The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich [Hardcover]

Egon Redlikh (Author), Nora Levin (Author), Saul S. Friedman (Author, Editor), Laurence Kutler (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992

" In 1941, the fortress city of Terezin, outside Prague, was ostensibly converted into model ghetto, where Jews could temporarily reside before being sent to a more permanent settlement. In reality it was a way station to Auschwitz. When young Gonda Redlich was deported to Terezin in December of 1941, the elders selected him to be in charge of the youth welfare department. He kept a diary during his imprisonment, chronicling the fear and desperation of life in the ghetto, the attempts people made to create a cultural and social life, and the disease, death, rumors, and hopes that were part of daily existence. Before his own deportation to Auschwitz, with his wife and son, in 1944, he concealed his diary in an attic, where it remained until discovered by Czech workers in 1967.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

These recently discovered diaries were kept by a Czech Zionist youth leader during the nearly three years he spent in the Nazi's "model ghetto," created outside Prague as a transit camp for Jews en route to death in the East. The book offers a poignant, detailed record of the inmates' daily struggle for survival and their painful pretense of leading a normal life. Copiously annotated by Youngstown State University history professor Friedman and ably translated by Kutler, a visiting professor of Hebrew at Kent State University, the diaries recount Redlich's heroic efforts to care for and educate Terezin's 15,000 children and his agony as a member of the Transport and Appeals committees, forced to help fill quotas that selected fellow inmates for deportation to Auschwitz and other death camps. His romantic, compassionate, hopeful spirit bravely denied and defied defeat until his own deportation, together with his wife and son, in October 1944. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Offers a poignant, detailed record of the inmates' daily struggle for survival. The diaries recount Redlich's heroic efforts to care for and educate Terezin's 15,000 children and his agony as a member of the Transport and Appeals committees, forced to help fill quotas that selected fellow inmates for deportation to Auschwitz and other death camps." -- Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 173 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky; First Edition edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813118042
• ISBN-13: 978-0813118048
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,919,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life and Death in the "Paradise" concentration camp, December 5, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich (Hardcover)

The Diary of Gonda Redlich is an enlightening tale of life and death within Theresienstadt, the "resort" or "paradise" concentration camp of the Jewish Holocaust. Throughout the course of the diary, we see Theresienstadt from the first hand experiences of Gonda, the head of children's affairs and the transports. We learn of all of the great cultural activities of Theresienstadt, while we learn of the transports east to Auschwitz, the greatest death camp of all. The first hand experiences and writings of Gonda provide envaluable information to any serious historian of the Jewish Holocaust. Can any person read this book? Must you be a historian? No, I believe that this book can be read by anybody. It is a timeless tale of life (with the birth of Gonda's son and the activities in Theresienstadt) and death (Gonda eventually was sent to die in Auschwitz) in the final solution. It is first hand proof for the world of the horrors and sometimes joys in the Jewish Holocaust.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking in its simplicity, April 5, 2008

By 

James Luckard (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich (Paperback)

This is not a book to start with when reading about the Holocaust. Theresienstadt, the Potemkin village ghetto, was an unusual place and Redlich's experience there is not as universal as some, like Elie Wiesel. The book demands a fair amount of knowledge about the events of the Holocaust. That said, it's one of the most moving documents I've read from the period.

Unlike Anne Frank, Redlich writes from within the eye of the hurricane, rather than at its edges. His hope, tempered with his ignorance of his own fate, is wrenching, especially when his child is born and he writes the last few chapters as his son's diary. It literally brought me to tears. Highly recommended.