Research Catalog

Title

Such a beautiful sunny day-- : Jews seeking refuge in the Polish countryside, 1942-1945 / Barbara Engelking ; translated from the Polish by Jerzy Michalowicz.

Author

Engelking, Barbara, 1962-

Publication

• Jerusalem : Yad Vashem, the International Institute for Holocaust Research, the center for research on the Holocaust in Poland, [2016]
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Michalowicz, Jerzy
• International Institute for Holocaust Research, publisher.

Description

368 pages; 23 cm

Summary

"In this groundbreaking study, Professor Barbara Engelking sheds light on an aspet of the Holocaust in Poland that has not been thoroughly discussed. While many books have been dedicated to the suffering and murder of Jews in the ghettos and various camps, relatively little is known about the struggle of those who managed to escape to the Polish countryside and the threats and challenges they faced. Jewish refugees tried to hide in distant areas, further awat from the tightening grip of the ocupier. Some of them found shelter with a local farmer, some managed to create hiding placed in the forest. Ultimately, however, many encountered a hostile environment of local Poles ready to denounce them to the Germans or to participate in manhunts for rewards. 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, as did the possibility of deadly reprisals against them and their familes. Based on a large number of survivors' accounts and never-before cited documents from post-war trials, this important book tells the untold story of Jewish struggle for survival in a complex landscape of fear, betrayal and death." --

Uniform Title

Jest taki piękny słoneczny dzień-- English

Alternative Title

Jest taki piękny słoneczny dzień--

Subject

• 1900-1999
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Poland
• Jewish refugees > Poland > History > 20th century
• Holocaust survivors > Poland > History > 20th century
• Jews > Persecutions > History > Poland > 20th century
• Jews
• Jews > Persecutions
• Juden
• Judenverfolgung
• Judenvernichtung
• Rettung
• Versteck
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Rescue > Poland
• World War, 1939-1945 > Collaborationists > Poland
• Jews > Persecutions > Poland
• Jews > Poland > History > 20th century
• Poland > Ethnic relations
• Poland
• Polen

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-345) and index.

Contents

Part 1. In hiding -- How could one sleep when such annihilation awaited? : uprooting -- I know where I am going; you go ahead and save yourself : taking flight -- Every day I stayed in a different village and spent each night in a different barn : roaming around in search of shelter -- In the cellar, in the attic, in the chimney, in the field : hiding -- Go away, can't you see that calamity can strike me too? : helping, refusing to help, and throwing out -- Lady, give [us] this kerchief off your head, you are going to your death anyway : Jewish belongings -- I kept myself afloat by hard labor : sources of livelihood -- He was a completely primitive human being : the image of the peasant in the eyes of Jews seeking rescue -- Part 2. Doomed -- The peasants walked toward us with axes and scythes : manhunts -- You've lived long enough; come to the Germans : handing over -- It was difficult to convince them to let us go : two steps away from death -- The mystery of my existence will be solved : one step away from death -- We don't want anything from you except your lives! : death -- Conclusion.

ISBN

• 9789653085411
• 9653085417

LCCN

• 2020460957
• 026800009432

OCLC

• ocn980316684
• 980316684
• SCSB-8891955

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library