Hello ,Life in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II is no uplifting topic. But it's what I'm reading and writing about throughout November. I'll have no trouble feeling grateful when Thanksgiving comes.
You may remember a blog post I wrote about Irena Sendler earlier this year, a young woman who rescued children from certain death in the Warsaw
Ghetto. Click here if you missed it...
Would You Read this Book? |
These are the kinds of kids Irena Sendler saved, sneaking them past guards at the ghetto checkpoint and
finding them safe places to live in occupied Poland. During the Nazi regime a Jew could be shot on sight in the streets of Warsaw, just for being a Jew.
Below: Two girls in a park at 127 Leszno Sreet, courtesy Yad Vashem Photo Archives FA 36/2069. The vast potential for human beings to act with love and self-sacrifice will be essence of the book I'm working on. It will focus on the amazing good that a small group of people can do while surrounded by evil.
But there are moments when the
horror and grief settle in my stomach, begging me to turn away from this material.
I think to myself, surely it's time to stop for lunch. I can turn my mind to washing lettuce or re-heating leftovers. No.
I force my eyes to focus on the page, but they fall closed, my limbs grow cold, as if all my body’s energy is gathered in my gut, gathering strength to thrust out the
invader.
Thrust out the facts I learned today about Aktion Erntefest, the German code word meaning Operation Harvest Festival, November 3, 1943, in occupied Poland—43,000 Jews; men, women and children, the largest Nazi
massacre on record—this knowledge cannot be borne without everything in me protesting, every cell crying out. This story is beyond what the body and mind can comprehend about being human.
I choke down the bile that rises in my throat, but I let the tears come, they are the least I can do, the softest protest I let my body make, before I place my fingers back on the keys and decide on words to describe the atrocity. I use the dictionary to
try and find them.
Atrocity? “the quality or state of being atrocious” Atrocious? “extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, or brutal” Wicked? "evil or morally bad in principle or practice; sinful; iniquitous" Iniquitous? "characterized by injustice or wickedness; wicked; sinful" Sinful? "characterized by,
guilty of, or full of sin; wicked"
The words come back around on one another like a dog chasing it’s tail Wicked seems the best I can do. Look at these soldiers faces.
Germans assigned to blow up the bunkers where the Jews were hiding, together with Jews that had been removed from one of the bunkers; during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, apparently on May 8, 1943. Yad Vashem Photo Archives 2807/50
I
go back to the page, the paragraph that needs to be written, and I’m looking for another distraction. I wonder, can I quit for the day? No. I’m working on a tight deadline. Today, this is my work as a writer. This is work I've chosen. And I'm more convinced than ever that it's necessary to write about people like Irena Sendler, people who had the moral courage to actively defy the Nazis.
I'll have details to share with you soon
about this book, as well as one more book I'm writing about WWII. After that, I'll be looking for some new topics. Maybe something on the lighter side. Thank you for being here! Your support means a lot to me. If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter, please
forward this e-mail. I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe below anytime with a single mouse click. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teachers and librarians, visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. My
best, Mary
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