The first English translation of this 1945 Polish novel, the author
(1909-83) of which is best known for Ashes and Diamonds; both books
were made into films directed by the renowned Andrzej Wajda.The
title is misleading. Yes, this short work does take place just
before Easter 1943, but the uprising is merely the backdrop for a
story about two Gentiles who shelter a young Jewish woman in their
suburban Warsaw home; more precisely, the Jewish resistance
provides a litmus test for Polish attitudes toward the Jews. The
three principals are architect Jan Malecki; his wife, Anna; and the
Jewish Irena Lilien, who was once infatuated with Jan. He meets her
by chance outside the burning ghetto; the uprising is under way,
and the streets are filled with danger. The once fun-loving Irena
has retained her beauty but is now consumed with bitterness; only
bribes have saved her from the Gestapo. Jan is cold but feels
obligated to take her in. The pregnant Anna has the instinctive
humanity Jan lacks. A devout Catholic, she sees the fate of the
Jews as a test for Christian conscience. In Warsaw, they generally
receive little pity. A contrived scene in Jan's office covers the
spectrum of views. There's a fascist who defends Hitler, and a
gutsy typist who calls the dictator a disgrace; in the middle is
Jan, equivocating. The next day, Good Friday, Jan tries to find
another refuge for Irena and is gunned down in an improbable
wrong-time/wrong-place development. Back home, Irena fends off a
neighbor, a would-be rapist, while the neighbor's wife, an
anti-Semite, screams at her to leave. Irena returns her curses
before heading back into Warsaw, and likely death.Skimpy
characterizations and a thrown-together ending make for an
unsatisfying story, though Andrzejewski's work certainly has value
as social history. (Kirkus Reviews)
At the height of the Nazi extermination campaign in the Warsaw
Ghetto, a young Jewish woman, Irena, seeks the protection of her
former lover, a young architect, Jan Malecki. By taking her in, he
puts his own life and the safety of his family at risk. Over a
four-day period, Tuesday through Friday of Holy Week 1943, as Irena
becomes increasingly traumatized by her situation, Malecki
questions his decision to shelter Irena in the apartment where
Malecki, his pregnant wife, and his younger brother reside. Added
to his dilemma is the broader context of Poles' attitudes toward
the "Jewish question" and the plight of the Jews locked in the
ghetto during the final moments of its existence. Few fictional
works dealing with the war have been written so close in time to
the events that inspired them. No other Polish novel treats the
range of Polish attitudes toward the Jews with such unflinching
honesty. Jerzy Andrzejewski's Holy Week (Wielki Tydzien, 1945), one
of the significant literary works to be published immediately
following the Second World War, now appears in English for the
first time. This translation of Andrzejewski's Holy Week began as a
group project in an advanced Polish language course at the
University of Pittsburgh. Class members Daniel M. Pennell, Anna M.
Poukish, and Matthew J. Russin contributed to the translation; the
instructor, Oscar E. Swan, was responsible for the overall accuracy
and stylistic unity of the translation as well as for the
biographical and critical notes and essays.
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