Poland Books

For those with sweet visions of a peaceful multi cultural Poland between the wars this book is a bitter truthful pill to swallow.

Chapter after chapter, page by page, it pretty much puts an end to this revisionist image.

Every mistreatment of Jews at Polish hands is covered with cool dispassionage detail and adds insight to the fact that this is the story of one minority's mistreatment at Polish hands.

Though unintended, it also makes those Polish rescuers who did their best to protect Jews from the Nazis more admirable to me than those of other countries as clearly not only were they going against the occupiers of their country but also their own anti- semitic countrymen.

A must read for those interested in this subject.

Comprehensive view of the Polish Jews between the World Wars. Deals with Tolerance, Hate, Social Structure, Oppression, Terror, Abuse, Faith, Assimilation, Resistance and Self-defense. While the writers style makes for easy reading, some of the subjects are emotionally difficult. This book is a must for understanding the environment in Poland that led to the Holocaust.

Celia Heller combines a great deal of detail on Jewish life in prewar Poland with an over-reliance on selectively negative anecdotes, from individual Jews, archived in the YIVO Institute, and her complete avoidance of anecdotes from the Polish side. How about, for instance, some testimonies of Poles who had been driven out of business, and reduced to penury, by unfair Jewish competition?

Heller gives only a partial account of the 1912 elections to the Duma (Russian parliament). The Jews of Russian-ruled Poland would not vote for National Democrat Jan Kucharzewski because he was "perhaps erroneously" thought an anti-Semite (pp. 43-44), and instead voted for left-winger Yagiello. Heller omits the fact that some Russian politicians had earlier sent a letter to the Jewish electoral committee urging the Jews not to vote for Kucharzewski because he would join the "Polish Circle" in the Duma. The election of Yagiello caused a tightening of Russian rule over Poland, and his election was seen by Poles as a direct Jewish affront to Polish national aspirations. From that time on, Dmowski saw the Jews as not merely an alien element but an anti-Polish one: Hence the boycotts. In any case, it appears that even an anti-Semitic Kucharzewski in the Duma would have done the Jews less harm than the Polish antagonism fomented by his defeat.

Heller (p. 310) translates and cites philo-Semite Pilsudski's comments on Jewish behaviors during the 1920 Polish-Soviet War: "The Jews did not behave badly everywhere. In the [towns of] Lomza and Mazowiecki they bravely opposed the Bolsheviks...But strange, as many things in Poland are, in the neighborhood [of Lomza] in [the towns of] Lokow, Siedlce, Kaluszyn, Bialystok, Wlodawa, there were numerous, even massive betrayals on part of Jews."

Heller faults Poles for being unwilling to step aside and "privilegize" the Jews as a nation-within-nation. Yet the balkanization of Poland that this would have caused would have included a linguistic fragmentation, not only Poles from Jews, but also Jews from Jews. She notes: "However, one must also admit that had the Polish government followed a policy of implementing for Jews the [Minority] Treaty's provision of public schools in the minority's language, the task would have been far from easy. There was bitter strife among Jews over the language of instruction (Yiddish or Hebrew) and over the general orientation (traditional or secular). Each side tried to press on the Polish government its own conception of Jewish schools, after the Minorities Treaty was signed." (p. 220).

Heller's preoccupation with popular Polish prejudices against Jews is counterbalanced by her inadvertent admission of reciprocal ones: "It was considered repulsive and un-Jewish for a man to get drunk. Of anyone who did, it was said, `He drinks like a gentile.'" (p. 150).

In her efforts to paint Polish Jews as the inevitable victims of anti-Semitism no matter what they did, Heller bends over backwards to find anecdotal examples of assimilated Polish Jews experiencing prejudice. But, by her own admission, there were only, at most, 200,000 assimilated Jews (p. 188), which constituted a mere 6% of Poland's Jews. How could such a tiny fraction of Jews enjoy the full benefits of the Polish nation when they were, to begin with, conceptually attached to such a heavy ballast of unassimilated Jews? Heller does not help her case when she quotes Hartglas, an assimilated Jew (pp. 208-209) who recoiled at Polish injustices to Jews in general, while admitting: "I personally did not experience them." Now, if injustices to Polish Jews were routine, even to assimilated Jews, as Heller would have her readers tacitly believe, how could this possibly be true?

Heller also undermines her doom-and-gloom portrayal of Polish Jewry when she discusses Jews organizing defenses against violent attacks by Polish hoodlums and nationalist extremists in the 1930's (pp. 286-291). Small groups of Jewish men, usually armed with such meager things as clubs and perhaps a few firearms, were often successful in preventing or beating off such attacks. Now, were the attacks anything other than unorganized, uncommon, and small-scale, how could such defenses possibly enjoy success?

Heller suggests that, instead of trying to force Jews to emigrate, Poles should have welcomed the Jews' predilection for commerce to help lift Poland out of poverty. But, even if successful, this would have relegated the Poles to permanent economic underclass status in their own nation. She disingenuously contrasts Polish boycotts of Jews with the favorable acceptance of Jews by Czechoslovakia and America. But, unlike in Poland, Jews were only a tiny percentage of these nations, and the latter, very unlike Poland, enjoyed a vast and rapidly-expanding economy. Furthermore, Heller falsely charges the Polish nationalists with wanting to force all Jews out of Poland. In fact, nationalists were willing to retain some 500,000 Polish Jews. Minorities, when small, posed no problems. For instance, there never was a significant body of Polish prejudices directed against endogenous Polish Muslims, the descendants of Tatars.

Heller's disastrous portrayal of Poland's prewar Jewry contrasts with that of Polish-Jewish scholar Joseph Marcus and his book, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE JEWS in POLAND, 1919-1939. Contrary to Heller's focus on Jewish poverty, Marcus shows that Polish Jews remained, on average, wealthier than Poles. According to Marcus, the main factors hindering Poland's Jews were the poverty of Poland as a whole and the excessive numbers of Jews crowded into Poland, not Polish discriminatory policies designed to limit Jewish economic dominance.

As for the German invasion, Heller (p. 293) recounts the widespread Jewish belief that, owing to the fact that "Every Pole has his Moses (favorite Jew)", the 20 million Poles would easily save 3 million Jews. Heller's extremely disingenuous attack on Poles ignores, among other things, the fact that most Jews were confined by the Germans into urban ghettos. This meant that the vast majority of Polish Jews never had access to Polish rescuers, and the vast majority of Poles never had access to a single Jew.

I bought "Poland In Pictures" to put away until I have a grandchild. My son-in-law was born and raised in Poland, and this book will bring his home to his future children in the U.S. Until there is a child to look at it, my daughter will enjoy, just as well.

The book gives a comprehensive overview of the geography and history of Poland, illustrated beautifully, liberally depicting the gorgeous castles and cathedrals that make you want to visit the country.

The book was a gift. The picture of the book and info on it was a little deceiving. I expected a large book for the price ($27.00). The paper-backed book was much smaller than expected and not many pages. It was formatted more like a magazine than a book. The info inside the book was not so much an issue as was the high price.

It is very good as a small present for somebody who never heard about Poland and has no time to read big books.

A well researched and written description of how the Poles contributed to the War against Hitler on the high seas and other waterways. Though small in total number and size of ships and boats, Poland's Navy made an immense and constant contribution to the war effort. As mentioned by the other reviewers, the final product suffers from a proper proof reading and editing effort. The typos and other grammatical errors seem to multiply as the book marches to its finale - almost as if a deadline was getting nearer and less care taken to proof the text. I still give it 4 Stars as a valuable contribution to the sacrifices made by the "forgotten" allies.

Poor Mr. Peszke. What he really could have used from his publisher was a good editor and a good proof reader. The book has numberous typos and grammatical errors, all of which are inexcusable and no fault of the author's. The writing is a bit clumsy in spots, and could have used a bit more "punching up" and tightening, which a good editor would have provided. These faults notwitstanding, Mr. Peszke is to be highly commended for a very well research and well structured presentation of a fascinating aspect of WWII. I would still recommend this book, as I found the subject matter well presented and was kept interested and engaged throughout. The only interuptions were when the aforementioned typos and editorial vacuums emerged, and where I found myself thinking "that's unfortunate, as Pescke's effort and subject matter deserve better."

