Posted on 04/28/2006 10:42:49 AM PDT by lizol
Working against time
By Yechiam Weitz
The remarkable endurance of the Lodz Ghetto was largely due to the head of the Judenrat and his policies. A new book presents a balanced picture of Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski
"Lodz - Akhron Hageta'ot Bepolin" ("Lodz - The Last Ghetto in Poland") by Michal Unger, Yad Vashem, 600 pages
The Lodz Ghetto was the most important of all the ghettos in Poland during the Holocaust, but it also stood apart for other reasons. First of all, it was the second largest ghetto in Poland, after the Warsaw Ghetto, with 160,000 Jewish residents from the outset. Second of all, it remained in existence for over four years. It was the first ghetto to be established, in May 1940, and the last to be liquidated, in August 1944. Third, because of the attempt to save lives through labor. This was also true in other ghettos, such as Bialystok, but efforts were more intensive in Lodz. And finally, because of Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski, the head of the Judenrat (Jewish authorities), who lent the ghetto its distinctive character.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
I read somewhere that "lodz" is pronounced "Wooj". I remember reading about it in Jean-François Steiner's book "Treblinka" (published circa 1968) because one of the leaders of the Treblinka revolt came out of the Lodz ghetto.
The bio on the collaborator Rumkowski was most informative. It's difficult not to feel some sympathy for the precariousness of his position during those terrible times.
There are a few additional letters in the Polish alphabet. The "L" in Lodz isn't an "L" as it has a line going through it, that's a "W" sound.
And the "Z" is actually a "Z" with a line on top. So 'dz' combined make "j" sound. And the o has a line on top which gives it an "oo" sound.
For tomorrow's Polish lesson we will learn to pronounce Szczecin. :)
There are a few additional letters in the Polish alphabet. The "L" in Lodz isn't an "L" as it has a line going through it, that's a "W" sound.
And the "Z" is actually a "Z" with a line on top. So 'dz' combined make "j" sound. And the o has a line on top which gives it an "oo" sound.
For tomorrow's Polish lesson we will learn to pronounce Szczecin. :)
I can't wait, how do you pronounce 'trzcina'?
Hmmm, sounds like lots of dots and dashes to me! Seriously, a linguist friend of mine once said that Polish and Chinese are the two most difficult languages to learn.
I heard that Finnish and Hungarian are.
Try "Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz" or "chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie w Strzebrzeszynie" :)
Or Basia Tzetzelewska? :) (Now we know why she simply went by the name Basia)
Or, if you're Bobby Vinton, it would be hard enough to try try "Moe-yah dro-gha yah che ko-ham"!
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