For those I loved
by Martin Gray
Our Price: $8.40
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Martin GrayEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1974
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 319
Publisher: New American Library
Book Reviews of For those I loved
Book Review: The Warsaw Ghetto, the Treblinka Escape, and the Communist Guerillas
Summary: 4 Stars
This review assumes the veracity of at least most of the book's contents.
While in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Germans attempted to make Gray a Jewish informer (p. 96). He played along.
Then the "resettlement" of Warsaw's Jews to Treblinka began: "Jewish policemen with raised clubs yelling orders: they needed six thousand heads that evening." (p. 101). Those Jews who attempted to hide in their homes were often betrayed by their neighbors or relatives in the Ghetto (p. 103). Gray reports what happened after the Jews in an area had been cleared out: "Afterwards, Ukrainian, Latvian, and Lithuanian SS men and the Jewish police searched the buildings, looting, killing anyone they caught there. They smashed the furniture, wrecked the beds and broke through the walls: they looked for hideouts where families had taken refuge, for gold and jewels." (p. 109).
Gray also describes scenes around the death trains being loaded with human cargo: "I followed them to the hospital to find out. The cattle cars were there, lined up at the platforms, policemen yelling. I recognized the mighty Szmerling, whip held high dashing from the herd to report to the SS. Yet he was a Jew. Like them. Like me. They were shoved into the cars, separated, and if anyone shouted, protested or struggled, they got a blow from an iron bar, or a bullet." (p. 102)
In time, it became Gray's turn. But after escaping from Treblinka by stowing away on a departing supply train, he experienced the incredulity of both Poles and Jews. For instance, near Zambrow, Gray encountered a Jewish work gang with no German guards anywhere near, because "the Germans trust us." (p. 162). They scoffed at the notion of Treblinka.
Polish peasants sometimes denounced or killed Jews known or suspected of thievery. Gray sometimes sought Polish help, while at other times he simply stole from Poles during his treks in the countryside (e. g., p. 158, 183, 184).
There is an account of an alcoholic Polish man who betrayed several Jews (pp. 233-234). The reader may not realize that the Germans encouraged alcoholism among Poles, both to degrade them and also to exploit this dependency as leverage for such collaborative acts as betraying Jews.
Gray's experiences shed light on Jewish-Communist collaboration, a major factor antagonizing Poles against Jews during and after the war. He at first has positive remarks about the AK (p. 187) before lapsing into standard, mostly unsubstantiated, accusations of the AK and NSZ denouncing and killing fugitive Jews. He joins the AL, and includes a photo of himself and Mieczyslaw Moczar in the book. Moczar sends him on a mission to spy on the NSZ, from which he narrowly escapes with his life (pp. 224-226). Later, after the arrival of the Soviet occupants, the NKVD also uses him for espionage: "Do your best, find us the NSZ, the informers, the denouncers, the collaborators, the people who don't like us." (p. 233)
World War II Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in World War II Books
The Limits of Empireby Robert J. McMahon
Columbia University Press; Published: 1999-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.35
Price in other shops:
Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Cianoby Mr. Ray Moseley
Yale University Press; Published: 2000-02-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.00
Price in other shops:
Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weaponby Jack Couffer
University of Texas Press; Published: 2008-02-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.15
Price in other shops:
Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Polandby Jan T. Gross
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2002-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops:
They Were Expendableby William Lindsay, White
Harcourt; Published: 1942-01; Hardcover; Book
D-Day: The Battle for Normandyby Antony Beevor
Penguin Audio; Published: 2009-10-13; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $18.65
Price in other shops:
Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XIIby John Cornwell
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.22
Price in other shops:
Maus: A Survivor's Taleby Art Spiegelman
Penguin Books, Limited (UK); Published: 2003-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.45
Price in other shops:
First Lightby Geoffrey Wellum
Penguin Books; Published: 2003-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.88
Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945by Andrew Roberts
Harper Perennial; Published: 2010-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.40
Price in other shops: