The title of this book is taken from Primo Levi's words about survivors of the Holocaust: 'The survivors are divided into two well-defined groups: those who repress their past en bloc, and those whose memory of the offence persists, as though carved in stone.' The memories of Manny Drukier are indelibly inscribed on his mind, and in Carved in Stone he recounts them with honesty and precision.
In 1939, at the age of eleven, Drukier was forced by the Nazis to leave his native city of Lódz, in Poland. His narrative, prompted by his first visit back to Poland after fifty years, begins with his childhood, follows him in and out of various hiding places and to the labour camps, and describes his day of liberation and his later emigration to North America. But this is also the story of the day-to-day life of Jews both before and during the war, providing a detailed account of Drukier's friends and family, and their love, wit, and will to survive.
Manny Drukier settled in Toronto in 1948. He was the publisher of the Idler and A la Carte magazines, and his business interests have included manufacturing, importing and real estate. At present he operates the Idler Pub in Toronto.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD by Henry Schogt ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Prologue: The Second Coming of the Jews
1 Rehabilitation
2 Warsaw
3 Grandparents
4 New Year 5752
5 An Apartment in Lodi
6 Yorn Kippur in Lodi
7 Last Hours of Childhood
8 Kieke
9 Majdanek
10 Staszow Then and Now
11 Szifra
12 Our Time Has Come
13 We Work
14 The Other Way
15 The End of the Line
16 Auschwitz, 1991
17 The Kindness of Strangers 187 18 In the Orphanage
19 That Side Jordan
20 Greetings
What People are Saying About This
Sem Dresden
"Of course pleasure is not exactly the word one is looking for when reading the exact descriptions of terrible suffering and nearly incomprehensible adventures during wartime. But by writing with an astonishing detachment which looks like objectivity Drukier achieves an excellent result. Readers understand the way he lived and live, as it were, with him."
