Books/biographies by Holocaust victims - got any recommendations?

Babinich:

From the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Article 2: the Convention defines genocide as

Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

On August 22, 1939, a few days before the official start of World War II, Hitler authorized his commanders, with these infamous words, to kill "without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language.

Heinrich Himmler: "All Poles will disappear from the world.... It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles."

KrakowiankaThreads: 2 Posts: 272 Joined: Oct 16, 08	Nov 26, 08, 11:57 / #
I like to read about WWII, but most specifically, journals/diaries/personal accounts of people who were in concentration camps in Poland. Unfortunately, as time passes there are less & less survivors alive to share stories. I'm not interested in books about people writing what happened during the war, or translations into English, or stories of what happened to their aunts or uncles. Something similar to "Night" by Elie Wiesel, or "Listy z Auschwitz" by Janusz Pogonowski. Anyone have any suggestions?

celinskiThreads: 83 Posts: 2,800 Joined: Nov 14, 07	Edited by: Moderator Nov 26, 08, 12:12 / #
Krakowianka: Anyone have any suggestions? As a matter of fact, I just heard about this book this AM and have not read it but ordered it. 'Breaking Borders': A Unique WWII Story Told from a Jewish-Polish Soldier's Perspective Much has been written of World War II from the perspective of the American and British soldier. It is rare to find a book written from the perspective of a soldier from occupied Europe, let alone a Jewish soldier. "Breaking Borders" (published by iUniverse - http://www.iuniverse.com), Alexander Harris' autobiography, tells the story of his experiences as a displaced Polish Jew during and after World War II. 'Breaking Borders': A Unique WWII Story Told from a Jewish-Polish Soldier's Perspective

KrakowiankaThreads: 2 Posts: 272 Joined: Oct 16, 08	Nov 26, 08, 12:25 / #
Thanks Celinski! I'll have to look into that book. Do you know of any diary/journal style books?

celinskiThreads: 83 Posts: 2,800 Joined: Nov 14, 07	Nov 26, 08, 12:45 / #
Krakowianka: journals/diaries/personal accounts of people who were in concentration camps in Poland. Search Kresy-Siberia and use the .org to read about Concentration Camps in "Nazi/Soviet Occupied Poland" as Poland had no Concentration Camps. :( URL

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	Nov 26, 08, 13:01 / #
in my collection i have the following books...Medical block Buchenwald by Walter poller...Auschwitz , by Dr Miklos nyiszli...Deliverence day , by Michael selzer....Concentration camp , by Eugene Heimler.....if you want to read any of these i would be happy to lend them to you....

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	Edited by: wildrover Nov 26, 08, 16:54 / #
Oh , and the invisible jew by Valentin senger....

KrakowiankaThreads: 2 Posts: 272 Joined: Oct 16, 08	Dec 4, 08, 11:38 / #
Wildrover, those are excellent recommendations. Do you know of any online bookstores that cary new books? All I could find was a few on amazon. Would these be available in a regular bookstore in PL? I have some family coming soon, and maybe they could bring them to the US

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	Dec 4, 08, 13:49 / #
All these books were bought in second hand book stores in the UK....but i imagine if you search on the internet they will be available somewhere in the USA....good luck....

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 [Suspended]	Dec 4, 08, 15:03 / #
celinski: Poland had no Concentration Camps. Even if we accept your pathetic excuse that the camps of the 1950s existed only because Poland was occupied by the Red Army (it wasn't), what about the one the Polish government ran in the 1930s? What's your excuse for that one?

loco polacoThreads: 3 Posts: 421 Joined: Aug 5, 08	Dec 4, 08, 16:12 / #
sofie's choice? Harry: Even if we accept your pathetic excuse that the camps of the 1950s existed only because Poland was occupied by the Red Army (it wasn't), what about the one the Polish government ran in the 1930s? What's your excuse for that one? which one? btw. the reds were always on polish soil until '91.

ShelleySThreads: 18 Posts: 3,647 Joined: Jun 26, 07	Dec 5, 08, 04:40 / #
Eyewitness Auschwitz Hanged at Aushwitz The above two I have read and are quite good books, the links on amazon will take you to other books that are supposed to be good too.

