Dawid Rubinowicz
The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz
Dawid Rubinowicz's diary is famous throughout the world. Writing down his thoughts and observations in short and direct notes in five ordinary school exercise books, 13-year-old Dawid Rubinowicz gives an insight into the time of the Nazi occupation of Poland and the world of a Jewish boy and his family in the time of the open ghetto of Bodzentyn.
In his diary, Dawid Rubinowicz shares his thoughts and fears. The Diary of Dawid Rubinowicz—Pamiętnik Dawida Rubinowicza—is one of the most touching testimonies of the fate of Jewish children during the Holocaust.
Introduction
Dawid Rubinowicz was born on 27 July 1927 in Kielce. He had two younger siblings, a brother and a sister. The reason for the Rubinowicz family’s moving from Kielce, where Dawid was born, to the rural setting of Krajno close to Bodzentyn is unknown. There may, however, be some indication in the old records of births and marriages of this small satellite farm village. More than a few Jewish families have lived there, including members of the extended Rubinowicz family. In Krajno, Dawid's father, Josek (Jósef) Rubinowicz, ran a small dairy farm.
Even during the war, and especially in the summer of 1940 and even 1941, Dawid describes everyday life in the rural setting of Krajno with great fondness. He gazes at the green fields from his window, goes to the woods, and picks morels (mushrooms), bilberries, etc. His depiction of the area is similar to that of survivors recalling their childhood in nearby Bodzentyn.
When people were interviewed after the war—at the time of the discovery of the Diary—they recalled that people liked the Rubinowicz family. Their honesty and kindness towards others were much appreciated in the neighbourhood. There was no medical assistant in the Krajno, and allegedly, Dawid's mother, Tauba Rubinowicz, had pain relief powder and iodine, which she offered to curate people in the surroundings.
In October 1939, all Jewish children were excluded from the Polish state school system. Twelve-year-old Dawid Rubinowicz continued to study, but seemingly on his own and at home, or so he writes on 12 August 1940, i.e. just before the first anniversary of the outbreak of war and only weeks before the beginning of a new term. Thinking about how he used to go to school, Dawid feels like bursting into tears. “Today, I must stay home and can’t go anywhere,” he exclaims.
Dawid began chronicling his experiences on 21 March 1940, more than half a year after the outbreak of the war. A notice posted on a storefront in Krajno caught his attention: Jews are no longer allowed to travel using vehicles. Some months later, Dawid recalls the suffering that people have already experienced and how much everyone has gone through in such a short time.
Dawid wrote in Polish, the language he was taught at the local school. The German term for the Order Police stationed in Bieliny (in 1943 in Bodzentyn) was Gendarmerie. This was distinguished from Schutzpolizei, which were urban units of Order Police rather than the rural or small-town Gendarmerie. Dawid uses żandarmerią for Gendarmerie. He also refers to the Judenrat, the Jewish council. According to Dawid’s diary, Dawid’s father and other adults elected such a council on 5 August 1940.
Still residing in Krajno on 12 December 1941, Dawid starts receiving alarming news about the terror of the Germans and fears of coming face to face with them. In the districts of the General Government, Jews were required to wear an armband with a Star of David on it. Dawid knew that moving illegally, he would need to take off this armband so as not to be quite so easily recognized as a Jewish fugitive. Walking to Bodzentyn on 12 March 1942, the day the family moves into the ghetto, Dawid writes: “I went without an armband on […] I was terribly frightened. Oh God, if anybody had met us, then… Thank God we arrived safely.”
In the spring of 1942 and continuing towards the summer, raids and house-to-house searches intensified in the open ghetto of Bodzentyn. People accused of hiding goods were arrested. Those who refused to co-operate with the Germans were shot or sent to Auschwitz, and Jews seen outside the ghetto or disobeying curfew laws were shot.
The house at Kielce Street No. 13, where the Cislowski family lived and the Rubinowicz family stayed, no longer exists. It was located in the opening on the right-hand side of the street, next to the black and white house in the photomontage. Find the location on Google Maps
Dawid's account shows that his family stayed at 13 Kielce Street with his cousins, the Cisłowski family. In an interview with Dawid's cousin, Ruchla Roza Cisłowska Zilberberg, in Reszta nie jest milczeniem (1960), it is mentioned that there was a discussion that Dawid might try to hide. Having blue eyes and light hair, he may have seen fit to pass as a Gentile. Dawid's father, Josek, did not favour such a scheme, firmly believing that "one cannot escape one's destiny."
On 28 February 1942, before his deportation to Bodzentyn, Dawid wrote something that resembled his father's fatalistic frame of mind: "We've put ourselves in God's hand and are ready for anything."
Excerpts from the diary
"Early in the morning, I went through the village in which we live. I saw a notice that said Jews may not travel on vehicles."
The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz (21 March 1940)
"While [the boy] was tied to the sledge he couldn't run anymore, and they'd dragged him along behind the sledge..."
The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz (15 January 1942)
"I saw a policeman come and turn into our yard. I ran away, but heard the policeman shouting: 'Where are the potatoes? Hand over the rest!'"
The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz (6 May 1942)
Abrupt ending on 1 June 1942
On 8 May, Dawid Rubinowicz writes that he hid in the house of a Polish woman living close by, not to get caught in one of the numerous raids. There is thus at least one reference to a "Polish woman", who may be Mrs Wacińska—the mother of the neighbouring family. In interviews from 1960, one 32-year-old Mr Waciński is described as the person Dawid Rubinowicz probably refers to in his diary on 11 May, when he recounts that he spent almost the whole day at "one Polish boy's place" as he was afraid to stay at home.
From Dawid Rubinowicz's diary and eyewitness accounts, we know that raids took place, and people were brought to the Hasag Skarżysko-Kamienna slave labour camp in June 1942. At that time, there were still some months left until the liquidation. As the diary ends abruptly with one final entry on 1 June 1942, leaving many questions unanswered, we cannot know what Dawid's last days were like.
When the ghetto's liquidation occurred,* the German gendarmerie motored into town, doors were banged on, and all Jewish men, women, and children were rushed to the lower market square. From there, the entire Jewish community was taken to Suchedniów and loaded on trains to the extermination camp at Treblinka.
*Read more about the date below in the source section.
"... and then I saw [my father] on the last lorry; his eyes were red with weeping. I kept on looking at him until he disappeared round the corner, then I had a sudden fit of crying..."
The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz (6 May 1942)
Discovery of the diary
Dawid Rubinowicz may have hidden or forgotten the diary, or perhaps he left the five school exercise books with the Polish next-door neighbour, the Waciński family. In any case, the diary was passed along with other school belongings to Antoni Waciński. The diary was stored in the attic and remained unknown to the world for 15 years.
Krystyna and Stefan Rachtan rented the house from the school's headmaster. "There were many documents at home that were collected by director Antoni Waciński," says the regionalist Stefan Rachtan. His father-in-law and mother-in-law, Helena and Artemiusz Wołczyk, who lived nearby, often paid the family visits. 1957, when the owner came to clean the attic, Helena discovered Dawid Rubinowicz's diary.
"When I first found Dawid's diaries, I was unaware of their importance," says Stefan Rachtan. "My father-in-law, Artemiusz Wołczyk, offered to read them on the municipal radio station."
When they acquired the journal, Artemiusz and Helena started reading it out over the local radio broadcasting system. From 1 October 1957, they were read to the public in 24 episodes, once a week.
In March 1959, a journalist named Maria Jarochowska came to Bodzentyn to collect material for an article on a crime committed during the occupation that was partly antisemitic. Shortly after the article was published, she was introduced to the diary by Artemiusz Wołczyk.
Through Maria Jarochowska, the prominent writer Jaroslaw Iwaszkieicz got interested in the diary and published it in the literary journal Twórczość in January 1960. The diary was published in Polish as a book and translated into many other languages in the same year.
Helena and Artemiusz Wołczyk, at the house where the diary of Dawid Rubinowicz was discovered.
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Resources
The Diary of Dawid Rubinowicz is known to be one of the most touching testimonies of the fate of Jewish children during the Holocaust. Since the first edition of the Diary was published in 1960, it has been translated into many languages. One of the most recent is the Persian translation, which was made in 2020.
The Polish version, published in 2010, includes a comparative study. By selecting and focusing on particular themes from the Diary and showing how these had been endured and are still remembered by survivors, the comparative study aims to broaden our understanding of Dawid’splight and to shed more light on details of everyday life and hardships imposed on Jews, especially in relation to the following topics: Childhood; Antisemitism; The Outbreak of War; GermanOccupation; Refugees fromPłock; Life in the Ghetto and Deportation to the Camp.
A play based on the Diary
In cooperation with Dorota Anyż and Artur Anyż, Krystyna Nowakowska directed the process to set up a play based on the Diary of Dawid Rubinowicz. It was performed for the first time on 28 September 2008. Read on about the project on the diary that Krystyna Nowakowska initiated.
Krystyna NowakowskaThe Diary used for Holocaust Education
Useful information
- When the Diary was published, the two famous radio broadcasters Jerzy Janicki and Bronisław Wiernik followed the traces of Dawid Rubinowicz and made several interviews that were captured on tape and then published in Reszta nie jest milczeniem (1960).
