Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-cx56b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-04T06:27:56.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

Autobiographical Strategy and Attitude of Halina Birenbaum as a Form of Passing on a Witness of the Holocaust

Katarzyna Olszewska
Affiliation:
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
Get access

Summary

Halina Birenbaum, born in Poland and living since 1947 in Israel, is a poet and writer. She spent her childhood in the Warsaw ghetto, from where in 1943 she was transported to Majdanek and next to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 1945, she survived the death march, which led her to the camps of Ravensbrück and Neustadt-Glewe, where she stayed until liberation. The post-war period spent in Warsaw ‘kibbutzim’ Ichud and Hashomer Hatzair made her seek refuge in the ‘land of the forefathers.’ She emigrated from Poland during the ‘Bricha’ action and went through months of wandering, leading her, inter alia, to Bratislava, Prague, the camp in Airing, Bad Reichenhall, Eschweige and France. She began her life in the new motherland in kibbutzim to finally settle down with her husband and children in the town of Herzliya, where she still lives today.

Halina Birenbaum is a member of the Polish Writers' Association in Israel. She translates Polish literature into Hebrew and takes up a number of initiatives aimed at—as she says—“more reconciliation than repairing the Polish-Jewish relations” (Kuryłek, 2006, p. 277) as well as the relations between the Jews and the Germans. For her social activity, the writer was awarded the medal ‘Pax 1939-1945’ (1996), the ‘Auschwitz Cross’ (1997), the ‘Officer's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland’ (1999), and the Polish Council of Christians and Jews granted her the title of the ‘Reconciliation Person of 2001.’ The books written by Halina Birenbaum in Polish have had numerous translations, also into Hebrew and German. Her prose achievements include: Nadzieja umiera ostatnia (Hope is the last to die) (1967), Powrót do ziemi praojców (Return to ancestors' land) (1991), Każdy odzyskany dzień: Wspomnienia (Every recovered day: Memories) (1998) and Wołanie o pamięć (Scream for remembrance) (1999), as well as a collection of texts enriched with photographs taken by Adam Bujak, Życie każdemu drogie (Life treasured by everyone) (2005).

Type
Chapter
Information
Scientific Biographies
Between the 'Professional' and 'Non-Professional'
, pp. 33 - 42
Publisher: Jagiellonian University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×