A Vanished World

Remembering the double-invasion of Poland, 1 September 1939

Book Review

“Memories of My Life in a Polish Village 1930—1949” Paintings, Drawings and Text by Toby Knobel Fluek, (originally published in 1990), The Experiment Press, 2024, 144 pp., $24.95 US, $32.95 Can.

Hitler and Stalin secretly agreed to partition Poland, with signage of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. A new edition of an illustrative 1990 memoir displays vivid, succinct account of Jewish agrarian life before during and after the great horrors of the 1940s.

One of my top highlights this year, so far, has been discovering my Jewish-Polish ancestry. The subliminal, subconscious connection I’d always felt with the culture proved to be vindicated by empirical science.

However, when thinking of the September First Nazi invasion of Poland that ‘initiated’ World War II, as well as the ensuing Stalinist invasion on the eastern flank, I’ve always viewed it from the perspective of an “objective historian,” just as I attempt to approach all historic matters. This year, I’m slightly yet pleasantly sho…