• Poyln – My Life Within Jewish Life in Poland
• Holocaust Survivor Cookbook - Collected from Around the World
• For The People I Love and Can’t Forget – Poems and Memories of the Holocaust

Poyln – My Life Within Jewish Life in Poland

Yehiel Yeshaia Trunk
Edited by Piotr Wrobel and Robert M. Shapiro
Translated from the Yiddish by Anna Clarke
University of Toronto Press, 2007
167 pp.

Yehiel Yeshaia Trunk, a well-known writer was born in the Polish village of Osmolsk, in 1887. His early works were written in Hebrew, but under the influence of the Jewish writer Isaac Leib Peretz, he began to write in Yiddish. He and his wife left Europe in 1940 and settled in New York, where he began to write his seven-volume memoir originally published between the years 1944-53.

This beautifully expressive classic is the first installment of the multi-volume edition of Poyln to be translated into English. It provides the reader with a rich history of Polish Jewry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, before that world was destroyed. In the preface, the editors quote the following words of Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin: "Only when what existed in Poland before the Holocaust is understood, can one truly discern the dimensions of the loss. From this perspective, it is important for Jews today to see Poland not only as a huge Jewish cemetery, but also as a country where Jews created unprecedented works of the spirit, as a land where Judaism flourished freely and developed beyond what previously had been as a landscape dotted with Jewish spiritual monuments".

As he wrote his memoir, Trunk was painfully aware that his world as he knew it, was being destroyed, and his writings are a moving testament to and a commemoration of a culture that no longer exists.

Trunk chronicles the genealogy of his parents, and each chapter is prefaced with a short abstract. A useful family tree, provided at the beginning of the book, allows us to keep track of the members of Trunk’s large family, as we become acquainted with them. Explanations of places in Poland and terms relating to Jewish culture are to be found in footnotes at the bottom of each page.

Trunk’s writing is so descriptive that we soon find ourselves immersed in village life in Poland and its rich, diverse tapestry. He introduces us to his great grandfather, the learned sage, Rabbi Yisroel Yoshua Kutner and his wife Prive, and to his Grandmother Leah, married to Moyshe Pinchas, Rabbi Kutner’s only son. We meet the Chassidic merrymaker Uncle Yekl, the ordinary Jewish artisan, timber merchants, and shopkeepers, sharing with them the happy occasions as well as hard times. We see the abject poverty of the poor, the almost decadent lives of the rich Jews, and learn about the discourses and arguments between various rabbinic sects. Reference is made to the influence of the enlightenment and the newly developing secularism of the 20th Century.

Over half of the book is devoted to the vivid description of the arranged marriage of Trunk’s parents. Here we see the bridging of two families from two different walks of life, brought together for the wedding. Beyla Freydl, the only surviving child of the newly rich Jewish landowner, Borukh Gzhivatsh and his wife Khaye, is betrothed to Chaim Avrom, grandson of the well-known and learned Rabbi Yisroel Yoshua Trunk. It seems that the reasons for the union were economic ones, as the rabbi’s grandson Moshe was mentally ill. Though he later made a recovery, at the time, Rabbi Yoshua Kutner realized that his son could not support his family and when the opportunity arose for a good match for his grandson, he accepted. For Trunk’s paternal grandmother Leah, this is a great disappointment. She had found herself married at the age of 16, to an unstable husband, and she had spent much of her early-married years in an attic next to the women’s section of the synagogue in Kutno. She devoted much of her time to her talented and brilliant son Chaim Avrom, wanting better for him, and is disappointed with the match.

In the wonderful description of the preparations for the wedding, the guests, the interaction with the non-Jewish girls who help clear up, and the wedding ceremony itself, Trunk allows us a glimpse of the richness of a lost world. A journey is made to Warsaw to buy clothing for the bride with no expense spared. Dining at the Hekslman’s restaurant in Warsaw, they are treated to the tasty menu of “stuffed fish, roast geese, turkey, rich tsimmes with kishke and sweet compotes. The peasant Simkhe Gayge accompanies the bridal party from Osmolsk and is described as having “a peasant stomach accustomed to black bread and potatoes with cabbage. These experiences made an extraordinary impression on him.”

At the wedding, we imbibe the atmosphere of the event, which the author is able to describe in such detail that we can “hear” the music played and “smell” the food cooked. “The bass was playing steadily louder, the drum drummed, the trumpet blew, and the blind tapped their long sticks on the table.” Trunk treats us to some of the superstitions that abounded at that time, in his description of his grandmother, Khaye, who cannot believe she has lived to see the day when her only surviving child is having her wedding day and fasting. She licks her daughter’s eyes seven times and spits on her own fingers.