1jolaThreads: 33 Posts: 2,737 Joined: Sep 23, 08	Dec 7, 08, 02:21 / #
" I like to read about WWII, but most specifically, journals/diaries/personal accounts of people who were in concentration camps in Poland. " You should read Witold Pilecki's Report from Auschwitz. "During World War II, he became the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp. While there, he organized the resistance movement in the camp, and as early as 1940, informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities. He escaped from the camp in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Pilecki was executed in 1948 by the communists. Until 1989, information on his exploits and fate was suppressed by the Polish communist regime." wiki URL You can read the report in Polish or English by following the link at the bottom of the wiki page above.

Bratwurst BoyThreads: 11 Posts: 14,563 Joined: Apr 2, 07	Edited by: Bratwurst Boy Dec 7, 08, 12:37 / #
celinski: Tonight on CNN "scream Bloody Murder" I've watched it but I must say besides Rwanda no other of the describes events was a genocide. War crimes...surely! Crimes against humanity...absolutely! Genocide...not!

HatefulBunch397Threads: - Posts: 1,018 Joined: Nov 5, 08	Dec 7, 08, 18:55 / #
Bratwurst Boy: I've watched it but I must say besides Rwanda no other of the describes events was a genocide. War crimes...surely! Crimes against humanity...absolutely! Genocide...not! B.B. you are really annoying me! For one thing you aren't even Polish. You post on this Polish forum and you sound like a sociopath in your posts. Don't you have any respect?

celinskiThreads: 83 Posts: 2,800 Joined: Nov 14, 07	Edited by: celinski Dec 4, 08, 17:47 / #
Tonight on CNN "scream Bloody Murder" URL Harry: Even if we accept your pathetic excuse that the camps of the 1950s existed only because Poland was occupied by the Red Army (it wasn't), what about the one the Polish government ran in the 1930s? What's your excuse for that one? They were built to put Polish in.

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 [Suspended]	Dec 4, 08, 17:56 / #
celinski: They were built to put Polish in. Built by Poles and run by Poles but generally they put Ukrainians in it. But I guess this is just another of those unfortunate facts you forget about, eh Carol?

KrakowiankaThreads: 2 Posts: 272 Joined: Oct 16, 08	Dec 5, 08, 14:49 / #
Thanks Shelly for the tips, they seem like good books I'll have to check out. While I was at Barnes a couple days ago, I picked up 'The Seamstress', by Sara Tuevel Bernstein, but already in the first part of the book I noticed some inaccurate stuff. If any one knows of memoir or letters written by Poles, I'm interested in those most.

loco polacoThreads: 3 Posts: 421 Joined: Aug 5, 08	Dec 5, 08, 15:41 / #
^^^ po polsku?

Bratwurst BoyThreads: 11 Posts: 14,563 Joined: Apr 2, 07	Dec 7, 08, 20:43 / #
HatefulBunch397: B.B. you are really annoying me! For one thing you aren't even Polish. You post on this Polish forum and you sound like a sociopath in your posts. Don't you have any respect? ROFL! What are you going to do? Running to pappi???

BabinichThreads: 1 Posts: 1,054 Joined: May 26, 08	Edited by: Babinich Dec 8, 08, 04:39 / #
Bratwurst Boy: Genocide...not! From the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Article 2: the Convention defines genocide as Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. On August 22, 1939, a few days before the official start of World War II, Hitler authorized his commanders, with these infamous words, to kill "without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language. Heinrich Himmler: "All Poles will disappear from the world.... It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles."

Bratwurst BoyThreads: 11 Posts: 14,563 Joined: Apr 2, 07	Edited by: Bratwurst Boy Dec 8, 08, 09:29 / #
Babinich: From the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Article 2: the Convention defines genocide as Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. On August 22, 1939, a few days before the official start of World War II, Hitler authorized his commanders, with these infamous words, to kill "without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language. Heinrich Himmler: "All Poles will disappear from the world.... It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles." ??? The CNN doku about Genocides weren't about Himmler....what's your problem?