by Carol Matas
April 19–May 16, 1943: Jewish fighters try to hold the ghetto, but are ultimately defeated.
May 16, 1943: Major General Jürgen Stroop orders that the Great Synagogue be destroyed.
January 17, 1945: When Warsaw is liberated, only 174,000 people are left in the city, under 6 per cent of the pre-war population; 11,500 of those left are Jews, compared to 350,000 before the war.
Images and Documents
Image 1: Warsaw was a city of 1.3 million, including about 350,000 Jews. It had a vibrant cultural life, bustling markets and busy street life.
Image 2: German troops parade through Warsaw, Poland, soon after their armies took the city.
Image 3: As food supplies ran low in the ghettos, some of the only alternatives were places such as this bread distribution centre in the Lodz Ghetto.
Image 4: As food got more scarce and crowding in the ghetto increased, some children had no choice but to beg for food on the streets.
Image 5: After the Warsaw Ghetto uprising was put down by the SS soldiers, captured Jews were forced to march to the Umschlagplatz for deportation. One of the SS troopers identified by this photo was tried for war crimes, sentenced to death and executed.
Image 6: Assault squads of SS troops moved through the Warsaw Ghetto during the suppression of the uprising.
Image 7: SS troops captured many members of the Jewish Resistance who had participated in the ghetto uprising. It took the troops over 20 days to quell the uprising, killing or capturing 56,000 Jews. The few dozen who escaped wound their way through Warsaw’s sewer system.
Image 8: Captured Jews were marched through the Warsaw Ghetto, under guard, for deportation.
Image 9: Jews formed several partisan units. This group was photographed in a forest, at an undisclosed location.
Image 10: The commander (top row, centre) of the Polish Armia Ludowa (The People’s Army) poses with a partisan unit in the Parczew Forest in eastern Poland. This underground army had several Jewish units. Another key underground force was the Polish Home Army. Both worked to disrupt German transport and communications facilities.
Image 11: Many Jewish orphans ended up in orphanages or displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. They emigrated to various countries, including Canada.
Image 12: SS soldiers helped put down the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. This image is one of 52 photos which were used as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and later published under the name The Stroop Report.
Images 13 (upper article) and 14 (lower article): Various Canadian newspapers carried stories of Jewish immigrants.
Image 15: Many who fled the Nazis could not take their documents with them. Regina Feldman was 16 when she arrived at Halifax in 1948. She had been at a work camp from 1940 to 1945, had no documents, and was taken from her family so young, she did not know her date of birth. Her cousin was able to provide it for this document.
Image 16: German officials set up six killing centres in Poland. The area inside the dotted line is the pre-war boundary of Poland. Parts of it were annexed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, leaving Poland only the area bordered by the bold line.
Credits
Cover cameo (detail): Kaja Balagilo, Vad Yashem Photo Archive and Estonian History Museum, 4068/49.
Cover background (detail) and Image 12: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Stroop Report p. 128, 73858 / National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, 60003996 NM-66 2A.
“Don’t say even once that this is your final journey,” English translation of “Zog Nit Keyn Mol” (“The Song of the Partisan”) by Hirsh Glick, © 2012 by Per Brask.
Image 1: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sylvia Kramarski Kolski, 66135.
Image 2: Jerome R. Lilienthal Collection/National Archives and Records Administration, 559369/200-SFF-52.
Image 3: Walter Genewein/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Robert Abrams, 95251A.
Image 4: Heinrich Joest / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Yad Vashem Photo Archives, courtesy of Guenther Schwarberg, 32327.
Image 5: Instytut Pamieci Narodowej National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oswiecimiu, 26543.
Image 6: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Instytut Pamieci Narodowej Sovfoto/Eastfoto, 26542.
Image 7: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Louis Gonda, 46193.
Image 8: National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, 540124/238-NT-282.
Image 9: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Benjamin (Miedzyrzecki) Meed, 99978.
Image 10: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Michael Temchin, 01281A.
Image 11: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jack Sutin, 29302.
Image 13: excerpt from “Jewish Orphans Start New Life in Canada,” Winnipeg Free Press, August 9, 1948, courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press.
Image 14: excerpt from “1,000 Jewish Children,” Victoria Daily Times, May 3, 1947, courtesy of Victoria Times-Colonist.
Image 15: Certificate of Identity in Lieu of Passport, courtesy of Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, Regina Feldman Collection.
Image 16: Map by Paul Heersink/Paperglyphs.
About the Author: English translation of lines from the song “Where Shall I Go?” by Igor S. Korntayer, © 2012 by Per Brask.
The publisher wishes to thank Barbara Hehner for her careful attention to the details, and Dr. Allan Levine for vetting the manuscript and providing his expertise regarding Jews in Manitoba, as well as the Resistance efforts during World War II.
For my grandson, Kai David Brask, with love
About the Author
Carol Matas has written many books about the Holocaust and its aftermath, including Lisa, Jesper, Greater Than Angels, After the War and The Garden. Daniel’s Story, written in conjunction with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, won the Silver Birch Award and was nominated for a Governor General’s Award.
Carol has also written two titles in the Dear Canada series: Footsteps in the Snow and Turned Away, which tells the story of Devorah Bernstein, a Winnipeg girl trying to get her Jewish relatives out of France during WWII. Her novel for the I Am Canada series, Behind Enemy Lines, follows a Canadian shot down in France during the war.
One of the reasons Carol wanted to write about the war orphans who came to Canada was her own personal experience with some of them, in particular John Hirsch. Hirsch was one of many war orphans who made new homes in Winnipeg. Carol says, “They somehow were able to live with the past and to create rich and successful lives — the best revenge they could have against Hitler and his policies of extermination, murder and death.”
Mr. Hirsch became the artistic director of what was then called The Manitoba Theatre Centre. Seeing his plays inspired Carol to go into the theatre herself, and after that into writing. His work showed her that art could be meaningful in describing and understanding the world — and perhaps even helping to change it into a more humane and better place.
When Carol was in her early twenties she was hired by Mr. Hirsch to act in the play “The Dybbuk” at MTC — a welcome opportunity to work with her hero. She says, “I’d like this book to be a tribute to the bravery of those young people and the adults they became. I admire them more than I can say.”
During her research for this book, Carol came across a song called “Where Shall I Go?” by Igor S. Korntayer, a Yiddish actor who died in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. It was written before World War II, when Jews were not allowed to emigrate to safety, and it became very popular during the war.
Carol says that some of the lines have stayed with her. Her husband, poet Per Brask, translated Korntayer’s words:
Where shall I go,
Who can answer me?
W
here shall I go,
When all doors are closed?
Though the world is large enough,
For me it is narrow and small —
Wherever I look
It’s all the same;
Every bridge is closed:
Where shall I go?
Acknowledgements
First I would like to thank Dr. Allan Levine, author of Fugitives of the Forest and Coming of Age, A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba. He was invaluable as a resource both in person and through his books, advising me on the entire manuscript. My husband Per Brask, as always, was my biggest support. Thank you to my editor, Sandy Bogart Johnston, who helped me navigate a particularly difficult story. And thank you to Dr. Dan Stone, who answered many of my questions about the historical note. Thanks also to Diane Kerner for her additional input.
There were two more books that I relied upon: Open Your Hearts: The Story of the Jewish War Orphans in Canada by Fraidie Martz and The Redeemed Children: The Story of the Rescue of War Orphans by the Jewish Community of Canada by Ben Lappin. I’d also like to acknowledge the book by Belle Millo, called Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors, which I used extensively, and the online site Open Hearts Closed Doors from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. In fact, it was their website and the help of Frieda Miller, Executive Director of the Centre, that got me started on this story. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, especially the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada, The Marion and Ed Vickar Jewish Museum of Western Canada and The Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre. In particular, Stan Carbone helped me delve into the archives and sent me away with reams of original material about the orphans — their arrival in Winnipeg and how they got on after they arrived. I also was very lucky to have email correspondence via Stan with Jeanette Block, and to interview Frank Weinfeld about his experiences as a war orphan coming to Winnipeg.
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Rose Rabinowitz is a fictional character created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.
Copyright © 2013 by Carol Matas.
Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
SCHOLASTIC and DEAR CANADA and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
www.scholastic.ca
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Matas, Carol, 1949-
Pieces of the past [electronic resource] : the Holocaust diary
of Rose Rabinowitz / by Carol Matas.
(Dear Canada)
Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-1-4431-2456-0
1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Juvenile fiction. 2. Jewish children in the Holocaust--Juvenile fiction. 3. Holocaust survivors--Juvenile fiction. 4. Immigrant children--Canada--Juvenile fiction. I. Title. II. Series: Dear Canada (Online)
PS8576.A7994P44 2013 jC813’.54 C2012-905512-3
All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.
First eBook edition: February 2013
Books in the Dear Canada Series
Alone in an Untamed Land, The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge by Maxine Trottier
Banished from Our Home, The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard by Sharon Stewart
Blood Upon Our Land, The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier by Maxine Trottier
Brothers Far from Home, The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates by Jean Little
A Christmas to Remember, Tales of Comfort and Joy
Days of Toil and Tears, The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford by Sarah Ellis
The Death of My Country, The Plains of Abraham Diary of Geneviève Aubuchon by Maxine Trottier
A Desperate Road to Freedom, The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson by Karleen Bradford
Exiles from the War, The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss by Jean Little
Footsteps in the Snow, The Red River Diary of Isobel Scott by Carol Matas
Hoping for Home, Stories of Arrival
If I Die Before I Wake, The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor by Jean Little
No Safe Harbour, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn by Julie Lawson
Not a Nickel to Spare, The Great Depression Diary of Sally Cohen by Perry Nodelman
An Ocean Apart, The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-ling by Gillian Chan
Orphan at My Door, The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope by Jean Little
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea, The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall by Sarah Ellis
Prisoners in the Promised Land, The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
A Rebel’s Daughter, The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson by Janet Lunn
A Ribbon of Shining Steel, The Railway Diary of Kate Cameron by Julie Lawson
A Sea of Sorrows, The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary by Norah McClintock
A Season for Miracles, Twelve Tales of Christmas
That Fatal Night, The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton by Sarah Ellis
To Stand On My Own, The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Torn Apart, The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi by Susan Aihoshi
A Trail of Broken Dreams, The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Turned Away, The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein by Carol Matas
Where the River Takes Me, The Hudson’s Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair by Julie Lawson
Whispers of War, The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt by Kit Pearson
Winter of Peril, The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge by Jan Andrews
With Nothing But Our Courage, The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald by Karleen Bradford
Go to www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada for information on the Dear Canada series — see inside the books, read an excerpt or a review, post a review, and more.
