Calel Perechodnik (1916–1944)

Perechodnik era un uomo mite e benestante. Era nato nel 1916 in una cittadina della Polonia centrale, in maggioranza abitata da ebrei e si era laureato a Parigi. Dirigeva un'impresa di costruzioni, aveva moglie e una bambina piccola. Per salvarsi, quando i tedeschi invasero la Polonia, si arruolò nella Polizia del ghetto, divenendo complice dei tedeschi. Arrivò ad accompagnare moglie e figlia al vagone che le portava al campo di sterminio di Treblinka. Resosi conto della situazione, fuggì a Varsavia, rifugiandosi nel retrobottega di un negozio di polacchi che, a pagamento, lo nascosero. Lì iniziò a scrivere questo memoriale dal maggio del '43 all'autunno del '44, quando morì in circostanze misteriose durante la rivolta di Varsavia. (fonte: amazon)… (mehr)

This is, as far as I know, the only Holocaust memoir by a Jewish ghetto policeman. In exchange for keeping order in the ghetto and carrying out the Nazis' commands (such as rounding up the required number of people for transport), ghetto policemen got better food rations, better housing and they were some of the last to be killed. Many considered them to be Nazi collaborators, as bad as or worse than the SS themselves.

It's unclear where Perechodnik stands in all of this; he actually doesn't write much about his work as a policeman, which is disappointing. Mostly he focuses on the loss of his family, particularly his wife and baby daughter. His policeman status didn't grant them immunity forever, and he was wracked with guilt that he sat by and let them go to their deaths.

I don't find Perechodnik a very likeable man, but his story is certainly compelling and, like many such memoirs, may very well induce tears.… (mehr)