A Partisan from Vilna (Jews of Poland) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

In his Introduction, Antony Polonsky alludes to WWI-era Jewish conduct that tended to support the premise that Polish Jews were politically opportunistic, and lacking natural loyalty to Poland. He writes: "The Poles effectively lost power in the region after the Uprising of 1830 and after 1863 the Tsarist authorities attempted to undermine Polish influence in the region. Those Jews who sought to escape from their inferior status saw no reason to take on the disabilities to which the Poles were now subject." (p. 14). Also: "Polish society in Vilna was strongly nationalistic and relations between Poles and Jews here were tense and were exacerbated by the fact that a significant proportion of the Jewish elite here had been Russified in the nineteenth century and that a section of the Jewish leadership had supported the incorporation of the town into Lithuania in response to Lithuanian promises of far-reaching Jewish autonomy." (p. 17).

Polonsky discusses the 1944 massacre of Poles in the village of Koniuchy [Kaniukai], by Soviet-Jewish bands. (pp. 41-42). He tries to downplay the number of Jewish participants as "under a hundred" in comparison with 400 Russians. He also repeats the falsehood about Koniuchy being a center of collaborationist police and of resistance to partisans (p. 42, 49), but correctly concludes that: "As so often happen in such incidents, there were also many innocent victims". (p. 42).

The Introduction has an interesting account of Yitzhak Arad, the former head of Yad Vashem, and onetime Jewish partisan and NKVD member. He faced investigation for possible war crimes--until external pressure stopped the investigation. (pp. 49-50; see also p. 514).

In the remainder of the book, Margolis describes her experiences before WWII, the German-Soviet attack on Poland, Soviet rule, Nazi invasion, Holocaust, her guerrilla life, and decades-later visits to the area. She includes many personal details, and these sometimes make it hard to follow the events taking place.

Poles aided Jews in various ways. Some Poles brought food to Jews for payment, while other Poles brought food to Jews out of compassion. (p. 288). During the German occupation, Margolis stayed with Poles for quite a while. (pp. 267-283; see also p. 17). Unlike Jan T. Gross and his fans, who belittle the German-imposed death penalty for aid to Jews, Holocaust-survivor Margolis does not. She concludes: "Only now did I understand how much effort and self-abasement went into the arrangements that were made for me with the Poles; no one wanted to keep Jews in their home and put their lives in danger." (pp. 285-286).

Some dangers faced by Nazi-evading Jews were obvious, while others were not. Fugitive Jews had to fear informers, including Jewish informers. (p. 286, 288).

Margolis was an internationalist (p. 429), and active Communist. (e. g., p. 149). Her Communist sentiments are obvious from her attitudes towards Poland: "I hated bourgeois Poland, but even more so I hated Smetona's Lithuania with its strange language." (p. 224).

While a guerrilla, the author was shocked out of her rosy view of Communism and the Soviet Union by the attitudes of Soviet partisans that she had encountered. They complained that their ranks already had "too many Jews", that Jews were cowards, etc. (pp. 406-407). Margolis also alluded to combat between the pro-Communist guerrillas and the A. K. (Armia Krajowa, Polish Home Army).(p. 468, 478).

Margolis' overall portrayal of Poles is mixed. On one hand, she repeats Yitzhak's Shamir's crass Polonophobic remark about Poles "imbibing anti-Semitism with their mother's milk" (p. 506), and makes unsubstantiated accusations of the A. K. killing fugitive Jews. (p. 468). On the other hand, she realizes that Poles suffered greatly under the Nazis (losing 2 million civilians)(p. 507), and that members of the A. K. [along with not a few other Poles] were shot and buried alongside the Jews at Ponary (p. 487). She recognizes the fact that Poles should not be demonized for the Holocaust (p. 508), and that more Poles are honored at Yad Vashem for aiding Jews than members of any other nationality. (p. 507).

Rachel Margolis has written a beautifully evocative memoir of her early life in Vilna, leading up to her becoming an anti-Nazi partisan in the forest. Her deeply felt, intimate memories of her girlhood bring prewar Vilna to life in the most affecting way. Her love of flowers and pine-scented forests, music, discussion, food... her honesty and humility... her unsentimental but loving portraits of people who perished... all provide an extremely powerful prelude to the terror-filled months in the forest. I've read many Holocaust-era memoirs, but I don't think any were so effective as this one in tracing the progression from ordinary girl to guerrilla fighter. The detailed picture of prewar life makes vivid the magnitude of what was lost when Vilna's Jewish community was destroyed. Very highly recommended.

Rachel Margolis is a Jewish icon in the former and recent history of Vilnius, Lithuania (Vilna), and the founder of The Green House Holocaust Museum.

In this memoir she paints a detailed, descriptive, and evocative picture of life growing up in Jewish Vilna in the years prior to WWII, and this is the greatest asset of the 542-page tome. Significant weaknesses exist in her narratives on life in the Vilna Ghetto and on the lives and missions of the Jewish Partisans.

Other books on the Vilna Ghetto and the Partisans are more thorough, informative, and exacting in explaining chronology and key events. It is a shock and disappointment that the author fails entirely to share how she and her husband finally came out of Rudnicki Forest, where they were when Vilna fell from the stronghold of the Nazis, and how they returned to Vilna and began their new life outside of hiding. The story seems strangely unfinished. Had I not known many details of this story (those that are missing in this account), I would have found this a greater letdown.

Editorially, this memoir reads as though it had neither editor nor proofreader and is both messy and confusing. The endless typographical errors, misspellings, erroneous names, dropped words, elided words, and lack of punctuation appear from the outset and grow steadily more prevalent. It first becomes astounding, then just plain irritating. There are numerous cases where passing comments or mundane thoughts are repeated verbatim within a page or two, causing the reader to question if one is actually imagining this.

At the outset the Vilnius streets are presented in pre-war Polish names with footnotes in poorly spelled Lithuanian. After Vilnius is returned to Lithuanian autonomy, Vilnius streets are then presented in Lithuanian names with no footnotes, and without telling the reader why. Later in the book the street names are presented randomly in Polish or Lithuanian with no rationale. In the "Afterword", the author's cousin erroneously references the Vilna Ghetto FPO's first Commander as "Wickenstein" whereas the correct name is "Isaac Wittenberg".

I would not recommend this memoir. Other available books on the subject are more of an interesting read and cover more territory in less pages. The publisher, Academic Studies Press, should be ashamed to print such a sloppy and cavalier piece of publishing!