Naval and WWII buffs will find this book quite informative. A missing chapter of WWII has been written by Peszke. He starts with the Polish Navy's development between the world wars and provides the background for its WWII activities. Serving as a separate national force in the Royal Navy for most of WWII, the Polish Navy played a substantial role for its size. Its officers and men crewed destroyers, submarines and mine warfare vessels. They fought in the Mediterranean, English Channel, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and Norway. Accounts of battles, personal profiles and plans for a future navy make for interesting reading. Of particular value are the appendices which include a list of major naval units. THE FORGOTTEN FEW: THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Adam Zamoyski is a complement to Peszke's work. With Poland now a free nation, it can be expected that additional unbiased information about its part in WWII will be forthcoming.

The Survivor In Us All, by Erna F. Rubinstein, was a great book about the Holocaust. It told the dramatic story through a teenage girl's point of view. She, along with her four sisters, dad, mom, and brother, had to try to stay together and support each other in order to survive and remain hopeful. The book, through great detail, explains what happened in the concentration camps and the hardships the family went through. The family had to suffer through multiple camps and near death experiences, in which only the author survived.
The author explains not only the physical hardships that the victims had to endure but also the mental ones. The author tells about how hard trying to grow up and mature is, while being contained and restricted. Another thing the author realized was, when she found love in one of the camps there was no guarantee that she would ever see that man again. That made her very cautious because she didn't want to have even more sorrow while she was struggling to survive.
The book not only captured your heart through what the people had to endure, but the book takes you to the site of where everything is taking place and makes you feel as if you are there. The book contains great detail and is very descriptive. The great detail in the book encourages the reader to continue reading and makes them wonder what will happen next and who will survive. I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to learn about the Holocaust because it tells the story through a weak awkward teenage girl trying to discover who she is while growing up. This book would get four out of five stars because some parts were boring while most of the book was very vivid and expressive.

The book "The Survivor In Us All" was a heart-filled story written by Erna F. Rubinstein. She was a teenager during the Holocaust. Erna and her family were sent to many different concentration camps. This book helps you understand the reality of the camps. Her writing in the book was very descriptive. At times her writing was so detailed that it felt like you were right there with her. She opens up her heart in the book and her true feelings show through. I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about true stories of Holocaust survivors. I really enjoyed this book.

I thought the book "The Survivor In Us All", by Erna F. Rubinstein was a very good book. On a scale of one to ten, I would give this book a eight. The reason I would give this book an eight, is because I thought at some points of the book it needed to be told in more detail, so you understood what was being talked about. I particularly liked the fact that this book was told from the viewpoint of a teenage female, because it showed me how I might have acted if the things in the book would have happened to me. I thought that this book was very emotional. Some parts of "The Survivor In Us All" I really felt like I was there, because of the rich writting. This book really changed the way I think about some things. It also helped me understand a little bit more about how horrible the Holocaust really was. I encourage both males and females to read this book. Once again this book is a very good book!

This is an outstanding piece of scholarship which provides a tremendous amount of detail on not only the 1914 campaign in East Prussia, but also on the Russian and German armies, and the imperial rivalry between the two nations in eastern Europe. Amazingly well researched and superbly written, this is the best book by far on the subject.

