Christians, the Jews were always strangers. As the
situation became more and more difficult, more and more Poles agreed that
the Jews should not have the same rights, in terms of economic life. They came
to the conclusion that there were just too many Jews in Poland and the solution
should be emigration or the expulsion of the Jews. There were outbreaks of
violence. The majority of Poles were perhaps against violence, but they did agree
that the solution to Poland’s economic problem was to force the Jews to leave, to
go to Palestine or any other country, as long as they were out of Poland. Each
Jew felt it and for us, the children, it was painful.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i> The “Endeks” instituted antisemitic edicts in
the universities and ghetto benches for Jews only.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, in the
universities it was very evident with the ghetto benches; it was extreme and
that made things clear, but, in more subtle ways, it was spreading through the
whole Polish society.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>You were fourteen
at that time. You said you were liked in school. You said your class of Polish
students adopted you and you were all friends. Did that change?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I will tell you,
I was very popular. I had many friends and I had much in common with them, and
so long as our meetings and our lives were concentrated in the frame of the
class, it was alright, but the change was outside the classroom — the
anti-Jewish atmosphere. I felt it and I suffered.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>In the journal of
Emmanuel Ringelblum, “Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto,” Ringelblum makes a joke.
He says something like, he wished he were back in the good old days, when the
Poles ruled, and the Jews were only spat upon.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, it was a
dream. He cried in a dream and his wife woke him up and asked him what had happened.
He said, “Why did you wake me? I was dreaming I was again among the Poles and
they were calling me ‘You dirty Jew!’"<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
His wife asked,
“You were happy they were calling you ‘dirty Jew?’”<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
“Yes,” he said, “I
was back in those good old days, before the war!” <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is what
Ringelblum writes. It was a joke. In comparison to what happened during the
Nazi period, this was easy.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Because of this
intense antisemitism, your family decided to move out of the mixed area to a
Jewish neighborhood?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What was your
address?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Street was
Nowiniarska 11. It was in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. There were almost
three hundred thousand Jewish people in a certain neighborhood. Every third
person in Warsaw was Jewish. This created a very strong feeling that the Jews
of Warsaw were deeply rooted.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Before the Ghetto<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>You were living
in a neighborhood that was totally Jewish, and your life, despite the rising
anti-semitism, was not so drastically different than before</i> — <i>is that
correct?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, of course,
my life was as before, with some changes, but it was the regular life as
before.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>On September 1,
1939?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
September 1939
there is a complete change.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Right away?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Right away — it
is after a week. Warsaw was a city under bombardment. It was the month of
September. It was one of the most tragic months because a great part of the
Jewish Quarter was completely ruined. It was an absolute change, a shock. This
month was a turning point in our lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Where were you when the bombs began falling?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I returned home a
day before the outbreak of the war. I was in a summer camp with my youth
movement. The first thing my mother said was that I came back a different
child. I lost a lot of weight. We were always too busy to eat. The next day,
the bombs began falling and they didn’t stop for a whole week.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What were people
from your youth group saying during this frightening time?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
At the end of the
first week, the whole youth movement was liquidated. I was 16. The instructors,
who we called the “elders,” were only three or four years older than me; they
left Warsaw in the direction of Eastern Poland and then [traveled on] to Vilna.
In Vilna, they created what was known as “The Concentration of Vilna.” We
youngsters remained in Warsaw without our Youth Movement. This lasted a long
time. Yes, we still had connections among ourselves. We were friends and that
was very important for us. After a few months, January, February, l940, those
leaders who left for Vilna sent messengers to tell us to renew the youth movement.
There were a few leaders. Mordecai Anielewicz was one. The old leadership from
the Jewish communities, the leaders of the political parties, and the members
of the Polish Parliament all left. The new Organization would exist in the form
of an underground, except for the Judenrat and some social self-help programs. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Was your mother
at all worried that you were a part of an underground organization? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I will tell you. The
main problem in our day-to-day life, from the beginning, was how to spend a day,
what to do, how to get food; there was no school, we were not free to go in the
streets. These were the main problems.
These were the worries.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>This is the time
before the ghetto.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is a year
before the establishment of the ghetto. There was still a possibility to move
about, to meet Poles, to have dealings with the Polish society, even
professionally. It was war. The war destroyed a great part of the industry and
all production of economic life in Poland. The majority of people had no way to
make a living, especially the intelligencia; people working in industry,
teachers, office workers, all these people were no longer working. It was the
beginning of great struggle for them. There were many refugees, people who left
the big cities like Łódź. They came in
masses and had nothing. Buildings, a great part of them, were destroyed and
tens of thousands of people remained without a place to live. This was a
tremendous shock. This was the situation, from the very beginning, until the
end of the war, the every-day struggle to stay alive. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
What was crucial,
I believe, was the essence of Jewish tradition and the depth of closeness in
the Jewish family. The Jewish upbringing was deeply connected to the principles
of Jewish life, religion, but not only religion; it was a mentality, which was
specifically Jewish. This was why the
Jewish family struggled to stay together. When I say “family,” I am talking
about the immediate family — father, mother, children, grandfather,
grandmother, the extended family. This connection stayed very deep all the
time.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Polish Jews
could never imagine the extent of what would be Germany’s policies regarding
Jews. It was difficult to grasp the meaning of the ideology of National
Socialism. They knew about the hatred the Nazis had toward German Jews, but
Polish Jews — why would the Germans have any interest in them?<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Germans were
an occupying force during the First World War, and during the First World War,
relations between Germans and Jews were quite good, much better than with the
Russian occupiers. This was only twenty years ago. The older generation
remembered this. In some ways, they felt connected to German culture. The
German Jews reflected a kind of free world with many possibilities for
progressive development. So the Jews were not able to grasp what awaited them
under German occupation. All too quickly, they found out with the marking of
the Jews and [the] taking [of] Jewish property. Jews were now unable to move
about freely or work in any Polish establishment. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
German soldiers
did not look upon the Jew as a human being. One of the main changes was forced
labor: gathering up Jews on the streets and in their homes to work for the
Germans. It was not just the work, but the suffering and violence, the way the
Germans looked at the Jew and the way it were forbidden for the Jew to look a
German in the eye or speak to a German. It was impossible to explain something
to him in a normal way. This is what happened from the beginning until the last
days of the German occupation. Jews were suddenly in a world in which he, she,
had no place at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I believe most of
the Poles were completely uninterested in what was happening to the Jews. For them, the Jew did not belong to Polish
society. Some of the Poles were so antisemitic that they thought the behavior
of the Germans, the violence, was justified. They enjoyed and agreed with what
the Germans were doing to them.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
There was hunger.
There was a problem of finding a place for people to live. There was a problem
with what to do with the children. There were no schools. It was forbidden to
pray in public. It was forbidden to gather together. There was no Jewish
newspaper. There was no contact with the outside world, no contact with
extended family. There was a feeling that the Jews were in a kind of prison
with unbelievable conditions. This was the situation. The hunger was terrible.
There were epidemics. Relationships began to suffer; people who lived under
such hard conditions lost their tolerance. They were no longer polite. The
situation was not easy before the war, but this was a time without any precedent.
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Judenrat
replaced the former Jewish organizations. It would not be right to think of the
Judenrat as a kind of organization working on behalf of the Germans. This is
not right because the first structure of the Judenrat was [composed of] Jews
from the leadership that remained. It was a representation of Zionist organizations,
the Bundists, and the ultra orthodox, Agudat Israel. Zygelbojm was a member of the first Judenrat,
and Czerniakow was the head of Warsaw’s Judenrat. He was a decent person with a
lot of good will and very far from being a tool in the hands of the Germans.
Objectively, [the Judenrat] was a tool because the Germans did not ask them
anything. The Judenrat could not initiate anything on their own. The Germans
ruled them. For the Germans, the Judenrat existed for one purpose, to enforce
their orders. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Besides the
Judenrat, there were self-help organizations. Ringelblum and Gitterman, who
escaped to Eastern Poland, came back. They began building networks of social
help, food kitchens, and places for children to learn care for refugees, [mainly]
collecting materials to help the needy. These self-help organizations existed
throughout the war. They were illegal and opposed the German order. They did
not obey the German decree to hand over all their money and property. No Jews took this seriously. The Jews were
not allowed to work in certain professions, but no one took that seriously.
