Rumkowski: And the Orphans of Lodz

Rumkowski and the Orphans of Lodz is a chilling account of a young woman's experiences in the notorious Lodz Ghetto, the longest surviving community of Jews trapped in Hitler's Europe. The ghetto was lorded over by Chaim Rumkowski, Nazi-appointed Jewish Elder of Lodz and former head of the orphanage. Many have long hailed Rumkowski as a hero who did the best he could leading his community through the worst of circumstances. Now Lucille Eichengreen steps forward to provide testimony depicting Rumkowski in a very different light. Firsthand experience, combined with the stories of others, details how it was the children of Lodz who knew in painful reality that Rumkowski was far from a hero. In words that have taken more than fifty years to be spoken, Ms. Eichengreen shares how Chaim Rumkowski flouted his authority as Elder of Lodz through collaboration, corruption, and the abuse of its children.