Best of
Poland

2011

Freedom Climbers


Bernadette McDonald - 2011
    Although they lived in a dreary, war-ravaged landscape, with seemingly no hope of creating a meaningful life, these curious, motivated and skilled mountaineers created their own free-market economy under the very noses of their Communist bosses and climbed their way to liberation. At a time when Polish citizens were locked behind the Iron Curtain, these intrepid explorers found a way to travel the world in search of extreme adventure—to Alaska, South America and Europe, but mostly to the highest and most inspiring mountains of the world. To this end, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nepal became their second homes as they evolved into the toughest group of Himalayan climbers the world has ever known.

Rose Petal Jam: Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland


Beata Zatorska - 2011
    Included are more than 60 recipes for traditional Polish home cooked meals, from poppyseed cake and pierogi to fruit-flavored summer liqueurs. The photography—ranging across locales such as Warsaw, Poznan, the Tatra Mountains, and the Baltic Sea—showcases the Polish landscape and its influence on the country’s distinct cuisine.

By My Mother's Hand


Henry Melnick - 2011
    Shortly after the Nazis occupied Poland in 1939, he was sent to do slave labour in the Nowy Sącz, Tarnów Ghettos and Szebnie camp. He was then transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buna, Dora-Mittelbau and Bergen-Belsen death camps. When his parents were murdered in the Belżec death camp, he became the sole survivor of his entire family. After liberation, Henry volunteered for the Israeli Army and fought for Israel’s independence. He came to Canada in 1965 with his wife Hela and their two children.His story is one of strength and courage. His survival is nothing short of a miracle.

Ersatz Krieg: A True Story of Men Captured, But Not Conquered


Alban Snape - 2011
    The true story of Alban Snape, aged just 18 he was taken prisoner whilst on a scouting mission soon after the Normandy Landings in June 1944. This 'Churchill gangster' was transported to Poland to work for the Germans in a sugar factory. The story tells of Alban's attempted escape, the sabotage of the sugar factory and the long march west that followed. For five months they were marched and starved with the harsh central European winter as the backdrop to this epic tale. This book gives a dramatic insight to the tyranny and horror that was Nazi Germany, where a single Red Cross parcel was worth killing for and where men fought a continual struggle to stave of death from a plethora of causes.

Unvanquished: Joseph Pilsudski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe


Peter Hetherington - 2011
    Although he is largely either unknown or misunderstood in the West, Pilsudski was a consequential historical figure whose defeat of the Red Army in 1920 preserved Poland’s sovereignty and quite possibly spared Europe from Bolshevik revolution. This extensive and definitive account of Pilsudski's life places this and other achievements in the proper context by providing sufficient background in Polish history and illuminating his interconnectedness with more well known historical events.

The Szyk Haggadah: Freedom Illuminated


Arthur Szyk - 2011
    There is no Haggadah like it, before or since, filled with sumptuous paintings of Jewish heroes and stunning calligraphy. This edition, the first since 1940 to be reproduced from Szyk’s original art, boasts a newly commissioned and extremely practical English text by Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, ideal for use at any family Seder, and a special commentary section by Rabbi Sherwin and Irvin Ungar gives insight into both the rituals of the Seder and Szyk’s rich illustrations. Available in both hardcover and paperback editions, The Szyk Haggadah will transform the Seder, bringing the story of the Exodus from Egypt into a more contemporary light. Praise for The Szyk Haggadah:"Szyk's Haggadah is still fabulous and fresh." -Hadassah Magazine

