Communist Poland

Sara Nomberg-Przytyk

doi:10.5771/9781498577519

Communist Poland

A Jewish Woman's Experience

1. Edition 2022

No access

doi.org/10.5771/9781498577519
ISBN print: 978-1-4985-7750-2
ISBN online: 978-1-4985-7751-9
Lexington, Lanham Lexington, Lanham

Buy in store

Abstract

Communist Poland: A Jewish Woman’s Experience is the first-person account by Jewish journalist Sara Nomberg-Przytyk of surviving Auschwitz then rising to various leadership roles in the newly-formed postwar Polish Communist Party. Building a just and equitable Poland for the common Pole through communism was her dream. The reality was neither simple nor successful. Working for heavily censored newspapers and periodicals, Nomberg-Przytyk witnessed firsthand the inner workings of a communist government plagued by the same Kafkaesque bureaucracy and antisemitism that she had been certain it would fix. Her memoir provides a comprehensive account as she slowly changed from enthusiastic practitioner to witness of a system that failed her and many others. This is the first published edition of this text, originally recorded as oral testimony in Polish but translated into English by Paula Parsky, and includes a critical introduction by the co-editors, American and Polish academics Holli Levitsky and Justyna Włodarczyk, as well as extensive annotations.

Schlagworte

Polish Antisemitism Postwar Poland Six-Day War Jewish Communists Jews under Communism Communist Crimes Communist Propaganda The Holocaust

Chapter Expand | CollapsePage
Preface
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
1–12 Introduction 1–12
13–18 My First Day in the New Poland 13–18
19–24 A Piece of White Bread 19–24
25–28 An Armed Soldier at the Door of the Party Committee of Lublin 25–28
29–32 A Parade of People and Portraits 29–32
33–36 My First Victory 33–36
37–40 I Meet My Destined One 37–40
41–46 Small Candles Among the Ruins 41–46
47–52 Old Friends in the New Poland 47–52
53–56 The Kielce Pogrom 53–56
57–62 You Don’t Know Me 57–62
63–66 A New Job 63–66
67–70 Why We Needed a 99 Percent Majority in the Elections 67–70
71–76 Tell Me—Is It Possible? 71–76
77–82 The Miracle in Lublin 77–82
83–88 The Ruins of the War Will Disappear; In Their Places New Houses Will Stand 83–88
89–92 You Are Going to Die 89–92
93–96 I Want to, but My Wife Doesn’t 93–96
97–102 The Light in the Shadows of the New Times 97–102
103–106 Threat of Provocation Looming Over My Head 103–106
107–110 The Death of a Dictator 107–110
111–114 Nothing Has Changed—“The Jews Are Guilty” 111–114
115–120 Opportunism Wins Out 115–120
121–126 At the New Job 121–126
127–136 In the Chains of Bureaucracy 127–136
137–142 New Schools and Water in Peasant Houses—Optimistic Accents in the 1960s 137–142
143–150 Is This the Role of a Journalist in Poland? 143–150
151–154 My First Book 151–154
155–158 The Pillars of Samson 155–158
159–164 Jews in Auschwitz 159–164
165–172 The Six-Day War 165–172
173–178 Feelings of Terror and Insecurity Return 173–178
179–186 The Polish Spring of 1968 179–186
187–194 A Beilis-Like Trial Against My Husband 187–194
195–202 We Can No Longer Eat Bread Full of Worms 195–202
203–208 As Though After a Pogrom 203–208
209–216 The Last Stage of Our Exodus 209–216
217–224 On the Road 217–224
225–230 The Day of Escape for Jews in Poland 225–230
231–234 Epilogue 231–234
235–242 Index 235–242
243–244 About the Editors 243–244

Durchsuchen Sie das Werk

Geben Sie ein Keyword in die Suchleiste ein