Illegal forms of production began and continued later on in the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The same was true
in the political arena. The Jewish political parties, and this is a very, very
important phenomenon, the Jewish Youth organizations, started working again.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Germans
focused on Jewish money, Jewish property, and the Jewish connections outside,
with the Poles, but what Jews did with their spiritual life, their political
views, among themselves, this they did not care about. So what happened was the
possibility to develop a kind of cultural, spiritual, and political life in
this framework. We are speaking, of course, of this time before the ghetto, but
it was even stronger during the ghetto period. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Inside the Ghetto Walls</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Would it be
correct to say that with the establishment of the ghetto the Jews, at least in
the beginning, may have felt less threatened by the Nazis? The Jews were closed
in, but perhaps, for a time, the Nazis stayed out. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, the truth was,
we lived an underground life. Little by little, we had the feeling that in this
closed Jewish area we could go about,
speak freely, discuss things, read books, and it was of no interest to the
Germans. They were taking us to forced labor. They took everything we owned
from our private houses; everything of
worth was confiscated. We never knew what would happen tomorrow. It was
the dynamic. Each day, German policies
seemed to get worse than the day before. There was absolutely no security. The
good thing was, for the time being, the Jews were together and the Germans
stayed out of the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>When the ghetto
was closed, were you already living in that area?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>So you didn’t
have to move?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No, we didn’t
move.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Until the last
moment, it was not clear whether the ghetto would be closed or open. The
Germans said nothing. It was a decisive difference because the meaning of an
open ghetto was that the Jews would have the possibility of spending the day
outside the ghetto, working. There were people who thought a closed ghetto
could be a positive thing. There would be no more attacks from the Polish side.
Not too many Germans entered the ghetto. It would be a place for the Jews to be
among themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i> Yes, That is what I wondered about.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Of course it was
a great illusion. First of all, it was a closed ghetto. Jewish property, the
shops, and the undertakings, all this was gone in one day.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What did you do
in the ghetto?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I did forced
labor. Each Jew, everyone, was forced to work 6, 7, 8 days a month. My family
was in such a bad situation that I
worked for Jews who were in a better situation. I received some money for this
work. I remember it was not enough for more than, maybe, half of a bread, and I
worked full time.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did your father
work, too?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
My father was
ill. He was not able to work. We were poor. The only possibility was for us to
sell everything that we had. I lost my parents and my older sister a year and a
half after the war began.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>A year and a half
after the war began, your parents and your sister died? Was that because of an
epidemic?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Not exactly. My
sister was ill before the war. My father was ill for a long time. My mother
died from typhus. I remained with my small sister. It was a tragedy. They died because
there was no possibility to help them. We were poorer than even most
people in the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>A year and a half
after the war began — you mean by1940 you had lost most of your family?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, by the end
of l940, I was alone with my . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>With your little
sister, Genya?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
[Yes, he nods; we
were unable to speak . . .]<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you remain in
the same apartment, the two of you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, for some time. By the end of 1940, the beginning
of 1941, I left with my sister. We went to live in one small room with other
people. I was not able to manage a flat by myself. After some time, my sister
entered The House of Korczak.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>And you, you
remained alone?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I remained by
myself, yes. I worked. Thanks to the people my father worked for before the
war. They took a great interest in what
happened to my small sister and me. They were very wealthy people, well known in the ghetto, the family of Avraham
Gepner; I don’t know if you know the name.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Yes, I do.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
He was one of the
most known people in the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>I read about him
in the Ringelblum Journals.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
He helped me. He
got me work and he arranged for my sister to go to The Children’s House of
Korczak.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Oh, your sister
went to stay in the Korczak Orphanage? There is a building that stands now, in
Warsaw. It was, I think, the first Orphanage of Korczak. Was your sister Genya
in this place?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No, they changed
places twice. The place that stands now was the basic place, the first
orphanage. She was not there.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What was the name
of the street of the orphanage where she was?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
This orphanage
you speak of that exists now is on Krachmalna. The orphanage in the ghetto was
on Sienna Street.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
It was not easy
to get to stay at Korczak’s orphanage
because the conditions there were better than any other place in the ghetto.
Thanks to the sister of Abraham Gepner, my sister received a place in the
orphanage.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Were you able to
visit your sister in the orphanage?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, it was
natural for me to go every week. This was a special time for visitors, for
families. I also came for special evenings, for special events. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you ever meet
Korczak?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
No, I met his
partner, Stefa Wilczynska. I met her almost every time I came, but with
Korczak, I don’t remember having talks
with him.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Do you remember
seeing him?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Seeing him, yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you have the
feeling that your sister was relatively safe?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I thought that
for my sister, it was the best that could happen. I wasn’t able to help her
much. I was a child myself. I was happy she was there. She was not happy. I
visited her every week, two or three hours of the day. Families came to visit
and took the children out for walks or for a visit home. I connected to Stefa.
I had no connections with Korczak. My sister was a little afraid of Korczak. I
believe I didn’t exchange even a word, a sentence, with Korczak. I saw him very
often but . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Was Stefa warm
towards you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Stefa and I
talked very often. She was interested in me because she knew that I was a
member of a youth movement. Stefa had come back to Poland from Palestine. She
was in Palestine on a Kibbutz. Perhaps she felt sorry for me because I was
alone with my sister. I had many, many conversations with her and she told me
about how my sister was feeling, how she found her place there, how she was
doing.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>On August 5,
1942, all of the children from Korczak’s Orphanage were marched to the
trains waiting to bring them to
Treblinka. Did you have any prior knowledge of this?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, at the
beginning of the evacuation, they presented the children with the possibility
of leaving the orphanage, going back to their families. I took my sister out
for some time, but after being outside with me, two weeks, perhaps — it is impossible to describe what
happened — she said she wanted to go back to the children. I
don’t really remember how long she was with me, perhaps only a few days, and
she went back. I remember the day. Such a thing one cannot forget, when they took the children to the Umschlagplatz.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Your sister Genya
was one of the children taken to Treblinka?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>We remain quiet.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<o:p>___________________________________________</o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Youth Movement <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What was the
youth movement you belonged to?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
It was Hashomer
hatzair.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Would you say the
youth movement became your family?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The movement was
my life. Yes, it was my family. It was strange, but in this Underground we were
very active, and it was very positive in many aspects. We met every day. We
read books. We discussed all the
problems. We worked together. We walked together. We published a press. I was
among the publishers of one of the papers. The press belonged to the
organizations, and we gave some articles to The Oneg Shabbat for their
archives.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Didn’t the Oneg
Shabbat also have a press?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Oneg Shabbat
put out a bulletin during the last months of the ghetto with crucial
information that made us aware of what was happening. They reached all of the
Jewish population. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i> Did you ever meet Ringelblum?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, not
personally. Only the upper echelons of the movement had personal relations with
Ringelblum; they worked with him. I attended
a seminar organized by the underground. He lectured there. The title of
the lecture was, “The Jewish Labor Movement.” I went a few times to listen to
him speaking,. but I had no direct contact
with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Did you meet
Mordecai Anielewicz?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I knew him well.
There were seminars from the end of December ’41 until the beginning of January
’42, on Nalewki Street, number 23. It was leadership seminars for the younger
members of the organization, seminars on different subjects: Jewish history,
literature, and psychology. It was there I heard Ringelblum speak. Another
speaker, Menachem Linder, was very impressive.
He spoke on demography. I remember the spirit. It was a fantastic
feeling: we were learning, we were reading, we were together and, in some
strange way, we felt free. The feeling in the youth movement was so strong and
so alive. Because of this, I cannot say, for me, it was only a period of
suffering. Our connections in the youth movement were stronger than before.
Before, we had a family, we had a school, and we had our friends outside of the
organization. We had a rich life. In the
period of the war, the movement was my whole life. It affected my thinking and
influenced my future. It was the source, my fundamental essence. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Were there a lot
of people in your organization?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The organization
was a big organization during the time of the ghetto, but we were divided into
small groups of about ten, and the whole group was about 50, 60 or 70 people.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>How did the
organization function?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
We were together.
We learned together. We read books and spoke about them. We tried to understand
what was going on in the war. We received information and discussed it. By the
end of ’41, we came of age. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The movement
decided that we would be instructors organizing groups of small children. The
instructors were 18 and the children were 13, 14. We worked for some time in the
food kitchen. I took care of a group of
small boys — I remember them perfectly — but this was only for a short time. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>What work did you
have in the kitchen? </i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The children were
hungry. They had no school. We read to them. We prepared food to give to them.
We received money from the Joint until 1941. In ’39 and forty, especially in
the beginning of ’40, there was
substantial help sent from America. After April ’42, the Underground liquidated
all the new youth groups and the only ones who remained were the original
members from pre-war time.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>In other words,
you remained?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I was among the
youngsters who remained. A much stronger Underground existed. The entire
strategy changed because on the 17<sup>th</sup> of April there was such a night
of murder. The Nazis killed, according to a list of names of people from the
ghetto, 55, or 53, people; among them were a few activists from the Underground.