The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816


Pawel Maciejko - 2011
    At the request of the local rabbis, Polish authorities arrested the participants. Jewish authorities contacted the bishop in whose diocese the service had taken place and argued that since the rites of Frank's followers involved the practice of magic and immoral conduct, both Jews and Christians should condemn them and burn them at the stake. The scheme backfired, as the Frankists took the opportunity to ally themselves with the Church, presenting themselves as Contra-Talmudists who believed in a triune God. As a Turkish subject, Frank was released and temporarily expelled to the Ottoman territories, but the others were found guilty of breaking numerous halakhic prohibitions and were subject to a Jewish ban of excommunication. While they professed their adherence to everything that was commanded by God in the Old Testament, they asserted as well that the Rabbis of old had introduced innumerable lies and misconstructions in their interpretations of that holy book.Who were Jacob Frank and his followers? To most Christians, they seemed to be members of a Jewish sect; to Jewish reformers, they formed a group making a valiant if misguided attempt to bring an end to the power of the rabbis; and to more traditional Jews, they were heretics to be suppressed by the rabbinate. What is undeniable is that by the late eighteenth century, the Frankists numbered in the tens of thousands and had a significant political and ideological influence on non-Jewish communities throughout eastern and central Europe.Based on extensive archival research in Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Germany, the United States, and the Vatican, The Mixed Multitude is the first comprehensive study of Frank and Frankism in more than a century and offers an important new perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in the Age of Enlightenment.

Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising


Moshe Arens - 2011
    A short time before the uprising began, Pawel Frenkel addressed a meeting of the Jewish Military fighters: "Of course we will fight with guns in our hands, and most of us will fall. But we will live on in the lives and hearts of future generations and in the pages of their history.... We will die before our time but we are not doomed. We will be alive for as long as Jewish history lives!" On the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, German forces entered the Warsaw ghetto equipped with tanks, flame throwers, and machine guns. Against them stood an army of a few hundred young Jewish men and women, armed with pistols and Molotov cocktails. Who were these Jewish fighters who dared oppose the armed might of the SS troops under the command of SS General Juergen Stroop? Who commanded them in battle? What were their goals? In this groundbreaking work, Israel's former Minister of Defense, Prof. Moshe Arens, recounts a true tale of daring, courage, and sacrifice that should be accurately told out of respect for and in homage to the fighters who rose against the German attempt to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto, and made a last-ditch fight for the honor of the Jewish people. The generally accepted account of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is incomplete. The truth begins with the existence of not one, but two resistance organizations in the ghetto. Two young men, Mordechai Anielewicz of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), and Pawel Frenkel of the Jewish Military Organization (ZZW), rose to lead separate resistance organizations in the ghetto, which did not unite despite the desperate battle they were facing. Included is the complete text of The Stroop Report translated into English."

From Ghetto to Death Camp: A Memoir of Privilege and Luck


Timothy Braatz - 2011
    Through family connections, a Jewish teenager named Anatol Chari became a ghetto policeman. Because they were sometimes viewed as collaborators, ghetto policemen who survived the war kept their past a secret. In From Ghetto to Death Camp, Chari reveals that hidden story, describing the policemen’s duties—guarding food, rounding up prisoners for transport—and the privileges it brought them. Those privileges ended when the ghetto population was transported to Auschwitz. As a slave laborer, Chari went on to various work camps, endured long marches and an Allied bombing raid, and ended up in the Bergen-Belsen death camp. To survive the camps, he now says, you needed help, smarts, and most of all luck. He depicts a seemingly senseless world where guards could be decent or cruel, where some prisoners were sent to hospitals and others to gas chambers, and where food was everything. Written with remarkable honesty and unexpected wit, this unique memoir is in many ways a reflection on the human condition.

Such a Beautiful Sunny Day... Jews Seeking Refuge in the Polish Countryside, 1942-1945


Barbara Engelking - 2011
    Many of the Jews encountered a hostile environment of local Poles ready to denounce them to the Germans or to participate in manhunts, and in cases where they found refuge with Polish families who took them in, the dangers for both the Jews and their rescuers grew more acute as time passed. Based on a large number of documents, the book tells the untold story of Jewish struggle for survival in a complex landscape of fear, betrayal and death.

