On the occasion of the month commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943), the Instituto Polaco de Cultura in Madrid, together with the Centro Sefarad-Israel (Calle Mayor, 69), an evening dedicated to Adam Czerniaków’s (pictured) book Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto.
The evening, presented by Joanna Bardzińska, will combine the reading of excerpts from the Diary performed by Eduardo Kahane with musical elements by singer André Lorentz Budziszewski.
Adam Czerniaków was born in 1880 in Warsaw. As a child he lived in the meeting point of two cultures: his father was immersed in the Jewish world, while his mother came from an assimilated family and spoke Polish at home. Thanks to her, Adam grew up in a world rich in Polish literature and culture. Studied chemistry and in the years between the wars, in addition to his professional work, he participated in political and social activities, including the Jewish community of Warsaw.
In 1939, after the capitulation of Poland, he was put by the German occupation authorities at the head of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in Warsaw. Czerniaków tried to follow a pragmatic and compromise policy, avoiding direct confrontation with the Germans and trying to save as many lives as possible. Because of this stance, he was criticized by the Jewish resistance and despised by a large part of the inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto.
After the deportation of the Jews to the camp at Treblinka, he committed suicide on 23 July 1942 because he did not want to cooperate with the extermination of his compatriots. His diary, kept from September 1939 until the day of his suicide, is one of the most important documents for the history of the Warsaw ghetto. The Spanish edition of Diario de Czeniaków in Eżbieta Bortkiewicz’s version was published in December 2024 by Editorial Confluencias.
Pages: 350
Publisher: Confluencias
Binding: Soft cover
ISBN: 9788412926378
RPP: 28,40 euros