It was not clear why, what their intention was. Today, we are quite clear that they carried out these
executions in preparation for the expulsion of the Jews from Warsaw. They tried
to liquidate groups that could organize some resistance or be of any threat to
their plans. We had to make a stronger, more compact, Underground.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the beginning
of ’42, we received firsthand information from Vilna about Barbarossa. Barbarossa began on the 22nd of June 1941, a
war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
From the beginning of the war, they killed masses of Jews in the new
occupied areas: Kovna, Vilna, Bialystok, Lvov. This information arrived,
firsthand, from Vilna. All of our organizations voted to make one united group. The message from the Hashomer Hatzair
in Vilna was: resist. Vilna, Warsaw, and Bialystok were first to create a
network of fighting organizations. We understood that what happened in Vilna,
in Kovna, the mass killing of Jews, was only the beginning of a new policy to
annihilate the Jews. The first core group was “The Anti-Fascist Organization.”
This Anti-Fascist Organization included Zionists and Communists. The police
arrested a part of the group of communists. Today, we know there were a few traitors
outside the ghetto. So, once again, we reorganized an underground inside. This
occurred in the middle of April ’42.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>The organization
changed to an organization of resistance, but as of yet, there were no weapons.
What new functions did you have?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Of course the
decision was more in terms of readjusting our thinking, more a political step
than an actual ability to establish a fighting organization. We had no
experienced soldiers. We had no knowledge of how to organize a battle within a
town, or a city, and mostly, we had no weapons. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Nonetheless, it
was a great shift. Is that correct?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Until this time,
the main struggle for the Jews was to stay alive, and a belief that we would
survive. Not all of the Jews would survive, but the main part of the Jews in
the ghetto would. We didn’t know when
the war would end, but everything we did was with the belief that there would
be an end. Our efforts were focused on keeping the greater percentage of the
people alive until the end. And when this change of policy occurred in the
youth movement, the Jewish population, even the political parties, and we, the
youngsters, did not expect or accept it, not yet. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Look, the
difference between the youth movement and the majority of the Jews were we knew
the expulsions were not just for some Jews. We knew the Germans planned to
destroy all the Jewish People. We were preparing for a rebellion and we knew
that the rebellion would lead to our
death, and we were ready. Still, it was impossible to grasp the infinite evil
humans were capable of. It was so strange, so contradictory to our way of
being that we, somehow, held on to a thought: perhaps at some moment, things
would change. This really could not be the end of us all, could it?</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>It was so sad, so
horrible that from the beginning of the war you lost your parents and your
sister. Do you think your aloneness, as harsh as it was, made it clearer for
you to focus all your attention on the Underground? You did not have to divide
your allegiance or responsibility to your family.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, it was one
of the main problems for the youth, worrying about family. The Jewish family
was a deep kind of love and commitment, but there came a time when it was leave
the family and commit to the fighting organization. There was no choice.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
The mass
expulsion of the Jews from Warsaw began on the 22<sup>nd</sup> of July 1942.
Around 300,000 Jews were deported. It is impossible to describe what happened.
There were stages. The Jewish Police helped with this deportation. From the
beginning, they claimed those Jews who were working, especially those working
for the Germans in factories, would remain. They did not say how many Jews would be deported, but we
figured 60,000 or 70,000, mostly the refugees who were without jobs, homes,
families. There were many. In reality, that would be only the beginning. Later,
they sent workers, children, families. Their intention was to leave 35,000 Jews
from the whole Warsaw Jewish population — 10% would be left. 90% would be sent
to their death.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>It is difficult
for me to go on . . . and then . . . Why would they leave the 10%?</i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Workers for the
German war industry. In fact, what remained were 50,000. The organization, and
many [other] Jews decided that they would no longer appear for selections. Of
course, it was not easy to hide because the Germans searched from place to
place, room to room.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
End of Part I</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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___________________________________________<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPchZNHGXJ3FbH5MpzohWRrR5-DPrBgpr8A1DhhMYhU9DoiSOgdf_dzzqdG_1rnCdjJa4C_n1Ov2LeYR5FWhDG6J3iHjJkSKo0SDCU2ijKC8m90wK3oLCgegyBlLcRQ6pbVEyAhvCL2g/s1600/teool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigPchZNHGXJ3FbH5MpzohWRrR5-DPrBgpr8A1DhhMYhU9DoiSOgdf_dzzqdG_1rnCdjJa4C_n1Ov2LeYR5FWhDG6J3iHjJkSKo0SDCU2ijKC8m90wK3oLCgegyBlLcRQ6pbVEyAhvCL2g/s1600/teool.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Breindel Lieber Kasher</span></strong></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">
was born in New York City and has lived more than half her life in Israel</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">. She is</span> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">a documentary film-maker and published poet. Her
work has been translated into Hebrew, Polish and German and can be found in</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Midstream</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">21st Century Journal</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Cyclamens and Swords,</span></i><span style="color: black;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">International Poetry Journal,</span></i><span style="color: black;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Poets West</span></i><span style="color: black;">,</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Seventh Quarry</span></i><span style="color: black;">, and <em>Palabras</em>. She has twice been a winner of the Reuben
Rose Prize from</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Voices Israel</span></i><span style="color: black;">.</span> </span></span></div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-43389955160409186592014-02-16T09:30:00.001-05:002014-02-16T09:31:52.268-05:00Could Have<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">I've been thinking about why some survived and others didn't, and about how those who survived thought about their survival. Was it luck, faith, God, hope, fear? I remember asking my father about how he survived his years in the concentration camps. He said he didn't know.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">Here's a poem by Wislawa Szymborska called "Could Have" that helped me think about this.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">It could have happened.</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br />It had to happen.<br />It happened earlier. Later.<br />Nearer. Farther off.<br />It happened, but not to you.<br />You were saved because you were the first.<br />You were saved because you were the last.<br />Alone. With others.<br />On the right. The left.<br />Because it was raining. Because of the shade.<br />Because the day was sunny.<br /><br />You were in luck -- there was a forest.<br />You were in luck -- there were no trees.<br />You were in luck -- a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,<br />A jamb, a turn, a quarter-inch, an instant . . .<br /><br />So you're here? Still dizzy from<br />another dodge, close shave, reprieve?<br />One hole in the net and you slipped through?<br />I couldn't be more shocked or<br />speechless.<br />Listen,<br />how your heart pounds inside me.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">____________________________</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">This poem comes from Wislawa Szymborska's</span> <i style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">View With a Grain of Sand</i><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">, trans. Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1996). The book is available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/View-Grain-Sand-Selected-Poems/dp/0156002167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392561065&sr=8-1&keywords=grain+szymborska">Amazon</a>.</span></span>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-45910944329148762862013-10-24T10:38:00.001-04:002013-10-24T10:38:55.388-04:00Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Publico Text'; line-height: 1.9; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The following review by Michael Kimmage originally appeared in The New Republic. </div>
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Wendy Lower’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Furies-German-Killing-Fields/dp/0547863381" style="border: 0px; color: #1ca2f7; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields</em> </a>returns the Holocaust to something of its original horror. It is a study of German and Austrian women on the eastern front, and the simple revelation behind their story is that women were no less capable of brutality than men. This might seem banal—the banality of evil across the gender line. Yet Lower’s book is thoroughly shocking. What these women saw and did was shocking. What they believed was shocking. What they lied about after the war was shocking. No less shocking is the credulity invested in their lies by Germans and by Germany’s postwar occupiers. The final shock is the lack of earlier interest in their story, despite its enormous scope. At least half a million women went or were sent east during World War II. Some committed atrocities, and most witnessed atrocities. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em>, published 68 years after the war’s end, is, in Lower’s words, a “book about how we fail to reckon with the past.”</div>
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Lower is an American historian, and American intellectuals and citizens have long been struggling to reckon with the Holocaust. Worries have even been aired, in Norman Finkelstein’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Holocaust-Industry-Reflections-Exploitation/dp/1859843239" style="border: 0px; color: #1ca2f7; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering</em></a> (2000), for instance, about an American Holocaust industry and about an excess of remembrance, which—by making the horrific familiar—might render the Holocaust normal. But, if anything, sustained study of the Holocaust has resulted in one provocative act of remembrance after another. Hannah Arendt’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil</em>, published in 1963, caused waves of outrage, while Lucy Dawidowicz’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The War Against the Jews, 1933</em>–<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1945</em> brought the Holocaust narrative to a general reading public in 1975. The <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em> series, by Art Spiegelman, reached beyond scholarship to storytelling, starting in 1991.</div>
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In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Willing-Executioners-Ordinary-Holocaust/dp/0679772685" style="border: 0px; color: #1ca2f7; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust</em></a> (1996), Daniel Goldhagen argued that many Germans—not just the SS—were complicit in the Holocaust. Goldhagen’s provocation was a popularized and less careful version of Christopher Browning’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Men-Reserve-Battalion-Solution/dp/0060995068" style="border: 0px; color: #1ca2f7; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland</em></a> from 1993, which persuasively demonstrated the guilt of the ordinary German men who were asked—but not forced—to participate in mass executions, shifting the focus from the Nazi high command to the faces of the actual killers.</div>
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Now <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> contributes to this study of “ordinary people” in an important new way. It looks beyond Germany to the eastern front—Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, and Ukraine—where many of the deadliest atrocities took place. In this attention to place, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> continues a project pioneered in Timothy Snyder’s 2010 masterpiece, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-Stalin/dp/0465031471" style="border: 0px; color: #1ca2f7; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin</em>.</a> Arendt, Dawidowicz, Goldhagen, and Browning’s preoccupation with Germany was necessary, but it also reflected the fact that, until 1991, many crucial archival holdings were off-limits to Western scholars, confiscated by Soviet authorities, shipped to Moscow or dispersed throughout the Soviet Union. Nazi ideology and governance existed in three dimensions, while the Holocaust’s Eastern European terrain was harder to picture.</div>
