Numerous Holocaust memoirs recount the unspeakable horrors that individuals witnessed and endured during the Nazis' reign. Less well known are the post-World War II 'yizkors', collective memoirs written by survivors to memorialise a home village purged or destroyed by Nazis. The Hebrew word yizkor translates as - he shall remember- and also refers to a prayer for the dead. While hundreds of 'yizkors' exist, very few have been translated into English. 'The Life and Death of a Polish Shtetl', the memorial for the town of Strzegowo, was collected and edited in 1951. Its stories are simple, yet they evoke considerable emotional turmoil. Some are shattering tales of torture, cultural destruction, and death. Others are moving remembrances of what the beloved little town was like before it was invaded by the Nazis. Because there is no longer a Jewish population living in Strzegowo, this book is an important record of what was lost. Feigl Bisberg-Youkelson was a writer. Rubin Youkelson was a critic and reviewer. Gene Bluestein, a professor emeritus of English at California State University at Fresno, is the author of Anglish/Yinglish: Yiddish in American Life and Literature (Nebraska 1998) and other works.
