Its Such A Beautiful Sunny Day The Fate Of Jews Seeking Salvation In The Polish Countryside 19421945 New Translation Barbara Engelking by Barbara Engelking 9788363444136, 8363444138 instant download after payment.

The extermination of Jews in the General Government took place in several stages. First, they were confined to ghettos, subjected to devastation through starvation and hard labor. Then almost all of them were murdered in death camps. In the last phase, lasting for two years almost until the end of the war, survivors and escapees were caught. It was then that the role of Poles - witnesses of the Holocaust - became extremely important. It depended on them whether Jews would find help and have a chance to survive, whether they would be handed over to the Germans, or whether the Poles themselves would kill them.

The book tells the story of a journey in search of salvation from the Holocaust, which most often turned out to be ineffective and ended in destruction. At its end, salvation rarely awaited, most often - betrayal or death. Most often – because a minority of those who wanted to save themselves survived. Most of these brave, determined and ready to sacrifice people – died. Many were murdered by the Germans shortly after the liquidation of the ghettos. Some died of hunger, cold or disease. Others were handed over to the Germans by Poles or murdered by Poles themselves.

Here we talk about helping, but above all about refusing help, throwing out, exploiting, betrayal and murders, the motives of which were fear, greed, hatred and simple human meanness. The heroism of Poles ready to risk their own lives to help Jews has already been the subject of a rich literature, we know little about the co-participation in the German work of destruction, we think about it reluctantly and read about it with regret. However, we can no longer close our eyes to these historical phenomena and facts.

In the summer of 1943 in the month of June or July on a holiday [...] they led a citizen of Jewish nationality towards the rampart. [...] He led this citizen, holding a stick in his hand and I saw that this citizen had a bloody head. [...] This man [...] said to spare his life, that it was such a beautiful sunny day, to let him go, that he wanted to live. In response to these requests, he hit him twice with a stick and said: "go, go, you son of a bitch, don't talk". They took the Jew to the village headman, from there the Germans took him and shot him the next day.