Halina Birenbaum (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: הלינה בירנבאום; Warsaw, 15 September 1929) is a Polish-born Israeli

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

, writer, poet, translator and activist.

Life

Born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, to Jakub Grynsztajn and Pola formerly Perl, née Kijewska, she was the youngest of three and the only daughter. After the occupation of Poland by Germany, the family's home was in area that was part of the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

. After its destruction in July 1943 they were briefly transferred to

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

, then on to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. She survived forced evacuation of the camp, the

Death March A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

of January 1945, from Auschwitz to

Wodzisław Śląski Wodzisław Śląski (; , , , , ) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 47,992 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Wodzisław County. It was previously in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998); close to the border with the Czech ...

, from which she was transported to Ravensbrück and in February on to

Neustadt-Glewe Neustadt-Glewe is a German town, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim. History Neustadt-Glewe was mentioned for the first time in a document in 1248. Neustadt-Glewe was the site of a German-Nazi concentration ...

, from where she was liberated by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in May 1945. Her mother was murdered in Majdanek while her father and brothers were murdered in the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Mas ...

. In 1947, due to

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, she emigrated to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, where she married Chaim Birenbaum and had two sons. Until the end of 1950 she worked on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

. She spends much of her time talking about her early experiences with Israeli, Polish and German youth.

Writing

Life and death during the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and the martyrdom of Polish Jewry in ghettos and extermination camps are the salient themes of her prose and poetic output. Her works, which are partly written in Polish and partly in Hebrew, have been translated into many languages, including, English French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

Awards

* In 1999 the Polish President,

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served the maximum two terms as the president of Poland from 1995 to 2005. His tenure as President was marked by modernization of Poland, rapid economi ...

awarded her the Order of Officer of Polonia Restituta * In March 2001 she was named ''Person of Reconciliation 2001'' by the Polish ''Council of Christians and Jews''. * In 2015 she was recognized for her services to

, ''Zasłużony dla Warszawy''. * In 2018 she was granted the "Freedom of the City of Warsaw", ''Honorowi Obywatele miasta stołecznego Warszawy''.

Bibliography

Books

*''Hope is the last to die (Nadzieja umiera ostatnia)'', 1967. Translated into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew *''Return to ancestors' land (Powrót do ziemi praojców)'', 1991 *''Scream for remembrance (Wołanie o pamięć)'',1999 *''Far and near echoes. Meetings with young people(Echa dalekie i bliskie. Spotkania z młodzieżą)'', 2001 *''Life is dear to everyone (Życie każdemu drogie)'', 2005 *''My life began from the end. Collected Poems Of A Holocaust Survivor. (Moje życie zaczęło się od końca. Wiersze Zebrane Poetki Ocalałej Z Zagłady)'', 2010 *''They still ask (Wciąż pytają)'' 2011 *''I am looking for life in the dead, Interview with Halina Birenbaum (Szukam życia u umarłych, Wywiad z Haliną Birenbaum )'', 2013 *''It's not the rain, it's people (To nie deszcz, to ludzie. Halina Birenbaum w rozmowie z Moniką Tutak-Goll, Wydawnictwo Agora, Warszawa 2019 )'', 2019 *''From history of my life after The Shoah. Memories. (Z historii mojego życia po Zagładzie. Wspomnienia. Wydawnictwo Anna Maria Mickiewicz Literary Waves Publishing, London 2022 )'', 2022

Poems

*''Even when I laugh (Nawet gdy się śmieję)'' *''Not about flowers (Nie o Kwiatach)'' *''Words cannot convey (Jak można w słowach)''

References

External links

Halina Birenbaum - Ada Holtzman homepage
zchor.org Includes extensive bibliography

Auschwitz 70th anniversary: Survivors warn of new crimes

City of Warsaw honors Polish-Israeli writer Halina Birenbaum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birenbaum, Halina 1929 births Living people Writers from Warsaw Warsaw Ghetto inmates Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Majdanek concentration camp survivors Jewish concentration camp survivors Polish emigrants to Israel Jewish Israeli writers Israeli women poets Israeli poets Israeli memoirists Women memoirists Jewish women writers Kibbutzniks