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Country of Ash: A Jewish Doctor in Poland, 1939-1945
Country of Ash is the starkly compelling, original chronicle of a Jewish doctor who miraculously survived near-certain death, first inside the Lodz and Warsaw ghettoes, where he was forced to treat the Gestapo, then on the Aryan side of Warsaw, where he hid under numerous disguises. He clandestinely recorded the terrible events he witnessed, but his manuscript disappeared during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After the war, reunited with his wife and young daughter, he rewrote his story.
Peopled with historical figures like the controversial Chaim Rumkowski, who fancied himself a king of the Jews, to infamous Nazi commanders and dozens of Jews and non-Jews who played cat and mouse with death throughout the war, Reicher’s memoir is about a community faced with extinction and the chance decisions and strokes of luck that kept a few stunned souls alive.
Edward Reicher (1900–1975) was born in Lodz, Poland. He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Warsaw, later studied dermatology in Paris and Vienna, and practiced in Lodz as a dermatologist and venereal disease specialist both before and after World War II. A Jewish survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Reicher appeared at a tribunal in Salzburg to identify Hermann Höfle and give an eyewitness account of Höfle’s role in Operation Reinhard, which sent hundreds of thousands to their deaths in the Nazi concentration camps of Poland.
Country of Ash, first published posthumously in France, was translated from the French by Magda Bogin and includes a foreword by Edward Reicher’s daughter Elisabeth Bizouard-Reicher.
Peopled with historical figures like the controversial Chaim Rumkowski, who fancied himself a king of the Jews, to infamous Nazi commanders and dozens of Jews and non-Jews who played cat and mouse with death throughout the war, Reicher’s memoir is about a community faced with extinction and the chance decisions and strokes of luck that kept a few stunned souls alive.
Edward Reicher (1900–1975) was born in Lodz, Poland. He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Warsaw, later studied dermatology in Paris and Vienna, and practiced in Lodz as a dermatologist and venereal disease specialist both before and after World War II. A Jewish survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Reicher appeared at a tribunal in Salzburg to identify Hermann Höfle and give an eyewitness account of Höfle’s role in Operation Reinhard, which sent hundreds of thousands to their deaths in the Nazi concentration camps of Poland.
Country of Ash, first published posthumously in France, was translated from the French by Magda Bogin and includes a foreword by Edward Reicher’s daughter Elisabeth Bizouard-Reicher.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 27, 2022
Absolutely heartbreaking, the stories remembered here reveal names, lives, hopes, and choices of many Jewish people in World Wart II Poland and the many neighbors, co-workers, soldiers, and civilians. Desperate days turned into dangerous years, and the many decisions people had to make could lead to betrayal or lucky "redemption" for a short while until the next important decision would come. Each person's reality is shared in Dr. Reicher's carefully related stories. Rather than a grand sweep of history, here are numerous smaller moments. I was astounded by all the layers I came to recognize about the complex social communities Dr. Reicher and his family navigated through such horrific trials.
Returning to this review the day after completing this above review, I am astounded by the haunting accounts which return to my thoughts. I found myself returning to this book and marking certain passages, looking for specific people introduced to me in these pages, and searching for phrases that return. This is one of the memoirs that I will let stay with me a while longer before returning to the next read, the next new story. I now think about the reality of an entire community in a war, neighbors and workers both inside camps and outside of camps. So many of the stories I've read in the past focus on single stories within a limited setting: a house, a ghetto, a train journey, or inside a camp being just a few. These stories of so many people - old, young, duplicitous, innocent, known and trusted, known and deceitful - constantly reminded me that lives throughout the larger community were entwined and people knew what was happening to each other. Well, some were not fully aware of the extent others had to live, but they all knew more about each other's complex lives and situations. Not only is this book heartbreaking; it is haunting as well.
