On Both Sides of the Wall: Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto

by Vladka Meed, Steven Meed (Translator), Elie Wiesel (Introduction)

The author tells of her narrow escapes in Warsaw as an underground courier working for the Aryan side of the resistance movement.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Nonfiction, Jewish, Memoir, World War II

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Vladka Meed is the pen name for Feigele Peltel Miedzyrzecki.

Reviews

[David Fenstersheib]

Let's face it your probably reading this because it was on a approved reading list for a class that deals with the holocaust and I wont lie this will be a slow read but a very goodread ;) that I promise. Her story is based of her amazing determination to fight back against the nazi regime. She risks her life countless times, saves countless lives and just did a real life Rambo! There is not much more I can say other than these words written by her and other words written by fellow holocaust survivors are all we have left of a horrible event in history. In 10 years there will virtually be no one alive that survived the holocaust and with the idea that the holocaust never existed and frightening and all we have to remember it by is their work.

[Matthew Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about a very courageous women in some truly horrific circumstances. Vladka's account of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is captivating and sad. To read about her constant struggle to aid those in need, only to read two pages later how they were captured or killed is heart wrenching. Why we continue to be bystanders to this sort of hatred is numbing.

[Adrienne Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

"On Both Sides of the Wall" is written by Vladka Meed, a Polish Jew who at such a young age had to overcome the obstacles of being forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis during World War II. It's heartbreaking, I found myself almost in tears, and there are so many scenes where my heart almost rattled just because in so many instances she was almost caught. She smuggled a map of one of the death camps in her shoe out of the ghetto to prove what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, as well as posing as an Aryan and working for the Jewish resistance on the oustide of the ghetto. She overcame so much, and had to watch each of her family members die or be taken away and to never return. She smuggled children out of the ghetto and found Aryans to house them, she smuggled food in and out as well for the starving Jews of the ghetto. She is one of the most courageous women to walk this earth, and in a time that was so frightening and death lurked around every corner. I can't imagine what this women went through, I can only read her story, but nothing that I ever think to complain about is nothing compared to what these people had to endure and suffer through and I feel sorry for anyone who thinks differently. I looked at life differently after reading this.

[Deena · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and difficult book about life in Warsaw during the war. It's not always linear, and many chapters are anecdotal in structure rather than following any strict chronological narrative. Not easy to get through, as it is full of specific details of revolting behavior by people who could so easily have been allies through a situation that was dire for all - but chose instead to be just as racist as the invaders. Individual exceptions existed, of course, but they were rare exceptions. Ms. Meed ends with her reaction to the monument at Treblinka, which she saw over thirty years after leaving Poland:
"What remains is this vast and empty field, covered with 1500 pointed stones that rise toward the heavens with a silent but piercingly eloquent accusation."

Accusation, indictment... I rarely get angry when reading Holocaust material. This book made me very angry.

[Kayla is trying to finish her backlog of books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an eARC copy of On Both Sides of the Wall by Vladka Meed and Steven D. Meed

A essential and profoundly moving firsthand account of courage, resistance, and survival during one of history's darkest chapters. Vladka Meed - born Feigele Peltel - recounts her experience as a teenage courier for the Jewish underground in the Warsaw Ghetto, offering readers a rare, intimate view of daily life under Nazi terror and the extraordinary bravery of ordinary people who refused to surrender their humanity.

Vladka's sotry is unforgettable: living "on both sides of the wall," navagating the Aryan side under false identity, smuggling weapons, rescuing children, helping hidden Jews, and maintaining contact between ghettos, camps, and partisans. Her resilience and determination illuminate the many unseen acts of defiance which sustained the Jewish resistance.

This is a new edition of the book that provides a careful restoration and expansion of Meed's original narrative. This edition provides photographs and additional material, along with revised translations of Vladka Meed's Yiddish prose and making it more accessible for readers to understand emotionally and historically.

[Deidra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye opening view of what it was like for the Jewish community during WW2 in Poland. Most of the history I know of WW2, was battles and other facts and of course the Holocaust, but I had no idea there were blackmailing Poles and Ukrainians helping the Germans. That saddened me, but also showed how the human condition only goes so far as to save yourself no matter what the ideals you held before unless you are the strong of conviction. There were also good people willing to help, but the danger was real for the Aryan Jewish on the other side and the poor living conditions in the Ghetto. Vladka was a brave woman in a dangerous period of history. I was also saddened to see that the Jewish cemetery was grave robbed and family history ruined for a few gold teeth and the poor treatment of the Jewish after the war in Poland. A definite read for anyone interested in WW2 history. For anyone out there that is a Holocaust denier there is no doubt that this sad part of world history existed. Vladka refers to her friends in the resistance by name, I saw this as a way to honor their work for both survivors of the Holocaust or those that died for the fight to rid the world of evil.

