Eichengreen (From Ashes to Life, 1994) and Camhi Fromer (The House
By the Sea, 1998) are individually responsible for two of the
better recent Holocaust books; what would happen if they
collaborated? Eichengreen returns to the story of her own life in
this volume, elaborating on one of the worst periods of the war
years as she recalls the experience of the Lodz ghetto, with
particular attention to Chaim Rumkowski, the Nazi-appointed "Elder"
of the ghetto. Rumkowski was the head of a major Jewish orphanage
before the outbreak of war and, as the 16-year-old Eichengreen
quickly learned from friends in the ghetto, had used his position
to sexually abuse several of the children in his care. Confined
with thousands of other Jews in the increasingly unhealthy,
overcrowded, and grim ghetto, living in a small apartment with a
half-dozen people, Eichengreen straggles to survive on the woefully
inadequate food rations. Her mother dies, virtually from
starvation, and her younger sister becomes increasingly listless
from hunger and the emotional brutality of their circumstances,
eventually being taken away on one of the many transports to the
death camps. Left alone, Eichengreen finally meets the feared and
loathed Rumkowski face to face, and finds herself added to a list
of his potential "conquests." What makes this story almost
unbearable reading is the idea that people who are suffering such
great deprivation and abuse should be subjected to a final
humiliation. As Eichengreen says, "We had all become accustomed to
the privation in the ghetto, but [Rumkowski] was insufferable."
Regrettably, despite their previous track records, Eichengreen and
Camhi Fromer fall short of their previous work here. The writing is
turgid and overheated; the reported dialogue all sounds like the
work of a B movie writer - although Camhi Fromer's Afterword is
useful and well-written, putting the history of the ghettoes into a
larger context. Important as an illustration of the corruption and
heartlessness of those Jews who willingly helped the Nazis, but
disappointing as a work of literature or historical writing.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Literary Nonficiton. Jewish Studies. With Rebecca Fromer. RUMKOWSKI
AND THE ORPHANS OF ŁODŹ is a chilling account of a young woman's
experiences in the notorious Łodź Ghetto. The ghetto was lorded
over by Chaim Rumkowski, Nazi-appointed Jewish Elder of Łodź and
former head of the orphanage. Many have long hailed Rumkowski as a
hero who did the best he could leading his community through the
worst of circumstances. Now Lucille Eichengreen shares, with
firsthand evidence, how Chaim Rumkowski flouted his authority
through collaboration, corruption, and the abuse of its children.
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