Lucjan Dobroszycki
Encyclopedia
Lucjan Dobroszycki was a Polish
scientist and historian specializing in modern Polish and Polish-Jewish history. A survivor of the Łódź Ghetto and Nazi concentration camps
including Auschwitz, Dobroszycki lived in Poland after World War II
where he obtained his education and worked as a historian. His main focus was the Nazi German occupation of Poland.
Dobroszycki undertook studies of the – legal and illegal – Polish press from during the war
, edited an abridged version of the chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto (Litzmannstadt Ghetto), and conducted research on the extermination of Polish Jewry. He was a visiting scholar in Jerusalem in June 1967 and emigrated to the United States in 1970. He and his family settled in New York City where, for the remainder of his life he was a member of the research staff of the YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research. He was also affiliated with Yeshiva University
's Holocaust studies program.
According to Zachary Baker from Stanford, Dobroszycki became YIVO's "'research consultant to the stars'; he compiled a history of former New York mayor Ed Koch's ancestors and was a consultant to Barbra Streisand
's film production of "Yentl
" (an indirect Yiddish connection). His name has appeared in numerous published acknowledgments and documentary film credits."
Only two of five projected volumes were published before Dr. Dobroszycki moved to New York in 1970. The first English translation of "The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto" was published by Yale University Press in 1984. In his review, Stefan Kanfer of Time.com reflected on the collected accounts:
magazine's Historical Award for the year 2006, on the 50th anniversary of its inauguration.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
scientist and historian specializing in modern Polish and Polish-Jewish history. A survivor of the Łódź Ghetto and Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
including Auschwitz, Dobroszycki lived in Poland after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
where he obtained his education and worked as a historian. His main focus was the Nazi German occupation of Poland.
Dobroszycki undertook studies of the – legal and illegal – Polish press from during the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, edited an abridged version of the chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto (Litzmannstadt Ghetto), and conducted research on the extermination of Polish Jewry. He was a visiting scholar in Jerusalem in June 1967 and emigrated to the United States in 1970. He and his family settled in New York City where, for the remainder of his life he was a member of the research staff of the YIVO
YIVO
YIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
Institute for Jewish Research. He was also affiliated with Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
's Holocaust studies program.
According to Zachary Baker from Stanford, Dobroszycki became YIVO's "'research consultant to the stars'; he compiled a history of former New York mayor Ed Koch's ancestors and was a consultant to Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
's film production of "Yentl
Yentl
Yentl is a play by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer.Based on Singer's short story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy," it centers on a young girl who defies tradition by discussing and debating Jewish law and theology with her rabbi father...
" (an indirect Yiddish connection). His name has appeared in numerous published acknowledgments and documentary film credits."
The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto
One of Dobroszycki's crowning achievements as a historian was the publication of the collected accounts of Jewish life under the Nazi occupation of Łódź, a day-by-day record of life in the second-largest Jewish ghetto in Nazi Europe. In the Chronicle, the positive references to Poles living outside the ghetto far exceed negative ones. Under May 20, 1942 for example the Chronicle reads:"The civilian population [..] particularly the Poles, were very favorably inclined toward the Jews and, in large measure, the Jews from BrzezinyBrzezinyBrzeziny is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County. Population is 12,417 .- History :...
owe them their lives. They tell of one baker who baked a special quota of bread for the Jews, which he would have little children bring into the ghetto. The little children would bring one batch of bread into the ghetto, and then, before anyone knew it, they'd be back with another. Aryan friends would pass the Jews bacon, meat, and other products through the ghetto fence, more often than not without being paid for it... anti-SemitismAnti-SemitismAntisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
seemed to have vanished completely there." (p. 183).
Only two of five projected volumes were published before Dr. Dobroszycki moved to New York in 1970. The first English translation of "The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto" was published by Yale University Press in 1984. In his review, Stefan Kanfer of Time.com reflected on the collected accounts:
"Within the barbed-wire boundaries a microcosm arose... Children were born, stores were opened, a road constructed, hospitals set up, administrators employed, records kept. It is these records, miraculously preserved in private libraries and underground caches, that provide the first detailed portrait of a Holocaust society. In The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, Editor Lucjan Dobroszycki, a survivor, presents an eerie and horrific scene told in terse entries, like a nightmare dreamed in pieces."
