The Literature of Destruction - Zalmen Gradowski

Rhys

Jedi Master
I came across this on Quora and felt a duty to share this man’s story. At least his suffering will not be in vain.

Zalmen Gradowski was in Auschwitz and worked in the gas chambers. He would shave heads, take jewelry, and make sure the body’s went to the ovens.

He also wrote a diary. Anne Frank’s diary became famous and a classic. His went unnoticed. The only copy I could find was a pdf. It’s called The Literature of Destruction - Zalmen Gradowski. He was also part of the resistance or the underground. He died during a revolt.

His Wikipedia is short and practically has nothing in it. It should have the names of his mother (Sarah), sister (Libe), sister (Esther Rokhl), wife (Sonia), Father and brother in law (Raphael and Wolf). All those name were his family and were gassed for being “unfit”. His father, two brothers and another sister were taken he didn’t know what happened to them. He wrote of all of them in the intro of his diary. The intro of the book is him immortalizing his family and his last wish for them to not be forgotten.

How has his bravery of keeping this diary safe from the Nazis safe go forgotten?

Before he died he buried the book so it could be found later when the camp was liberated.

A few quotes-

“I pass on to you only a small part of what took place in the hell of Birkenau-Auschwitz. It is for you to comprehend the reality. I have written a great deal besides this. I am certain that you will come upon these remnants, and from them you will be able to construct a picture of how our people were killed.”—Zalmen Gradowski

“In this way I hope to immortalize the dear, beloved names of those for whom, at this moment, I cannot even expend a tear! For I live in an inferno of death, where it is impossible to measure my great losses.”—Zalmen Gradowski

(copy of book)

https://www.brandeis.edu/tauber/publications/pdfs/roskies/gradowski.pdf
 
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