This is a widely acclaimed account of the great German victory over the Russians in 1914 that falls far short of expectations. One third of the book is spent recounting the events leading up to a Russo-German war, starting about 1870. The author would have done better to spend time discussing the organization, doctrine and leadership in both armies. Instead, the armies of both sides remain rather faceless ciphers in this account. Showalter does a better job describing the campaign, with much useful detail, but it is difficult to follow without adequate maps and the timelimes of specific events are often vague. Good maps are the heart of any detailed operational-level military history, but this book lacks them. Showalter does have some interesting observations, particularly about the much-maligned Tsarist army. The Russian army apparently learned something in the Russo-Japanese War because they had some initial tactical superiority over the Germans in their use of artillery and skillful use of terrain. Despite spending over 100 pages discussing events leading up to the war Showalter's account has a significant omission: despite the fact that the Germans knew for over twenty years that they would have to conduct a delaying operation in East Prussia against numerically-superior Russian forces they never developed a proper mobile covering force or the doctrine of delaying actions. Instead, the German army of 1914 had only two tactical options: attack or defend, neither of which was well-suited for the start of the war in the East.

Showalter's "Tannenberg" is an exceptionally thorough and comprehensive history of not just the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg but also the dynamics that lead up to this clash and the fallout later. The only shortcomings are the lack of any historical photographs and the somewhat difficult to read, elliptical style of writing that Showalter uses at times. A recent article in "Military History" magazine also coincidently covers the same battle but incorporates historical photographs of the people and places which adds to our understanding of this turning point. This book is nonetheless well worth reading for any historian interested in this overlooked aspect of World War One or in German history in general

The book is divided into sixty five chapters with an prologue and a epilogue. It told the story of Genetic Engineering experiment that was carried out by the Nazi Government under Hitler in 1943 during the Second World War. The principal focus of the book is the exposure of the activities of the Nazi to control the mother earth by a technique of thought-control, genetic selection by eradication of the unfit and unwell beings. In the modern world, a mafia group in Europe(former nazi members)operating under the code name Thunderbird aimed at destroying the American society and controlling the American youths by devicing a high technology medical technique of hiding and exporting very pure cocaine and heroine to America through human skull that are not detectable by custom agents in America. To achieve their aim, they usually target and kill American tourist and citizen in Europe through whose cadaver, the drugs are exported to America. The second phase of the book relate the story of how the Nazi aimed at creating a master race through controlling human mind and destruction by using Genetic engineering experiment carried out on unwilling Polish citizens and create a master race of German descent. The case study of a Polish girl named renamed Helga Baumann was well illustrated in the book. Years after the war, her mind remains bent to the will of the Nazi doctors. She became a tool in the hand of the Thunderbird. She became a super assasin, super espionage and heroin expert. She was tortured by her past memory until she met the love of her life Jeffry Landon through who she was able to recover her past memory destroyed by the Nazi governement.

This book is a master piece and a thriller. It's a must read for custom agents, police, medical experts, lawyers and the whole human race especially Americans, Jews, Polish etc. This generationis bound to benfit from the information contained in this book. The author wrote the book from the view an experienced medical doctor.

The book is so riviting that it makes for a great travel book. I have given this book to more friends than any other book. My husband took it on the train to work and had strangers leaning over his shoulder to get a closer read. The scenes are vivid and intense both sexually and in the portrayal of human suffering. It is a brilliant book for readers who enjoy a book written well.

I found the story of the book really gripping. The beginning was deeply disturbing, but it was also terribly hard to put down. I would definately give this book a try if you like thrillers.

Just started readin the book today and it's quite intriguing, I must say. I spent 2 hours looking for a good book to pick out at the library, and I have a feeling this is one. David Weiser is one cool dude!

I read the book for my East European literature class. It is very interesting, written in a simple language. David is indeed a cool dude. And his girlfriend too.

This is a special book, a nostalgic look backward on a postwar Poland and the mysteries encountered there by schoolboys. Huelle writes brilliantly--his subtle observations on Polish culture are tenderly conveyed through the naive explorations of children. These boys, while coming to an awareness of themselves sexually and intellectually, develop as well a sense of their community, of its religion, politics, and its tragic wartime history. Huelle's style borrows heaviliy from Gunter Grass; he deftly employs magical ambiguities which create a tone of supernatural intrigue.

