Joshua Zimmerman’s groundbreaking book carries out “two fundamental tasks of the historian: restoring the buried sense of historical contingency and recognizing the human proportion of experiences still painfully fresh.” Tom Frydel reviews.
It’s a big year for commemorations in Poland this year. We illuminate them with a photo essay, focusing mainly on the people behind the anniversary.
The memorial Centre in the German city of Halle Saale will unveil a monument to Krystyna Wituska, a young Polish prisoner executed on June 26, 1944, and two German authors will launch their book, Zelle Nr. 18: Eine Geschichte von Mut und Freundschaft (Cell No. 18: a History of bravery and friendship) to mark the 70th anniversary of her death.
Władysław Bartoszewski, whose archive is a major source for Warsaw 1944, an impressive new book about the Warsaw Uprising, is an unapologetic patriot, a modest hero, and a man dedicated to peace.
Jan Karski is a hero not just for our times but for all times, says Irene Tomaszewski as she recalls her first meeting with the modest hero. He represents the best in humanity and the collective will of a nation that would not submit.
• Code Name: Żegota: Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe
• Warsaw Spring
• A Hint of Rain
• Quiet Hero
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