Returning to this review the day after completing this above review, I am astounded by the haunting accounts which return to my thoughts. I found myself returning to this book and marking certain passages, looking for specific people introduced to me in these pages, and searching for phrases that return. This is one of the memoirs that I will let stay with me a while longer before returning to the next read, the next new story. I now think about the reality of an entire community in a war, neighbors and workers both inside camps and outside of camps. So many of the stories I've read in the past focus on single stories within a limited setting: a house, a ghetto, a train journey, or inside a camp being just a few. These stories of so many people - old, young, duplicitous, innocent, known and trusted, known and deceitful - constantly reminded me that lives throughout the larger community were entwined and people knew what was happening to each other. Well, some were not fully aware of the extent others had to live, but they all knew more about each other's complex lives and situations. Not only is this book heartbreaking; it is haunting as well.
May 15, 2013
This is an astonishing book. This highly recommended book is the memoir of a Jewish doctor in Poland during World War II from 1939-1945. It is hard to believe that Dr. Edward Reicher lived to tell his story, considering that millions of Jewish people were slaughtered in Poland during the Nazi occupation. Even more astounding, Reicher managed to save his wife and baby daughter from the SS and countless Polish informers, who made a living off of other peoples misery. Dr. Reicher was not a military man. He did not carry a gun. Yet, in his own way he resisted evil and prejudice every day to insure the survival of his family. He gives a first hand account of the ill-fated Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. There are many lessons to be learned here from Dr. Reicher. The most important is never to give up in the fight against evil until we once again return to dust.
February 5, 2018
This review is for "Country of Ash: A Jewish Doctor in Poland, 1939-1945" by Edward Reicher.
This book should have been published in English a long time ago especially given Dr Reicher passed away in 1975.
This is a very interesting story about what it was like for Dr. Reicher, his wife, and his daughter to survive the Holocaust. This tells the entire tale of how close they were to capture on more than a few occasions. I've read the book and quite frankly I still cannot believe that anyone had the continued luck that this family had to escape with their lives. I would recommend this book for larger libraries or individuals who collect Holocaust stories.
This book should have been published in English a long time ago especially given Dr Reicher passed away in 1975.
This is a very interesting story about what it was like for Dr. Reicher, his wife, and his daughter to survive the Holocaust. This tells the entire tale of how close they were to capture on more than a few occasions. I've read the book and quite frankly I still cannot believe that anyone had the continued luck that this family had to escape with their lives. I would recommend this book for larger libraries or individuals who collect Holocaust stories.
September 11, 2022
Dr. Edward Reicher’s story is a sobering reminder of the power of some people’s astonishing will to live. For six long years the level of daily risk, violence, betrayal and horror that Dr. Reicher witnessed is simply beyond words. This book is filled with heroes and villains, in both extremes. Reading this you can’t help but think he literally had nine lives, soooo many times he just skirted death when it seemed like there was no way out. As a Jewish family of three in Poland in 1939 the odds of them surviving till 1945 had to be one in a million. But Dr. Reicher was smart and he was ahead of many others when it came to a understanding the Germans intentions. The two rules he lived by are telling: (1) never believe anything The Germans say and (2) whatever they ask you to do, do the opposite. To those two I would add, never give up and never stop fighting. This is a truly incredible and inspiring story of great endurance and grit and one you won’t soon, if ever, forget. When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, thank the God above that you can do just that.
July 13, 2013
An interesting memoir by a Jewish doctor who was in both the Lodz and the Warsaw Ghettos. Dr. Reicher actually got fairly close to the Lodz Ghetto's controversial chairman, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, and his impressions of the man are invaluable to history. Beyond that, however, this memoir doesn't really stand out that much among all the other Holocaust books out there.
(I got this book for free from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.)
(I got this book for free from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.)
November 27, 2018
this was one of the best diaries regarding WWII that I have read. The perspective of Edward Reicher was different than other books I have read. The ordeal he and his family went through is something we can all learn from. The writing style often took my breath away and made me pause.
This is a fairly quick read but I found myself stopping to reflect fairly often.
This is a fairly quick read but I found myself stopping to reflect fairly often.
January 26, 2019
Very heartbreaking
This story tells of the doctor's life during the German occupation of Poland during ww2. Very shocking and realistic to what happened to them. Much more moving than any documentary on Poland. Very troubling that they kept moving and fears of being caught. Explains that many hated the Jews and believed Nazi propaganda. Very scary but realistic.
This story tells of the doctor's life during the German occupation of Poland during ww2. Very shocking and realistic to what happened to them. Much more moving than any documentary on Poland. Very troubling that they kept moving and fears of being caught. Explains that many hated the Jews and believed Nazi propaganda. Very scary but realistic.
December 9, 2023
I read this book the few days following the testimony of university presidents, where they characterized threats of genocide against Jewish students on campus as something that has to be seen in its context. Well, this book (and hundreds of others) provides that context. This is not a memoir of survival in concentration camps. This is a memoir of surviving the local hate against Jews in towns in Poland. This is a memoir of being turned away and turned in for the crime of being Jewish and trying to remain alive.
So well written and agonizingly impossible to put down. I love the attitude of Dr. Reicher - to not trust the so-called leaders - Jewish, Polish, Nazi. "Everything in the German ordinances if false: that was my deep conviction. Whatever the Germans ordain, do the opposite: that was my operating rule." (p. 86) "They exterminated one group and promised the survivors they could stay."
p. 86 This was a strategy designed to reassure. But they never kept their word and sent to their death people to whom, the day before, they had promised life. I was sure the only safety lay in a good hiding place.
People went to great lengths to obtain work permits to be exempt from deportation. They were convinced this was their route to safety. This work permit was just another piece of paper that could be torn up at any moment.
p. 87 Others could have crossed over to the Polish side and survived with false papers. But hunger had led them astray. They had gone mad. They wanted to take trains to the East. I begged them not to go but in vain. They each received their five pounds of dark bread and two pounds of beet jam. That was the price of one Jewish life.
So well written and agonizingly impossible to put down. I love the attitude of Dr. Reicher - to not trust the so-called leaders - Jewish, Polish, Nazi. "Everything in the German ordinances if false: that was my deep conviction. Whatever the Germans ordain, do the opposite: that was my operating rule." (p. 86) "They exterminated one group and promised the survivors they could stay."
p. 86 This was a strategy designed to reassure. But they never kept their word and sent to their death people to whom, the day before, they had promised life. I was sure the only safety lay in a good hiding place.
People went to great lengths to obtain work permits to be exempt from deportation. They were convinced this was their route to safety. This work permit was just another piece of paper that could be torn up at any moment.
p. 87 Others could have crossed over to the Polish side and survived with false papers. But hunger had led them astray. They had gone mad. They wanted to take trains to the East. I begged them not to go but in vain. They each received their five pounds of dark bread and two pounds of beet jam. That was the price of one Jewish life.
April 13, 2025
I have read the book several times over the years; you can't take it in all at once. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Holocaust, or in the range of human behaviors under a totalitarian regime intent on genocide. As such, it becomes increasingly relevant as I write this (April 2025) and a warning of what you might expect of yourself or others. In such circumstances, you have no way of knowing what you can endure to survive, who you can trust, or who you yourself might help or betray or refuse to help. A childhood playmate might betray you to steal the furniture in your house, a professional colleague you barely know will inform to see you tortured, or a denizen of the street might take you in and hide you at great danger to themselves. People fool themselves and trust the enemy's lies only to be killed, people are snatched during a prayer service. A teenager might march into your home and punch out your teeth without word or provocation. And much, much more. Reicher also gives an eyewitness account of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto uprising and the bravery of the young who fought to the end.
