Our new book will be published in December
We Won’t Get Deported. The Jewish Resistance Fighters in Będzin and Sosnowiec
Collective work edited by Tomek Grząślewicz and Karolina Jakoweńko
Authors: Andrzej Ciepał, Tomek Grząślewicz, Aleksandra Namysło
Cooperation: Maria Ferenc, Jacek Leociak, Avihu Ronen
Translation: Tomek Grząślewicz
Proofreading in English: Henri Lustiger-Thaler
The book is in Polish and English
“We Won’t Get Deported”, the title of our book, is a quote from the unique Diaries written by fighter Chajka Klinger in 1943-1944.
The book is a result of the activities undertaken in 2023 by Fundacja Brama Cukermana with other institutions and organizations to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the ghettos in Będzin-Kamionka and Sosnowiec-Środula. The year 1943 marked both the symbolic and actual end to the existence of large Jewish communities in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. In the book we list the names of 170 fighters from the ghettos in Będzin and Sosnowiec. All of them actively opposed the Nazis and their extermination plans in various ways. Sometimes it was through armed resistance, in other cases by organizing an escape, hiding or helping to rescue others.The authors of this book tried to do justice and keep the memory of all heroines and heroes, checking all sources available at the moment. However, it must be made clear that this is only the illustration of our current and limited state of knowledge. What is still worse, due to many years that have passed since those events, it is now impossible to draw a precise portrait of this generation and this community. Therefore, the names of 170 female and male fighters in Będzin and Sosnowiec are not a complete list of Jewish resistance members in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. Moreover, in no way should our choice of biographies diminish the tragedy of thousands of other Holocaust victims from Zagłębie, which were not included in this book.
This book manifests its disagreement towards the logic of the Holocaust. It shows how the Jews in Będzin and other cities of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie overcame their inactivity, fear and hopelessness. They took up various forms of resistance: from social welfare, through secret teaching, underground press and cultural events, to armed struggle. Thanks to the painstaking work by the authors, a collective portrait of the Jewish community was made out of hundreds of testimonies and traces. What we get is the Book of Names, Faces and Voices – dozens of biographies. ‘We won’t get deported from our homes,’ as they kept calling back then. Nowadays they say: ‘We won’t get deported from your memory!’ I read this book as the Yizkor prayer for the deceased family members of blessed memory. Prof. Jacek Leociak
**The book will be available for purchase online and in stationary bookstores, at the Silesian Library and the headquarters of the Bram Cukerman Foundation
**Promotional meeting on January 16 (Tuesday), 18.00, Zagłębiowska Mediateka in Sosnowiec, ul. Kościelna 11
Publisher: Biblioteka Śląska & Fundacja Brama Cukermana
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special purpose fund and co-financed by Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland
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