Status
Off Shelf
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Publication
New York : Washington Square Press, Pocket Books, 1990.
Description
This collection of extraordinary true stories--including nine stories new to this expanded edition-- illuminates the experiences of a young Polish boy before World War II, through the gathering storm of Nazism, into the death camps, to poignant reunions many years later. Here we watch young Bernard break curfew to secure a rare chicken for the High Holidays--only to see it given to the Christian janitor because it is not kosher; we meet Alexandra, a Polish resistance fighter who enlists the teenaged Bernard in the cause but who perishes while he survives; and we share Bernard's fear as he spends one very uncomfortable night--hours after his liberation--in the seemingly sympathetic home of the parents of a young SS officer.
User reviews
LibraryThing member seoulful
A well-written book of short stories, remembrances of the dark days of WWII for the Jews of Radom, Poland. The author looks back and gives us an account of his interaction with a person or circumstance that gives to us a sharp emotional response and sense of wonder. We explore the effects of guilt,
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memory, kindness, brutality--all against a bleak background of unimaginable acts. The author endured 6 different concentration camps and managed to survive with his integrity and mental health intact. There are several very fine stories taking place immediately after his liberation when he roamed the streets and cities of post-war Europe. The stories encapsulate the German mind-set of "we didn't know" and the continuing hatred and violence toward the Jews. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Physical description
xiii, 175 p.; 22 cm
ISBN
0671691376 / 9780671691370
Local notes
F, GOT, Ant