Poland Books

This book tells the story of the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto. It begins with a description of the Jewish attitudes toward resistance to the Germans after the fall of Poland . Only after the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 and the cruel deportations from Warsaw did the attitude towards resistance change.The Jewish Fighting Organization Zhob was formed and its memebers were at the heart of the resistance to the Germans in the uprising of April 1943. The book describes the resistance's need to contend with with many resistant forces, including German propaganda, apathy of the masses. The organization had a difficult task convincing the leaders of the Jewish community that resistance was the right path.
The jacket of the book gives the following description."The uprising the Jews answer to the Big Operation was carried on by a pitifully small band of fighters with a tiny store of weapons, totally isolated in their battle. Only in the final stages , when the Ghetto was already burning , did help come from the Poles. The rest of the world was silent.
.. It shows how Jews fought against the Nazis until the final liberation of Warsaw in 1945."
This is a most moving account of human courage in one of the most horrifying moments of human history.

Blanca Rosenberg's story tells a remarkable (and often improbably lucky) story of a young woman, newly married, with a small child, who manages to survive through a series of hair-raising adventures as a disguised Aryan in wartime Poland. She loses the child, while still in the ghetto, but thereafter, she escapes and eventually ends up as the head housekeeper for a highly placed German officer in Warsaw. She saves her best friend too, who unlike Blanca, cannot pass so easily, and in the process, discovers that a number of the officer's staff are also Jews in hiding. She does her job so well that she is sent to Heidelberg to another family, where she ultimately survives the horrors of the end of the war in Germany. There is a wonderful love story at the end, once again beyond ordinary expectations, and having emigrated to this country, she becomes a distinguished Professor of Social Work at Columbia University. I knew Blanca personally -- and even at the age of 85, she has lost none of her unforgettable qualities. Well written and full of suspense, this memoir stands out from a host of others by the eventful series of circumstances, the resourcefulness of the author, and above all, the combination of sheer luck and personal ingenuity.

Arthur Green has done a monumental work of research here. He provides a real sense of the historical background, of the various Hasidic leaders, of the Bratslaver's effort to establish his place in the world. He also provides a fascinating view of one of the greatest of all Hasidic teachers inner lives, and his spiritual struggle.
All those who take interest in the Hasidic world, would do well to have this volume in their library.

This small book with its colorful dustjacket contains much that will be of interest to historians interested in medieval towns, or to current day city planners and students of trends in early urban development. There are black and white photos (some of very early maps or drawings), and sections on the urban development that has taken place in this historical town, a center of art and culture, and home of Copernicus. In fact, this book was published in commemoration of the fifth centenary anniversary of Copernicus' birth.

The author presents the shape and atmosphere of the city of Torun in the last quarter of the 15th century, and describes the most interesting gothic monuments (also pictured in photos). Rymaszewski further characterizes Torun as an excellent example of medieval town planning and stresses the role of the cultural and the natural environment.

This book thoroughly covers the economic and legal implications of the return of property stolen by the Communist regimes in post-Soviet Central Europe.

Scott Simpson's "Travellers Krakow" is the perfect companion for the visitor who wants to look past the tourist traps and potted history and delve into the back-alleys and esoteric hotspots of this amazing city. Krakow is one of the least-appreciated of Europe's old cities, and author Scott Simpson shows you what you've been missing. Krakow was a medieval enclave of heretics and intellectuals, boasts one of the oldest universities in Europe, and was a jewel of the Renaissance. Simpson takes you to the churches, fortifications, pagan mounds, inside the legends and rollicking festivals in this book that will make any visit to Krakow a memory of a lifetime.

The author is an American expatriate who has lived for years in Poland and understands the language, history and culture, and doesn't steer the reader into the pap and crap so many other guidebooks do. "Travellers Krakow" is not only thorough, it's an exciting read. If you get one book on Krakow, this is it.

I highly recommend this book to those working with people who are struggling with severe mental and emotional disorders, and are questioning the paradigm shift in the mental health establishment. For over a century state hospitals have relied on the medical model to treat people. This book gives the history of the medical model, how the word "psychopathology" became a construct, and when the shift from the medical model to psychiatric rehabilitation, or recovery, began. It is not easy reading. But if you are truly interested in making a difference in the lives of people who are struggling for their mental and emotional lives, then I urge you to read this book. It will also help you to understand why those using the medical model in the mental health profession are incensed about the mere idea of people with mental disorders being rehabilitated. You may even work with such people. This book will also help you understand their reasoning, and inspire you to take "the road less traveled" as we go through this paradigm shift.

I learned about this book only recently when I was researching my blog post about the Polish Members of the European Parliament boycotting anti-Israeli anti-Semitic hatefest organized by UN. This book tells the story of a less known resistance organization in the Warsaw Ghetto called Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy, or ZZW, which is Polish for Jewish Military Union. I first learned about ZZW when I read "The Bravest Battle" by Dan Kurzman. It was an organization formed by the Jewish officers of the Polish Army. They obviously had personal connections with the other Polish officers. Politically members of the ZZW were followers of my fellow odessit Vladimir Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, an ideology similar to the modern Likud party in Israel. Because of the personal links the ZZW members had with the Polish resistance and because they were not Communist, the ZZW received significantly more help from the Polish Home Army than the leftist-leaning ZOB. Political views of the ZZW members are pretty close to my own political views. So, I was very interested to read a book that tells their story.

