Escape from the Pit : A Woman's Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Poland, 1939-1943 / Renia Kukielka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kukielka, Renia, author.

Series:

Excelsior editions.

Excelsior Editions Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kukielka, Renya, 1924-2014.

Kukielka, Renya.

Holocaust survivors.

Jewish ghettos.

Wodzisław (Poland)--Biography.

Wodzisław (Poland).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2023]

Summary:

At the end of 1944, while World War II was still raging, nineteen-year-old Renia Kukielka published her Hebrew language memoir about the Holocaust. The account may well be the first of its kind. In her powerful and raw story, she portrays life in the ghettos and her three years of wandering in disguise as a Polish Catholic, trying to escape from the German onslaught. She also recounts how she served for almost a year as a courier between ghettos for the Zionist youth movement's underground cell in Bendzin, carrying weapons, money, and messages, until she was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943. She was tortured in a high-security prison, but, after a daring escape, she was able to flee to British Mandate Palestine with other members of the resistance.Kukielka's memoir manages to combine both immediacy and hindsight. It stands out for its descriptions of life and activities outside of the ghettos and concentration camps in wartime Poland and for its focus on Zionist youth resistance to the Holocaust. It also provides a somewhat rare female perspective on the Holocaust and offers insight into how much was known about the scale of the Nazi atrocities during the war. Following the book's initial publication in Hebrew in 1944, an unauthorized English-language edition was published in the United States in 1947. The present expanded text includes a scholarly introduction, notes, and a historical afterword, which help to explain and contextualize Kukielka's personal account.Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Foreword to the 1947 English-Language Edition

"Autobiographical" Note to the 1947 English-Language Edition1

Acknowledgments

Introduction

German Invasion

Polish Antisemitism

Youth Groups and Resistance

Escape to Slovakia

Chapter One: The First Years

War Begins

September 1939

The Ghetto

In Flight

Mass Deportations

Chapter Two: Homeless

Last Days at Home

August-November 1942

On the Road

September 12, 1942

Life in Disguise

Arrival at Bendzin

Chapter Three: The Bendzin Kibbutz

How the Deported Jews Were Destroyed

From November 1, 1942, to Deportation

Removal to the Kamionka Ghetto

Preparing for the Defense of the Ghetto

February 1, 1943

Clash with the Militia

February 1943

Hancia's Journey and the Battle in Warsaw

Smuggling of Arms and Reports from Warsaw

Comrades Are Being Deported

Hershel's Return

We Try to Join the Partisans

My Last Trip to Warsaw

General Deportation

August 1, 1943

The Battle of the Ghetto: My Comrades' End

A Narrow Escape

Chapter Four: In the Toils of the Gestapo

An Unsuccessful Journey

Last Days with Ilsa

Torture

Four Months in Myslowice

I Meet Sarah Again

Chapter Five: Rescue

The Escape

The Story of a Shelter

We Find a Way Out

We Cross the Border

A Short Stay in Slovakia

News about Paul Banasik's Death in the Bunker

The Road to Hungary: On the Verge of Immigration

We Go to Palestine

Gallery of Photographs

Afterword: Life after Escape

Notes

Index

Notes:

Originally published in Hebrew in 1944, this fascinating and moving account may well be the first memoir of the Holocaust.

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Kukielka, Renia Escape from the Pit

ISBN:

9781438494791

1438494793

OCLC:

1405367268