'Our Partisan Kingdom' and 'Written in a Barn': Holocaust survival up close and personal – review

This article reviews two Holocaust memoirs published by Yad Vashem: Our Partisan Kingdom by Lazar Engles and Written in a Barn: The Diary of a Young Woman from Vilna by Ruth Leimenzon Engles. Both books, translated from Yiddish by their son David Engles, offer deeply personal accounts of survival. Lazar Engles' memoir details his escape from the Vilna Ghetto and his time with the Bielski partisan group, which prioritized saving Jewish lives. Ruth Leimenzon Engles' diary, written during her 10-month hiding in a barn, provides an intimate, real-time perspective on her harrowing experience. David Engles emphasized that "it was very important for my father to keep the memory of Vilna alive, and to do everything possible to not let the world forget the Holocaust." These memoirs serve as crucial testimonies, humanizing the six million victims and ensuring the lessons of the Holocaust are remembered.