Jewish children in Krakow: a microhistory of the Holocaust

Discusses the wartime history of Kraków through the lens of Jewish children's experiences. Examines what children under 14 years old experienced when WWII broke out. How did they cope? What roles did they take on? In this story, children assume centre stage as historical actors whose recollections and experiences deserve to be told, analyzed, and treated seriously. Sliwa scours archives on three continents to tell their stories, gleaning evidence from the records of the German army, Polish neighbours, Jewish community and family, and the children themselves. It is through the children and their recollections that this book explores the events and processes that framed the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland in general, and in Kraków in particular. A microhistory of a place, a people, and daily life, this book plumbs the decisions and behaviours of ordinary people in extraordinary times. It illuminates the complex relations between Jews and non-Jews in response to the Holocaust in Kraków and in German-occupied Poland more broadly. And it offers a window onto human relations and ethnic tensions in times of rampant violence.