4580

Yehoshua Perle

1942

Sensitive Content

This text recounts acts of violence against Jewish people. The text provides insight into Jewish history; however, The Posen Library does not condone or promote violence or oppression of any kind.

A round number. At first glance it looks silly and seems to have no specific meaning. A detached number such as this can be likened to those gray people who go through life alone and die without confession. [ . . . ]

Sober minds, if they consider it, will probably take it to be the Identity Number of a policeman, a railroad porter, a prisoner or…

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Creator Bio

Yehoshua Perle

1888–1943

Yehoshua Perle was a popular Yiddish-language writer whose novels portrayed all classes of Jewish society in interwar Poland. While never a favorite of literary critics, Perle wrote works that were beloved by the Yiddish-speaking public and therefore reached a wide audience. While imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, Perle produced an important diary of events entitled Khurbn Varshe that details, among other events, the collaboration of Jews with the Nazis and their allies. He was killed in Auschwitz.

Related Guide

Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Life-Writing and Reportage

1939–1973

Life writing and reportage captured individual Jewish experiences in a period of conflict and uncertainty. 

Related Guide

The Holocaust: Years of Catastrophe

1939–1945

Jewish writing in Nazi-occupied areas documented ghetto life, moral questions, and Jewish identity, while writers in free zones grappled with the unfolding tragedy.

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