A personal depiction of life in Poland set against the Nazi and Soviet takeovers of Europe and their cataclysmic aftermaths. It is the compelling memoir of Alexander Kimel, taking him from a shtetl in the Polish Ukraine to a Nazi ghetto to liberation. It is also the harrowing story of his wife, Eva, whose father is murdered in the “Holocaust by Bullets.” A dialog across generations with narrative written by their son, the book is a rare portrayal of Jewish survivors who remained in Communist Poland after the war. It is a story of the many challenges they faced and the life they built together after quitting Poland in 1956 for Israel, ultimately emigrating to America. By including the stories of other family members, the book also provides a panoramic view of Polish Jewry before, during, and after the war.
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Co-Author’s Note on the Use of Yizkor Books and Rohatyn Memoirs
Zachor—Remember, a Holocaust Prayer, by Alex Kimel
Part 1: Alex’s Memoir, Edited and Annotated
Chapter 1—The Shtetl
Chapter 2—Shtetl Life and the Mystery of the Survival of the Jewish People
Chapter 3—My World Collapses
Chapter 4—The Russians: Podhajce Becomes a “Workers’ Paradise”
Chapter 5—Refugees in Rohatyn
Chapter 6—The Germans, the Ukrainians, and the Pogrom (Summer, 1941)
Chapter 7—The Judenrat (Jewish Council)
Chapter 8—First, the Ghetto, Then Awful News
Chapter 9—The Labor Camp: Skipping Out on Skalat
Chapter 10—The First Action (March 1942)
Chapter 11—Building a Bunker, Breaking the Ice (Literally), and My Burning Shame
Chapter 12—The Yom Kippur Action (September 1942)
Chapter 13—Caught Again: The December Action (1942)
Chapter 14—The Baby and the Bunker
Chapter 15—My Mother Dies
Chapter 16—Luba Goes to Podhajce
Chapter 17—An Unpleasant Surprise
Chapter 18—The Resistance Group/“The Hope”
Chapter 19—Escape and Liquidation (May–June 1943)
Chapter 20—In Hiding
Chapter 21—The Final Ordeal, Then . . . Liberation!
Chapter 22—Our Return to Civilization
Part 2: Eva’s Story of Life, Death, and Survival, by Martin Kimel
Chapter 23—Fleeing Radom (September 1939)
Chapter 24—Ludwipol (Summer 1941)
Chapter 25—The Nazis Murder Eva’s Father
Chapter 26—Into the Woods
Chapter 27—Liberation . . . Then Bitter Tears
Chapter 28—Some Reunions in Łódż: “Everyone’s Been Killed”
Chapter 29—The Destruction of Jewish Radom
Chapter 30—“Radom-in-Exile” and Motek’s Murder
Chapter 31—Antisemitism: From Łódż to Legnica
Part 3: Alexander and Eva Kimel
Chapter 32—1956: Quitting Poland for Israel: A Knife in Eva’s Heart
Chapter 33—Starting over yet Again in a New Country: Israel to America
Chapter 34—1967: Poland Denies Eva’s Request to Attend Her Stepfather’s Funeral
Chapter 35—The “Refugees” Achieve the American Dream—Awe and Gratitude from the Next Generation
We Will Never Forget—Auschwitz, by Martin Kimel
Holocaust Lamentations, by Alexander Kimel
Relatives Known to Have Perished in the Holocaust
Maps and Photographs
Bibliography
About the Authors
Endnotes
Index
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