The power of Heschel's influence on the philosophy of Jewish America cannot possibly be underestimated. Dr. Kaplan's valient attempt to analyze and research the life os this great thinker is to be commended. His descriptions of the piety of the man he calls a Prophet, may be distasteful to some of his more liberal admirers, but remains the unadulterated proud truth. For the great liberal thinker and activist never swayed from his religous beleifs. Though considered a leader in the Conservative movement, he remained an Orthodox Jew. Though Kaplan's descriptions of Heschel's father, who was a Chassidic Grand Rabbi and miracle worker are lacking understanding in Spirituality and therefore rather inacurate, which is troublesome to his more knowledgeble Chassidic readers, I eagerly await Volume II, on Heschel's years in America.

Among the American intellectual community, Abraham Joshua Heschel is probably the best known Jewish spiritual leader. of the 20th century. This resulting from his activist stance on the issue of Civil Rights in the early 1960's and his active and vocal opposition to the Vietnam War a bit later. Yet as time goes by ,few Americans,Jewish and gentiles alike are aware of Heschel, the scholar, Heschel the particularistic Jewish activist, and Heschel, the spiritual seeker. This biography throws light on the youth and education of this prophetic figure. We learn about Heschel's Chasidic background, his "royal" lineage, his sojurn in Vilna among secular Jews, his education and activities in Germany as well as his foray into the world of Yiddish poetry, and his scholarly publications.The book is well researched and finely written, with many illustrations. I only feel that those parts dealing with Heschel the Chasidic Jew and Yiddish poet lack some authenticity. The authors seem to go overboard to stress Heschel's ritual observance in Vilna and Berlin, such as strict adherence to the Kosher code ,to the laws of Shaatnez and the like.Its ironic that at the same time that a number of books and articles have recently appeared about the Lubavitcher rebbe's stay in Berlin, subtly questioning his Jewish committment,this book about a future leader of the Conservative Jewish movement maintains Heschel's strict ritual observance in Berlin.All in all this volume is a fascinating portrayal of the life of an East European Jew seeking new horizons and an education in the West, yet never forgetting his roots. It is an important contribution to the study of European Jewish life and thought in the 20th century.

There are many ways to get to grips with the complicated realities of the post-WW2 Eastern Europe but reading Ashes and Diamonds is arguably the best of them. Rather then reading some dry history book which would necessary have less feeling for the stories of individual people, Ashes and Diamonds tells history exactly by concentrating on the peculiar life stories of the main characters. It shows how the unsettled and chaotic situation of postwar Poland gave rise to some weird coalitions in politics, strange passions or totally unreasonable expectations of the people who had to live then. Since we can afford the luxury of informed hindsight and already know that by 1949 Poland became communist, it is interesting to watch Poland in the period when things were not at all clear yet.

