This is a challenging, powerful novel that focuses on the ghetto in Lodz created by the Nazis in 1940 and its 63-year-old Jewish leader, Mordechai Rumkowski.
A controversial figure, Rumkowski is power-hungry, ruthless, and tyrannical -- and a Nazi collaborator. The question that this novel addresses is whether his collaborationist policies actually save Jews or betray them. Though Rumkowski is rarely likeable and often reprehensible, the author succeeds in making him human. With its horrifying depictions of brutality and degradation, the novel shows how Rumkowski, along with the other quarter-million ghetto inhabitants, is caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare in which survival is nearly impossible.
Based on extensive historical records, this is an excellent book for those who want to understand life in this WWII ghetto, examine the relationship between Nazis and Jewish leaders, and explore the nature of human resilience and evil.
A controversial figure, Rumkowski is power-hungry, ruthless, and tyrannical -- and a Nazi collaborator. The question that this novel addresses is whether his collaborationist policies actually save Jews or betray them. Though Rumkowski is rarely likeable and often reprehensible, the author succeeds in making him human. With its horrifying depictions of brutality and degradation, the novel shows how Rumkowski, along with the other quarter-million ghetto inhabitants, is caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare in which survival is nearly impossible.
Based on extensive historical records, this is an excellent book for those who want to understand life in this WWII ghetto, examine the relationship between Nazis and Jewish leaders, and explore the nature of human resilience and evil.
