Confession : the story of a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of Poland / Calek Perechodnik ; translated from the Polish by Jarosław Garliński ; edited by David Engel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Perechodnik, Calel, 1916-1944, author.

Contributor:

Yad ṿa-shem, rashut ha-zikaron la-Shoʼah ṿela-gevurah, issuing body.

Garliński, Jarosław, translator.

Engel, David (Professor), editor.

Standardized Title:

Czy ja jestem mordercą? Hebrew

Language:

English

Hebrew

Polish

Subjects (All):

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Otwock--Personal narratives.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists--Poland--Otwock.

World War, 1939-1945.

Jewish police officers--Poland--Otwock--History--20th century.

Jewish police officers.

Jews--Poland--Otwock--Biography.

Jews.

Jewish ghettos--Poland--Otwock.

Jewish ghettos.

Perechodnik, Calel, 1916-1944.

Perechodnik, Calel.

Otwock (Poland)--History.

Otwock (Poland).

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Personal narratives.

Physical Description:

353 pages, 7 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Jerusalem : Yad Vashem, [2026]

Notes:

First published in Polish by Ośrodek Karta, 2004.

"'Once again, I take hold of my pen, once again I sit down at the table to write... The process of our family's collapse with its inexorable consequences is reaching its end; all that remains for me is the sad task of the chronicler and final victim.' When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, agronomist Calek Perechodnik lived with his wife, Anka, in the small resort town of Otwock near Warsaw. The situation for local Jews deteriorated quickly, and soon, the Perechodniks with their infant daughter, Athalie, were forced to relocate to the newly established Otwock ghetto, where many Otwock Jews were stripped of their livelihoods. To keep his family alive, Calek joined the Jewish Ghetto Police. In August 1942, as the ghetto was liquidated, Perechodnik believed assurances that his position would protect his family, and so he brought Anka and Athalie to the assembly point, only to realize too late that he had been deceived. His wife and daughter were deported to Treblinka and murdered. Left behind with the other Jewish policemen, Perechodnik blamed himself for his family's death. After escaping into hiding, he wrote his unflinching account of wartime events, addressing them directly to his wife and daughter whom he could not save. Calek Perechodnik perished during the Warsaw Uprising, leaving only his manuscript and the hope that his testimony would one day be published. His brother, who survived the war, later entrusted the manuscript to the Yad Vashem Archives. This new English publication of Confession fulfills Calek Perechodnik's hope. Edited with the utmost precision by Professor David Engel, this faithful translation from the original manuscript presents Perechodnik's stark and haunting testimony in full, exactly as he left it--raw, unaltered, and impossible to forget"--Back cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789653087224

9653087223

OCLC:

1561449008

Publisher Number:

90104345971