Hunger for the Printed Word

Download or read book Hunger for the Printed Word written by David Shavit and published by McFarland. This book was released on 1997 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years leading up to World War II, libraries played an increasingly significant role in the culture lives of East European Jews. With secondary education largely closed to them, particularly in Poland, and private schools beyond the means of most families, libraries were the center of education for many Jewish youth. The war worsened conditions for East European Jews and made libraries even more important. Amid the squalor, books provided many with an opportunity to escape for a while and offered renewed hope and willpower. Maintaining libraries was also an act of resistance, helping the people keep a hold on their humanity and a cultural link with the past. This work details the story of libraries in five of the largest ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe: Lodz' and Warsaw in Poland, Kovno and Vilna in Lithuania, and Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.