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The idea for <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> came to Lower during a 1992 trip to Kiev. There she came across material previously hidden in archives “behind the Iron Curtain.” Twenty years in the making, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> tells of the half-million German women who went east during the war. One-third of German women were “actively engaged in a Nazi Party organization,” Lower notes, and they participated in growing numbers from 1933 to 1945. Those who chose to go east were modern, “the daughters of those first-time [female] Weimar voters [who] imagined possibilities in Germany and beyond.” Their vehicle of advancement was the workplace: Female teachers, nurses, secretaries, stenographers, typists, and telephone operators were in demand. These women found the east “a place of liberation” with abundant “freedom for self-expression” and “social mobility.” To this degree, theirs was a conventional twentieth-century progression: the acquisition of valuable skills, the departure from stifling hometown and family circle, the prospect of self-fulfillment through work and travel. Yet there was nothing typical about their destinies in the bloodlands or killing fields, and many women went east with a fierce anti-Semitism in their hearts.</div>
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Some 30,000 women were “certified by Himmler’s SS,” directly involved in the planning and execution of the Holocaust. Lower refers to the secretaries of Odilo Globocnik, the SS figure responsible for the murder of Warsaw’s Jews among other crimes, who “‘cheerfully’ prepared lists of Jewish deportees to Treblinka, lists of Jews who died, and lists of confiscated property.” In general, secretaries “contributed to the normalization of the perverse.” Those who killed, the perpetrators, are a group unto themselves. Their numbers are hard to calculate, their deeds as grotesque as any that have been gathered into the history of the Holocaust. A woman named Johanna Altvater had no official mission to murder, but she gladly did so “on her own.” Indeed, her “specialty … was killing children.” Liesel Willhaus would shoot Jews from the balcony of her home, to the applause of her young daughter.</div>
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After the crimes came an astonishing miscarriage of justice. Some 20,000 German women were deported to the Soviet Union after the war. Guilty or not, these women were certainly punished. About East and West Germany Lower writes with almost comic understatement that “the record of justice against Nazi perpetrators, male and female, is rather poor. Most women who participated in the Holocaust quietly resumed normal lives.” The evidence of their crimes was often hazy, not documented in the first place or lodged in documents that had been lost or scattered. Most of the eyewitnesses who might have testified against them were dead, and Stalin’s rearrangement of Eastern Europe “accomplished what Hitler’s henchmen had desired: a displacement of local memory.”</div>
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That former Nazis and wartime criminals slipped comfortably back into civilian life is well-known, but<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Hitler’s Furies</em> adds a new note of cynicism. When faced with the possibility of a criminal conviction, female perpetrators presented themselves as apolitical women, far from the machinery of killing, incapable of crime because they were women and mothers. In postwar Germany, Lower writes, “the male judiciary remained skeptical of the testimony of Jews, especially of statements that described atrocious female behavior.” And so, the bleakest page of a bleak book: In many cases, Holocaust survivors were able to testify against women who had committed horrendous crimes, and either the women were not tried or their accusers were not believed. If incarcerated, the women were released—often early. Johanna Altvater—the woman who undertook to murder Jews on her own—was tried and acquitted twice. She worked, after the war, in a child welfare office.</div>
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The biography of a woman named Erna Petri is no less extraordinary. Put on trial in East Germany, she “confessed to murdering six Jewish children between six and twelve years of age.” She was found guilty and imprisoned. After German reunification, she negotiated her release, possibly with the help of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stille Hilfe</em> (Silent Aid), a postwar SS organization in Germany. She moved to a Bavarian village “where she enjoyed the Alpine mountains and lakes with Gudrun Burwitz, the daughter of Heinrich Himmler and a prominent member of Silent Aid.” The entire village attended her funeral. This is a new genre of Holocaust story. Unlike <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Schindler’s List</em>, a cinematic version of it would be unbearable.</div>
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Lower’s study contains some lapses. Occasionally, she conflates disparate strains of history. “The longstanding tradition of Prussian militarism,” Lower writes, “not only cultivated a culture of total wars and ‘final solutions,’ but, in its twentieth-century fascist form, integrated women into a martial society as patriotic nurturers and combatants.” Total war is too twentieth-century a phenomenon to have a Prussian precedent, and the final solution emanated from a pathology other than Prussian militarism. When Lower states that “the female biographies studied here are based largely on postwar investigations and trials,” one wonders if her method is not circular, the discovery of criminality in material stemming from the trials of alleged criminals. The author’s exhaustive research and forensic acuity put this worry largely to rest.</div>
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The triumph of Lower’s book is its meticulous biographical impulse. Nothing gets muffled in social science, and by tracing the lives of a dozen or so women, Lower brings out the uniqueness of their stories and the gray areas—the difference, for example, between a witness and an accomplice on the one hand and an accomplice and a perpetrator on the other. This measured judgment gives Lower’s documentation its power.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> is above all a brave book. It is brave in forcing from the archives a story that no one wanted to tell. It is brave as well in its willingness to imagine women lashing out with the same murderous will and rage as men. In this, it restates old, but still fundamental, questions: Who was guilty? Who knew what was happening in the killing fields? And what became of the guilty after the war? These are questions that even young Germans must continue to ask. The image of Erna Petri and Gudrun Burwitz walking arm in arm around the Bavarian lakes is not from the distant past. It is almost an image from the present, and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler’s Furies</em> should negate any sentimental feeling one might have toward these two figures—surely, to those who encountered them then, the pictures of kindness and innocence.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Michael Kimmage is the author, most recently, of</em> In History’s Grip: Philip Roth’s Newark Trilogy (2012).</div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-3423101992634520062013-07-31T14:30:00.002-04:002013-07-31T14:31:54.643-04:00Appropriations of Bruno Schulz by David A. Goldfarb<h3 style="background-color: #d6cfc2; color: #211f1f; font-family: 'Lyon Display'; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
The following essay by David A. Goldfarb was originally published in <a href="http://jewishquarterly.org/2011/06/appropriations-of-bruno-">The Jewish Quarterly</a>.</h3>
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Despite his tiny oeuvre and tragically short life, the legendary Polish writer’s legacy to Western literature continues to grow</h3>
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© Yuri Dojc. Last Folio: Textures of Jewish Life in Slovakia by Yuri Dojc and Katya Krausova published by Indiana University Press</div>
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<em>The Street of Crocodiles</em>—Celina Wieniewska’s translation of Bruno Schulz’s stories (originally published in Polish under the title Cinnamon Shops)—is the tree from which Jonathan Safran Foer carves his latest work,<em>Tree of Codes.</em> Carves, with a knife—a real rather than metaphorical one—excising most of Schulz’s words to form new phrases and sentences with those remaining. Foer writes that he has long wished ‘to create a die-cut book by erasure, a book whose meaning was exhumed from another book’ and that he chose <em>The Street of Crocodiles</em>, being the richest text that he knows,‘feeling that [he] was…transcribing a dream that The Street of Crocodiles might have had’. <em>Tree of Codes</em>, he acknowledges, ‘is a small response to that great book’ and part of ‘The Great Book’ from which all Schulz’s stories come. Foer takes his place in a line of western writers who have appropriated not just Schulz’s modest oeuvre but also his life story, rendering the figure of Schulz himself as a symbol of loss and absence.</div>
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Bruno Schulz’s literary career began in 1934 and was abruptly cut short by the Second World War.As early as the 1920s he had received some recognition as a graphic artist but his discovery, by the psychological-realist prose writer, Zofia Nałkowska, led to the publication of his short story collection, <em>Cinnamon Shops</em>. This established him as one of the leading proponents of the Polish avantgarde, alongside such writers as Witold Gombrowicz and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (‘Witkacy’). Following the war, all experimental writing was suppressed by the Communists, who enforced a rigid cultural agenda of Socialist Realism, and it was not until the Thaw in 1956 that Schulz’s works were published again. Schulz’s biographer, the poet Jerzy Ficowski, dedicated much of his life to tracing his lost letters and drawings; he never gave up searching for Schulz’s legendary lost novel, <em>The Messiah</em>, which is said to have been given to non-Jewish friends for safekeeping (or perhaps sent to Thomas Mann, whose <em>Joseph and his Brothers</em> he greatly admired).</div>
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When Schulz’s work began to appear in English it was accompanied by the dramatic story of his death. As a Jew with valuable artistic talents, Schulz had enjoyed the protection of a Nazi officer named Felix Landau who employed him to paint murals for his children. During an anti-Jewish action known as ‘Black Thursday’ in Schulz’s home town of Drohobycz on November 19, 1942, Landau allegedly shot a Jewish dentist who was protected by another Nazi officer named Karl Günther. The story, told by Izydor Friedman to Ficowski, is that Günther shot Schulz in revenge, with the line ‘you shot my Jew; I shot your Jew’. These words, uttered over the body of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, are so ghoulishly mesmerising that they threaten to overshadow Schulz’s own luminous words. This death-scene has acquired mythical status. For many Jewish writers, it has come to represent the rupture with a golden age of Jewish writing to which they lay claim by virtue of their own second-generation experience of displacement and unresolved trauma. David Grossman (<em>See Under: Love</em>), Cynthia Ozick (<em>The Messiah of Stockholm</em>), and Philip Roth (<em>The Prague Orgy</em>) have all built legends around Schulz, invoking his biographical figure as a trope in their own stories. Each of these works incorporates a fictionalised character or lost literary father based on the figure of Schulz, who is easily identified by references to his stories, the lost manuscript of his novel, <em>The Messiah</em>, and the dramatic story of his death.</div>
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Ozick’s <em>The Messiah of Stockholm</em> recounts the obsession of Lars Andemening, an unappreciated literary reviewer for <em>The Stockholm Morgentorn</em>, with the stories and drawings of Bruno Schulz, whom he believes to be his actual father. He embarks on a quest to find the lost manuscript of <em>The Messiah</em> and is aided and thwarted in his goal by an elderly book dealer, Heidi, and her usually absent husband, Dr. Eklund. He obtains a manuscript, authenticated by Dr. Eklund as Schulz’s, that describes a desolate Drohobycz in which the people have been replaced by stone idols. To this city, the Messiah arrives—a feathery creature with wings resembling pages from a book—and gives birth to a small bird that lands on the idols, causing them to burn and leave Drohobycz empty. On reading this manuscript, Lars becomes suspicious; he accuses Dr. Eklund of forgery and rashly sets it on fire in its brass jar. Eklund is, indeed, an acknowledged forger, but it remains unclear whether he has forged this particular manuscript or merely falsified other documents to smuggle the manuscript out of Poland.</div>
