ARTS&LIFE EXHIBIT
Anne Frank’s Polish Counterpart HMC exhibit documents the faith and fate of an Orthodox girl from the Lodz Ghetto. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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lmost 70 years after Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was first published, The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc appeared on bookshelves to reveal the tragic experiences of yet another teenager descending into conditions forced by the Holocaust. While Anne Frank writes about an Amsterdam family in hiding together, Rywka (pronounced Rivka) Lipszyc writes about the separation of her Polish family as she grapples with the devastation experienced during confinement in the Lodz Ghetto before being moved into the camps. The information presented in the Lipszyc journal, found in Auschwitz and published by San Francisco’s JFCS (Jewish Family and Children’s Services) Holocaust Center in partnership with Lehrhaus Judaica, has been supplemented through an exhibition developed by the Galicia
Details
“The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Lodz Ghetto” will be on display through Dec. 30 at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills. Free with admission ($5-$8). Derek Hastings will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1. $10 Nonmembers. (248) 553-2400. holocaustcenter.org.
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AUGUST 12 • 2021
Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland: “The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Lodz Ghetto.” Traveling the United States, the exhibition will be on display through Dec. 30 at the Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) in Farmington Hills, where visitors will view translated text, commentaries, associated artifacts and ghetto photographs taken in secret and including images of girls close in age to Rywka. To expand on the diary contents and the ghetto environment, there will be a talk Wednesday, Sept. 1, by Derek Hastings, Oakland University associate professor of history. LOVE OF JUDAISM “The exhibit offers the perspective of an Orthodox girl whose devotion to God and faith is very visible throughout the entire diary,” said Jakub Nowakowski, director of the Galicia Jewish Museum and exhibit curator working with a team. “Although Rywka lost her siblings and parents, she still said she was thankful for being Jewish. “The diary shows that the longing of Rywka and many others was for Palestine, for a new home. There are lots we can take out from her story in her writing
about hunger, fear and hope. What’s so helpful about her perspective is that it’s about daily living and the daily difficulties she faced.” Expert commentary explains and contextualizes parts of the diary. For instance, diary sections about hunger and starvation are joined with descriptions of ghetto conditions, food rations and prohibitions against holiday celebrations. Rabbis, historians, psychologists, doctors — all women — provide the additional information. “Rywka was Orthodox, and her diary describes spending time among girlfriends and women,” Nowakowski said. “There are no men other than her brothers and father in the text. Because we wanted to honor this very special environment, all the other voices in this exhibition are from women. “There are sensitivities in her diary that are missing in the texts created by men, who are focusing on politics and the situation. Entries coming from men are more precise in terms of numbers and information. Rywka notes her feelings and
A page from Rywka Lipszyc’s diary. The exhibit will feature reproductions, enlargements and translated sections of Rywka’s diary.
emotions, which are missing in the diaries created by men.” LODZ GHETTO ARTIFACTS Artifacts on display, assembled from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., include personal items of those in the ghetto, such as children’s shoes made in a Lodz workshop, as well as newspapers and maps. The traveling exhibit is supplemented by materials supplied by local Lodz Ghetto survivors. An anonymous donor provided German sewing needles used by Jews making textiles and leather goods for Germans in ghetto workshops. A Polish family photo album was donated by the late Miriam Zack Garvil, who resettled in Ann Arbor. “We always try to bring a Michigan element into our
