Adam Czerniakow, as reflected in his diary

This article discusses the diary of Adam Czerniakow, chairman of the Warsaw ghetto Judenrat until 23 July 1943 when he committed suicide. The picture it shows is of a mediocre man whose leadership habits of dogmatic personality were his ruin at a time when people of vision and imagination were needed. He was a decent and upright man who tried to maintain his human dignity when people round him were abandoning their principles.