The subtitle of Zagłada i pamięć, ‘The Holocaust Experience and its Consequences on the Basis of Autobiographical Accounts’, is a full and accurate reflection of the contents of this volume. At the end of the book, the summary in English provides a synopsis of each of the five chapters. Chapter 1 shows the differences between the wartime experiences of Poles and Jews: what life was like in the ghetto, on the Aryan side, and in the concentration camps. The author portrays the situation of the Poles as a two-sided conflict against the Germans, while the Jewish situation is presented as a three-sided conflict among Jews, Germans, and Poles. ‘The Poles who were at war with the Germans had no need of Jews, but the Jews, if they wanted to escape death from the Germans, could not manage without the Poles.’

The second chapter deals with daily life in the ghetto. The third chapter concentrates on why it happened, a question that cannot be comprehended rationally, especially for the handful who were lucky enough to survive. Chapter 4 deals with psychological scars resulting from the war trauma. Chapter 5 is dedicated to the ‘Holocaust and how to preserve its memory’.

Many Holocaust books have been published over the years, but Zagłada i pamięć is a uniquely valuable contribution to Holocaust literature. The reader is struck by the rigorous precision of this doctoral thesis. What is even more im - pressive is the fascinating narrative, along with the analysis. Engelking, an object - ive and informative scholar, has the right amount of empathy for her subjects. As part of the post-war generation of Polish intellectuals, she writes from a humanist perspective, yet shows remarkable psychological insight into the underlying aspects of humiliation and suffering as experienced by all the Holocaust victims.

Because Polish–Jewish relations evoke a great deal of emotion, along with heated, sometimes even hysterical debates, Engelking's calm, rational voice is very important. That the interviews were conducted in Polish means that nothing was lost in translation. At the same time, the author shows an ability to concept ualize and generalize on the basis of the over forty interviews. Besides the interviews, Engelking uses diaries by such authors as Emanuel Ringelblum, Adam Czerniaków, and Katarzyna Żywulska, along with the many sources listed in the bibliography.