On Both Sides of the Wall

Praise for On Both Sides of the Wall

“Vladka’s book is not ‘just another work,’ merely an autobiography from the Holocaust. It is written with inspiration, with exaltation. Every sentence rings true, every scene burns itself into the reader’s memory.” —Elie Wiesel, internationally bestselling author, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor

“Vladka Meed was a giant of a woman. She played a critical—and, too often, unacknowledged—role during the Holocaust in ensuring that word of the genocide reached the outside world. After the war, she was greatly responsible in ensuring that generations of teachers and students learned about this history. Her contribution was immeasurable, and this latest edition of her memoir will ensure that her legacy lives on.” —Deborah E. Lipstadt, PhD, Ambassador (ret.), and Distinguished University Professor, Emory University

“This is a book that must be treasured. Vladka Meed’s memoir was one of the first to tell of life within the Warsaw Ghetto, the Ghetto Uprising and its aftermath, and the Warsaw Uprising. Now, more than four score years later, it is still among the most important—and most compelling—testimonies ever bequeathed to future generations. This work has long deserved an honored place in the canon of Holocaust literature, and the new translation and accompanying notes by Vladka’s son Steven make it even more accessible to readers.” —Michael Berenbaum, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, American Jewish University, and former project director overseeing the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

“Riveting. Survival in Warsaw was dependent upon a few Aryan-looking Jewish teenagers, capable of living in both worlds. Carrying food, messages, and weapons into the Warsaw Ghetto, Vladka Meed and these brave couriers risked their very survival helping their people, saving children’s lives, and keeping hope alive while the world around them burned. A tribute to courage, resistance, and the unvanquished human spirit.” —Heather Dune Macadam, international bestselling author of 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz and Star Crossed: A True Romeo and Juliet Story in Hitler’s Paris

“Vladka Meed has not been a household name during these past several decades, unlike the names Elie Wiesel and Anne Frank. But it should have been. If you read only one book on the Holocaust this year, read this one. You will know firsthand—and from memories that were then fresh—exactly the horror that existed inside the Warsaw Ghetto and the danger outside its walls. You will understand how bystanders enabled pure evil. You will learn how a 21-year-old woman, newly orphaned, rose to become an outsize heroine of the resistance, risking her life daily to save others, yet all the while maintaining her humanity and humility. There is so much to learn from Vladka Meed, even over 80 years later. This remains one of the great memoirs of the Holocaust.” —Blu Greenberg, author of On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition and founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance

“There are numerous Holocaust memoirs that have been published since the end of World War II. This unique publication holds a special place within that genre. Written right after the Holocaust, it has a rawness that is difficult to describe as well as a compelling authenticity. I highly recommend this memoir to anyone who wants to learn and understand the events of the Holocaust. The sheer enormity of this tragedy will forever be etched in the annals of the history of Western civilization.” —Ephraim Kaye, former Director of International Seminars for Educators at the International School for Holocaust Studies of Yad Vashem

“Vladka’s memoir, originally serialized in Yiddish in the pages of Forverts during the months after she arrived in New York in 1946, was the earliest detailed account of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by a participant, read by hundreds of thousands of American Jews. A somewhat edited version in Yiddish was published in book form two years later, and an English translation followed in 1972. This new, expanded translation, adding historical context, glosses of Yiddish expressions, and a more direct rendition of Vladka’s voice, gives the English reader a compelling, nuanced, vivid, firsthand narrative that conveys, in full measure, the courage and decency of this extraordinary woman.” —Samuel Norich, former director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and former editor-in-chief of The Forward

“A gripping memoir of improvised spy craft in service of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Jewish underground operating on the ‘Aryan’ side of Warsaw. Originally written in Yiddish in 1948, On Both Sides of the Wall captures the razor-sharp instincts of Vladka Meed (aka Feigele Peltel) with the fresh detail and pathos of a spirited young woman gifted with flawless Aryan good looks, literary skill, and a broken heart of gold. My praise doesn’t begin to express the rarified importance of this new English translation by her son, Steven Meed. Rivaling the works of Elie Weisel and Primo Levi, it reads like a thriller and speaks to hidden resources in all of us that are revealed only in extreme situations. A must-read.” —Scott Lenga, author of The Watchmakers, National Jewish Book Award finalist

“In every generation, the Passover Haggadah tells us that the enemy rises up to destroy us. And in every generation in which God’s hand comes too late to save us, or cannot be seen, Jewish heroes rise as well, to fight the enemy, and to defend or avenge our people. How many of their stories have been lost since the dawn of our people? It is a rare blessing to have the story of Vladka Meed. Her son Steven has done immense justice to her legacy in bringing this brand-new translation to the world.” —Elisha Wiesel, son of Elie Wiesel and chairman of the board of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

“A gripping firsthand account of courage, resistance, and survival by Vladka Meed, a young courier for the Jewish underground in Warsaw during the Holocaust. One of the earliest eyewitness testimonies of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, this essential new edition translated by Vladka’s son Steven recounts Meed’s daring missions—smuggling weapons, rescuing children, and aiding those in hiding—all while living undercover on the ‘Aryan’ side of Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Originally serialized in Yiddish in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and now newly translated with never-before-seen photographs, annotation, and a new foreword by the eminent Holocaust historian Samuel Kassow, On Both Sides of the Wall shares the powerful voice of a young woman who risked everything in the name of freedom and dignity, inspiring readers to remember the heroic struggle to preserve Jewish life under Nazi oppression.” —Avinoam Patt, Maurice and Corinne Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies and inaugural director of the Center for the Study of Antisemitism, New York University, and author of The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw

“Vladka Meed’s On Both Sides of the Wall was among the earliest eyewitness accounts of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the battle to defend it published in the United States. Its author, a prolific writer and powerful speaker, was instrumental in shaping how readers and listeners in the US and beyond understood the catastrophe that befell Polish Jews under Nazi rule and the ways they struggled to keep their feet in the face of horrific attack. This welcome new translation, containing significant new material from the author’s later testimonies, opens Vladka’s unique perspective to new generations.” —David Engel, Professor of Holocaust and Judaic Studies, New York University, author, and Fellow of the Diaspora Research Institute at Tel Aviv University

“Vladka’s simple and warm language, her attention to detail, and her rare restraint and understanding make her story a unique account of Jewish womanhood at its best and of a Jewish heart reacting to the world’s betrayal with wisdom and ingenuity.” —The Jerusalem Post