Judy Rakowsky follows her uncle Sam to Poland where he searches for Hena, a long-lost relative who survived the Holocaust. Hena and her Jewish family received shelter for 18 months until Polish terrorists murdered her family during WW2. But despite first-hand accounts of the incident, no one will share details that can help the searchers complete their quest. So, Judy puts her journalist skills to work and investigates the mystery. This book chronicles the steps she takes to uncover the truth about the Jews in the garden. In the process, she uncovers hidden details about her family history, develops lasting friendships and gains a deeper understanding of politics in Poland at the time and since.
I really liked the opening chapter. It shares the story of Hena's escape. And then the rest of the book turns into a narrative of Judy and Sam's investigation. It plods along slowly and isn't very engaging.
The end offers some redemption as the author recounts the city's inaugural Jewish festival. After all, Poland presents to the world that its people saved more Jews than citizens of any other country, but Poles also murdered Jews in surprising numbers.
I also liked the analysis of the politics in Poland. Communism forced people to keep quiet and keep secrets. But at what cost? And how does that trauma affect people today? That part of the story fascinated me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and SOURCEBOOKS the Publisher for the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

This non-fiction book follows the journey of the author Judy Rakowsky, an American born Jew connecting with her cousin Sam, a Holocaust survivor as they journey to Poland over the course of many years to uncover whether what Sam has been told by a childhood friend is true - that his cousin Neva was the only one of her family to survive the war.

In the course of Sam and Judy's investigation, they are stonewalled time and time again, fed half truths, followed by repeated utterances of "I don't know'. However due to their dogged determination, they find out many chilling and disturbing truths, that Poles and not Nazis may have been responsible for crimes against the local Jews.

Over many years and repeated journeys to Poland, the truth is finally exposed.

This was a hard book to read and left me with many emotions. I have a very personal link to Poland and this has left me feeling extremely sad for the lost Jewish population but also dismayed for Poland, both for its past, present and its future.

I highly recomend this book.

The author tells the story of going to Poland to search for a lone family Holocaust survivor.....& ends up finding a lot more.... about those times in Poland, & today's Poland. She finds out that it wasn't just German Nazi's doing the horrible killing.... she exposes the complicity, the past & ongoing cover-up of those crimes, the ugly truth of what was happening in Poland. She presents this in the order that it all came about, so it follows right along as it happened. I learned quite a bit in reading this & I can easily recommend this. It's interesting, even if you're not a WWII or Holocaust history buff.
I received an e-copy of the book from Sourcebooks via NetGalley for review purposes. This is my own fair/honest review.

Received as a digital ARC. Thank You to NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and Judy Rakowsky.

What an interesting read! It kept my attention. I have read Holocausr books before, but the difference between this one and others is the denial by Poland and its population and their treatment of the Jews. I really loved Sam and Judy and was right there with them trying to find answers about their family member. An emotional roller coaster of frustration, confusion, love, denial, betrayal and those unwilling to talk about and share the secrets of the town where Sam grew up and his family members were hidden.

Jews in the Garden:A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II by Judy Rakowsky was a true and very inspirational story. When Judy reconnected with Sam, her father’s cousin and Holocaust survivor, her life as an investigative journalist was about to take her on a path she never imagined she would go on. Sam had found a home in the United States but his memories of his homeland and family who perished in the Holocaust were always in his thoughts. He often recalled stories of his youth in Poland and shared them with his family members. Sam was troubled and haunted by the fate of his cousins who remained in Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. Over the course of ten years Sam travelled back and forth between Poland and the United States to uncover the truth about what happened to his cousins. Judy, in the role of investigative journalist and Sam’s companion, became totally invested in his quest to uncover the truth and even carried on without Sam’s physical presence for years after.

In 1944, some of Sam’s cousins had been hidden for the last eighteen months by some very humane and sympathetic Polish neighbors and friends until they were brutally murdered not by Nazis but by Poles. The daughter, then sixteen years old, witnessed the murder of her entire family but managed to survive. It was baffling to Sam that the surviving daughter never tried to make contact with other family members that had survived the Holocaust. What happened to her? It seemed like she just vanished. Her fate became an obsession for Sam. For the next ten years Sam traveled back and forth to Poland accompanied by Judy in search of information that would lead them to this surviving cousin. When Sam became too old to travel, Judy and her husband continued the search.