May 26, 2013
COUNTRY OF ASH by Dr. Edward Reicher
Dr. Reicher’s memoir tells of his experiences as a Jew in Poland during World War II. He relates the most horrific details in a matter of fact voice. He, his wife and their small daughter all survive the destruction of the Jewish ghetto and the uprising in the city of Warsaw.
For anyone seeking information about Hitler’s edicts and their effect on Jews and Aryans in Poland, this account will be riveting in its details. Because this is a translation from the original French and Polish, readers will notice some awkward phraseology and construction.
Book groups might want to also read Anne Frank’s diary, another account of a German occupied country or even Leon Uris’ Mila 18 or watch the movie THE PIANIST in conjunction with this book.
Dr. Reicher’s memoir tells of his experiences as a Jew in Poland during World War II. He relates the most horrific details in a matter of fact voice. He, his wife and their small daughter all survive the destruction of the Jewish ghetto and the uprising in the city of Warsaw.
For anyone seeking information about Hitler’s edicts and their effect on Jews and Aryans in Poland, this account will be riveting in its details. Because this is a translation from the original French and Polish, readers will notice some awkward phraseology and construction.
Book groups might want to also read Anne Frank’s diary, another account of a German occupied country or even Leon Uris’ Mila 18 or watch the movie THE PIANIST in conjunction with this book.
May 27, 2013
One of the best accounts of the Holocaust that I've ever read. It was well written, and made me feel like I was there with him. This was an amazing story of survival, and I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity to read it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Holocaust. I have read many other books about living through/surviving the Holocaust, and this is one of the best that I've ever read.
*I received this book through LibraryThing's early reviewer program, but that in no way influenced my opinion*
*I received this book through LibraryThing's early reviewer program, but that in no way influenced my opinion*
August 22, 2016
I hesitate to call a Holocaust memoir a page-turner, but Country of Ash reads like a spy novel. I finished it in 2 days.
Dr. Reicher was able to survive the Holocaust with his wife and daughter through a series of moves and disguises worthy of a Ken Follet novel. He enouters a Jewish doctor charged with inspecting circumcisions, a broken-down prostitute, a Polish princess and a crazy Russian who loved saving Jews.
Along, with "Hidden Gold" I'll remember this as not only a serious and important survivor testimony, but an enthralling adventure.
Dr. Reicher was able to survive the Holocaust with his wife and daughter through a series of moves and disguises worthy of a Ken Follet novel. He enouters a Jewish doctor charged with inspecting circumcisions, a broken-down prostitute, a Polish princess and a crazy Russian who loved saving Jews.
Along, with "Hidden Gold" I'll remember this as not only a serious and important survivor testimony, but an enthralling adventure.
June 24, 2013
I am amazed that Dr. Reicher was able to go back and remember so many incidents to write this book. He lost the original diary at the end of the occupation and some 20 years later started recalling everything he and his family had been through. This is a true story but reads like a novel. A very different book from other Holocaust remembrances I have read. It continually kept my interest.(
September 7, 2013
Dr. Edward Reicher endured the Holocaust years with his wife and young daughter in the Lodz and Warsaw Ghettos. When he could no longer keep them safe in the ghetto, he and his family walked away from a roundup and entered the Polish side to pass as Aryans. His descriptions of both ghettos are amazing. I definitely recommend this book.
April 5, 2014
One of the best Holocaust survival accounts I have read. In addition to telling his story, the author also provides some insights on what happened to the various people in the book after the war ended. That was really interesting.
April 11, 2014
A must read for students of history!
April 18, 2015
True story- very disturbing to read what he and his family and countless others went through. Tiny little twists of fate that saved them time after time.
June 28, 2015
Terrifying and inspiring at once
Have a new understanding of evil and intolerance . Have wonder and marvel at how good can triumph over the insanity of hate.
Have a new understanding of evil and intolerance . Have wonder and marvel at how good can triumph over the insanity of hate.
January 5, 2014
Wow! Just an amazing on many levels.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews