Life in the Warsaw Ghetto: A Way People Live Book by Gail Stewart

The words of witnesses add compelling interest to this focused, in-depth history of what happened to one Jewish community under the Nazis. Most books on the Warsaw ghetto are about the final uprising, but Stewart shows that the brave rebellion came after long, terrible years of racist oppression and suffering, part of the general Nazi program of genocide.

She describes the everyday violence in the streets of Warsaw, the starvation, overcrowding, and disease; as the walls went up around the Jewish ghetto, more and more people were crowded inside to die there, education was forbidden, and thousands were transported to the gas chambers.

Candid about the vicious Jewish police and the profiteers who collaborated with the Nazis, she also tells astonishing stories of heroism and endurance: the hidden schools and libraries, the bonds of extended family and community, the role of individuals. Unfortunately, the two-column, magazine-style page design is crowded, but the text is broken up by small black-and-white photos and boxed quotes.

The documentation is exemplary, with chapter notes and references to the best books on the subject and a long, annotated bibliography for all those who will want to read further. A most promising start to a new The Way People Live series and a fine addition to the Holocaust history shelves. Hazel Rochman

Book Overview

Describes life in the section of Warsaw where Polish Catholics & Polish Jews were confined by the Nazis in the early 1940s

From School Library Journal

Beginning with a brief overview of Hitler's grand scheme and his rise to power, Stewart covers the Nazi takeover of Poland and the systematic persecution of Jews, particularly in the Warsaw ghetto. The author is careful to present the impact of Nazi occupation on the country, and cites examples of historical Polish anti-Semitism and the manner in which the Nazis manipulated the Poles into helping destroy the Jewish population. Original source material from diaries is heavily quoted in sidebars. All facts and photographs are documented. The black-and-white photos are, unfortunately, poorly reproduced and the writing, with the exception of the primary sources, is rather dry.

Details on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a significant piece of the ghetto's history, is difficult to access through the index and given no particular weight in the text. All the information here can be found in other books dealing with the Holocaust, but report writers will find it convenient to have it all in one place.