We Must Not Think Of Ourselves by Lauren Grodstein

 

My thoughts

A first by this author for me. I'll be looking for more of her work. This book was very emotional and well written. 

I was gifted a copy of this book but for the life of me I can't place from whom. 

A story that I've not read about. I read a lot of historical books but this is my first about the ghettoes. How the Jewish people in Poland were taken from their homes and put into the Ghettoes, sometimes with other families in the same apartment, and then treated less then human. More like an animal. They whole area gated and no way to leave. Starved. Taunted. Used. Not allowed to ask questions or even leave to visit anyone outside. 

This book is told from one man's story of living in the Ghetto. Adam Paskow was a teacher before the war. He was a widower and son. He was a well respected man. His father in law came and talked him into leaving his home. He had no idea how his life was going to change. From all the horrors I've read about what happened during WW2 this is one I've not read. How good people were treated because of their race. 

Very well written. Made me cringe and shed tears. I learned a lot while reading this book and that is always a good thing. While not much good happened to these people. They only had each other to depend on. Even the children were treated so awful. Shot down on the streets if they so much as looked wrong. These people did what they had to just to survive. 

I liked the ending but it's still so sad that it happened at all. Why should a group of humans have to give up all they worked for. Give up all they cherish. Be treated like this just because one person and the people he recruited decided they were not fit. They were less than. Liking something. Had nothing to contribute. All of their possession taken by the Nazis. A horrible group that still run loose here in the USA. Shame on anyone that promotes them in any way.

About

A heart-wrenching story of love and defiance set in the Warsaw Ghetto, based on the actual archives kept by those determined to have their stories survive World War II

On a November day in 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews of the city are cut off from their former lives and held captive by Nazi guards, and await an uncertain fate. Weeks later, he is approached by a mysterious figure with a surprising request: Will he join a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening inside these walls? Adam agrees and begins taking testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors. He learns about their childhoods and their daydreams, their passions and their fears, their desperate strategies for safety and survival. The stories form a portrait of endurance in a world where no choices are good ones.

One of the people Adam interviews is his flatmate Sala Wiskoff, who is stoic, determined, and funny—and married with two children. Over the months of their confinement, in the presence of her family, Adam and Sala fall in love. As they desperately carve out intimacy, their relationship feels both impossible and vital, their connection keeping them alive. But when Adam discovers a possible escape from the Ghetto, he is faced with an unbearable choice: Whom can he save, and at what cost?

Inspired by the testimony-gathering project with the code name Oneg Shabbat, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Grodstein draws readers into the lives of people living on the edge. Told with immediacy and heart, We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a piercing story of love, determination, and sacrifice for the many fans of literary World War II fiction such as Kristin Harmel’s The Book of Lost Names and Lauren Fox’s Send for Me.