Mendel Balberyszski (1894–1966)
Auteur de Stronger than iron : the destruction of Vilna Jewry 1941-1945 : an eyewitness account
Œuvres de Mendel Balberyszski
Stronger than iron : the destruction of Vilna Jewry 1941-1945 : an eyewitness account (2010) 28 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1894-10-05
- Date de décès
- 1966-11-19
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- Russian Empire
Australia - Pays (pour la carte)
- Lithuania
- Lieu de naissance
- Vilna, Lithuania, Russian Empire
- Lieu du décès
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Lieux de résidence
- Vilna, Lithuania
Lodz, Poland
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Études
- Vilna University
Warsaw University - Professions
- newspaper editor
politician
bookstore owner
historian
pharmacist - Organisations
- Jewish Artisans and Small Business Association
Association of Partisans and Camp Survivors
Jewish Community Council of Victoria - Courte biographie
- Mendel Balberyszski was born to a Jewish family in Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania. He completed pharmaceutical studies at the University of Vilna and the University of Warsaw. He wrote for Vilna's Yiddish newspaper Der Tog. In 1925, he founded The Jewish Artisans and Small Business Association and in 1939, became one of the leaders of the Polish Democratic Party. At the start of World War II, he escaped from Nazi-occupied Poland to return to Vilna, where the war followed him. After the liquidation of the smaller Vilna Ghetto, he opposed the Judenrat's policy of co-operating with the Germans in the deportations. He, his wife, and two children survived the Holocaust and emigrated to Australia in 1949. There he returned to an active role in Jewish community activities, founding the Association of Partisans and Camp Survivors, which he served as president. He also contributed to the Jewish press and was a sought-after public speaker. He started the Balberyszski Jewish Bookstore, which became a focal point for the Yiddish-speaking intellectuals. In 1967, he published his book Stronger Than Iron: The Destruction of Vilna Jewry, which he had researched for more than 20 years.
Membres
Critiques
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.I am reluctant to say that I truly liked or that I enjoyed this book, and I hope the subject matter is more than enough of an explanation for that reluctance. I can, however, say that this was a powerful and moving book and that there were many times when what I read made me angry and many more times when what I was reading made me want to just sit in a corner and cry.
The book is written by Mr. Mendel Balberyszski and it is his memoirs of the events to which he was a personal witness. Vilna (in Lithuania) was his hometown, and after the German invasion and conquest in 1941 the Jews of the city were rounded up and put into the ghetto. The book describes the entire history of the existence of the ghetto, where over 40,000 Jews were gathered together as part of the Nazi "final solution." The ghetto was eventually destroyed and only a few hundred Jews survived the liquidation.
I will be honest, this book has taken me a very long time to read. I have had to put it down periodically and focus on other books because while the writing is not explicit in its details at all, the theme and matter of fact descriptions are emotionally overwhelming. I have read LOTS of books on the Holocaust. LOTS of books on the atrocities of Nazi Germany. "Stronger Than Iron," however, is the most poignant one I've read so far. This is the story of a man, of his family, of his community. This is the story of how everyday people worked to survive, not just physically but mentally, the horror of genocide.
Read this book. You won't enjoy it, but you will definitely be touched by it.… (plus d'informations)
The book is written by Mr. Mendel Balberyszski and it is his memoirs of the events to which he was a personal witness. Vilna (in Lithuania) was his hometown, and after the German invasion and conquest in 1941 the Jews of the city were rounded up and put into the ghetto. The book describes the entire history of the existence of the ghetto, where over 40,000 Jews were gathered together as part of the Nazi "final solution." The ghetto was eventually destroyed and only a few hundred Jews survived the liquidation.
I will be honest, this book has taken me a very long time to read. I have had to put it down periodically and focus on other books because while the writing is not explicit in its details at all, the theme and matter of fact descriptions are emotionally overwhelming. I have read LOTS of books on the Holocaust. LOTS of books on the atrocities of Nazi Germany. "Stronger Than Iron," however, is the most poignant one I've read so far. This is the story of a man, of his family, of his community. This is the story of how everyday people worked to survive, not just physically but mentally, the horror of genocide.