[Sara'la · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a harrowing account of persecution in Warsaw Ghetto and on the "Aryan side". With restrained emotion, Vladka/Feiga depicts the overwhelming and all-encompassing fear of being a Jew in Poland. Vladka does not mince words, nor does she shy away from describing the brutalities that her friends, family, and comrades endured. Before the war began, Vladka had ties to the Jewish underground and Bund movement. As an Aryan-looking Jew she was recruited to join the underground Coordinating Committee (a collection/community of Jews who worked tirelessly, recklessly, and with courage, to save and support Jews in hiding), to hide out on the Aran side and smuggle information, intelligence, money, ammunition, and connect Warsaw Jews inside and outside the Ghetto to safe hiding places.

This is no self-congratulatory memoir. Valdka showers praise and pride onto her comrades, but never pats herself on the back for her heroism.

A powerful and honest memoir of a horrific and incomprehensible time and the surreptitious resistance of Jewish fighters.

Pub: 1948 (Yiddish); 1979 (English)

[Milo Link · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s be honest here I 100% read this book for my highschool class on the Holocaust. Now I won’t say that I hated the book because I absolutely didn’t but I also read it in 4 days because I completely forgot about the assignment. It’s a hard book to read in less than 10 sittings, it’s one of those books where someone has so much to say and so many important stories that it becomes a lot to digest in a single sitting. I highly enjoyed the book otherwise. Vladka Meed is a highly intelligent woman who deserves all, she is a incredibly brave person who will inspire all who read her book on the heroic actions she took during her time in and around the Warsaw ghetto.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm thankful to Vladka for sharing her experiences, and giving us a peek into what it was like to be Jewish during the Holocaust.

I bought this book after touring The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and seeing a placard with information about Vladka's bravery and heroism.

There's so much the book didnt get into, that I wanted to know, so now it's time to read books written by other survivors.

I'm giving this to my teen son to read next.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book to be published by a Jewish survivor. It is the story of the Jews in Poland during world war II. Vladka, the another, was Jewish and worked mostly for the underground in Warsaw. She takes great care in documenting the lives of all the Jews she met and often includes their code names, their real names, their Polish names anything that would identify these people. Very interesting book.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this that are about real people dealing with terrible things always take me a little longer to read. It is hard to digest that the things the author discusses in the book, she experienced. It's not fiction. There were real life heroes of the Holocaust and world war ii, ordinary people living through terrible things. And with the state of the world today, especially here in the US, you can't help but as yourself could I be that brave?

[Kim Klett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this in the early 2000s because I was teaching a few excerpts from it. I reread it because one of my book discussion groups just finished a historical fiction about Vladka. I had forgotten many of the important details and was again amazed at the bravery of those who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and who helped, as Vladka did.

[MaddiBReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

[ARC Review] Captivating story, especially relevant today in America. Knowing what happened going in, still I felt like on the edge of my seat and anxious during the narrative. Every part of this story was purposeful and helpful to the overall picture of how they ended up in the situation and how she persevered. I will be buying a copy!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting through this book and it took me a while to figure out why. I finally realized that I had mentally categorized it as a memoir, which it somewhat is, but it is largely a record. The book is filled with names of a lot of people that you never really learn anything about and a lot of addresses for places in Warsaw that no longer exist and details of life which are heart-breaking. There were a couple times when I debated just putting the book down and giving up, but I didn't feel like I should. In the end, I realized that the purpose of this book is to bear witness to the suffering and death of many individuals who were victims of the Nazis and, to a lesser extent, of the indifference of the Polish people. I could not have left the book unfinished because if these individuals could live through these horrors, it was my obligation as a human being to at least take the time to be informed. I was glad to learn more about the history of this portion of World War II, which is not one that receives a great deal of coverage.

[Benjamin Abelow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This simple, readable, warm, engaging, and personally inspiring book gave me a much deeper, gut-level understanding of the Warsaw Ghetto than I'd had previously. I came to understand the totally untenable psychological position that ordinary people were placed in, as if in some kind of mass sadistic psychological and physical experiment; I learned that many endured about as well as I probably would have endured, continually living on the verge of psychological collapse, but I also learned that more than a few rose to levels of remarkable perseverance and outright heroism. The title "on both sides of the wall" refers to the lives of both the inmates of the ghetto and to those Jews who "escaped" from the ghetto, lived in Warsaw as secret Jews, always at risk of being discovered, betrayed, and killed, and many of whom worked to supply those inside the ghetto with food and arms. If you're at all considering reading this book, my advice is: Do.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember the TV movie, "Uprising," with Leelee Sobieski? She portrayed a young woman named Tosia Altman. In reality, the character she played was a juxtapose of two individuals: Tosia Altman and Vladka Meed. This book is Vladka's memoirs and shows scenes and situations featured in the TV movie, under the guise that it occurred to Tosia. Tosia is mentioned a few times in this book, but this is wholly Vladka's story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Focuses on life in the ghetto, on the "Aryan side," and the resistance of the Jewish people in Poland during the Holocaust. *Made the fact that anyone survived even more amazing.

[Elizabeth]

As seen in the New York Times .

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding heroism and selflessness. A story that too few know.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly exceptional woman and story.... There is also video footage of interviews with Vladka Meed on the internet. highly recommended.