- In 1980, Konrad Weiß made a documentary film about Dawid Rubinowicz and conducted many interviews in and around Bodzentyn, Ein Dokumentarfilm nach dem Tagebuch des Dawid Rubinowicz. (For further details, please visit "Filmdetails".) | View the documentary on YouTube >>
- On one of the copybook's covers, the name A. Cislowski appears. Read Al Cislowski's testimony
- In the article "Wyjście z Bodzentyna", Mrs Wacińska states that Dawid himself left a parcel with her for safekeeping containing Jewish religious books and five yellow exercise books. There are no other sources that can confirm this claim.
- Open the virtual tour. The starting point is Kielce Street no. 13, where Dawid Rubinowicz stayed with his cousin Anczel Cislowski in the open ghetto in 1942. (The house no longer exists but was located in the opening on the right-hand side of the street, next to the green-coloured house at Kielce Street no. 11.) Use the arrow in the Goggle Street map to continue towards the Lower Market, Rynek Dolny (Plac Żwirki)
- Learn more about "Hasag", the Skarżysko-Kamienna slave labour camp that Dawid Rubinowicz's father and others were taken to. Find the book Death Comes in Yellow by Felicja Karay
- Read articles about Dawid Rubinowicz by Robert Szuchta, a leading expert on education about the Holocaust in Poland | Read the articles in Polish
- Recent events:
- 2017: Wspomnienie o żydowskim chłopcu – Dawid Rubinowicz i jego „Pamiętnik”. Open Polish source
- Lecture by Dr Justyna Staszewska in May 2021: Następnie głos zabrała dr Justyna Staszewska z Mauzoleum Martyrologii Wsi Polskich w Michniowie, która przygotowała prezentację na temat „Pamiętniki dzieci Holokaustu: Dawid Rubinowicz nie był jedyny”. Wykład powstał w ramach współpracy z Domem Anny Frank w Amsterdamie, którego częścią jest prezentowana na babińcu wystawa czasowa „Pozwólcie mi być sobą. Historia życia Anny Frank”
- There seems to have been an Italian documentary (1960) about Dawid Rubinowicz's Diary, La Question Ebraica il diario di David Rubinovich Seconda Guerra Mondiale (http://www.raistoria.rai.it/articoli/la-questione-ebraica-il-diario-di-david-rubinovich-seconda-guerra-mondiale/4489/default.aspx). However, it cannot be viewed outside Italy.
Sources
- Editor's interviews with Stefan Rachtan and Krystyna Rachtan in 2010.
- Mularczyk A., Rywanowicz R, Kąkolewsk K. (1960). Wyjście z Bodzentyna [Coming out from Bodzentyn]. Nowa Kultura, Nr 19 (528), p 3, 9.
- Recollections of the Rubinowicz family: "Posłowie" in Rubinowicz, D., Rutkowski A. & Jarochowska M. (1960). Pamiętnik Dawida Rubinowicza. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, pp. 116—117.
- Rubinowicz, D., Rutkowski A. & Jarochowska M. (1960). Pamiętnik Dawida Rubinowicza. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.
- Rubinowicz, D. (1982). The diary of Dawid Rubinowicz. Translation by Derek Bowman. Edmonds, Wash., U.S.A.: Creative Options Pub. (Editor's note: The quotes from the Diary on this page derive from this translation.)
- Rubinowicz, D., Janicki J., Wiernik B, Pałysiewicz E., Pałysiewicz J., & Wymark E. (2010). Pamiętnik Dawida Rubinowicza. Reszta nie jest milczeniem. Bodzentyn: Towarzystwo Dawida Rubinowicza.
The photo. In the photo at the top of the page, Dawid is captured in a photo taken during an outing with his class on Łysica Mount sometime in the mid-1930s. Photo reproduction by the Editor. Source: "Czytelnicy rozpoznali Dawidka Rubinowicza na fotografii z roku 1937" (Readers recognized Dawid Rubinowicz in the photo from 1937). The printed article was made available to the Editor by Krystyna Rachtan.
Date of the liquidation of the ghetto. The so-called Fahrplananordnung Nr 587 was sealed and dated in Kraków on September 15 1942. The timetable Nr. 587 stated that the train passing Skarżysko-Kamienna on September 21, 1942, would arrive at Treblinka on September 22 and return empty some hours later. A photo reproduction was published in the first Polish version of Dawid Rubinowicz's Diary: Rubinowicz, D., Rutkowski A. & Jarochowska, M. (1960). Pamiętnik Dawida Rubinowicza. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, pp. 125–128. Another date—October 3, 1942—is mentioned as the exact date of the liquidation of the open Bodzentyn ghetto by the eyewitness in Kalib Szachter, G., Wachsberger, K., & Kalib S. (1991). The Last Selection: a Child's Journey Through the Holocaust. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, p. 145. A postcard dated September 30 1942, from Rózia in Bodzentyn to Józek Frydman in the Warsaw ghetto supports the latter date (source: Ring. II/275/3).
