An excellent first hand story of a woman determined to survive the Holocaust. A true pioneer in her day! A story you will not want to put down.

In responding to Elaine Lisandrelli's book Ignacy Jan Paderewski Polish Painist Patriot (Champions of Freedom) I would like to first say thankyou to the author for giving me this wonderful book. I have known Mrs. Lisandrelli for a very long time and in that time I have been left with a very wonderful impression from her that will never leave me. Mrs. Lisandrelli came into my life as my 7th grade English Teacher. She is a fantastic teacher and a wonderful friend to me. In regaurds to her book the book was the most fantastic story I ever read. I extremley enjoyed the use of words and the story behind it.

When I was in 7th grade and in her classroom her teaching was so perfect in every way. She knew how to build a students life and courage up into the clouds to study well and be the best that person could be. I for one am one of them. I am a person who will never forget her. Mrs. Lisandrelli means the world to me and always will.

When I graduated in the year 2000 I knew then it was a time to go on with life and leave my childhood years behind me. My school, my friends there, ETC. But the one person I kept in my heart and still have there to this day is Elaine Lisandrelli who taught me everything I know. I have had other English Teachers thru my school years but not one of them was like her.

It is now the year 2002 and soon to be 2003 and I can still hear her voice teaching me and facing all the troubles I had right along with me. She never left my side and was always there when I needed her.

So I say this now and will never forget it. Thankyou Mrs. Lisandrelli for all U have done for me. I grew up and I became one of a kind and that is with all thanks to you. My teacher, My Friend

Love Brooke

During World War II, Heinrich Jost was a sergeant in the German Army stationed near Warsaw, Poland when he became curious about the corpses he had seen lying along the walls of the Jewish Ghetto. An amateur photographer, Heinrich took his Rolleiflex camera into the Ghetto in September 1941 (unaware of the situation that awaited him there) and spontaneously shot several rolls of film taking pictures of street vendors and corpse carriers, dying children and well-dressed women. He had no inkling that his photographs would become a vital document of the history of the Ghetto and the dire circumstances of its Jewish population brought about by implementation of the Nazi holocaust. Heinrich kept his prints hidden for decades without showing them to anyone. Then in 1982, he personally handed the photographs over to Gunther Schwarberg, then a reporter for the German magazine "Stern". Schwarberg gave the photographs to the Jerusalem Documentation Center Yad Vashem, where they were exhibited in the spring of 1988 and then sent on exhibition around the world. In The Ghetto Of Warsaw is the first time that Heinrich Jost's photographs have been published in their entirety along with his impressions and recollections as recounted to Gunther Schwarberg along side each picture. An essential addition to any personal, academic, or community library Holocaust studies collection, In The Ghetto Of Warsaw is a critically important and compelling document of both the ghetto and the atrocities of the Third Reich.

It is seldom that one can view the depth of a human soul written by such a talented author. The book reads like a novel but has the pull of truth. I found it difficult to put down and wanted to share the incredible experience with others. It is worth the time to find a copy of the book. But, I warn you, you will want to own the book after reading it.

What an outstanding resource! I am a college professor who takes groups of students to Poland in the summer. I have done this for the past 3 years. I always want them to know enough about the history and culture of Poland so they understand the country while we are there. I have chosen this book as the "textbook" for this summer's "Summer Study Abroad." I am also very happy that there is a new 2000 edition since Poland (and all of eastern Europe) changes almost daily since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

I know that some other professors would say "Oh - it's not scholarly enough." True - but I would rather have them know what Insight provides about the culture than to assign a text that is so esoteric that they won't read anything about it. Insight Poland provides me with just such a book - they read it and like it!

The narratives about the country are great, the pictures of the culture are wonderful, and the travel information is enough so anyone could get around Poland effectively.

Most of all, I know that the students will read it. Why? Because it catches their attention and keeps them involved in the descriptions - whether it's history or architecture or music or art or food! Not all textbooks we assign meet with such success, that's for sure!

I also have provided this book to some of my colleagues who will be traveling there this Spring. In doing so, they also mentioned how much they have liked every Insight Guide they have used - which is three or four - and were very happy to know that there is one for Poland.

Buy it - you'll like it!

I really enjoyed this book! It is an intriguing story and vivid depiction of a place that no longer exists except in memory.

Overall it was highly readable, with a minor exception being that too many anecdotes took place in footnotes, which perhaps could have been included in the body of the text. There is a small amount of repetition; this is much more than made up for by the wealth of interesting details and insights about life in that town, how it changed over time, and then when invaded.

I think this book would be highly interesting to the general public and especially those who want to know more about: life in towns that were later destroyed by the Nazi's; life in provincial Polish towns/or Galicia before WWII; issues of rememberance and WWII; relations between peasants, Jews, Othodox, ultra-Orthodox, Zionists, and Christians/Catholics, Poles, Germans.

If you have any relatives that lived in or near Kolbuszowa, than it is an absolute, must-buy. I found it particularly intriguing and a valuable resource regarding family history and issues of memory of WWII, because I had relatives who died in that town and some who were able to leave before its occupation. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

This exhaustive collection of Kantor's writing on theater accompanied by an exhaustive biography of his life is a must-have for ANY (I repeat: ANY) person interested in avante-garde theater. His theories about representation and memory address some of the most important issues facing all theater workers. His work has been ignored for far too long.

Alfred Döblin was of Jewish origin himself, but his background was so secular that he couldn't really relate to his Jewishness. After some first pogroms in 1920s Germany, Döblin decides to travel to Poland to find out about the traditional Jewish way of life. Döblin is shocked. Life in the ghettos is horrible, the places are overcrowded and dirty. Most Jews lead a life completely apart from the Polish people around them. They didn't have the chance to lead a "normal" life, as they were discriminated against in a way which seems to be an early form of apartheid. This way of life must influence people's view of the world: Döblin is struck by the religious fanaticism, which he finds fascinating and repulsive at the same time.

Of course the book tells you a lot about the short-lived Polish Republic of the 1920s too, but the Jews are Döblin's main interest. He describes a civilization which was completely destroyed by the Nazis only a few years later. Of course Döblin's view is that of an outsider, but he is a highly civilzed and sympathetic outsider, and I am sure his picture is a lot more realistic than all those of idyllic Schtetels where bearded people are busy being merry and making music.

Professor Wyrozumski is a brilliant scholar and this book, like all the others, is just excellent. The scholar level is well balanced with comprehensible language, what makes the book useful for history students as well as people just interested in history. As Kazimierz Wielki is one of the best Polish kings and the one who the Poles tend to like best, in my opinion this book is a must for each Pole and every person interested in Polish history. And his dids are so well presented in this book, that it is a real pleasure to read.