Zalmen Gradowski’s powerful and extraordinary eyewitness testimony of life and death in Auschwitz, discussed by editor Arnold Davidson and documentary film-maker Toby Perl Freilich.

On October 7 1944 a group of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz rebelled, bombing Crematorium IV. The desperate uprising was defeated by the end of the day, with over 400 prisoners killed, including Zalmen Gradowski.

The Last Consolation Vanished: The Testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz is the first full English translation of his extraordinary, powerful account of life and death there, written in Yiddish and buried in the ashes near Crematorium III.

His a voice speaking to us from the past on behalf of millions who were silenced. Professor Arnold Davidson, the book’s co-editor, discusses this extraordinary work with documentary film-maker Toby Perl Freilich.

Buy a copy of ​​​​​​​The Last Consolation Vanished by Zalmen Gradowski.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval. 

Digital events will take place over Zoom, with an event link sent to bookers 24 hours in advance of the event and a reminder email 30 minutes before the event starts. Ticket holders for digital events will also be sent a link to a recording of the event, available to watch until the end of March.

Book Week 24 Digi-Pass gives access to all 16 online streaming events for £39.50. 

About the speakers:

Arnold I. Davidson is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches principally in the Department of Jewish Thought and the Department of Romance Studies. He is also the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago.

Toby Perl Freilich is a documentary filmmaker and writer based in Jerusalem and New York.

Freilich has written for the Jewish Review of Books, Tablet, and the Forward, and was a recipient of the Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. She is currently producing and directing I Make Maintenance Art: The Work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles about the pioneering Jewish ecofeminist and first Artist in Residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation. Freilich’s parents were both Holocaust survivors from Poland, the sole survivors of their respective families.