In addition to trying to uncover the fate of Sam’s cousins, Sam and Judy were intent in finding those Poles who had tried to hide his cousins during the war. They wanted to thank them for their bravery, kindness, compassion and generosity. It was during these conversations, that Sam and Judy were able to discover and then expose and document the many crimes the Polish people and its government committed during this time. The Polish government had always preached to the world how as a country they had saved more Jews than other country during the years of the occupation and the Holocaust. As much as Sam still loved his beloved Poland, he knew that those statements were false. The Polish government, still to this day, continues to deny what others have uncovered about their role in murdering Jews during the Holocaust. This was a very dark side of history for the Polish people, one that they have desperately tried to hide from the world. Sam and Judy worked diligently to expose these crimes and tried their best to make the Polish government admit that these crimes and murders did take place at the hands of the Polish people.

Jews in the Garden: A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II by Judy Rakowsky was a memoir that revealed the fates of Sam’s cousins and a very dark side of Poland’s history over the course of World War II and the Holocaust. Unfortunately, most survivors of the Holocaust are no longer alive to tell their stories. This book gave me hope that family members like Judy Rakowsky, that belong to the younger generation of Holocaust survivors, will keep the memories, ordeals and atrocities their loved ones suffered alive so that the Holocaust will never be forgotten or repeated. It is important to recognize that the Nazis were not the only ones who were evil enough and capable of committing such atrocities to the Jews that resided in Poland during the Holocaust. This is not something that the Polish government can just sweep under a rug or close their eyes to. I am grateful to Judy Rakowsky for sharing Sam’s story and discoveries in this book. Together they were able to document facts that were hidden and denied by the Poland government for decades. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to read Jews in the Garden:A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II by Judy Rakowsky through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

This may have been the hardest book I have ever read. Not due to its writing or subject. The emotions this book brought out in me were intense. I had to read a rom com book before bed, or else I would just feel sadness.

I do, however, STRONGLY recommend this book because it is real and hard. This is not an easy read, and the way Sam is treated when he returns to Poland is heartbreaking.

I learned a lot in this book about how Jewish people were prosecuted in poland Sam RAKO ASK, was looking for a lost relatiwe. Might have survived the killing of her whole family. This book has a lot of history to it and explains how things really happening in poland Go to WAR2. How people turn against each other as well.. So Judy and Samuel on investigation met people who might have known what really happened.. They mentioned other towns where the family was from. Families were very wealthy at that time, but when germany took it over, they had to turn the property over to the polish people. They met the family who In the family in the B a r n. This learned to a lot of bad consequences in the neighborhood... Sam and judy kept up this for over thirty years. You can see how poland changed from Close society to more open society. They went to Record places and places where they knew the family lived. A lot of times it was a dead end because I do not want to share information because a lot of it was bad. I know some polish people turned against the jewish people i As well. The title explains it all on the book and how it's learned to different areas.

A must read account of Holocaust survivors' trip to Poland and their search for a woman who witnessed a horrible act.

In-depth look at Polish history, the factions that were created in WWII, antisemitism in Poland (then and now) and
a very powerful read. I had many emotions while reading - anger, sadness, frustration, fear.

Princess Fuzzypants here: In spite of the title, this is a sad tale of loss and discovery and the ordeals of finding the truth when those who might know it, want to hide it because of pride. Holocaust survivor Sam and his young cousin Judy journey back to Poland. Sam’s experiences during the war are harrowing but he was one of the lucky ones. He was able to live and build a good life in both Israel and the US. But what haunted Sam was what happened to other family members. He and Judy made it their mission to find one particular woman who witnessed the murder of the rest of her family in the village where they, mistakenly, thought they were accepted members of the community.

It would have been easier to pull teeth of a wide awake grizzly bear than what they faced. Even those whose relatives had risked all to protect and save Jews were unwilling to talk. They had been ostracized both during the war and afterwards by their neighbours for their humanity. When particles of truth were uncovered, it told a terrible story. Much of the murder was not perpetrated by the Germans. It was factions of Poles, some of whom had been lauded as partisans and patriots who committed the acts against Sam’s family. And because the myth that all Poles fought against the Germans and did their bit to save Jews was so important to the Polish self image, it was not until decades later the facts dribbled out. There were some “righteous” Poles. Sadly endemic antisemitism was stronger and more pervasive.