So, what have I learned that I did not know before? Well, first of all it turns out that ZZW was founded much earlier than ZOB: November of 1939 vs. July of 1942. ZZW was not smaller than ZOB: about 500 core members, the same as ZOB. Thus, since ZZW was much better armed than ZOB and had better military training, they had to be much more effective. So, why did ZZW receive more help from the Polish Home Army than ZOB? I mentioned personal contacts and pro-capitalist ideology. But, as it turns out, it was more than that. ZZW was in fact a part of the Polish Home Army, so much so, that ZZW members were getting rank promotions from the Home Army. For example, the commander of ZZW, Dawid Apfelbaum, was a Porucznik (Lieutenant) in 1939. But during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising he held the rank of Captain, and after the uprising he was posthumously promoted to Major. By the way, to answer the obvious question, yes, the book author is related to the leader of ZZW.

Polish aid to ZZW was quite significant. The Poles formed a special unit dedicated to helping the Jews. It was ZOB whom they did not help much. And it is very hard to blame the Home Army for that. Besides ZOB pro-Soviet leaning, they were also viewed as political demagogues who would not be very effective soldiers. Given relatively limited resources of the Home Army (remember, they were operating in a country occupied by a ruthless enemy), it is hard to blame them for allocating their resources to ZZW, whom they had often seen perform in combat back in 1939.

The charge that ZOB were to a large extent political demagogues does have merit. ZOB was plagued by political in-fighting. The talks between ZOB and ZZW about uniting their efforts failed because ZZW suggested that combat leadership should have some combat experience. This suggestion seems very reasonable. But since combat veterans were members of ZZW for the most part, ZOB viewed this idea as a power grab. ZOB even went as far as calling their ZZW counterparts "fascists". Now it seems eerily similar to the present-day Left. The ZOB leaders were political leaders for the most part. On the other hand "ZZW recruited on the sole basis of previous military training, physical fitness and courage, deliberately seeking an apoliticalism that the left always found extremely suspect if not downright diabolical" (page 259). So, members of an armed resistance organization should have military training and courage and be physically fit?! What a revolutionary concept! ZZW in fact did not care much about political views of its members. For example, one of the ZZW units during the uprising was commanded by someone named Moishe the Bolshevik.

After the war the Communists took over in Poland. Thus, anybody associated with the non-Communist Home Army was a suspect. Most of the ZZW leadership died during the uprising. The fact that the leftist ZOB did not get enough attention from the Home Army suited the new rulers of Poland very well: now it was very convenient to accuse the Home Army of anti-Semitism. True Polish heroes, like Henryk Iwanski, whos 2 sons and a brother died while fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Jews during the uprising, were even initially jailed by the Communists. Many leftist Jewish historians in the West were happy to oblige the Communists. The Poles were accused of mass anti-Semitism. (As a sidenote, I read in a Russian-Jewish magazine that the post-war pogroms in Poland were in fact staged by the NKVD - the predecessor of KGB.) But while anti-Semitism was rampant in Poland, please tell me where it was not present at that time. Whenever someone like Henryk Iwanski would claim that they helped the Jews, these historians would dismiss such claim, saying that they are not confirmed by Jewish sources. In fact, Iwansky for a while was not recognized in Israel as a Righteous Gentile (it has been fixed since). And when people like Tadeusz Bednarczyk try to argue with such historians, they are accused of anti-Semitism. But even if Bednarczyk said something anti-Semitic in nature, still, he risked his life to help the Jews in Warsaw. As my favorite talk show host Dennis Prager often says, you know the man by his actions, not his words.

So, how is it all relevant today? Well, both then and now the Left demonizes its political opponents, even in the face of a ruthless enemy that would kill us all. Both then and now the Left is willing to lie in order to achieve some dubious political objective. This finally has to stop. Marian Apfelbaum says at the end of his book:

"Out of respect to the Warsaw ghetto uprising , the time has come to complete its history. As imperfect and provisional as this book may be, it is an attempt to break the silence".

To this I would like to add 2 more things. First, it is time to restore Poland's honor. Second, it is time to finally realize that all the Left-Right political differences don't mater when a ruthless totalitarian enemy is ready to kill us all.

Finally, read the book. I learned a lot from it and highly recommend it.

Three ordinary people : Karae Johnson from Pasadena, California,
Won Kim from Austin Texas and Arthur McNeal from Cleveland,Ohio, suddenly find themselves swept forward in time to earth during the Millenium. (The 1000 year reign of Chirst, which will occur
after 2nd Coming.

They struggle to adjust to a world radically different from the one
they left behind and with a decision that will determine their destiny forever.

There are very few fictional books that deal with the subject of the Millenium (1000 year reign of Christ). This is one of the rare ones
and in my opinion one of the best.

Unbroken: From Auschwitz To Buenos Aires is the story of Holocaust survivor Charles Papiernik. Educated in a Polish stetl, he became active in a socialist youth movement, moved to Paris, and suffered four horrific years in death camps. After the war, he spent twenty-five years running a business in Uruguay, until political and economic turmoil prompted him to move to Buenos Aires. After his retirement, he sought to tell others about the horrors of the Holocaust. A truly remarkable tale of enduring unspeakable cruelty, and garning the shrewdness to survive and prosper in the wake of terrible loss, Unbroken is a powerful testimony of a truly stalwart individual.