Read this book. You won't enjoy it, but you will definitely be touched by it.… (plus d'informations)
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.I loved this book. I have read many books on the holocaust hearing so many similar stories. One thing in particular I found very interesting in this book is how the author talks of ordinary Jews fighting back in little ways. I am not talking about resistance fighting, there are books out there on this topic. I am talking about little things that ordinary Jews did to express their resistance. There are not many books out there that address this, at least not many that I have read.
One incident in particular, and if I may quote the author:
"The story of the woman who spit in the face of her murderer was one of the highest acts of moral resistance; it must have haunted and enraged her killer for some time, without him being able to do anything about it. Killing additional Jews? He did that. The woman who resisted him was already dead. She committed a supreme heroic act which her tormentors had no way to avenge."
Wow. Spit in the face of the man who is going to kill you just before he does. The author continues:
"The German people will never be able to wash off the Jewish spit in the face of the German at Ponary."
That's intense.
"They sanctified the human spirit at the edge of the death pit. The heroic actions of thousand upon thousands of Jews stand in testimony to the greatness of the human spirit. And this testimony will remain in the annals of history for centuries to come."
Another interesting point that the author expresses is as follows:
The author was trying to talk another family into taking his children just during the passing of a particular "cleansing" in the ghetto. The family refused as these children did not have certain papers and was afraid the children would put the lot of them in danger. The author expressed his inability to look his children in the face and stated in the book:
"How well the German murderers understood human psychology! They knew how to turn closest friends into enemies."
It is ridiculous to say how wonderful it is to find a refreshing read on the holocaust, but this book really shifted my thinking into directions I never thought of before. Kudos to the author and the publisher who accepted it!… (plus d'informations)
One incident in particular, and if I may quote the author:
"The story of the woman who spit in the face of her murderer was one of the highest acts of moral resistance; it must have haunted and enraged her killer for some time, without him being able to do anything about it. Killing additional Jews? He did that. The woman who resisted him was already dead. She committed a supreme heroic act which her tormentors had no way to avenge."
Wow. Spit in the face of the man who is going to kill you just before he does. The author continues:
"The German people will never be able to wash off the Jewish spit in the face of the German at Ponary."
That's intense.
"They sanctified the human spirit at the edge of the death pit. The heroic actions of thousand upon thousands of Jews stand in testimony to the greatness of the human spirit. And this testimony will remain in the annals of history for centuries to come."
Another interesting point that the author expresses is as follows:
The author was trying to talk another family into taking his children just during the passing of a particular "cleansing" in the ghetto. The family refused as these children did not have certain papers and was afraid the children would put the lot of them in danger. The author expressed his inability to look his children in the face and stated in the book:
"How well the German murderers understood human psychology! They knew how to turn closest friends into enemies."
It is ridiculous to say how wonderful it is to find a refreshing read on the holocaust, but this book really shifted my thinking into directions I never thought of before. Kudos to the author and the publisher who accepted it!… (plus d'informations)
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.I have read several Holocaust memoirs but they all started when the people were taken to the concentration camps. This was the first one I read that actually talks about (and focuses on) the ghettos. It is very detailed and describes the Jewish population of Vilna, Lithuania being put into to two different ghettos before they are liquidated and the prisoners are sent to concentration camps.
Overall, a very interesting book and a must read for anyone interested in the Holocaust.
Overall, a very interesting book and a must read for anyone interested in the Holocaust.
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 1
- Membres
- 28
- Popularité
- #471,397
- Évaluation
- 4.7
- Critiques
- 15
- ISBN
- 1
What makes this book stand out from the pack is Balberyszski's characterization of other people in the Ghetto, particularly those working for the administration. Balberyszski doesn't cut anyone any slack and it's perfectly clear that there were no heroes. But, speaking about Jacob Gens, the ghetto's chairman (who, on Nazi orders, sent tens of thousands of people to be massacred in the nearby forest of Ponary), and the Jewish Ghetto Police (who did much of the dirty work), Balberyszski is careful to present a balanced viewpoint. For example, he writes -- and I agree -- that Jacob Gens meant well and did the best he could with what he had.
I would highly recommend this book. It would do very well especially when paired with Yitskhok Rudashevski's Diary of the Vilna Ghetto.… (plus d'informations)