The Life and Death of a Polish Shtetl

Edited by Feigl Bisberg-Youkelson
and Rubin Youkelson

Translated by Gene Bluestein

Numerous holocaust memoirs recount the unspeakable horrors that individuals witnessed and endured during the Nazis’ reign. Less well know are the post-World war II yizkors, collective memoirs written by survivors to memorialize a home village purged or destroyed by Nazis. The Hebrew word yizkor translates as “he shall remember” and also refers to a prayer for the dead. While thousands of yizkors exist, very few have been translated into English.

The Life and Death of a Polish Shtetl, the memorial for the town of Strzegowo, was collected and edited in 1951, Its stories are simple, yet they evoke considerable emotional turmoil. Some are shattering tales of torture, cultural destruction, and death. Others are moving rememberences of what the beloved little town was like before it was invaded by the Nazis. Because there is no longer a Jewish population living in Strzegowo, this book is an important record of what was lost.

Feigl Bisberg-Youkelson was a writer. Rubin Youkelson was a critic and reviewer. Gene Bluestein, a professor emeritus of English at California State University, Fresno, is the author of Anglish/Yinglish: Yiddish in American Life and Literature (Univ. of Nebraska Press 1998), Poplore (Univ of Massachusetts Press1994), and Voice of The Folk (Univ. of Massachusetts Press 1972).