Polish award
Lucjan Dobroszycki was posthumously awarded PolitykaPolityka
Polityka is a centre-left weekly newsmagazine in Poland. With a circulation of 170,000 it is the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of Newsweek's Polish edition and Wprost. Today, the magazine has a slightly intellectual, social liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative...
magazine's Historical Award for the year 2006, on the 50th anniversary of its inauguration.
Works
- The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Paperback, Sep 10, 1987) ISBN 0-300039-24-7
- The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Abridged, hardcover) ISBN 0-300039-24-5
- Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864-1939 (Paperback, Sep 13, 1987. Other Editions: Hardcover) ISBN 0-805206-34-5
- Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust (Paperback, Nov 1, 1994) ISBN 0-805210-26-1
- The Jews in Polish Culture (Jewish Lives) by Aleksander Hertz, Czesław Miłosz, Lucjan Dobroszycki, and Richard Lourie (Paperback, Aug 1, 1988. Other Editions: Hardcover) ISBN 0-810107-58-9
- Reptile Journalism: The Official Polish-Language Press under the Nazis, 1939-1945 with Barbara Harshav (Hardcover, Dec 28, 1994) ISBN 0-300052-77-4
- Hanukkah Lights: Stories from the Festival of Lights by Rebecca Goldstein, Harlan Ellison, Daniel Mark Epstein, and Lucjan Dobroszycki (Audio Cassette, Nov 9, 2001. Unabridged. Other Editions: Audio Cassette, Audio Download) ISBN 1-574534-59-9
- The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Paperback, 1984)
- The Holocaust in the Soviet Union: Studies and Sources on the Destruction of the Jews in the Nazi-Occupied Territories of the USSR, 1941-1945 with Jeffrey S. GurockJeffrey S. GurockJeffrey S. Gurock is Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University. He has written over a dozen books in the field of American Jewish History and also served as associate editor to American Jewish History, the most important journal in that field...
(Hardcover, Aug 1993. Other Editions: Paperback) ISBN 1-563241-73-0 - Image Before My Eyes A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland 1864 - 1939 with Barbara Dobroszycki (Hardcover, 1977)
- Reptile Journalism: The Official Polish-Language Press under the Nazis (Hardcover, 1994)
- Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland: A Portrait Based on Jewish Community Records 1944-1947 (Hardcover, Nov 1994) ISBN 1-563244-63-2
- Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland; A Portrait (Hardcover, 1994)
- Ludność cywilna w Powstaniu Warszawskim, vol. 3. in Prasa, druki ulotne i inne publikacje powstańcze. Editors: Czesław Madajczyk, Władysław Bartoszewski, Lucjan Dobroszycki, intro by W. Bartoszewski, Warszawa 1977.
- Prasa, druki ulotne i inne publikacje powstancze by Czeslaw Madajczyk. Editors: Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Lucjan Dobroszycki; Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1974, E.Eur**P*866**3(128141375W)
- Centralny katalog polskiej prasy konspiracyjnej, 1939-1945. Editors: Lucjan Dobroszycki, Wanda Kiedrzynska, Stanislaw Ploski. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1962. Eur**P*156**(128140657Y)
See also
- History of Jews in Poland
- Chronology of Jewish Polish historyChronology of Jewish Polish historyThe history of the Jews in Poland is outlined in events below.960 A Jewish merchant from Spain, Ibrahim Ibn Jaqub , travels to Poland and writes the first description of the country. Jewish traders are very active in Central Europe...
- World War II atrocities in PolandWorld War II atrocities in PolandApproximately six million Polish citizens, divided nearly equally between non-Jewish and Jewish, perished during World War II. Most were civilians killed by the actions of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and their allies. At the Nuremberg Tribunal, three categories were established. These categories...