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The symbolism of Ozick’s proposed reconstruction reflects a postwar vision of a Jewish land without Jews. Its former population, having escaped to the familiar destinations of Jewish emigrés, are replaced by stones. Even the stones are burned up, like the markers of Jewish graves bulldozed after the war to make way for progress.The remarkable fiction of Drohobycz has been ‘invaded by the characters of an unknown alphabet’. With the former Jews of Drohobycz succeeded only by their remnants, the text experiences its own Holocaust inside the brass amphora. The problem of the work, and one it shares with Grossman’s and Roth’s, is the seeming incommensurability that the postwar generation feels with regard to the world of their parents and grandparents. With the loss of family ties to Russia and Eastern Europe, those born in the West also lost the linguistic ties necessary to maintain continuity with that culture. The age of Schulz is, for these later writers, what the Age of Genius was for Schulz, as he described it in a 1936 letter to the critic Andrzej Plesniewicz—a time of ‘primordial childhood’ or a ‘messianic time’, which ‘is promised and sworn to us by all mythologies’.</div>
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Philip Roth’s epilogue to the Zuckerman trilogy, <em>The Prague Orgy</em>, is cast as a fragment from Nathan Zuckerman’s notebooks, in which he meets a Czech writer, Zdenek Sisovsky, and his companion, an actress, Eva Kalinova, (famous in Prague for her Chekhovian roles). Sisovsky describes his father as a Jew who, unlike Schulz, wrote stories about Jews in Yiddish. Despite having a Czech wife and children (who do not resemble him), the character clearly resembles the iconic Schulz: he is a shy high-school teacher, protected during the war by a Nazi until he dies in a revenge killing by a rival Gestapo officer with the unmistakable line: ‘He shot my Jew; so I shot his.’ It later transpires, however, that Sisovsky’s father was hit by a bus, and the story about the revenge killing ‘happened to another writer, who didn’t even write in Yiddish. Who didn’t have a wife or have a child.’ It seems that Roth is indulging in the creation of a literary father from Schulz’s biography while acknowledging that this is a fantasy. David Grossman’s ‘Bruno’ section of <em>See Under: Love</em> begins with an author from Drohobycz named Bruno, who is taken under the wing of the Polish writer and artist Zofia Nałkowska (known for his grotesque drawings in which he often portrays himself in submissive positions under the heel of a servant girl named Adela). Grossman’s Bruno carries a manuscript called <em>The Messiah</em> and is described jumping off a dock in the port of Danzig where he has escaped to see the Edward Munch exhibition.These details come from Schulz’s biography (except for the escape to Danzig) and several lines quoted later in the chapter come from Schulz’s texts and are attributed to those works by title: Bruno’s works are the works of Bruno Schulz, though Grossman’s Bruno is not actually Bruno Schulz—a fact acknowledged by the author-narrator within the work, who confirms that‘[i]t’s not their Bruno I’m writing about’ and then recounts his first encounter with <em>The Street of Crocodiles</em> by Bruno Schulz. It goes without saying that he retells the ‘I killed your Jew’ story of Landau and Gunther, although Grossman reverses the sequence of events.Then he spins a tale of his Bruno being consumed by the ocean, stirring elements of reality (the words ‘I killed your Jew’) into fantasy—the moment of death expanded over about a hundred pages. Still haunted by these words years later, Grossman went on, in 2009, to publish an interview in <em>The New Yorker</em> with Ze’ev Fleischer, a survivor of the Nazi ‘Black Thursday’ action in which Schulz was killed. Fleischer’s account of the sequence of events leading up to Schulz’s death affirms the rivalry between Landau and Günther, but raises questions about whether Schulz was actually shot by Günther or by common soldiers, and if, indeed, that immortal line was ever uttered at all.</div>
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<em>The History of Love</em> by Nicole Krauss does not have an explicit Schulz figure or a manuscript called <em>The Messiah</em>but is shot through with fragments of Schulz: a lost manuscript that emerges from a correspondence between the author and a woman who inspired him; several references to <em>The Street of Crocodiles</em>; a mysterious writer character named Bruno who functions as the conscience of one of her protagonists; Leo Gursky, an aging retired Jewish locksmith who once aspired to be a writer but here functions as a lost father in search of his son. Gursky’s structural counter-weight—perhaps a literary granddaughter—is a young woman named Alma Singer in search of the ‘Alma’ she was named after, who inspired a character named Alma in a novel entitled <em>The History of Love</em>. In keeping with the ancient mythology mapped out in Schulz’s own writing, the evanescent Yiddish manuscript is drowned in a flood, although in the supremely interconnected world of Krauss’s novel nothing is ever quite lost: the lost father knows where his son is, and the son eventually knows where the father is, and the author of the lost manuscript knows who has it, and even when the original is lost it appears in translation and a translation of a translation. There is some hope, in the fragmented world, of restoring lost connections.</div>
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Salman Rushdie offers a fascinating and unmistakable homage to Bruno Schulz, first identified by Canadian scholar and novelist Norman Ravvin, in the last section of<em> The Moor’s Last Sigh</em>. The hero and narrator, Moraes Zogoiby, travels from Cochin, India, to Benengeli (a mountain village in Andalusia) to see Vasco Miranda, a long lost admirer of his mother’s. The village takes on a magical quality akin to Schulz’s Drohobycz, particularly a district called the Street of Parasites which resembles the very ‘parasitical quarter’ Schulz names the ‘Street of Crocodiles’:</div>
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<em>…I felt as if I were in some sort of interregnum, in some timeless zone under the sign of an hourglass in which the sand stood motionless, or a clepsydra whose quicksilver had ceased to flow. [...] I wandered down sausage-festooned streets of bakeries and cinnamon shops, smelling, instead, the sweet scents of meat and pastries and fresh-baked bread, and surrendered myself to the cryptic laws of the town.</em></div>
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The hourglass is a clear reference to Schulz’s second collection of stories—<em>The Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass</em>—and is translated into Polish as <em>klepsydra</em> (either a sandglass or a mercury or water clock—‘clepsydra’ in English). ‘Under the sign of the hourglass’ is a common idiomatic form in Polish for referring to a business establishment, usually a cafe or restaurant, denoted by a distinctive sign or architectural ornament above the door. What Rushdie borrows from Schulz, however, is not merely an architectural idiom or biographical detail, but a metaphysical essence of Schulz’s imagined world: a sense of suspended time and a feeling of rootedness in displacement itself, which he transposes onto his own historical and cultural context.</div>
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In contrast with Western writers at pains to use Schulz as a cultural conduit to their own European past, are Polish and East European writers who come from the same cultural tradition as him. For these writers, Schulz is not a distant figure representing absence and loss but an exciting figure of the interwar avant-garde that paved the way for the most adventurous work of the postwar era in Poland. Key to this movement is Schulz’s idea that there was a mythological structure underlying all language and representation, which he articulated in his brilliant essay ‘<em>The Mythicisation of Reality</em>’:</div>
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<em>Poetry happens when short-circuits of sense occur between words, a sudden regeneration of the primeval myths. . . . Not one scrap of an idea of ours does not originate in myth, isn’t transformed, mutilated, denatured mythology.The most fundamental function of the spirit is inventing fables, creating tales. . . . [T]he building materials [that the search for human knowledge] uses were used once before; they come from forgotten, fragmented tales or ‘histories’. Poetry recognises these lost meanings, restores words to their places, connects them by the old semantics.</em></div>
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This idea—that even the trivial and mundane had an underlying mythic structure—shaped the imaginations and work of countless Eastern European writers and artists, and the proliferation of Schulzean figures and references across this work testifies to this legacy. The Polish dramatist and visual artist, Tadeusz Kantor, uses characters and images from Schulz and from the work of Witold Gombrowicz’s interwar avant-garde fiction, in his great work for the stage, <em>The Dead Class</em>. Kantor’s work in the theatre began with underground productions of the pre-war dramas of Witkiewicz, who was also a great advocate of Schulz’s work. Kantor adapts characters like Adela the servant-girl, a sexually dominant woman in Schulz’s mythology: in Schulz, she sweeps her broom through the air to clear the birds from the father’s attic but in Kantor’s mythic world she becomes a force for destruction.There is a distinct pall of death hanging over this work,but it comes from Kantor’s own experience of the war rather than his references to the world of Bruno Schulz.</div>
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The contemporary Polish writer, Olga Tokarczuk, whose own novel <em>Primeval and Other Times</em> is required reading for Polish high school students, recently cited Schulz as one of her greatest influences. Unlike other writers she does not appropriate the paraphernalia of Schulz’s world. But she comes closer to its essence through this infusion of the everyday with the mythic. As a trained Jungian psychologist, her work deals with the intersection of the archetypal with daily life and her recent novel, <em>Drive Your Plough Through the Bones of the Dead</em> (not yet translated into English) reveals a keen interest in astrology. A pre-scientific art of psychological or social types (like astrology) should, she suggests, be seen as a rich source of symbolism and wisdom, a power Schulz acknowledges in the story ‘<em>Tailors Dummies</em>’ in which the sight of two fish top-to-tail on a plate transforms ordinary time into mythic time:</div>
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<em>We assembled again around the table, the shop assistants rubbed their hands, red from the cold, and the prose of their conversation suddenly revealed a full grown day, a gray and empty Tuesday, a day without tradition and without a face. But it was only when a dish appeared on the table containing two large fish in jelly lying side by side, head-to-tail, like a sign of the zodiac, that we recognised in them the coat of arms of that day, the calendar emblem of the nameless Tuesday.</em></div>
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An obsession with Schulz seems to satisfy a particularly American search for the self, a trope not lost on the Eastern European writers of today. Anya Ulinich, the young Russian-American translingual author of the satirical novel, <em>Petropoli</em>s (2007) about Russian immigration in the United States, has a story called ‘<em>The Nurse and the Novelist</em>’. This includes a conversation between a young male novelist and a woman who has sacrificed her own education to work as a nurse to support her graduate-student husband. The novelist, now successful and living with his family in a condominium near the nurse’s apartment, began his career as a depressed Manhattan writer wrestling with the demons of his identity and searching for his East European roots in a suburb of Minsk that had once been a shtetl destroyed during the war. They meet in a grocery store and arrange to have coffee, where the nurse tells the novelist: ‘In your novels, past calamities are nothing but milestones of self-discovery. The central question is: “Why am I collecting toenails in a jar?” It only takes a village of dead Jews to figure it out.’ Ulinich denies, despite the resemblances, that this is a satire on Foer’s first novel, <em>Everything is Illuminated</em>, but it is instructive that it was widely read as such, because it seems to capture what Foer’s detractors find so infuriating—the assumption of the identity, and, by implication, the suffering of others for narcissistic ends. Beyond Schulz and his oeuvre, there is a broader tension around the appropriation of East European identity that has manifested itself in contemporary ‘translingual’ writers like Gary Shteyngart, Andreï Makine, and Wladimir Kaminer—Russian-born writers with Western literary careers, writing in Western languages. Adrian Wanner, in an excellent essay on this subject published in <em>The Slavic Review</em> in 2008, recounts the illustrative tale of two reviews of Makine’s <em>Le Testament Français</em> by the Russian writer Tatiana Tolstaia, praising the novel for its ‘Russianness’ in <em>The New York Review of Books</em> and vilifying it in her review for <em>Znamia</em> for a Russian audience. <em>Everything is Illuminated</em>, in which an American student sharing the name of the author travels to Ukraine in search of the rescuer of his grandfather, likewise wasn’t received with as much enthusiasm in Ukraine as it was in the United States. Ukrainian scholar Ivan Katchanovski typified this response in his review in <em>The Prague Post</em> in 2004, criticising the novel for its negative stereotypes of Ukrainians and for omitting important details about the role of Ukrainian partisans who resisted the Nazis and defended Jews during the war in the towns named in the novel.</div>
