The Diary of Dawid Sierakowak [Hardcover]

David Sierakowiak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998

After the liberation of the Lodz Ghetto, Dawid Sierakowiak's notbooks were found stacked on a cookstove, ready to be burned for heat. Young Sierakowiak was one of more than 60,000 Jews who perished in that notorious urban slave camp, a man-made hell which was the longest surviving concentration of Jews in Nazi Europe. The diary comprises a remarkable legacy left to humanity by its teenage author. It is one of the most fastidiously detailed accounts ever rendered of modern life in human bondage. The luxury of life was never returned to David, but a new awareness of it richness can be our reward for reading the diary of this brilliantly and brutally deprived young human being.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dawid's diaries are a terrifying record, all the more so because of the observant intelligence that persisted through life in a man-made hell." -- Atlantic Monthly

"His diary...is written with a sardonic humor and growing despair that can still horrify today. It is illustrated by shocking photos of life in the Lodz Ghetto, most of them taken surreptitiously."- -- Herbert Kupferberg, Parade

"Unforgettable...heart-breaking." -- Istvan Deak, The New York Review of Books

"[Dawid's] observations...are so sharply and skillfully rendered that the work immediately takes its place with the great Holocaust diaries - Anne Frank, Emmanuel Ringelbaum, Adam Czweniakow." -- Robert Leiter, Book Editor, Jewish Exponent

From the Publisher

Jewish Heritage

Established in 1983, the Jewish Heritage Project has become the leading organization in the United States which is dedicated to the development of works of literature related to Jewish history and culture. Is there any value closer to the best of Jewish culture than perpetuating the memory of our older generations through the publication of literature describing their times to the younger generations which follow us? Young writers and editors, with real acumen in publishing, come under the Project's support to work with the older writers, bringing their long-term book projects to fruition. Better Than Gold, by Fannie Silver, is the first such book to be published under the project's own imprint. We are placing an urgent priority on the discovery, development and publication of books related to our Jewish Heritage before their authors die, taking with them the accounts they have written of Jewish life in Europe, and of its transplantation here. The Project is currently launching an intensive program to assist Holocaust survivors bring their memoirs to completion and publication. Also available from Jewish Heritage: Better Than Gold: An Immigrant Family's First Years In Brooklyn "Better Than Gold" by Fannie Silver is a lovely, richly illustrated book with dozens of authentic period photos from the Jacob Riis Collection of the Museum of the City of New York or from the Brooklyn Collection of the Brooklyn Public Library. The mood is cheerful and optimistic. The resilience of the narrator and her family reflect the courage all immigrants brought to making a life here in New York.

Lodz Ghetto
Inside a Community Under Siege
The Lodz Ghetto was the longest surviving concentration of Jews trapped in the Nazi Holocaust. And because it was never bombed or burned, and because its Jewish administration sponsored the writing of daily chronicle entries and the documentation of Jewish life in the ghetto as slave laborers to the Germans, the Lodz Ghetto is also considered the most richly documented of all Holocaust communities. An unparalleled collection of personal writings that document the progression of the Holocaust through a single community, Lodz Ghetto is a vibrant historical compendium that will remain one of the most important and lasting volumes about this period. The volume, of more than 550 pages, is very richly illustrated, using more than 150 black and white photographs from our archive of authentic images shot in the Lodz Ghetto, and it also contains 16 pages of rare color photographs from the ghetto. This book was produced as the companion volume to the internationally acclaimed film, Lodz Ghetto. END

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Heritage Project, Inc. (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966044037
• ISBN-13: 978-0966044034
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,200,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sobering and moving account of a young victim of the Holo, October 18, 1999

By 

Laura (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Diary of Dawid Sierakowak (Hardcover)

