From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry (Indiana-Holocaust Museum Reprint) [Hardcover]

Jack Kugelmass (Editor), Jonathan Boyarin (Editor), Zachary M. Baker (Editor), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Series: Indiana-Holocaust Museum Reprint | Publication Date: May 1998

"An indispensable sourcebook...Emphasis falls on the variegated, often joyful, culture of the Polish Jews, on what existed before the garden was ruined." - Geoffrey H. Hartmann, "The New Republic". "From these marvelous selections, one can see an entire culture unfolding. "From a Ruined Garden" accomplishes what editors from hundreds of towns sought to do for their destroyed communities - create paper monuments wherein a bit of that extinguished flame is fanned back to life." - Curt Leviant, "New York Times Book Review". In the years after World War II Polish Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who had made their way to America or Israel resolved to preserve the memory of their destroyed communities by compiling memorial books, narrative accounts of Jewish life in Polish towns before, during, and to some extent after the Holocaust. "From a Ruined Garden" gathers some 65 selections from the nearly one thousand memorial books published since World War II. The texts describe typical market days, communal institutions, prayer houses, peculiar town types, outstanding personalities, and local customs and legends, as well as everyday life during the Holocaust and the experiences of returning survivors. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of the memorial books and a gazetteer of place names mentioned in the text. A substantial introduction by the editors illuminates the history of the memorial books and their importance in the construction of memory culture through the response of survivors.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Hebrew, Yiddish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 353 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr; 2 Sub edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253333946
• ISBN-13: 978-0253333940
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,078,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Ruined Garden, June 17, 2002

By 

Tomasz Panczyk - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry (Indiana-Holocaust Museum Reprint) (Hardcover)

Fantastic book. Reading it is like exploring the vanished world of polish stetels. Although I found only one chapter regarding Szczebrzeszyn I highly recomend the book. I wish there would be more translations of Yizkor Books.