I Wish It Were Fiction

Holocaust Memories - 1938–1945

The writer of this memoir, Aaron Starkman, was barely 20 years old, when he was driven in into the Nazi Hitler hell. He decided to keep a diary, where he made notes of everything that was happening. He did not know whether he would survive. When he was liberated, he gathered all the notes and deposited them with the Warsaw Jewish Historical Institute. Unfortunately, few of the survivors kept notes about the horrible events, that took place.

When the history of the Holocaust will be written, and when future history of the Holocaust will be written, and when future historians will gather their materials from the archives, there is no doubt that they will utilize Aaron Starkman’s diary with its description of the events that took place and the murders that the Hitlerite hordes committed. These facts will also serve as an example of the fate that befell most Jewish communities in Poland and Eastern Europe.

"Remembering the Holocaust years is a very painful process: it tears you apart. It is difficult and at the same time, unforgivable to forget, especially as the ugly head of anti-Semitism rises again. As a witness to the Holocaust I feel a sense of responsibility to tell the stories, as painful as it might be.

Forgiveness is a virtue, but I am not able to forgive.

Icannot forgive the calculated plan to destroy a people. I cannot and never will forgive the theft of my youthful innocence; of showing me the darker side of mankind — the darkest side."