This book is quite moving and powerful as its young, sardonic, incisive author leads us vicariously into the world of the ghetto. The brilliance of this young man is readily apparent through his keen observations of his desperate situation and horrendous surroundings. This is a must-read for anyone, and would be especially good for young people who sometimes ask how the Jews "let" this happen to them. The author is also very honest about his father's moral breakdown, as well as his bitter thoughts on the role of Chaim Rumkowski, the leader of the ghetto community. The preface is excellent, giving backround information about David, the war, the ghetto system, and Nazi methods of deceit and control. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling truth, January 11, 2001

By 

"innocents" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Diary of Dawid Sierakowak (Hardcover)

Be still when you read this book. Find a place with no distractions, no children asking for help with homework, no chores to do in the next room. Because you will need the stillness to grapple with the images from Lodz.

The book opens with an idyllic calm, when Dawid is being the young boy he was born to be. Anyone who has been to a youth camp will see himself in Dawid. This identification is critical to grasping the horror that is to come.

And no! There are no answers to the questions you cannot ask. The Whys and Hows cannot be riddled. You may think about them when you have put the book down for the last time, but let Dawid show you his world as it is destroyed around his ears. Worry about the nature of good and evil and humanity and war and peace and betrayal when you are done.

But first, let the young man tell his story. We are lucky this story survived.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Verbal and Photographic Insights into the Lodz Ghetto, July 23, 2008

By 

Jan Peczkis "Scholar and Thinker" (Chicago IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Diary of Dawid Sierakowak (Hardcover)

This review is based on the 1996 Oxford hardback edition, and focuses on matters not developed by other reviewers.

Sierakowiak devotes a considerable number of entries to the 1939 German-Soviet conquest of Poland. On Sept. 14, it rained. Sierakowiak notes that, had this been going on since Sept. 1, the German tanks would've gotten stuck in the mire (p. 38). On Sept. 19, Sierakowiak repudiated Hitler's lies, in which the Fuhrer, in a radio broadcast, had blamed Poland for starting the war and for mistreating the German minority (p. 42).

A radio program from London mentioned the Germans' vain seeking of Prince Janusz Radziwill to form a collaborationist government (Nov. 5, 1939; p. 59). This adds refutation to the claim that there was no Polish Quisling because the Germans never wanted one.

No sooner had the German entered Lodz then they began to persecute both Jews and Poles. On Nov. 17, 1939, the Germans forced Polish priests to destroy the Kosciuszko statue with sledge hammers. This being ineffective, the Germans resorted to dynamite (p. 63).

A common Polonophobic Holocaust theme is the one about Poles habitually delighting in Jewish humiliation and suffering. In contrast, Sierakowiak writes (Nov. 18, 1939; p. 64): "The Poles cast down their eyes at the sight of the Jews with their armbands; friends assure us that `it won't be for long.'" In view of the fact that Sierakowiak otherwise never mentions Polish attitudes, and that negative incidents are more likely to be remembered and recorded in diaries than positive ones, this takes on further significance.

Sierakowiak was irreligious (p. 38). And, not only was he pro-Communist, but in fact he praised Communists and condemned capitalism many times (p. 88, 92, 102, 105, 155, 220, 260, 263, etc.).

As for leader Chaim Rumkowski (Rumkovsky) and his privileged Jews, Sierakowiak elaborates on the inequities between the well-fed, well-clad Jews and the starving, ragged Jews (p. 176, 198, 245). When Rumkowski ordered the timely and obedient fulfillment of the German order to deport Jewish children and the elderly ("useless eaters" for extermination), Sierakowiak noted the many kinds of privileged Jews whose children and elderly relatives had been exempt from this order (pp. 216-217).

The Germans used some Jews to beat other Jews (March 16, 1943; p. 258). During the deportations, one unarmed Jewish policeman each was assigned to supervise the loading of about 100 Jews onto the trains (p. 270). Armed Germans didn't usually get involved until the latter phases of the day's loadings.

Owing to the fact that the Jews in the Lodz ghetto had been exploited for German war production, they were spared for most of the duration of the war. Not until August 1944 did the Germans liquidate the Lodz ghetto.