The Jacob Gitlin Library’s collection of books on Poland
In line with our reporting about the tour to Poland organised by the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, The Chronicle visited the Gitlin Library to find out what resources are available there for those with an interest in Jewish Poland.
We discovered that the Library has a well-stocked section on Polish Jewish history, including numerous biographical accounts of survival during the German and the Soviet occupations of the country.
We roped in the Centre’s Director, Jakub (Kuba) Nowakowski, who is a Pole himself, Kuba shared his knowledge about the literary treasure trove, and here we highlight some of his comments, recommendations and points of guidance.
“When reading about contemporary Polish-Jewish relations and the attitudes among Poles towards Jews, it’s important to give consideration to the time period when a particular book was written,” he says. “To get an accurate picture of present-day attitudes, you should read books written in the last 20 years or so. These books will capture contemporary views on Poland’s Jewish past and on the attitudes towards Jewish people that we see in today’s Poland. In many respects, it is considerably different from how things were seen 40 or 50 years ago, when Poland was a Communist country.”
Kuba points out that a great deal of the antisemitism for which Poland was notorious in previous eras has diminished. An important factor in this was the role of Pope John Paul II – ‘the Polish Pope’, who is greatly revered throughout Poland – who condemned antisemitism as a sin, something that no previous Pope had done. The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Shudrich, has praised the Pope for this action, believing that it furthered Christian-Jewish dialogue significantly.
Another consideration that impacted attitudes is the fact that the ‘wall of silence’ about the War came crashing down after the fall of Communism. A new generation of Poles learned about things that happened on their soil – things not known previously.
Testimony, Diaries and Memoirs
The Girl in the Green Sweater: A life in Holocaust’s Shadow
Krystyna Chiger with Daniel Paisner
964.302 CHI
How the young Chiger survived the Holocaust hiding in the sewers of Lvov and the story of their unlikely saviour, Leopold Socha. In 2013, based on this book, the film In Darkness was made, directed by one of Poland’s most important filmmakers, Agnieszka Holland.
Justyna’s Narrative
Gusta Davidson Draenger (Transl. Roslyn & David H. Hirsch)
964.31438 DRA
“An extraordinary memoir of the Kraków Jewish resistance, written on toilet paper and other scraps by its author, Gusta Davidson Draenger, while imprisoned by the Germans in 1943 – a truly unique historical document.”
Who are you, Mr Grymek?
Natan Gross (Transl. William R. Brand)
964.31438 GRO
“A survivor’s story during and after the war”
The Girl in the Red Coat
Roma Ligocka (Transl. Margor Bettauer Dembo)
964.302 LIG
How Ligocka, a ‘hidden child’ confronted her past through seeing herself portrayed in her red coat in the movie of Schindler’s List
Memoirs of a Ghetto Fighter: the past within me
Simha Rotem (Kazik) (Trans. Barbara Harshav)
964.31438 ROT
An important memoir by a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising
The Diary of David Sierakowiak: Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto
Alan Adelson Ed Kamil Turowski Trans.
964.31438 SIE
A teenage author who dies of starvation in the Lodz Ghetto, whose notebooks were found stacked on a stove
Renia’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust
Renia Spiegel (Transl. Anna Blasiak & Marta Dziurosz)
964.302 SPI
“The wartime diary of a teenage girl in Eastern Europe – a story very different from that of Anne Frank, whose life unfolded in Western Europe. She was just 18 years old when she was shot.”
History of Poland
Jewish Autonomy in Poland and Lithuania until 1648 (5408)
Shmuel A. Arthur Cygielman
9648.38 CYG
Golden Age of Polish &Lithuanian Jews in 16th & 17th Centuries
Holocaust History
Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps
Yitzhak Arad
964.31438 ARA
A history of the 3 death camps from their construction in 1941 to their destruction to in 1943. Written in 1987 by the then Chairman of Yad Vashem
Isaacs Army: A Story of Courage and Survival In Nazi-Occupied Poland
Matthew Brzezinski
964.31438 BRZ
Jewish resistance in wartime Poland
Relations between Jews & Poles During the Holocaust: The Jewish Perspective
Havi Dreifuss (Ben-Sasson) (Transl. Ora Cummings)
964.31438 DRE
“A must read” How Polish Jews viewed their milieu and relationships with the country and its people during the Holocaust
Neighbours: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland GRO
Jan T. Gross
964.31438
A landmark book on a critical moment when the villagers of Jedwabne burnt their neighbours to death in 1941. When it was published in 2000, it made a profound impact in Poland, reshaping the way Polish–Jewish relations during the war were understood. One of the most important books published in Poland in the last 30 years.
Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp
Yisrael Gutman & Michael Berenbaum
964.31438 GUT
“New research on Auschwitz”
Shtetl: The History of a Small Town and an Extinguished World
Eva Hoffman
9648.38 HOF
The story of Bransk in Poland as a basis for looking at the lost world of East European Jewry.
Fighting for Dignity: Jewish Resistance in Krakow
Exhibition catalogue
Galicia Jewish Museum (Curator Jakub Nowakowski)
964.31438 NOW
“The catalogue of a unique exhibition I curated, delving into the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Jewish resistance in Kraków.”
Warsaw Ghetto Police: The Jewish Order Service during the Nazi Occupation
Katarzyna Person (Transl. Zygmunt Nowak-Solinski)
964.31438 PER
The complex and difficult story of the Jewish policemen and their roles in the destruction of the Warsaw Jewish community.
The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery
Captain Witold Pilecki (Transl. Jarek Garlinski)
964.31438 PIL
“Amazing story of the man who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz in order to bring out the story of what was happening there.”
Auschwitz: The Nazis & the Final Solution (see DVD below)
Laurence Rees
964.31438 REE
“One of the fundamental Holocaust works. Supplies the context to Nazi Policy in Poland”
Polish Witnesses to the Shoah
M.Turski (conceived)
964.31438 TUR
“A nuanced description “…testimonies of witnesses and recollections of scenes half a century after the war.
Post-war Poland
Opening the Drawer: the Hidden Identities of Polish Jews
Barry Cohen (Photographs Witold Krassowski)
964.38 COH
The book uncovers the personal stories of individuals who grew up unaware of their Jewish roots, only to discover them later in life. Through moving testimonies and careful historical context, the book explores the silence, secrecy, and resilience that shaped these hidden identities in post-war Poland.
Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film
Glenn Kurtz
964.38 KUR
Who Will Say Kaddish? A Search for Jewish Identity in Contemporary Poland
Larry N> Mayer (Photographs Gary Gelb)
964.38 MAY
Graphic Novels
Yossel April 19 1943
John Kubert
741.5 KUB
The Property
Rutu Modan (transl. Jessica Cohen)
741.5 MOD
The plot follows a granddaughter and her grandmother on a journey from Israel to Poland to reclaim a family home lost during the Holocaust. Blending humour, tenderness, and family secrets, it offers a fresh and human perspective on memory, inheritance, and the complexities of the past.
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale and here my Troubles began
Art Spiegelman
964.302 SPI
Photographic Books: Pre-war and contemporary pictures
The Jerusalem of the Kingdom of Poland
The Story of the Jewish Lublin
Leszek Dulik, Waldemar Golec Text: Konrad Zielinski (Transl. Wieslaw Horabik)
964.38 DUL
Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland
Malgorzata Niezabitowska (Photos Tomasz Tomaszewski) (Transl. William Brand & Hanna Dobosiewicz)
“Published in the 1980s, created as a tribute to the generation that was believed to become the last. Things have changed since the end of Communism though.”
Journey to Poland: In Search of a Vanished Jewish World
Ruth Porter, Nili Kadari Eds.
964.38 POR
Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross
Maia-Mari Sutnik Ed.
964. 314383 SUT
Absolutely unique visual documentation of life in the Lodz ghetto.
DVDs
Echoes that Remain
Narrated by Martin Landau & Miriam Margolyes
DVD 1396
A poignant study of shtetl life before the Holocaust, shot at sites of former Jewish communities in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia
Genocide
Narrated by Elizabeth Taylor & Orson Welles
DVD 1397
Academy Award winner Best Documentary feature 1981. The evolution of the Holocaust with individual stories of suffering and heroism.
Auschwitz: The Nazis & the Final Solution
Laurence Rees (See book above)
DVD12
The definitive screen history of the evolution of Auschwitz and how it fitted into the Nazis’ plan for the conquest of Europe.
Shimon’s Returns
Dir. Slawomir Grunberg
DVD 1127
The documentary tells the story of Shimon Redlich, a Holocaust survivor who return to sites and hiding places from his childhood
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