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Ita Dimant's diary is a gripping account of how she survived the Holocaust. After escaping the Warsaw ghetto, she became a courier carrying information between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits and a few trusted friends, as she tries to evade the noose closing in around her.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction: A Story of Courage and Survival by Jacob Dimant
Prologue by Ita Dimant (published originally with the 1993 English and Hebrew editions)
The Diary
The Warsaw Ghetto Years
The Częstochowa Year
Leaving for Germany
Freedom
Epilogue by Jacob Dimant
Courage and Survival—Symcha Dymant by Jacob Dimant
Appendix 1: The Brust Notebook Diary
Appendix 2: A Diary in Note Form
Appendix 3: Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts Donated to the USHMM by the Dimant Family
Appendix 4: Miodownik Family Tree
List of Illustrations
About the author
Ita Dimant (née Rozencwajg) was born in Piaseczno, Poland in 1918. She ran a kindergarten in the Warsaw ghetto, from which escaped in 1942, before being deported to Germany as a forced laborer. After the war she lived in Israel and the United States. The diary records her experiences during the Holocaust.
Martin Dean holds a PhD in History from Cambridge University. He worked previously as a war crimes investigator and is now a historical consultant. He has edited and translated several books and is the author of four monographs, including
Robbing the Jews (2008), which won a National Jewish Book Award.
Teresa Pollin served for many years as a curator for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is fluent in Polish, English, Yiddish, and Hebrew. She translated the diary using the handwritten Polish originals donated by the Dimant family to the USHMM.
Jacob Dimant, Ita and Symcha Dimant's son, holds an MD from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine.
Summary
"This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Ita Dimant’s gripping diary is a detailed account of her experiences during the Holocaust. She describes the chaotic living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and her dramatic escape to the ‘Aryan’ side. She wrestles repeatedly with the burden of losing close friends and family, revealing her emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy. As one ghetto after another is liquidated, she becomes a courier carrying vital information and supplies between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits, skillful deception, and a few trusted friends, as she seeks to evade the noose closing around her.