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Perhaps these works that revive Schulz in fiction are only a sign that what we want is more Schulz. Krauss, at least, offers the hope that something lost is only lost to those who don’t know where it is or haven’t looked hard enough to find it. Perhaps the reason that Schulz appeals to writers struggling with a very personal sense of loss is that although he appears, from the postwar perspective, to have come from an Age of Genius, he, too, is writing about a lost world. The Drohobycz of Franz Joseph and the Emperor Maximilian, figures in Schulz’s postage stamp album, was actually a childhood legend (Franz Joseph having passed through the region in 1880, twelve years before Schulz’s birth): oil refineries and businesses were pushing aside the culture of that former era,and transitional urban spaces like the ‘Street of Crocodiles’ were displacing the ‘Cinnamon Shops’ of old. If modern readers don’t always recognise the absences in Schulz’s world, it is because he paints such a vivid picture with the remnants of the lost world that we can hardly recognise it as already lost. And if we strip away that richness, and use him as a proxy for a sense of loss we cannot remedy, we wilfully blind ourselves to what does, miraculously, survive.</div>
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<em>David A. Goldfarb is Curator of Literature and Humanities at the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and is currently working on a book about the work of Bruno Schulz.</em></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-57002787979338233332013-05-30T19:58:00.001-04:002013-05-30T19:58:09.729-04:00Nazi Archive Discovered<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">From the Polish American Journal:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTS UNVEILED. Meticulous records kept by the Nazis detailing the fate of 17.5 million of their World War II victims have been rediscovered in the German town of Bad Arolsen. The archive shelves, stretching 16 miles and conta</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">ining 50 million pages of documents, are gradually being made public. They were confined to secret storage after World War II by the victorious allies out of concern for the privacy of the victims and also for political reasons.<br /><br />Among the records are details about many of the imprisoned and murdered Jews, Christians, Russians, and others, including 1,900 priests who met horrific deaths under the German and Russian aggression. The archive stands as incontrovertible proof of the World War II exterminations which refute the ignorant and wilful claims of holocaust deniers. The “60 Minutes” segment detailing the archives is available on YouTube.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EoNdL3nFKWw" width="420"></iframe></span></span>John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-12832789536931114382013-05-25T20:38:00.002-04:002013-05-25T20:40:29.895-04:00PRISM: A Journal for Holocaust Educators<img alt="Prism Volume 5 2013" height="400" src="http://www.yu.edu/uploadedImages/Academics/Graduate/Azrieli_Graduate_School/Research_and_Publications/Prism_Journal/Accordions/PRISM%20Cover%20Spring%202013.jpg" width="307" /><br />
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PRISM, published by the Azrieli Graduate School, is one of the premier journals for Holocaust studies, and the latest issue is now available as a free PDF download.<br />
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The current issue focuses on <i>Kindertransport </i>and other attempts at large-scale rescue of Jewish children. Among the unique and classroom-ready pieces in the issue are a Readers' Theater piece on <i>Kindersport</i>, along with the background on its original production, information on a Kindertransport survivor, and narrative and poetic testimony from two Kinder saved by Nicholas Winton. <br />
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The free download of the issue is available by clicking <a href="http://www.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Graduate/Azrieli_Graduate_School/Research_and_Publications/Prism_Journal/Accordions/webFINAL_PRISM_Spring2013(1).pdf">here</a>. <br />
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To find out more about PRISM, please go to the journals website: Click <a href="http://www.yu.edu/azrieli/research/prism-journal/">here</a>. <br />
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<br />John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-79354797168782587232013-05-03T15:35:00.001-04:002013-05-03T15:36:05.809-04:00Nightmare's End--One Soldiers Story<br />
My wife's Uncle Buddy was one of the GIs who liberated the many concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Several years ago he was interviewed by documentarians making a film about the liberation of the camps.<br />
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Here's a part of his statement:<br />
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Here's another post I did about Uncle Buddy and his war time experience. Click <a href="http://lightning-and-ashes.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-day-my-wifes-uncle-buddy.html">here</a>.John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-49475371759866845902013-02-27T14:35:00.002-05:002013-02-28T09:08:18.511-05:00The Origins of Crossed-Out Swatiska<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 32px; text-indent: 48px;">We asked Cyrus Cassells to tell us something about the inspiration and composition of Crossed-Out Swastika, his powerful book of poems about the Holocaust which was featured <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-crossed-out-swastika-by-cyrus.html">in our most recent blog posting</a>. Here's what he told us: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">What happened consistently during
my 2005-6 sabbatical in Paris, as I say in the poem “Sabine Who Was Hidden in
the Mountains,” was that the Holocaust and World War II became “les devoirs”—my
urgent, unavoidable homework; I couldn’t seem to escape the phantoms of the
war. I lived in Paris at one point on the rue Pont Louis Philippe, about a half
a block from the Shoah Memorial; my landlord noticed a copy of my second book, <i>Soul Make a Path</i> <i>Through Shouting</i>, and revealed that she’d been hidden away in the
mountains of southern France as a child, and that her mother was interned in
Bergen Belsen. One summer I lived on the rue des Rosiers and my writing desk
faced the Ecole de Travail—with its plaque dedicated to the deported Jewish
schoolchildren of the Marais. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">This sort of phenomenon happened
time and again in Europe. I would ostensibly go somewhere for a visit, such as
Amsterdam, and I’d discover I was staying around the corner from the Anne Frank
House. I traveled from the Slovak Republic to Krakow to meet the poet Adam
Zagajewski, and on the way, the train stopped at the Auschwitz station. I was jolted
out of a nap at dusk; I looked down and discovered we’d arrived at the
Auschwitz platform. Later Zagajewski encouraged me to have a little courage and
visit the camp memorial; the only day I could go was November 1, the “Day of
the Dead”—a daunting prospect. It turned out to be a very powerful and
distinctive day to make a pilgrimage—there were deeply moving memorial candles
and flowers near the ovens and other key places in the camp. The experience in
Auschwitz took hold of my psyche and spurred the creation of <i>The Crossed-Out
Swastika</i>, a voice-driven poetic cycle focused on the haunting beauty and
integrity of young people caught in the vise of World War II. We’re loathe to
look at what children go through in the midst of war: it’s one of the most censored
dimensions of conflict. But it’s inspiriting to look at Sophie Scholl, Anne
Frank, and other young people who matured in the crucible of the war, to
examine the chastening and enduring legacy they left.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">In the six years it took to
complete the book, silence and concision became important allies in attempting
to do justice to the “antimiracle” of that time. Just as I break off the poem
“The Toss” in <i>Soul Make a Path Through
Shouting</i>, I felt the need to stop the action on the page in the seventh
section of the long centerpiece poem, “The Fit,”—to let the silence and blank
space signify atrocity. As poets, we’re always trying to locate the most
effective way to represent reality in our poems. Silence, line breaks, white
space, et cetera, can be major tools in this process of diligent and accurate
emotional representation. These poems fragment under the weight of painful
testimony—which is often the case in real life. Silence shores the intensity of
the frequently painful testimony of the young, war-tapped speakers. Silence in
the poems often serves as a healing tool, as an allaying strategy to cope with
the conveyance and the absorption of trauma.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">I have a powerful sense of
history as very <i>human </i>and individual,
as a lived, individual experience, not as a master narrative overlaid on
people’s lives. Empathy and witness, a
reclamation of the wounds of the past, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5489793575961502685" name="_GoBack"></a>returning agency
to those who have suffered—these were significant aims with this project;
another aim was to create a sense of intimacy with individual stories and voices from the war; I was
thrilled and deeply gratified when a reviewer remarked that <i>The Crossed-Out
Swastika</i> “reveals the commonality of pain in such a stark, revelatory way, that it
seems idiotic to think that there was ever any distance between a contemporary
reader and a Ukrainian child in the 1940s.”</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">_________________________</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">To read more at Writing the Holocaust about Mr. Cassells' Crossed-Out Swastika, just click here: <a href="http://writingtheholocaust.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-crossed-out-swastika-by-cyrus.html">Crossed-Out Swatstika.</a></span></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5489793575961502685.post-2371057492941505302013-01-15T10:45:00.000-05:002017-10-11T15:18:31.502-04:00The Crossed-Out Swastika by Cyrus Cassells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hTbioes2JFXWfFjD9nou-2irsb_hjj2nEkwLgBUpFtVxYz7hgyoTKu2DksdtOj9RbHKcbSvZlxDOL-94uP6zl_Pu9g70iyqAOAbIkvtVfpw9huAocqFczuNm9gWSF1zAa2VT0jiqEvU/s1600/rs_ccassells_vert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hTbioes2JFXWfFjD9nou-2irsb_hjj2nEkwLgBUpFtVxYz7hgyoTKu2DksdtOj9RbHKcbSvZlxDOL-94uP6zl_Pu9g70iyqAOAbIkvtVfpw9huAocqFczuNm9gWSF1zAa2VT0jiqEvU/s320/rs_ccassells_vert.jpg" width="224" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Cyrus Cassells)</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 5.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Introduction by </span><em style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Charles Adès </span></em><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fishman:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are poets who change the emotional, intellectual, and
aesthetic landscape for us, whose words seem to fly even as they stagger with
the weight of what they’ve imagined and what they’ve seen. They are our
brothers and sisters in this life, yet they leap ahead of us at each stage of
the journey because their hearts ache to write it all down, to say what has
wounded and exalted them, and they say it with all the blood and flesh still
clinging to the bone.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cyrus Cassells is one of these poets, and the wonder of it
is that <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crossed-Out-Swastika-Cyrus-Cassells/dp/1556593791/ref=la_B001K8OAIE_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358346702&sr=1-2">The Crossed-Out Swastika</a></i>,
this most recent gathering of his poems, has an antecedent: <i>Soul Make a Path Through Shouting</i>
(Copper Canyon, 1994), the first part of a projected three-book sequence that
will deal with human rights and spiritual endurance. John Guzlowski and I have
