By
– September 13, 2011
Just two months after the liquidation of the Kovno ghetto, a Dachau- Kaufering issue of Nitzotz appeared. Its editors were Abraham Melamed and Shlomo Frenkel Shafir. The first two issues were written by Frenkel from the BBC nightly, German broadcasts while he was in Kaufering 1 and II. These secret publications were a result of the underground meetings of the IBZ (Irgun Brith Zion) begun secretly in the Kovno Ghetto and continued in the Kaufering camps, where they were an inspiration to other Zionists in the camps. They are Hebrew language publications, a language forbidden by their occupiers, but continued in secret. The five issues of Nitzotz circulated in Dachau-Kefering that appear in this volume are a small sample of the 42 that were produced during that period. Begun in opposition to the Soviet occupation, it continued under the Nazis. Unfortunately, the bulk of IBZ archives have been lost to history. Extensive bibliography, notes, photography.
Marcia W. Posner, Ph.D., of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, is the library and program director. An author and playwright herself, she loves reviewing for JBW and reading all the other reviews and articles in this marvelous periodical.