Jacek Leociak

Barbara Engelking

A Guide to the Perished City

The Warsaw Ghetto

losy Żydów szukających ratunku na wsi polskiej 1942-1945

Jest taki piękny słoneczny dzień--

Jews seeking refuge in the Polish countryside, 1942-1945.

Jews Seeking Refuge in the Polish Countryside, 1942-1945

Such a Beautiful Sunny Day ...

Jan Grabowski

Three million Polish Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, wiping out nearly 98 percent of the Jewish population who had lived and thrived there for generations. Night Without End tells the stories of their resistance, suffering, and death in unflinching, horrific detail. Based on meticulous research from across Poland, it concludes that those who were responsible for so many deaths included a not insignificant number of Polish villagers and townspeople who aided the Germans in locating and slaughtering Jews. When these findings were first published in a Polish edition in 2018, a storm of protest and lawsuits erupted from Holocaust deniers and from people who claimed the research was falsified and smeared the national character of the Polish people. Night Without End, translated and published for the first time in English in association with Yad Vashem, presents the critical facts, significant findings, and the unmistakable evidence of Polish collaboration in the genocide of Jews.

The Fate of Jews in German-Occupied Poland

Night Without End

Three million Polish Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, wiping out nearly 98 percent of the Jewish population who had lived and thrived there for generations. Night Without End tells the stories of their resistance, suffering, and death in unflinching, horrific detail. Based on meticulous research from across Poland, it concludes that those who were responsible for so many deaths included a not insignificant number of Polish villagers and townspeople who aided the Germans in locating and slaughtering Jews. When these findings were first published in a Polish edition in 2018, a storm of protest and lawsuits erupted from holocaust deniers and from people who claimed the research was falsified and smeared the national character of the Polish people. Night Without End, translated and published for the first time in English in association with Yad Vashem, presents the critical facts, significant findings, and the unmistakable evidence of Polish collaboration in the genocide of Jews.

On le sait peu mais entre fin 1942 et début 1943, 120 000 à 250 000 Juifs polonais parvinrent à s’échapper des ghettos ou des trains de la mort. La plupart cherchèrent refuge chez des paysans ou se cachèrent dans les bois. L’occupant allemand, avec le concours de la police locale, des pompiers, des maires, des gardes champêtres et d’une partie de la population autochtone, organisa une véritable « chasse à l’homme » pour traquer, jour et nuit, les Juifs cachés en mettant en place une politique de terreur destinée à dissuader quiconque de les recueillir. L’étude de Barbara Engelking souligne aussi la participation active des paysans polonais (essentiellement mus par l’appât du gain) à la traque. Les Juifs cachés et à bout de force payaient cher le silence et la nourriture de leurs hôtes. Une fois spoliés, ils étaient souvent dénoncés à la police ou tués des mains même de ceux qui les avaient accueillis. En s’appuyant sur 300 documents issus des procès et sur 500 témoignages de survivants qui n’avaient jamais été étudiés jusqu’à présent, l’auteur analyse le comportements des Juifs et des paysans, elle montre ce que ressentaient les victimes confrontées à l’indifférence ou à la cruauté de leurs compatriotes, comme elle interroge plus encore l’attitude de la paysannerie polonaise. Preuves à l’appui, ce livre permet de comprendre pourquoi seuls 30 000 à 40 000 Juifs polonais survécurent dans ces conditions.

DesJuifs cachés dans les campagnes polonaises 1942-45

On ne veut rien vous prendre...Seulement la vie

Discusses the relationship between Polish Jews and non-Jews in the Polish countryside during the Holocaust. In 1942-43, between 120,000-250,000 Polish Jews managed to escape from ghettos and from trains transporting them to death camps. Most of them sought refuge with Polish peasants or hid in the woods. Aided by local authorities and part of the local population, the German occupiers launched a manhunt to track down hidden Jews, and set up a politics of terror in order to dissuade Poles from hiding Jews. Traces the active participation of Polish peasants, mostly motivated by profit, in the manhunt. The Jews paid dearly for silence on the part of those who hid them, and for the food they received. Once they ran out of money, Jews were often denounced or killed by their former helpers. Based on documents from communist-led trials in 1944-60 against collaborators, and on eyewitness testimonies, describes the harsh situation which led to only 30,000-40,000 of the hidden Jews surviving until 1945.

Barbara Engelking

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