Konin: One Man's Quest for a Vanished Jewish Community [Paperback]

Theo Richmond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1996

In 1939 the Polish town of Konin vanished in the wake of Nazi occupation. Twenty-five years later, Theo Richmond set out to find what he could about that vanished world. He traveled across the United States, Europe, and Israel, tracing survivors and sifting through archives and the stories of those he interviewed. A project he thought would take six months took seven years. Finally he confronted the Konin of today. Interweaving past and present, Konin tells the story of one community--how it began, how it flourished, and how it ended--and in the process re-creates the precariousness, anguish and necessity of human memory.



"A fascinating memorial to a lost community and the people who lived there."--The New York Times Book Review


"One reads [it] sometimes with a smile...always on the edge of tears--as if it were the most gripping adventure story."--Elie Wiesel, New York Newsday

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Through the oral testimonies of survivors and archival research, English documentary filmmaker Richmond evokes the history, daily life and final ordeal of the Polish town of Konin's 3000-member Jewish community, liquidated by the Germans between 1939 and 1941 through massacres and deportations to death camps. The author, whose parents grew up in Konin and emigrated to England before World War I, spent eight years tracking down Konin's Jewish survivors in America, Canada, Britain and Israel. In Manhattan he meets tailor Louis Lefkowitz, chairman of a Konin society, a survivor of 21 Nazi camps. In Florida he interviews Sarah Trybuch, who, carrying her baby daughter, fled into a forest and joined a Jewish partisan group fighting the Germans. Other survivors tell of Jewish prisoners' doomed, courageous revolt in a Gestapo-run Konin slave labor camp. The testimonies combine the moral force of Primo Levi with the searing intensity of Jerzy Kosinski. Richmond also records his 1989 visit to Communist-ruled Konin accompanied by Holocaust survivor Izzy Hahn. This deeply moving book will achieve a permanent place in the literature. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Richmond, a filmmaker living in England, offers a vivid portrait of Konin, the small town in Poland from which his parents came. The book's 72 chapters are divided into five parts. Each part views the lost Konin shtetl from a different perspective, depicting it as it appeared to Konin Jews who emigrated to Britain, the United States, and Israel and as the author envisioned it from a visit to the now modern industrial town. Each part also presents different sets of chronologically arranged reflections of Konin from its beginnings in the 13th century as one of the earliest Jewish settlements in Poland up until its destruction by the Nazis in 1939. Most absorbing are the reflections of this vanishing world that the author remembers hearing from family members as he grew up. The final section of the book describes the author's moving visit to Konin; the bright images of communal life are mixed with dark images of the Holocaust. Highly recommended.
Mark Weber, Kent State Univ., Lib., Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679758232
• ISBN-13: 978-0679758235
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #921,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS A MUST!, December 17, 1999

By 

Richard Edwards (Bath, Engalnd) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Konin: One Man's Quest for a Vanished Jewish Community (Paperback)

My wife Urszula and I had decided to take a day out in London, some sight seeing and shopping. We passed the many book shops on Charing Cross rd, but a book in one shop window caught my eye, 'Konin, a quest'. My wife is Polish, from the town of Konin. But what could this book be about, we wonder? There is nothing in Konin. How wrong we were! The book amazed us. I have read many publications on the holocaust, but nothing moved me quite like this book. The research and the feeling, the hardwork put into this account of a community so thoroughly wiped out that my wife hadn't even been aware that a Jewish community had ever existed and yet she grew up on its streets. In fact, the school she went to, the Gymnasium was built by the jewish people prior to the war. But nothing was or is taught about the jewish people within its walls, no reminders, nothing. Until now. Theo Richmond's work is a priceless reminder of want was lost and what should never be forgotten. We look forward greatly to the day the book is published in polish, when everyone there has a chance to understand just what was lost. We met Theo recently, his powerful charater came across so well in his book, as it is such an honest account, that it felt as though we had known him for years. Buy It! It is the best book you will ever read on the Jewish people.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing piece of work, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Konin: One Man's Quest for a Vanished Jewish Community (Paperback)

My great grandparents came from Lithuania. I am Jewish but I have no feelings for the religous aspect of Judiasm. I am intrigued by the culture of the people and their history that was wiped out in the second world war. Konin represents years of work that the author put into this project. Sadly there are so many people who were no longer living for him to speak to. However, by traveling all over the world he was able to connect with many former residents of the town in Poland. He has pieced together an astounding history of a world that no longer exists. It was fascinating to have this glimpse into that world of Eastern Europe. Richmond has provided us with an important historical document which is also an intriguing story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey into the Past, January 12, 2008

By 

Ford Ka (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Konin: One Man's Quest for a Vanished Jewish Community (Paperback)

This is an absolutely oustanding book - Richmond managed to recreate a world which ceased to exist at the onset of the Second World War, the world of Jews from the central Polish town of Konin. The book is touching both in descriptions of Richmond's quest for the missing shtetl which can be found only in the fading memories of Jews who somehow survived the Holocaust and in his recreation of the Jewish town that does not exist any more. An absolute must for all those who think that Holocaust was just another tragedy in the past on some distant continent. A perfect gift to people who have roots in Poland - some of my friends found their relatives described in the book. Maybe you or your friends will share this luck?