Lvov Ghetto Diary 0870237268

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AVID KAHAN TRANSLATED JERZY MICHALOWICZ i

BY

An Alternate Selection of the Jewish Book Club "A Holocaust memoir made exceptional by the diarist's rare combination of thoroughness for detail with an eye for

irony."-Kirkus Reviews "Kahane has written a felicitous blend of personal recollection and keen obser­vation.

"-Booklist Originally published in Hebrew, this powerful memoir bears witness to the systematic destruction of some 135,000 Jews in the Ukrainian city of Lvov dur­ing the Holocaust. The author, a rabbi; escaped death because he was hidden by the Ukrainian archbishop of the Uniate Catholic Church. His wife and young daughter were also given refuge, sepa­rately in Catholic convents. The memoir covers the period from July 1, 1941, when the Germans occupied Lvov, to July 27, 1944, when the city was liber­ate d. In the first part of the book, the author is living in the Jewish ghetto under increasingly dire circumstances; in the second part, he is imprisoned in a forced labor camp; and in the third part, following his escape, he is in hiding under the protection of Metropolitan Sheptytskyi. Kahane tells his story with great sensitivity and raises many important moral questions. He documents not only the unforgivable behavior of the Nazis and of many Ukrainians, but also the hu­mane efforts of some Ukrainians, particu­larly those in the Church, to shelter Jews from harm. "Does this memoir add significantly to •

I

the stock of our knowledge? I would ._up�esitijtingly, mjsver the question in the

affirmative. The Lvov Ghetto Diary con­tains numerous vignettes and details not to be found elsewhere. Its descriptions of the temper and behavior of Nazi executioners are especially valuable; they provide fresh material for the most important and unending scholarly task of understanding the social psychology of the murderers and torturers of Euro­ pean Jewry....Kahane's account of his hiding, his discussion of Ukrainian­ Jewish relations, his conversations with Sheptytskyi, his sketches of the priests, monks, and nuns, of their humanity and their cool and efficient manner in the face of mortal danger to themselves during German searches for hidden Jews, all form an important addition to the theme of the 'Righteous Gentiles' in the literature of the Holocaust....Historians will read this book with profit. Lay readers are likely to find it irresistibly engaging." -Erich Goldhagen, Harvard University (from the preface) David Kahane was for many years chief rabbi in the Israeli Air Force. He lives in Tel Aviv. Jacket photograph reproduced with permis­sion of the archive of the Ghetto Fighters' House Jacket design by Ann Lowe

The University of Massachusetts Press Amherst 01004

DAVID

KAHANE

Lvov Ghetto Diary

Translated by Jerzy Michalowicz

Foreword by Erich Goldhagen

The

University of Massachusetts Press

Amherst

Copyright

Foreword

The

© 1990 by © 1990 by

David Kahane

University of Massachusetts Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America Originally published in Hebrew, in Israel, by Yad

Vashem

Lc 90- 1 1 042 ISBN

0-87023-726-8

Designed by Edith Kearney Set in Linotron

Granjon by Keystone Typesetting,

Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kahana, David, 1903-

[Yoman geto Levov. English] Lvov ghetto diary

/

David Kahane

;

translated by Jerzy Michalowicz;

foreword by Erich Goldhagen.

cm.

p.

Translation ISBN

of:

Yoman

0-87023-726-8

geto Levov.

(alk.

paper)

— Ukraine — L'vov — — Ukraine — L'vov — Rabbis — Ukraine — L'vov — Biography. 1903— (Ukraine) — Ethnic I.

Jews

Persecutions.

.

4.

relations.

DS135.R93L89513 947'. 718

2.

Holocaust, Jewish

Personal narratives.

(1939-1945)

I.

3. 5.

Kahana, David, L'vov

Title.

1990

— dc20

90-11042 CIP

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data are available.

^

CONTENTS

Foreword by Erich Goldhagen Preface

ix

The Beginning 1

mi

The Ghetto

j

The Occupation and Community 5

Period

of the Lvov

The First Days The Judenrat and

Its

Forced Labor

27

5

Departments

The Estabhshment of the Lvov Ghetto The March Action ^9 From Af(tion to Action 48 The Great Action of August 1942: The the

Lvov Ghetto

The Janowski Camp

7^

8^

Getting Acquainted with the Janowski Daily Routine in the Janowski

Camp

/09

Strangers

118

People in the

3

Among Hiding

Camp

Camp

725

in the Metropolitan's Palace

In the Library of the Monastery

Appendixes

75^

8^

g8

in Metropolitan Sheptytskyi's Residence

The Monastery Back

Destruction of

57

In the Barracks and in Hiding

2

Annihilation

i^y /^^

118

^

FOREWORD

Because there have been other accounts of the

fate

of the Jews

in the city

of Lvov and the Janowski camp, the question naturally

Does

memoir add

this

vv^ould unhesitatingly

significantly to the stock of

answer the question

arises,

our know^ledge?

in the affirmative.

I

The Lvov

Ghetto Diary contains numerous vignettes and details not to be found elsewhere.

Its

descriptions of the temper

and behavior of Nazi execu-

tioners are especially valuable; they provide fresh material for the

important and unending scholarly task of understanding the

most social

psychology of the murderers and torturers of European Jewry. But the chief virtue of the

memoir

lies in its

contribution to the historiography

of one of the most bitterly disputed aspects of the Holocaust, namely, the attitude of Ukrainians to Jews during that period. It is

an axiom

among Jews, and

especially

among Jewish

survivors of

the Holocaust, that the vast majority of the Ukrainians, particularly in Galicia,

many

watched the extermination of the Jews with approval and that

actively aided the

Nazis

in their slaughter.

This collective con-

demnation of the Ukrainian people (vehemently rejected by most Ukrainians) acknowledges that there were exceptions

Ukrainians were

filled

—

a minority of

with compassion for the Jews and a minuscule

number were Good Samaritans aiding and rescuing Jews at the risk of their own lives. The most eminent figure in that minority was Metropolitan Sheptytskyi, the head of the Ukrainian church. Grieving at the

slaughter of the Jews and distressed that

he issued a pastoral

participated in

it,

(reproduced in

this

letter to

Himmler

members of his own people "Thou shalt not murder"

letter

book) and took the audacious step of addressing a

protesting the extermination.

figure of equal rank in the

the fate of the Jews

No other

ecclesiastical

whole of Europe displayed such sorrow

and acted

so boldly

on

for

their behalf. Sheptytskyi also

saved the lives of Jews by hiding them in monasteries under his control.

vti

and one of those thus saved was the author of

this

memoir. Kahane's

account of his hiding, his discussion of Ukrainian- Jewish relations, his conversations with Sheptytskyi, his sketches of the priests, monks, and

nuns, of their humanity and their cool and efficient

of mortal danger to themselves during Jews,

form an important addition

all

German

to the

manner

in the face

searches for hidden

theme of the "Righteous

Gentiles" in the literature on the Holocaust.

Even to find

historians will read this

it

irresistibly

book with

profit.

Lay readers

are likely

engaging.

Erich Goldhagen Lecturer on Jewish Studies

Harvard University January 1990

Vltl

PREFACE