Most poignant is the description of the feeding of the poor before the wedding. The poor Jews of the surrounding areas hear about the wedding, and make their way there in the hope of receiving a few morsels. The great white tablecloths used for the esteemed guests, are replaced by coarse brown cloth, at which the poor Jews sit and eat. The two families are united for this happy occasion, and the rich and poor celebrate together.

Trunk describes the country Jews who led simple lives and were happy with their lot, knowing nothing other than the hard farming peasant lives in which they toiled from day to day. As Simkhe Gayge experienced his visit to Hekslman’s restaurant in Warsaw, so the villagers experience the arrival of the immensely wealthy Isaiah Prywes and his wife Shevele from Warsaw, for the sheva brachot (part of the Jewish wedding rituals). Running out to welcome their coach, the villagers expect the couple to alight from a coach made of gold, but much to their disappointment it was a leather coach like any other.

In essence, the author is telling us how the Jewish people are interconnected, rich or poor, educated or not, religious and non-religious, townspeople or villagers. Their fates were intertwined, and the innocent world of Trunk’s family and Polish Jewry was destroyed. However, Trunk does accomplish his goal in preserving the memory of Polish Jewry as a whole and his use of humor enhances and expands the imagination whilst reading, bringing his characters alive.

The book fulfills an important educational goal, in encouraging educators to teach not only what transpired during the Holocaust, but to give students a greater understanding of the richness of Jewish life that existed before the Holocaust. Teachers will find ample material that can be incorporated into multi-disciplinary programs, such as history, literature, and geography.

Holocaust Survivor Cookbook - Collected from Around the World

Joanne Caras
Caras & Associates, Inc.
USA 2007
350 pp.

As the title might imply, this is not a regular cookbook. In fact it is quite unusual. Sarah Caras, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and her husband Jonathan, new immigrants to Israel from America, have succeeded in collecting 100 stories from Holocaust survivors from many countries all over the world including Argentina, Australia, China, England, Sweden and the United States.

The authors’ mothers Joanne Caras and Gisela Zerykier came to visit their children soon after they moved to Israel. Shortly afterwards, Gisela's mother who lived in Belgium, passed away, and Gisela's moving tribute to her mother, a Holocaust survivor, was the spark that created the idea for the cookbook.

As found in conventional cookbooks, there is a list of contributors. In this case, most of the women who submitted recipes are Holocaust survivors. There is also a recipe index, divided into various categories such as breads, soups, salads, main dishes, Passover recipes and more. Accompanying the recipes are photographs of happy families before the Holocaust, and of those who survived, rebuilding their lives and starting their own families.

Reading the testimonies accompanying the recipes, gives us an insight as to what it was like to have to exist on starvation rations and suffer from undernourishment and malnutrition. During the Holocaust, women often became the mainstays of their families, maintaining their self-respect and applying their strength to obtaining food, whether in their former homes, the ghettos or camps.

We know that food, or the lack thereof, became a very important focus of the daily life of prisoners in the camps, who fantasized about feasts as their ate their daily meager portions of bread. Sometimes women in the barracks collected and exchanged recipes and took turns to write them down on stolen scraps of paper.
Lillian Berliner, from Hungary, describes:

“We were starved in Auschwitz and to alleviate our numerous hunger pangs, we invented frequent "dream meals" ranging between coffee klatches, luncheons, informal and formal dinner parties. We planned our menus carefully for hours and in great detail. Our favorite dishes and desserts took priority and were frequently repeated. The table settings, the color of dishes, tablecloths, napkins, flowers for each occasion and the seating arrangements were also discussed.
This may sound delusional I know, but during these meal planning sessions, we were briefly transported to a normal world, a world that was so far from our miserable reality. We actually tasted the dishes we prepared and our hunger pangs disappeared during the hours of planning. We could hardly wait for the next planning session.”

The recipes in this volume have been passed down from generation to generation. However, this book is not only a collection of recipes, but rather a memorial to Holocaust victims, creating a legacy for future generations.

Essentially, the memory of their families and friends who did not survive live on through these recipes and are a testament to the courage of the survivors. Each recipe reminds us of the taste of home cooking remembered by the survivors.

