Why Me?
Hersch Altman, On the Fields of Loneliness
Series Editor: Dr. David Silberklang; Managing Editor: Daniella Zaidman Mauer
Yad Vashem in association with The Holocaust Survivors’ Memoirs Project, 2006
188 pp., $21 (airmail included) / NIS 69

On the Fields of Loneliness is the remarkable memoir of a young boy who survived the murders of his father, mother, and three sisters as well as the destruction of his home and town, while evading his pursuers throughout the Holocaust. The youngest of four children and only son of an affluent merchant and Jewish community leader, Hersch Altman vividly depicts his early years in Brzeżany, and recounts in vibrant detail the hardships his family endured during the Soviet occupation. He goes on to relate the brutality of the Nazi occupation; the intolerable life in the ghetto; the horrors of the Aktionen, and the ingeniously constructed bunker that eluded the Nazi soldiers and their dogs. Altman describes how each member of his family was killed and the many near-death encounters he faced and miraculously escaped.

The reader cannot help but share the author’s fears, sadness and loneliness in hiding—often completely alone—in barns, forests, fields and attics. The unanswerable question, “Why me, my God?” echoes throughout this gripping tale. However, a most impressive and instructive part of this memoir is how the young Hersch coped with successive personal losses. “One of [these coping mechanisms] was praying,” writes Prof. Shimon Redlich, Director of the Rabb Center for Holocaust Studies at Ben-Gurion University, in his foreword. “[Hersch] recited traditional prayers he was taught before the war, mainly from the Book of Psalms, and said Kaddish in memory of his family. But he also invented his own personal and private conversations with God. He was asking, complaining, accusing and pleading… Hersch even managed to have his bar mitzvah celebrated in the midst of a forest. Another coping strategy was his memories of the ‘good years’ before the war and fantasies of being somehow reunited with his closest family.”

Redlich concludes that, “Along with the prevailing antisemitism among the local non-Jewish population, we also learn of human kindness, compassion and courage. This is one more proof of the fact that often numerous people and families were needed in order to save one Jewish life. The Poles – Michał and Zdzisław – and the Ukrainians – Ivan, Vladimir, and Pietro – were all instrumental in saving Hersch Altman. Thus, the story of a single Jewish youngster from Brzeżany is not only a story of tragedy, loss and despair, but also a tale of survival and hope.”

The Holocaust Survivors’ Memoirs Project, an initiative of Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Elie Wiesel, was launched through a generous grant from Random House Inc., New York.
 

ALSO NEW ON THE SHELF...

The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust – Europe
(English Edition - two volumes), Editor-in-Chief: Israel Gutman
Yad Vashem, 2006, $92 (airmail included) / NIS 258 per volume

Over the past five decades, more than 21,000 people have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations - the highest honor bestowed upon non-Jews by Yad Vashem on behalf of the Jewish nation. The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations aims to reveal their individual stories as witnessed by survivors from across Europe.

This publication presents the concise stories of unique, unsung heroes in two volumes: the first, available now, includes narratives from Armenia, Austria, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA; the second, upcoming volume will include accounts from Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Publication of this volume was made possible through the generous support of the Commission of European Communities and the Claims Conference.

Bernd Schmalhausen, A Man of Courage in an Inhuman Time: Berthold Beitz in the Third Reich
2006, 96 pp, 63 NIS

In July 1941, 27-year-old Berthold Beitz, arrived in the city of Borysław in eastern Galicia to take up the position of business manager in an oil refinery. During his tenure, the German-born Beitz witnessed at close-hand the abuse and deportation of the Jews. Unhesitatingly, he opposed the program of annihilation, and succeeded—often literally at the last minute—in rescuing several hundred Jews from the trains bound for Bełżec. At the greatest personal risk, Berthold Beitz and his wife Else issued false work certificates for as many Jews as they could, clandestinely provided them with food, and even hid some in their own home. In recognition of his humane and courageous stance on behalf of the persecuted, Berthold Beitz was honored in 1973 as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem.

The English translation of this book was made possible through the generous support of Dirk, Robert and Daniel Ziff (USA).

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