Polish Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1788-1792: A Political History


Richard Butterwick - 2011
    Before being overthrown by the armies of Catherine the Great, the Four Years' Parliament of 1788-92 passed wide-ranging reforms, culminating in Europe's first written constitution on 3 May 1791.In some respects its policies towards the Catholic Church of both rites (Latin and Ruthenian) were more radical than those of Joseph II, and comparable to some of those adopted in the early stages of the French Revolution. Policies included taxation of the Catholic clergy at more than double the rate of the lay nobility, the confiscation of episcopal estates, the equalization of dioceses, and controversial concessions to Orthodoxy. But the monastic clergy escaped almost unscathed. A method of explaining political decisions in a republican polity is developed in order to show how and why the Commonwealth went to the verge of schism with Rome in 1789-90, before drawing back. Pope Pius VI could then bless the 'mild revolution' of 3 May 1791, which Poland's clergy and monarch presented to the nobility as a miracle of Divine Providence. The stresses would be eclipsed by dechristianization in France, the dismemberment of the Commonwealth, and subsequent incarnations of unity between the Catholic Church and the Polish nation.Probing both 'high politics' and political culture', Richard Butterwick draws on diplomatic and political correspondence, speeches, pamphlets, sermons, pastoral letters, proclamations, records of local assemblies, and other sources to explore a volatile relationship between altar, throne, and nobility at the end of Europe's Ancien Regime.

"Freedom" Under Socialism


Ela Brzezinski - 2011
    Ela Brzezinski writes of her experiences and struggles in communist Poland and how these events permanently changed her life. This book documents the true history of this corrupt socialist-communist system of government and discusses the already forgotten slavery, poverty, and terror that millions of people faced under communist rule. The author's experiences are contrasted to today's turbulent political climate and the freedoms which are gradually slipping away from Americans under socialist change. The ideological policies and plans for this country, which strongly mimic those that the author faced in communist Poland, are brought into the forefront and compared to her experiences and research. No other history books or political novels have been this accurate, truthful, and to-the-point in the documentation of socialist-communist tyranny and how it is affecting and overwhelming America today. Only an author who has been an eyewitness to this ideological rule can paint a picture for Americans of how important it is to protect our Constitutional rights and liberties before they are stripped away from us.

Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America


Beth Holmgren - 2011
    Within a year Modrzejewska made her debut in the title role of Adrienne Lecouvreur at San Francisco's California Theatre. She changed her name to Modjeska and quickly became a leading star on the American stage, where she reigned for the next 30 years. During this time, she established herself as America's most esteemed Shakespearean actress, playing opposite such celebrated actors as Edwin Booth and Maurice Barrymore. Starring Madame Modjeska traces Modjeska's fabulous life and career from her illegitimate birth in Krakow, to her successive reinventions of herself as a star in both Poland and America, and finally to her enduring legacy.

A Military Government in Exile: The Polish Government in Exile 1939-1945, a Study of Discontent


Evan McGilvray - 2011
    The relationship was extremely difficult owing to the extremity of the time and the situations of the two governments. Before 1939 there had been little contact between Poland and Britain, however between 1939 and 1945 the two countries were joined in a common desire for the military defeat of Germany: this was virtually the only common goal that the two governments shared. Polish ambitions to see Poland restored to its pre-war frontiers were not shared with the major allies (Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union) after 1941.The question of differing objectives caused friction between the Western allies, the Soviet Union and the Polish Government-in-Exile. As hosts the British Government was able to control the Polish Government-in-Exile but frequently found that the demands of the Soviet Government on the latter difficult to justify, although the British did so in order to maintain the unity of the alliance against Germany. However, the Polish Government-in-Exile failed to recognize its true position in the alliance: it was very much a junior partner - just another minor European power and irritant. Another problem in the relationship between the British Government and the Polish Government-in-Exile was, what kind of government was it? Between 1926 and 1939 Poland had been ruled by a military clique and the signs were that in exile very little had changed in the mindset of many Poles, especially those military officers who arrived in exile after 1939. This situation vexed the British Government, which sought to work with democratically-minded Poles, but found this pool to be limited owing to the continuing political influence of the Polish military in exile. This attitude worsened as the war progressed until eventually the Polish Government-in-Exile lost any relevance in the war against Germany.Making full use of unpublished material and Polish sources, this is a detailed and lucid contribution to modern Polish and European history, including much information concerning the creation of the Polish Army following the end of the First World War, and the politics of the Army during the 1920s and 1930s, besides detailed coverage of its political role during the Second World War.