The Last Jew from Wegrow: The Memoirs of a Survivor of the Step-by-Step Genocide in Poland [Hardcover]

Shraga Feivel Bielawski (Author), Louis W. Liebovich (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0275938964 | ISBN-13: 978-0275938963

An important new primary source for Holocaust studies, this unusual memoir contains the recollections of a Holocaust survivor who lived in a small Polish town 55 miles from Warsaw. From his earliest memories of a closely knit community where Jews and Christians lived harmoniously side by side through the horrors of a town torn apart by hatred, Shraga Bielawski details the systematic destruction of Wegrow by the Nazis. How does a town go completely mad? How do neighbors who have attended school together become murderers and victims on opposite sides? What is the process by which an invading army sends innocent civilians to their deaths--leaving only traces of a former civilized culture? Bielawski explores these and similar questions as he chronicles the experiences of his friends and neighbors under the Nazis and shows how he used all the tools of creativity at his disposal in order to survive. Throughout, Bielawski and co-author Louis Liebovich offer historical background and political discussion to place the events of the book in perspective. The reader learns first-hand about life in occupied Poland, the virtual extinction of Jewish culture in that country, and the ways in which the Nazis preyed upon latent anti-Semitism to accomplish their goals. The book also offers some penetrating observations on the nature of bigotry, concluding that it is a disease that must be addressed by both the dominant culture and the minority culture if another Holocaust is to be avoided. Far more than a simple memoir, The Last Jew of Wegrow is a sweeping saga of imagination and perseverance--an enriching educational experience for high school and college students as well as general readers who seek insights into the Holocaust and its roots.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

SHRAGA FEIVEL BIELAWSKI emigrated to the United States in 1951. He is one of the few Polish survivors from the town of Wegrow, where he had owned and operated a clothing store and a lumberyard before the war.

LOUIS W. LIEBOVICH is Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Illinois.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (June 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275938964
• ISBN-13: 978-0275938963
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,234,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for all Jewish and History Libraries, November 3, 2003

By 

A. Shapiro (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Jew from Wegrow: The Memoirs of a Survivor of the Step-by-Step Genocide in Poland (Hardcover)

I found Last Jew from Wegrow Riveting, informative,accurate,Heartfelt,and Proud to be a decendant of this family. This difficult,Rare and Valuable work will give future readers a truthful view of part of the Jewish Holocaust.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very Polonophobic Holocaust Memoir of Questionable Factuality, June 24, 2011

By 

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

This review is from: The Last Jew from Wegrow: The Memoirs of a Survivor of the Step-by-Step Genocide in Poland (Hardcover)

Shraga Bielawski grew up in Wegrow, which is located well north of Warsaw. At Wegrow, 75% of the businesses were owned by Jews before WWII. (p. 3). Interestingly, for all the bad rap Jews got for usury, Bielawski's father did not charge interest on his loans, and was well liked by Poles. (p. 5). The family was very wealthy. During the Great Depression, Bielawski converted most of his assets into gold, worth a then-considerable $4,000. (p. 14).

This memoir mentions some Jewish beliefs and practices. For instance, the Jews believed that the world was created out of nothing. (p. 55). Also, the rabbi had taught that: "...every Jew must perform good deeds, MITSVOS, and that if he did he would go to the Garden of Eden after he died. If he did evil, he would go to GEHINOM (hell). He explained that hell was a great, hot oven." (p. 118).

After the Germans conquered Poland, they began oppressing the Jews immediately. As was the case in countless other towns and villages, they appointed a Volksdeutsch mayor for Wegrow. (p. 17). During the Holocaust, a series of Poles helped and hid Bielawski. He stayed a long time with the farmer Bujalski, hiding in an ingenious hideout in a barn, and stole some of Bujalski's food to supplement that which he had been given. (p. 142). [How many cases of Jews rejected by their Polish benefactors were caused by being caught engaging in such conduct?]

This work was written fifty years after the events (p. 165), and, as is the case in other such situations, one wonders what the author actually experienced and what he grafted into his memory based on what he heard from others. Throughout the book, it is often difficult to tell what occurred and what is hearsay.

Some statements in this work undermine the author's overall credibility and, at best, point to looseness with facts. He states that the Germans used "deadly gas" against the Jews in the sewers during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (p. 96), and that there were crematoria at Treblinka. (p. 59) Neither is true. At Treblinka, the Germans burned the bodies on huge open-air pyres, not in crematory ovens.

The author writes many negative things about Poles and it is difficult to ascertain if they were true or if they were Jerzy Kosinski-type Polonophobic tall tales. At one time, however, he was told that Russian POWs in the area had escaped from the Germans, and were robbing and killing Jews in the forest. (p. 73). Otherwise, Bielawski was prone to jump to anti-Polish conclusions. For instance, he got help from Mrs. Rowicki, who told him to return the next day. Upon doing so, he heard Germans in the house, and concluded that Rowicki had set a trap by inviting the Germans to wait for him. It turned out that the Germans had invited themselves coincidentally, and had stayed long into the night. (pp. 70-71).

The author goes beyond the customary neglect of Polish suffering at the hands of the Nazis and makes some what-planet-are-you-walking-on statements. He actually would have the reader believe that Poles did not particularly mind being ruled by the Germans (p. 38), that western Europeans habitually risked their lives [western Europeans did not endanger their lives by helping Jews], but Poles would not (p. 44), and that Poles did not suffer much under the Nazis. (p. 144).

In the end, Bielawski was extremely bitter against Poles. He wrote: "I prayed that the land would split and swallow up the Poles as Korach's followers were swallowed by the earth in the days of Moses." (p. 159). Evidently, Bielawski had already forgotten that it was the Germans, and not the Poles, who had murdered the 5-6 million Jews. Bielawski had also forgotten about Bujalski and the other Polish benefactors to whom he owes his very life. For shame.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The last Jew of Wegrow, October 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Jew from Wegrow: The Memoirs of a Survivor of the Step-by-Step Genocide in Poland (Hardcover)

I know the author of this book,he is a very interesting man.What he went through during the war is indescribable.This book gives a view of the nazi's that I have never read before.I could not put this book down.If you are afan of World War 2 this is a must read.