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From the Web Editor:
Teresa Preker's book on ZEGOTA
Three chapters translated into English
In NEW PUBLICATIONS you will find
a very important document, three chapters from Teresa
Preker's book on Zegota that appear in English for the
first time. Here is how I got the chance and honor to
publish them.
A couple of years ago, while I was in Warsaw, I met
Teresa Preker, the author of the original, well documented
book on ZEGOTA: Teresa Preker , Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy
Żydom w Warszawie 1942-45, (The Underground Relief
Council for Jews in Warsaw 1942-45) Warszawa: PIW,
1982, 483 pp. This famous book - the only one containing
all the available documents on the activities of ZEGOTA
- was translated into French by Marian Apfelbaum (Marian
Apfelbaum, Żegota, Commission d'Aide aux Juifs, Edition
du Rocher, Paris 1999), whereas until now it has
not been published in English.
Three chapters of this book have been translated into
English by Maria Chmielewska-Szlajfer. We are publishing
them on our Web site with the kind permission of the
translator and the Batory Foundation which subsidized
the translation.
After I got Teresa Preker's agreement, I tried to get
her book published in English by the Oxford University
Press (OUP) in New York. The Batory Foundation provided
a subsidy for the translation of two most important
chapters and the 'Conclusions' so as to make it possible
for the OUP editorial board to review the book. The
editors seemed to be very interested and promised to
review and analyze it in order to decide whether or
not to publish in the next couple of months. Unfortunately,
the OUP editorial board finally decided not to publish
giving me two reasons: the book had been published a
long time ago and OUP rarely publishes translations.
As a result, the Batory Foundation kept the English
translation of the three chapters of that unique book
in their archives among their own documents. They were
therefore unavailable to the general public. Fortunately
they are now available in NEW PUBLICATIONS of our Web
site starting with September 1, 2002.
Irena Bellert
Teresa Preker's book : Three
chapters translated into English
(more)
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