Ruth Steinfeld, from Texas, was only seven years old when she was sent away with her sister from the Gurs prison camp in Vichy France. The girls survived, but their parents perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Ruth recalls: “I had no idea even how to make a good soup. I do not remember exactly what my mother looked like, but I remembered the smell of her chicken soup. I worked on it until I felt I had my Mom in my kitchen”.

Rita Roitman writes about Geitel Gervic from Poland, noting, “She was a warm and generous soul and she cooked without recipes. My mother and I would gather around her as she cooked, guessing at the measurements so that we could duplicate her fabulous cooking.”

It should be noted that the authors take no royalties from the proceeds of the sale of this cookbook, but donate the money to Carmei Ha’ir, an organization in Israel that serves over 500 meals a day to poor and hungry Israelis, some of whom are Holocaust survivors.

During the interview sessions, the author experienced firsthand the distress and difficulty survivors endured in sharing their stories, many for the first time. Details were often too painful to recall, and several survivors have explained the inadequacy of language to convey the sights, sounds, smells, humiliation, degradation, and sheer terror endured. Also, given the challenge of building new lives in the austerity of the post-war world, survivors were often too busy to dwell on the past, and if they wished to speak – few seemed willing to listen.

Despite the brutality and degradation endured, these testimonies are not just images of darkness and despair. Instances of mutual support, goodness and small gestures of reciprocated kindness are recalled as well. There are countless examples of how, even in the most deprived degrading and cruel circumstances, people held firm to their humanity and steadfastly clung to the values that their parents and communities had bequeathed them. Even “Jewish humor” persisted.

For The People I Love and Can’t Forget – Poems and Memories of the Holocaust

Maria Szapszewicz
Jacob’s House Press
Missouri 2006
194 pp.

Born in Lodz, Maria (nee Wajchendler) survived the Holocaust, as did her mother and one brother. Her other brother, father and extended family perished. She spent time in the Lodz and Szydlowiec ghettoes, worked in an ammunition factory in Starochowice, and was eventually sent to Auschwitz. She was liberated in the Bergen Belsen Nazi concentration camp.

In 1959 Maria was allowed to leave Poland, and she settled in St. Louis, Missouri. Later her husband and two small daughters joined her. A proud docent of the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center in St. Louis, Missouri, she speaks regularly to groups of young students and other visitors about her experiences during the Holocaust.

In addition to the forty-seven poems, the book contains essays, and short stories. She also incorporates stories told to her by her late husband Jacob. She bears witness to her Holocaust experiences through her writings and has an obvious talent in being able to express her feelings and memories. The book covers many topics, touching on her family life before the Holocaust and the home she loved, life in the shtetl, the ghetto, the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, her family and friendship during the Holocaust, and Righteous Among the Nations.

Each story, based on Maria’s memory, is unique. For example, she describes how she is able to hold on to life through the discovery of a beautiful little flower growing in the camp, pushing its way up through the snow. It is her secret, until it dies, but it gave her hope in the struggle for survival. In another she describes Simon Who Fought Back. Simon, like millions of others like him is shot by the Nazis, but not forgotten by Maria, who remembers him and has immortalized him through her poetry.

A lengthy interview given by Maria to the Imperial War Museum Archive in 1997, chronicling her Holocaust experiences, is also included.

Recalling her experiences on the transport to Auschwitz, and in the Nazi extermination camp, she writes:

“We knew we were going to die,/But still on our lips /was the question, Why?” (The Long Journey to Hell)

In “For Those Innocent People I loved” we read:
My heart is crying
For those who are dying.
My heart is crying
For the children who are dying.
Not knowing what it means to be dead,
They are marching to the gas chambers,
Holding high their heads.
My heard is crying
For their mothers and fathers;
Holding onto their children tight,
They know the Germans’ might.
Even so, some of them try to fight.
My heart is crying,
O dear G-d, why do You not hear our cry?

In her poem “The Home I Loved”, dedicated to her husband Jacob Szapszewicz she asks, “Why was it taken away from me, dear Lord?”

However, throughout her ordeal it seems she has retained her belief in G-d, and maintained an optimistic and positive outlook.

Reflecting on life after the Holocaust she writes:
“Life was continuing its course.
We had to go on.
We realized we could not mourn forever.
They say time heals; time consoles.
But our memories and pain will last forever.
We cannot forget our loved ones. Never.”

This book, Maria’s legacy to her children and grandchildren, provides readers with a detailed insight into the window of a Holocaust survivor’s experiences. Overall this book is difficult to put down, raising many open-ended questions.

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