selected 5 poems from <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crossed-Out-Swastika-Cyrus-Cassells/dp/1556593791/ref=la_B001K8OAIE_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358346702&sr=1-2">The Crossed-OutSwastika</a></i> that we feel illustrate and embody this goal. The feature includes
links to a wonderful reading Cassells gave in November at the Rothko Chapel in
Houston and to a recent review of this book by Dan Shewan, as well as a
personal statement about his enterprise and his vision.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I would like to add one more item to this feature: a 20-line
excerpt from “The Weight of Brothers,” from </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soul
Make a Path Through Shouting</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">: here is the drusy beauty of phrasing and the
moral clarity that I associate with the writing of this exceptional poet:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To see at all is grace:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This child offers the camera</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His blighted gaze.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This man peers through a mask of fire;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It has come to this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hen feathers, rubble, shards of broken dolls,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rubbish from the pockets</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of a Russian soldier’s corpse,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Culled from the dust</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of his gutted shelter;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A tourniquet of turban cloth:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His blood and shock</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Carried on a ragged mule</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Through the winter-toothed mountains,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the poisoned ground,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Under hoary stars, grenades </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Strapped to kites,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the border,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A cusp of iced trees,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To the camp —</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A GREAT BEAUTY</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> <b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And when her son never returned<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from the meant-to-crush-him camps,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the crucible of Poland,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">always-hard-at-work Isa slept<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for endless hours,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and once, under her lids, she was led,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by diligent female Virgils,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to a vast meadow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where an inspirited Isa embraced,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">one by one,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">countless women who remained<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in mourning for their cherished sons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gallant and stricken,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">together the myriad bereaved <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but defiant women formed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">an ever-widening circle,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">prodigal with bitter tears,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and then, suddenly,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">like a jackdaw darting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from eave to sun-drenched eave,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">something flew between the throats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of the grieving,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">heart-gutted mothers,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and a great beauty arose:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the dream, Isa recalled,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the singing of the harrowed women<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with war-taken sons <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hushed the world’s barrenness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the dream, the startling river of sound<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">altered the embattled earth.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SABINE WHO WAS HIDDEN IN THE
MOUNTAINS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I. A Girl of Vichy France</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blue
paper filled her first windows,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">not
snatch-gossip sparrows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or the
sun’s reveille,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but a
verdict of iron,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">perfect-for-hopscotch
parks,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seine-lit
stores <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with
exquisite engines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of
this-and-not-that,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">became,
for “me–first” Sabine, impossible:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">everywhere
almond-green greatcoats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
boots like trampling hooves—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bells
of invaded parishes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tolled
the sallow hours;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fine-made
mezuzahs were mauled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by
braying patriots,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
learners whose hair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">would
never thin or silver<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">were
banished from their desks and inkwells:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">École de Garcons, rue Neuve Saint
Pierre,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">École de Filles, rue de L’ave
Maria . . .<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where
a cellophane France,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all
flyapart assurances,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">renounced
Sabine and her peers—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">plane
trees and regretful plaques<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">urging
<i>N’oubliez pas</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or <i>Ne les oublions jamais,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so
that the questing pilgrim<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or the
alert passerby<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">might
perceive,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in the
midst of the sumptuous city,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">soulhollows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where
even the smallest Parisians<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">were
obliterated without pity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">II. A Resemblance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A
contrite Paris has unveiled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">photos
and still-vile documents to decry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
specter of sundering trains<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">aiming
star-patched children<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">through
tunnels and laconic fields:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11,400
hopes--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabine,
who was hidden in the mountains,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">has
nudged me to city hall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to
live awhile in the duress,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
dog’s-snarl cosmos<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of
never-grown deportees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But
will Parisians take time,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabine
laments, to bear in mind<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
children of verboten sidewalks,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">verboten
parks?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Look,
Sabine remarks:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">before
his transport to Poland,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a
brave boy left on a wall,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are leaving Drancy in good
spirits,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but
for the traveler, the commuter, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">today
Drancy, where we Jews were held,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is
only a place you whisk by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on the
train to the airport—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Near
us, some vying kids <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are
unsettled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by the
uncanny resemblance <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">between
a child in a yellowed photo <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and a
schoolgirl who lingers,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">crestfallen,
hollow before<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
image of her deported twin–<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When
the welter of kids passes, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabine
whispers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ma pauvre petite!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hurry, we’ve got to help her:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">she was too stunned to notice<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the girl in the picture lived!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">III. Ghosts<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br />
<!--[endif]--></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabine
with her forest-colored blouse<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fills
my summer rooms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on the
rue des Rosiers;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on
Sabbath mornings, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hebrew
singing floats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from
the temple on the rue Pavée,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">competing
with the voluble <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pigeons
who adore my ledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Clear-eyed
Sabine is quick to notice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">how my
writing desk faces<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the École
de Travail with its doleful plaque<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">blessing
deported pupils and teachers--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So the
war has become<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">your <i>devoirs:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes,
Sabine, my homework<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that I
can’t seem to escape:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My
friend, when I entered your flat,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I
could feel it in my bones:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
family that once lived here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">was
deported!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No
surprise in your neighborhood:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
Pletzl!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabine,
yesterday my landlord read<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">my
poem rooted in the war<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
revealed: as a small girl,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">she
was hidden like you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Poet,
from cellar to cellar, I remember<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I held
onto, of all things,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a
picture book about a magical goat,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">inscribed
by my witty father:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This storybook belongs<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to Mademoiselle Sabine<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the way Paris once belonged<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to Marie Antoinette—<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Somehow
