Customer Reviews

Mother of the Wire Fence: Inside and Outside the Holocaust

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When I began reading this book, I was enthralled by the description of the photograph and the circumstances under which it was taken. But shortly after, I found myself bored. The author seemed to wander a bit an I lost interest.

Fortunately, for me, I stuck with the book. Karl Plank goes on to describe the situation of events in Lodz Ghetto, where the photo was taken. He uses excerpts from the memoir of Jozef Zelkowicz to illistrate the horrors of what was occuring inside the ghetto walls. Zelkowicz describes the death of a mother and her young daughter at hands of the Nazis as punishment for not abondoning her daughter.

Karl Plank also uses the poetry of Simcha Bunem Shayevitsh, a Lodz Ghetto inhabitant, to illistrate his ideas. The poetry of Shayevitsh, there are only two poems that survive, are profound and moving. His poem speaking of his young daughter, Blimel, is easily the most haunting of images. As readers, we know what their fate is, the poet is left to agonize over the unknown.

This is a wonderful book to read. I would also reccomend you read Lodz Ghetto: Inside a Community Under Siege. This book also uses more of Zelkowicz's memoirs of his life inside Lodz and it

also has passages on the Shayevitsh family.