Alan Adelson

This is an EXCELLENT collection of primary source documents relating to the history of the Lodz ghetto, including photographs (some are even in color), texts of speeches, diary entries, private letters, fragments of the official Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, published bulletins and more. I was amazed by the variety of content here. Included is what appears to be the full text of the Anonymous Boy whose Lodz diary was found in the ruins of Auschwitz -- something I'd always wanted to read, I'd show more only seen fragments of it before. The documents are strictly limited to the ghetto itself: there are none about events on the Aryan side of Lodz, or any from any of the death camps the Lodz Jews were deported to.

These documents are simply presented, without commentary, for the reader to form their own opinions from. There is an afterword, however, discussing the ghetto's controversial chairman, Mordecai Chaim Rumkowski, and what his intentions were and how much he knew and whether he did more good or harm. The afterword tends to be pretty sympathetic to Rumkowski, pointing out that if he failed to save the Lodz ghetto, none of the chairmen in the other ghettos fared any better.

I would highly recommend this book to any serious scholar of the Holocaust, separately or in conjunction with other books on Lodz. show less

I am not one of those whodunit Kennedy conspiracy buffs. This was a book I picked up via a roll of the dice (third shelf row, 2nd shelf from bottom, count 12 books, voila) while browsing in a secondhand bookshop.

I am happy the dice rolled the way they did, for I had a difficult time putting this book down. Perhaps because I did not start reading with any bias concerning the Kennedy Assassination, the story really entranced me, as it describes the man who always seems to be left out of the show more picture...Jack Ruby, the man who gunned down Oswald.

Really, the only one who knows the truth was Ruby, and he is long-dead, but this book does a fairly decent job of laying out the theory that Ruby's action was a non-planned feat, not as part of some major conspiracy. He left his beloved dog waiting in his car, which would usually mean he meant to return. Maybe, maybe not? Still, the story is a page-turner. Thanks, dice.

Book Season = Summer show less

NO OF PAGES: 0 SUB CAT I: Holocaust SUB CAT II: History SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: Lodz Ghetto is a film which crosses through time, bringing us into the past by mixing modern and vintage footage in a seamless, dream-like way. It is filled with poignant images of daily life among people who will not give up their love of family. 118 min.NOTES: SUBTITLE: Powerful. Darkly Eloquent. Almost Unbearable Suspense.

"Here are the private journals of people trapped in a besieged and doomed city-- a 'collected consciousness' of written remnants from the longest-lasting concentration camp of Jews in Nazi Europe, illustrated with more than 200 photographs, many in full color." This excerpt is taken from the back cover of the book.