having that book<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">helped
me to endure <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
cold and fear---<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And
when I returned to Paris<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it was
to a world of ghosts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
void shaped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by my
murdered generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Was it
the same for you <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in the
epidemic--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">when
you returned,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">after
so many deaths,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to San
Francisco?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do the
men, like my school friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">still
come to you in dreams?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the
exhibit, I thought:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Small
as they were in life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">my
playmates,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">their
souls must be immense by now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">JULIEK’S
VIOLIN<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i> </i></b><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even
here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In this
snowbound barrack?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Suddenly,
the illicit sounds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of
Beethoven’s concerto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">erupt
from Juliek’s smuggled violin, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">suffusing
this doomsday shed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">teeming
with the trampled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the
barely alive,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">realm of
frostbite and squalor, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">clawing
panic and suffocation—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Insane,
God of Abraham,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">insanely
beautiful:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a boy
insisting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">winter
cannot reign forever,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a boy
conveying his brief,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bounded life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with a
psalmist’s or a cantor’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">arrow-sure
ecstasy—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One
prison-striped friend</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">endures
to record<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
spellbinding strings,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
woebegone—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the
other,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
impossible Polish fiddler,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is
motionless by morning,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">his
renegade instrument <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mangled <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">under
the haggard weight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of
winterkilled, unraveling men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Music at
the brink of the grave, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">eloquent
in the pitch dark, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tell-true,
indelible,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as never
before,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as never
after—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abundance,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">emending beauty,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">linger in the listening,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the truth-carrying soul of
Elie, <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">soul become slalom swift, <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">camp shrewd, uncrushable;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">abundance, be here, always here,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in this not-yet-shattered violin.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">THE POSTCARD OF SOPHIE SCHOLL</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is
the lightning-white moment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">when I
learn— <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the way
my costive train to Krakow <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">stopped <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I
woke to find myself,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in
jostling twilight,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">at the
Auschwitz platform—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that the
Italian postcard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I
garnered in Milan years ago<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as a
genial talisman,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">isn’t of
a pipe-dreaming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Italian
boy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">no, no,
but an androgynous<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">image of
Sophie Scholl,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the young,
intrepid resistance heroine—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as if
I’d registered,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in my
Schubert-adoring daughter,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">my
school-resisting son,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a fire
undetected before:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Doric-strong
nouns demanding<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What would you undertake<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>to stop tyranny</i>?—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">stouthearted
nouns:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">integrity,
probity, courage;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in
benighted Munich, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
spit-in-the-eye swiftness,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the unbossed
bloom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of a
crossed-out swastika,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
fierce integrity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in the
gust of the word <i>freedom<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sprayed
over the walls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
ramparts of a deranged <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fatherland
that rent flesh <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as if it
were foolscap—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Someday you will be<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>where I am now</i>, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a
steely, premonitory Sophie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">proclaimed
to the rapacious<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nazi
tribunal that rushed her<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to
execution—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gazer,
collector, in clarity’s name,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">look
close, then closer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it’s not
just a bud-sweet,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pensive
beauty,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a <i>bel ragazzo’s</i> charm;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all these
years:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it’s the
spirit of crusading youth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that
I’ve cherished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">AUSCHWITZ, ALL HALLOWS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Look, we
have made</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a
counterpoint<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of white
chrysanthemums,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a
dauntless path <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of
death-will-not-part-us petals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
revering light;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">even
here,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">even
here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">before
the once-wolfish ovens,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
desecrating wall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where
you were shot,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
shrike-stern cells<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where
you were bruised<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
emptied of your time-bound beauty--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you of
the confiscated shoes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
swift-shorn hair,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you, who
left,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as
sobering testament, the scuffed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">luggage
of utter hope <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
harrowing deception.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Come
back, teach us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From
these fearsome barracks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
inglorious fields</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">flecked
with human ash,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in the
russet-billowing hours<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of All
Hallows,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">let the <i>pianissimo
</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of your
truest whispering<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(vivid
as the crunched frost <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of a
forced march)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">become a
slowly blossoming, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ever-voluble
hearth—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">revealing
to us,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the
baffled, the irresolute, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the war <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5489793575961502685" name="_GoBack"></a>torn, the living, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">more of
the fire <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and
attar of what it means <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to be
human.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">___________________</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
The Crossed-Out Swastika by Cyrus Cassells is available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crossed-Out-Swastika-Cyrus-Cassells/dp/1556593791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358264377&sr=1-1&keywords=cyrus+cassells">Amazon</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A review of Cassells' book by Dan Shewan appeared recently online at <a href="http://therumpus.net/2012/10/the-crossed-out-swastika-by-cyrus-cassells/"><i>The Rumpus</i>.</a> You can read it by clicking <a href="http://therumpus.net/2012/10/the-crossed-out-swastika-by-cyrus-cassells/">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Cyrus Cassells</b> is the author of five books:<i> The Mud Actor</i>, a National Poetry Series
winner and finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award; <i>Soul Make a Path Through Shouting</i>, hailed as one of the Best Books
of 1994 by <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, the
winner of the William Carlos Williams Award, and a finalist for the Lenore Marshall
Prize; <i>Beautiful Signor</i>, winner of
the Lambda Literary Award, the Sister Circle Book Award (for African-American
literature), and a finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award; <i>More Than Peace and Cypresses</i>, a Lannan
Literary Selection, named one of the Best Poetry Books of 2004 by <i>Library Journal</i>; and <i>The Crossed-Out Swastika</i>, 2012. <i>Still Life with Children</i>: <i>Selected Poems of Francesc Parcerisas,</i>
translated from the Catalan, is forthcoming. Among his honors are a Lannan
Literary Award, a Pushcart Prize, and two NEA grants. He is a Professor of
English at Texas State University-San Marcos<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5489793575961502685" name="_GoBack"></a>.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.com4