February 25th, 2008
Review – Every Day Lasts a Year
Every Day Lasts a Year
by Richard S. Hollander
In 1986, Richard Hollander’s parents died together in a tragic car accident in NY. Among the items he inherited was a box containing letters sent from Poland, the former home of Hollander’s father. At first Hollanderignored the letters but at some point as his grief for his parents receded, he realized what he had found. These were letters from his aunts and uncles sent to his father during the the period from 1939 to 1942 from Poland. Since Hollander’s Polish relatives were Jews living in Nazi occupied Poland, the value to history of this correspondence became apparent. None of Hollander’s relatives survived the war but they live on in these letters. Dora, who found romance in the Krakow ghetto; Klara who held on through her faith in God; Genka who saw no hope but only blackness ahead; Luisa who held her optimism through it all; as well as many others letter writers.
The first part of the book tells the story of Hollander’s father fleeing Poland and escaping to the US, followed by his attempts to avoid deportation as an illegal alien. We also learn of his attempts to get exit visas for the family still in Poland. When the war breaks out, he joins the service and is sent to Germany, first to fight and later to serve as a translator. While there he finds little more about his family other that it is highly likely they are all dead.
Two essays follow that give some information about the Krakow ghetto and life within the ghetto. Then the letters follow. There is something quite haunting reading these letters, many quietly hinting at the writer’s desperate need to be rescued by their brother in America. The letters are from the grave and reading even the trivial ones can’t help but make you think more about these people who suffered and died in the Nazi killing machine. But this opens up a question that is ignored, what did happen to all of these people? Surely at least some small information could have been found, a place of execution, a hint at a year, a final word. The book doesn’t reveal if Hollander made any effort but in post-USSR Eastern Europe, surely some information, some person, something must recall one of the 20 people in Hollander’s family who died. Ignoring that I think the book is well worth reading. Just be sure to have tissues nearby.
Tags: books, review, holocaust, family in the holocaust, Every Day Lasts a Year
