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A Warsaw Ghetto Diary

(Jerusalem Post) Etgar Lefkovits - The only known diary written during the 27-day Warsaw Ghetto uprising was recently uncovered at the Ghetto Fighters' House at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot. The diary, which begins April 24, 1943, five days after the uprising began, and continues for 10 days, provides a harrowing account of a group of dozens of unarmed people, young and old, hiding in fear in their confined bunker, all too aware of the certain death that awaits them. Surrounded by the well-armed Nazis, the group finds itself slowly running out of food and with no running water as more and more people try to cram inside, with lice and disease rampant in the overcrowded bunker which is eventually enveloped by flames. "A hand grenade explodes nearby. A deep silence fills the room. The enemy surrounds the house, looking for us. Our sole method of defense is complete and utter silence." "Grenades are thrown at the house. People inside behave bravely. With complete tranquility they look death in the eye," she writes on May 2, the last full day of the diary. "The Germans are shooting every Jew they find." "Hell has come to earth. Dante's Inferno. It is unbelievable and indescribable."
2004-12-10 00:00:00
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