German Edition of 'Nach so viel Schmerz und Pein' Collects First Letters of Holocaust Survivors
Herder-Verlag has published the German version of 'Nach so viel Schmerz und Pein: Erste Briefe nach dem Holocaust,' edited by Robert Rozett and Iael Nidam-Orvieto. This 352-page book, available for 30 euros, presents private letters from Jewish survivors written in 1945, now accessible in German for the first time. The letters retain their original languages and include indexes and photographs. Notable correspondents are Arthur Feige, who escaped a train in March 1946; Recha Oettinger, who alerted her daughter about Theresienstadt; Jozek Siwek, the last family member reported in May 1945; Berta Katz, who wrote about her children in October 1944; and Frederika Melkman-de Paauw, who discussed Amsterdam's Jewish community in September 1945. The project is backed by the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Freundeskreis Yad Vashem.
Key facts
- 'Nach so viel Schmerz und Pein: Erste Briefe nach dem Holocaust' is edited by Robert Rozett and Iael Nidam-Orvieto and published by Herder-Verlag
- The 352-page German edition costs 30 euros and appears in 2026
- An earlier version was published in English and Hebrew in Jerusalem ten years ago
- Letters were written in Russian, German, French, Hungarian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Slovak, Dutch and Polish
- Arthur Feige escaped from a moving train through an open toilet window and survived about three years in hiding
- Recha Oettinger wrote that Theresienstadt would have been gassed had Russian liberation come two days later
- Jozek (Josef) Siwek sent a Polish message on a Red Cross form in May 1945
- The Alfred Landecker Foundation and the Freundeskreis Yad Vashem supported the publication
Entities
Artists
- Recha Oettinger
- Jozek Siwek
- Josef Siwek
- Arthur Feige
- Berta Katz
- Frederika Melkman-de Paauw
- Robert Rozett
- Iael Nidam-Orvieto
- Katharina Körtling
Institutions
- Herder-Verlag
- Alfred Landecker Foundation
- Freundeskreis Yad Vashem
- Yad Vashem
- Rotes Kreuz
- Charlottenburger Motorenwerke
- Der Freitag
Locations
- Theresienstadt
- Jerusalem
- Berlin
- Charlottenburg
- Auschwitz
- Krassyliw
- Ukraine
- Amsterdam
- Palästina
- Israel
- Deutschland
- Niederlande
- Polen