I also recommend researching Kazik (Simcha Rotem, formerly Ratajzer), who "served as the head courier of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), which planned and executed the Warsaw ghetto uprising".
Kazik still lives in Jerusalem, and the student may be able to communicate with him directly; though I haven't seen him in twenty years and I'm not sure about his health. He lost most of his family and managed to escape the Warsaw Ghetto, but chose to return which would be a difficult choice to make. Since he did not look particularly Jewish, and spoke an accent-less Polish, he could pass, and used the sewer system to exit and re-enter the ghetto. He is truly a remarkable, and lovely, person. He wrote his memoir: Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto fighter: the past within me / Simha Rotem (Kazik); translated from the Hebrew and edited by Barbara Harshav, New Haven: Yale University Press: 1994. There were at least two film productions that incorporated his story; one is available on YouTube: Uprising (2001) with Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer, Jon Voigt, Donald Sutherland and more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fT5MBHWZpY And several interviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2PPAw-nvno http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwL4lXiSh2I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcha_Rotem http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/cms/news/2305,a-book-about-kazik-ratajzer/ _______________________________ On Mar 17, 2014, at 12:52 PM, Ilka Gordon <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Safranim, > > I have a patron in 11th grade who emailed me the following question: " Do you > have any recommendations regarding books that depict people who lived through > the holocaust and had to make difficult decisions that can only be understood > given the historical circumstances?" I assume she want s nonfiction. Does > anyone have any suggestions? > > > > Thanks, > > Ilka Gordon > On Site Director, Aaron Garber Library > phone : 216-212-4116 > [email protected] > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html > Earlier Listserver: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html > AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