Jerzy Andrzejewski's Ashes and Diamonds is a complete rip-off if you are in it for the diamonds. My copy only included the ashes part. After getting over the fact that I had been duped into buying all ashes and no diamonds, I began to enjoy the beauty of the ashes.
Andrzejewski does a spectacular job in presenting ashes. The ashes in this book are the remains of Poland after the Second World War. The Poles seek to pick up the pieces of their war- torn country and move on towards a "new Poland", one that embodies freedom and happiness. However the road to this promised land is very elusive, and people often blindly pick sides in a new battle to define Poland. The result is only more ashes.
The part of the book that really made it worth reading for me was its fresh look at the heart of mankind. In my opinion, Andrzejewski does not present a people who held on to morality and goodness through even the toughest of times. He presents a people who, when pressured, revealed the predominately black makeup of a human heart that allows a person to do evil in order to survive or merely to get ahead. Some characters deal with this blackness in themselves and in others, often feeling let down and confused. One example of this is in a conversation between Podgorski and Kossecki after the war is over. Kossecki is burdened after the war with the knowledge that, when in the camp, he did not behave as the honorable man he thought himself to be before the war. He took part in beating people to save his own hide. In their conversation, Kossecki looks for answers to make himself feel okay. Then Podgorski, speaking about the time before the war, says "People had confidence in themselves, in their courage and their morality. Certain things seemed impossible. Life then simply did not present such desperate alternatives. A man had a right to think of himself as decent and incapable of exceeding certain limits. Only criminals did so. But nowadays I've met so many people who broke down and failed this or that test that I don't attach much importance to what a man thinks of himself. Until a man faces the test he can deceive himself endlessly." Kossecki is disappointed in the blackness of his own heart and Podgorski is disappointed in others who let him down. Through some character's painful realization that people are often not as good as they would like to believe, I was forced to ask myself how I would react in such horrible circumstances. Would a terrible situation reveal diamonds or ashes in my own heart? I believe Andrzejewski's greatest success in Ashes and Diamonds is his ability to make me question myself, even though the novel is set in a foreign land and in a time period I will never live in.
However, in my opinion Andrzejewski does a poor job of developing the characters. There are just way too many of them to really know much at all about any of them (I counted 47). It is a pretty good sign that there are too many characters when you have to keep notes just to remember who the main characters are. It is possibly lacking in plot as well. Perhaps through predominately using dialogue and not action, Andrzejewski was attempting to offer a glimpse into the minds of the characters. If this is the case, he could have done a better job by limiting the number of characters and spending more time with each of them. It would seem that if a lot of dialogue was included at the expense of plot, we would at least know more about the characters. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Overall, I enjoyed Andrzejewski's beautiful presentation of ashes. However, if he intended to complement the ashes with diamonds, I missed it. From the young gang of boys, about whom it would be hard to conjure up anything good to say, to the older party leaders who seemed lost and were often driven by personal success rather than by a desire for a free and happy people, they all seemed ashier than a lotionless Arab on a cold day. If you open Ashes and Diamonds to find diamonds inside, perhaps you will have better chances looking in a box of crackerjacks.

I read this good book, here in Brazil.This book has a lot of photos and pictures; all of them black & white.This book is also short and concise.
Failures of this book are small.To example, on preface, there's a past reality of Cold War.In fact, when this book was writen, Poland was still under Soviet's chains.
Today Poland is free.
Even so, this book remains good,small and full of illustrations.As an introduction about Warsaw uprising, this book remains a good choice.

American popular and semi-popular history series of WWII seldom contain anything related to Polish sacrifices and achievements in WWII. This book, which is a part of the BALLANTINE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE VIOLENT CENTURY series, is a notable exception.

Gunther (Guenther) Deschner, the author, is a German who was too young to have meaningfully experienced WWII. His attempt at detail and objectivity is obvious, and he believes that both Poles and Germans made strategic blunders during the Uprising. Deschner approaches the Uprising chronologically. He includes significant detail about the Kaminski and Dirlewanger SS units, and their mass murders of tens of thousands of Polish civilians.

Deschner stresses the well-armed state of the Germans, and contrasts it with a German estimate of only the equivalent of 2,500 Polish fighters being armed (p. 45). In addition, Deschner provides good detail of the German weaponry which had no Polish counterpart (pp. 94-103). He includes a photograph of the Nebelwerfer ("bellowing cow") in action, a sketch of the giant German artillery "Karl" (previously used only on the Russian front--at Sevastopol), and a sketch of the Goliath unmanned explosive-laden tank. (When a Goliath pushed through the wall of the St. John Cathedral, one of its threads broke off. I saw the rebuilt Cathedral wall with a meter-long segment of thread deliberately built-in as a memorial to the Uprising).

The house-to-house fighting was ferocious. Deschner quotes General Reinefarth: "The Poles showed themselves to be especially skillful tacticians. They first let German troops advance as closely to them as possible, creeping along the line of houses on both sides of the streets, without resisting. Then one of our most dreaded enemies, the Polish sniper, would appear." (p. 105).

Deschner believes that the belated recognition of the AK as combatants, by the Germans, had resulted from Anthony Eden's threat to kill German POWs in reprisal for the killings of captured Polish soldiers (p. 124). Deschner also unmasks Soviet perfidy. Clearly, Soviet military reverses near Warsaw had been minor and temporary. The front had stabilized again on August 4 (p. 125). He credits western public opinion with having forced Stalin to give token aid to the Uprising towards its end (p. 131).