Articles written by: Irene Tomaszewski

Irene Tomaszewski

Irene Tomaszewski is a writer and editor of CR. She is the co-author, with Tecia Werbowski, of "Codename Żegota: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Occupied Europe," published by Praeger in 2010, and translator /editor of "Inside a Gestapo Prison: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska" published by Wayne State University Press in 2005.

The Zookeeper’s Wife
2017 Vol. 9 No. 1—Spring / Films

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Book reviews are usually assigned to reviewers who know something about the subject at hand. Film reviews? Not so much. So CR takes a look at The Zookeeper’s Wife… and also some of the reviews.

OJCU – To My Father
2016 Vol. 8 No. 1—Winter / Films

OJCU – To My Father

In 1938, a little girl, Alina Bandrowska, saw her father arrested by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. He never returned.

Polska Dotty  2
2016 Vol. 8 No. 1—Winter / Books

Polska Dotty 2

Back in 1999, Lipman sailed his little ship in the (mostly) smooth Polish sea. Back in London, they happily welcomed the EU-Polish immigrants. But the once smooth English Sea is getting increasingly turbulent. Not that the Polish sea has remained calm.

Welcome to Spring 2016!
2016 Vol. 8 No. 2—Spring

Welcome to Spring 2016!

Welcome to Springtime in Africa. Yes, there are seasons there, not so pronounced perhaps, but the blossoms on their jacaranda trees are as welcome as are crocuses in northern climates. Commentary, books, films, and a new podcast.

Lilac Girls
2016 Vol. 8 No. 2—Spring / Books

Lilac Girls

Martha Hall Kelly’s novel is based on the true story of Caroline Ferriday, a New York socialite who brings Polish Ravensbruck survivors to America for treatment. And locates the criminal Dr. Herta Oberheuser.

Introducing… POLcast
2016 Vol. 8 No. 2—Spring

Introducing… POLcast

Tune in to the lively new podcast for a weekly series of great stories and interviews on topics ranging from serious to funny, quirky to obscure with Toronto’s Małgorzata Bonikowska and Tomek Kniat.

Young Karski at the start of his diplomatic career
2016 Vol. 8 No. 2—Spring / Films

Karski and the Lords of Humanity

“Tell your people that they have a friend in the White House.” But the genocide continued, and in the end the friend gave Karski’s country to Stalin.

Childhood Denied
2016 Vol. 8 No. 2—Spring / Films

Childhood Denied

Myra Dziama’s gentle film is mostly about childhood restored, with love and understanding. And the “custody battle” launched in the UN by Moscow’s Poland for the children who chose Canada.

Welcome to Winter 2016!
Books

Welcome to Winter 2016!

Welcome to Winter at CR, wherever you are. Chicago, Warsaw, California or on a dramatic journey across several continents. And maybe a bit of time travel — the 17th, the 20th and the 21st centuries.

Generals Sikorski & Anders in Iran, 31 km to Tehran, 4371 to Warsaw
Books

Trail of Hope: The Anders Army, an Odyssey Across Three Continents

This is a war story that unites the fate of soldiers and civilians. Thank you, Norman Davies, for gathering the memoirs, the photographs, and the historian’s details, and telling the story with such élan. Now where’s the young historian who will break new ground and write a scholarly work on this neglected subject?

Remembrance, Commemoration, Education, and Celebrating Life
Books

Remembrance, Commemoration, Education, and Celebrating Life

The Canadian segment of the March of the Living and the March of Remembrance and Hope, under the direction of Eli Rubenstein, commemorates, educates and celebrates life with love and respect for all people in our troubled world.

Three Films at the EUFF
Films

Three Films at the EUFF

Poland’s “Bogowie” is a very exciting cardiology story. Really! Finland/Estonia’s “The Fencer” is about the graceful – but oh, so bourgeois – art of fencing. And a quirky doc about Shakespeare.

Emancipated Women
2015 Vol. 7 No. 3 — Fall / Books

Emancipated Women

Poland’s 19th century novelist, Bolesław Prus, not only championed the emancipation of women but – thoroughly modern man that he was – identified the problem beyond manners and mores. It’s the economy, ladies! He was a pretty good storyteller too. Stephanie Kraft translates, Irene Tomaszewski reviews.