Books
These are the collected memoirs of the survivors of the Parysow Ghetto, documenting the history of the Jewish shtetl and its obliteration. It is the founding book of The Parysow Project, an initiative to translate the over 2,000 memorial books from their original Yiddish, to preserve the memory of the Holocaust for posterity.
It is a cornerstone of the foundation of Holocaust remembrance in the 21st century, and a touching glimpse of the remarkable vibrancy, warmth and spiritual richness of life in the shtetl. These are the stories of 600 lives lost, among 6 million.
“Oy Mame, Oy Mame” is an anthology of recollections of Holocaust survivor Abraham Gutreiman, depicting his childhood in the Hassidic shtetl of Parysow, Poland, the destruction of his hometown and dissolution of his community, of his miraculous escape through the severed bars of a cattle train, and of his post-war travels through Bolivia to Costa Rica. “Oy Mame, Oy Mame” adds an individual voice to the oeuvre of Holocaust literature, with a living depiction of what was lost when Parysow was destroyed.
In the late 1800s, three adventurers set off to Ottoman-ruled Yemen in order to document the condition of Yemen’s Jewish community and to develop strategies to help them.
Translated into English here for the first time, from the original German, “On the Jews of Yemen” is a compilation of these experiences and observations, invaluable as a depiction of the state of a Jewish community under Arab oppression and as a window into the attitudes of European Jews towards their brethren of Middle Eastern origin.
“Memories of Vilna” is the translation of the Yiddish-language Vilna Yizkor Book, a compilation of histories and memories of the Vilna Jewish community’s history, its resistance and destruction by the Nazis and later the Soviets.
“Memories of Vilna” is an invaluable contribution to the field of Lithuanian and Jewish history, with particular value derived from the numerous first-person accounts of the Holocaust and its aftermath.