What do you think?
Rate this book
Double Identity: A Memoir
A Jewish woman tells of her experience in the Polish underground during World War II, helping other Jews flee the Warsaw ghetto
Hardcover
First published August 1, 1989
91 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 20, 2017
Absolutely Absorbing
Zofia wrote this part of her memoir forty years after the events she describes here. Her style of writing is spare and strangely unemotional, almost detached, as if she were writing about herself at one remove. Which I suppose in a way, she is, as she is not the same person she was forty years ago – who is?
The book is easy to read in that it is well-written and edited, although the content is not easy reading, especially if you have some knowledge of Poland and her Jewish population. Zofia has obviously left a lot unwritten, but the essence of her life during the time she is writing about has been captured in these pages.
She begins with these words; “I spent two and a half years of my life in the Warsaw ghetto.”
After two and a half years in the ghetto and avoiding several mass deportations, Zofia managed to slip away from a work party in early February 1943 and so began her life as a Polish woman. Her story is amazing in that she had very little money and didn’t have a big network of friends or contacts to rely on, knowing only a few people with whom she’d had no contact for seven years. A childhood friend was married to a Pole who organised a new birth certificate for her, and her friend found her a safe place to stay.
With a safe place to stay, Zofia spent much of her days walking around the city to familiarise herself, and also paid close attention to how people walked and talked, their mannerisms and how they spoke, noting colloquialisms and even jokes. She was fortunate that she spoke impeccable Polish, but if she blanked out on common sayings and didn’t understand the current jokes, she would immediately come under suspicion and her cover would be blown. It was this great attention to detail that stood her in good stead and was a big part of why she survived. Another reason for her survival was her innate sense of who she could trust, something that saved her in many dangerous situations and a few humorous ones.
She led an unsettled life and had to move several times as circumstances changed and what had been a place of safety became dangerous for differing reasons. Fortunately, her ability to adapt quickly and weigh up situations by instinct combined with experience, served her well, as she made many friends, some of them lifelong friendships. She met some truly lovely people, a rather prickly person (who became a lifelong friend), and some truly awful people. Although she was living a dangerous life, Zofia did have times of celebration, laughter and fun. She loved and was loved, from dear, innocent, maddening “Aunt” Aniela, to Mrs Kaluzniacka and her sister, Miss Janina, to Helena, to Danka, just to name a few. So, although a precarious life, filled with danger, also a lighthearted one, even joyous sometimes, with dear friends.
This memoir barely covers what Zofia and all Jews in an around Warsaw went through during the war, but it is enough to show that there were some amazing, quietly heroic Poles; and also that sometimes under pressure, even decent, good people can lose some of their humanity for a time. Zofia’s memoir focuses more on the people she came into contact with rather than overall coverage of German-occupied Poland. There are many histories and memoirs on Poland and her people during World War II and this memoir deserves its place in their ranks.
Zofia wrote this part of her memoir forty years after the events she describes here. Her style of writing is spare and strangely unemotional, almost detached, as if she were writing about herself at one remove. Which I suppose in a way, she is, as she is not the same person she was forty years ago – who is?
The book is easy to read in that it is well-written and edited, although the content is not easy reading, especially if you have some knowledge of Poland and her Jewish population. Zofia has obviously left a lot unwritten, but the essence of her life during the time she is writing about has been captured in these pages.
She begins with these words; “I spent two and a half years of my life in the Warsaw ghetto.”
After two and a half years in the ghetto and avoiding several mass deportations, Zofia managed to slip away from a work party in early February 1943 and so began her life as a Polish woman. Her story is amazing in that she had very little money and didn’t have a big network of friends or contacts to rely on, knowing only a few people with whom she’d had no contact for seven years. A childhood friend was married to a Pole who organised a new birth certificate for her, and her friend found her a safe place to stay.
With a safe place to stay, Zofia spent much of her days walking around the city to familiarise herself, and also paid close attention to how people walked and talked, their mannerisms and how they spoke, noting colloquialisms and even jokes. She was fortunate that she spoke impeccable Polish, but if she blanked out on common sayings and didn’t understand the current jokes, she would immediately come under suspicion and her cover would be blown. It was this great attention to detail that stood her in good stead and was a big part of why she survived. Another reason for her survival was her innate sense of who she could trust, something that saved her in many dangerous situations and a few humorous ones.
She led an unsettled life and had to move several times as circumstances changed and what had been a place of safety became dangerous for differing reasons. Fortunately, her ability to adapt quickly and weigh up situations by instinct combined with experience, served her well, as she made many friends, some of them lifelong friendships. She met some truly lovely people, a rather prickly person (who became a lifelong friend), and some truly awful people. Although she was living a dangerous life, Zofia did have times of celebration, laughter and fun. She loved and was loved, from dear, innocent, maddening “Aunt” Aniela, to Mrs Kaluzniacka and her sister, Miss Janina, to Helena, to Danka, just to name a few. So, although a precarious life, filled with danger, also a lighthearted one, even joyous sometimes, with dear friends.
This memoir barely covers what Zofia and all Jews in an around Warsaw went through during the war, but it is enough to show that there were some amazing, quietly heroic Poles; and also that sometimes under pressure, even decent, good people can lose some of their humanity for a time. Zofia’s memoir focuses more on the people she came into contact with rather than overall coverage of German-occupied Poland. There are many histories and memoirs on Poland and her people during World War II and this memoir deserves its place in their ranks.
Displaying 1 of 1 review