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Dr. Kessler, a Jewish attorney from Lwow, Poland, gives an eye-witness account of the Holocaust through the events recorded in his diary between the years 1942 and 1944. In vivid, raw, documentary style, he describes his experiences in the Lwow Ghetto, in the Janowska Concentration Camp, and in an underground bunker where he and twenty-three other Jews were hidden by a courageous Polish farmer and his family. The book includes a chapter written by Kazimierz Kalwinski, who as a teenager was a caretaker for the hidden Jews on his family’s farm. Edmund’s daughter, Renata Kessler, coordinated the book and has written an epilogue about her search for the story, which has taken her to Israel, Poland, and Lviv, Ukraine. Renowned scholar Antony Polonsky contributes an insightful historical overview of the times in which the book takes place. This volume is a tremendous resource for historians, scholars, and those interested in the Holocaust.
Price: $109.00
Pages: 160
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Series: Jews of Poland
Publication Date:
01 February 2010
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781934843987
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
“The Wartime Diary of Edmund Kessler is a slim volume with considerable power. In prose and poetry, Kessler describes the conditions of Jewish life in the large but understudied ghetto of Lwow, Poland. His observations are keen, precise, his tone reserved and understated. He writes simply: “needless to say, conditions were difficult.” Elsewhere he says: “I owe my survival to the fact that admirable people are still in the world.”
— Michael Berenbaum, Director of Sigi Ziering Institute, Professor of Jewish Studies
— Michael Berenbaum, Director of Sigi Ziering Institute, Professor of Jewish Studies
Edmund Kessler attended the Jan Kazimierz School of Law in Lwow, Poland. He graduated with an Advanced Degree in law in 1931. He was registered with the Bar Association in Krakow and Lwow, Poland. After emigrating to America, he completed a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from New York University in 1958. He worked as an accountant for the New York City Rent and Rehabilitation Commission until his retirement. Mr. Kessler began translating the diary himself shortly before his death. However, he was not able to finish the task that became his daughter’s legacy.
Continuation. Acknowledgements. Preface by David M. Bossman. Foreword by Leon Wells. PART I: Introduction by Antony Polonsky. The Kessler Family of Lwow. Autobiographical Statement. Life in America. Notes. PART II OUR PEOPLE By Edmund Kessler. Terror in Lvov. Life in the Camps. Reflections. Notes. PART III: SALVATION By Kazimierz Kalwinski. Our Bunker in Lwow. Lusia’s Letter by Lea Gera (Formerly Luisa Sicher, a survivor of the bunker). Part IV. Epilogue: The Search by Renata Renee Kessler. Afterword. PART V: Biographical Statements. Bibliography. Index Part VI: APPENDIX.