Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust [Hardcover]

Shimon Huberband (Author), Jeffrey S. Gurock (Author), Robert S. Hirt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This work is an authoritative translation from Yiddish of the Holocaust archival materials collected and written by Huberband, a young Orthodox rabbi and historian who was killed in Treblinka in 1942. Huberband recalls his own harrowing experiences under the Nazis. But particularly significant and constituting the majority of the work are his revelations about Jewish religious life under the Nazis: the glory and heroism of Jews who maintained their religious culture, the world of the Yeshivas, etc. A scrupulous eyewitness account, this is an invaluable resource for traditional Polish Jewish life under the Nazis. Highly recommended for scholars and serious students of the Holocaust. Benny Kraut, Judaic Studies Dept., Univ. of Cincinnati
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English, Yiddish (translation) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ktav Pub Inc (July 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881251186
• ISBN-13: 978-0881251180
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,308,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read, September 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust (Hardcover)

I read this book for a college class on the Holocaust. The horrible events that take place in this book make you wish that you never got it but Huberband's actuall stories of life in WWII Poland captures you and takes you to that place in time. I recomend this book to anyone who has ever denied that the Holocaust ever happened. The acounts in the book were first hand, and undeniable

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jewish Experiences in the 1939 War and Early German and Soviet Occupations, Universality of Looting, etc., March 12, 2011

By 

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

This review is from: Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust (Hardcover)

This work elaborates on the Germans burning synagogues during the 1939 German-Soviet conquest of Poland, and the heroism of Jews attempting to rescue Torah scrolls from the burning synagogues. The massive Luftwaffe terror bombing of the town of Wielun, in the very first hours of the war, is also discussed. (p. 304).

The reader can learn much about Jewish religious life. There were predictions that the Messiah would come in 1940. (p. 121). Consider what happened after the Germans had forced the Jews into ghettos. Rabbi Huberband writes: "In the ghetto, there are no Gentiles to kindle fires on the Sabbath, and the absence of SHABBOS GOYIM [Sabbath goys] is a serious problem." (pp. 208-209).

One Jewish synagogue (at Wurka) bore a Polish eagle since pre-Partition days, for which its members suffered under tsarist rule. (p. 308). There was also the legend of the Magid of Kozhenitz, which anticipated Poland's history. (p. 125). However, this work has little substantial evidence of WWII-era Poland's Jews identifying with Poland as a nation. The author displays obvious "not us" thinking as he describes the 1939 defeat of Poland as "the rupture of their [Poles] national history". (p. 397). One wise Jew quotes the Talmudic dictum regarding the arrogant pauper, old adulterer, and deceitful rich man. He applies it to the futile Polish-French-British alliance against Nazi Germany. (p. 43).

All along, Polish-Jewish prejudices had been mutual. Translator David Fishman has the following take on terms that reflect Jewish attitudes towards Poles: "The word SHEYGETS, unquestionably a term of contempt for young male Gentiles, has been rendered in English as `goy'. Since the word GOY, however, carries a much lesser negative tinge in Yiddish than in contemporary English usage, it has been rendered as `Gentile' or `non-Jew' in translation." (p. xxxii). Also, in the glossary, he includes the following definitions: "Goy (pl. GOYIM). Pejorative term for non-Jew." (p. xxxiii). "Shiksa (pl. SHIKSES). Pejorative term for young gentile woman." (p. xxxvi).

One striking feature of this work is its mixed portrayal of both Polish and Jewish conduct under the German occupation. Some Poles scapegoated Jews for the 1939 defeat [not mentioned is the fact that Poles also strongly blamed their own leaders in this regard!] and laughed when the Germans cut the beards off some Orthodox Jewish men. The Germans often instigated Poles to beat Jews up. (p. 56). Other Poles, including identifiably prewar anti-Semitic ones (p. 315, 317), expressed sympathy for the Jews or engaged in active conduct on behalf of them. (pp. 73-74, 91, 95, 339, 452). [This does not include Polish rescue of Jews, which happened later during the "resettlements".]

This work does not support the premise that Poles were eager to kill Jews. For instance, after sentencing eight Jewish smugglers to death, the Germans proved unable to get enough volunteers from even several precincts of the semi-collaborationist Polish Blue Police (POLICJA GRANATOWA) to form a firing squad. For this reason, they conscripted Poles to do the job. (pp. 153-154).

Although Holocaust materials tend to dwell on Polish denouncers of Jews, there were plenty of Jewish ones as well. Huberband comments: "The Jewish ghetto is flooded with a huge number of informers, collaborators, blackmailers, and thieves. Admittedly, the major causes of all these crimes are the famine, poverty, and epidemics which are prevalent in such horrible forms in the concentration camp which is called the sealed Jewish ghetto. But that is no excuse. The problem of denunciations is extremely widespread in the ghetto." (p. 136). [Of course, Poles also suffered greatly under the German occupation, which partly accounts for comparable negative Polish behaviors.]

What about Poles looting Jews, a topic which has gotten a great deal of one-sided media attention as the result of Jan T. Gross and his FEAR and GOLDEN HARVEST (ZLOTE ZNIWA)? Huberband also mentions such instances. However, the reader quickly learns that looting was an all-around phenomenon. For example, while fleeing east during the 1939 German invasion, both Poles and Jews looted Polish properties: "But we came upon empty estates and yards, which had been abandoned by their landlords and owners. There we found all sorts of `goodies'. We took only food; the Poles took clothing, linens, and household objects as well." (p. 336; see also p. 338).

It was not only Poles who sometimes refused to return Jewish belongings temporarily lent them for safekeeping. In fact, the Jews had their own courts that dealt with such comparable Jew-on-Jew behavior: "During the war, there have arisen specific kinds of wartime litigation. Immediately after the bombing, there was a massive number of lawsuits brought before rabbinic courts by people who had entrusted others with their belongings, clothing, merchandise, valuables, and money. Those who were given the belongings claimed that the items had been stolen or burnt and so forth. The owners refused to believe their claims." (p. 204).

Now consider the Zydokomuna (Bolshevized Judaism) in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland. The author comments: "The [Soviet] military forces continued to advance beyond the city [Zamosc] and a `city council' was created, consisting of formerly arrested Communists, most of them Jews. A local Jewish Communist, Hackman, was appointed to head the council. A militia was soon formed, consisting of the darker elements of the Polish and Jewish population." (p. 341). He continues: "The role of Jews in the Communist Party was considerable due to their large numbers." (p. 402). Besides Jewish-Soviet collaboration, a major factor antagonizing Poles from Jews had been the USSR-directed replacement of Poles by Jews in major positions. (p. 397).

This work leaves off just as the first Jews were being shipped to the death camps in 1942. Rabbi Huberband was among them.