It is not an easy book to read. I found myself angered and moved deeply. But it is an important story that deserves to be told lest history repeats itself. Four purrs and two paws up.

Jews in the Garden by Judy Rakowsky is harrowing, heartbreaking and at times unbearable to read because the people and events are real. Decades after WWII, the author-journalist and her uncle Sam traveled to Poland several times in search of cousin Hena who survived the brutal massacre of her family during WWII. However, they were often met with hostility and disdain rather than welcomed which made their search extremely difficult. They were disheartened to learn that Poles killed fellow Poles who were Jews. Nazis were not the only barbarians. It would be so difficult to come to terms with that knowledge!

Those intrigued by the Holocaust and Poland specifically during and after WWII ought to read Jews In the Garden, I have read many, many related books which crushed my heart and this did the same. It is not a book to read all at once as it can be difficult to process but it is an enriching and informative experience. The capacity of human beings boggles the mind, especially turning on friends and neighbours merely as they were guilty of just being Jews. The writing is compelling and the photographs add an even stronger personal depth. I also appreciate learning more about the subject and this is from a very interesting perspective.

My sincere thank you to SOURCEBOOKS and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this powerfully emotive and important book, one which should be required reading.

This is the first book dealing with the Holocaust that I’ve literally lied here and cried. I have no idea why. I’ve read so many. My guess is because the story hangs so heavy on the shoulders of an entire nation. Several years ago I became a sorta pen pal to this beautiful person who was a direct descendant of an ashkanzi (I’m not sure how to spell that) family that was almost completely exterminated. She was totally protective and devoted to her elderly mother while also attempting to come to terms with her family’s history and her own health issues that stemmed from this massacre. She was the epitome of Durkhe Leben. And reading those two words, knowing what those two words meant to so many people suffering, puts so much into perspective. I’d have them tattooed but I find that actually a tad disgraceful. To be that strong and determined and to have never lost hope is so commendable and frankly astonishing. I cry for the dead and I cry for the living.

The author of Jews in the Garden, Judy Rakowsky, visited Poland with her Uncle Sam, a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor, who was in search of a long lost relative who survived but then disappeared. His relative, Hena, had been hidden along with her family by a Polish family, but the family was discovered and then executed by fellow Poles (Hena was not with her family when they were found). Sam and Judy meet resistance from Sam’s childhood friends when they seek information about Hena. Over the course of subsequent trips, and with the help of various officials, they slowly uncover the reason for this silence.

Partly a story of discovering one’s roots, part detective story in the search for Hena, and part history of Polish complicity in the deaths of Polish Jews and its attempted coverup, Jews in the Garden is a stark examination of how the culpability in the murder of Polish Jews by Poles has reverberated through the generations since the end of the war. Both chilling and fascinating, the book is an incredible and important addition to the literature about the Holocaust.

My thanks to the author, Sourcebooks, and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of Jews in the Garden.

The book cover features a treasured, rare, photograph that has survived the war of a once whole family, young and old living together. The cover also features a landscape underneath the photograph which becomes all the more poignant when you read the book.

Judy is a journalist and decides to write about her family history, she embarks on a journey and writing task that takes years and is filled with loss and horror but also great bravery, and survival against the odds. Judy discovers those that defied those around them that disagreed and hid her ancestors from the Nazis that still live with the stigma and sometimes feel the repercussions in the present day.

The historical part of the Memoir concentrates mainly on Hena & her family. During the war Hena & her family were hidden by a farmer, the allies were coming closer some would say they became a little more complacent, or a little braver and came out from their cramped hiding place in a barn to get some fresh air and see the sky. Unfortunately someone revealed were they were, reported them for being Jews. They are found and shot, all except Hena who sees what happens from behind a nearby tree. Hena's family, Sam's family were murdered by Poles, 'partisans' who sympathised & agreed with the Nazis getting rid of the Jews in Poland!

Judy travels back and forth many times both with Sam, (her older cousin), and sometimes alone gathering information, searching records when she is allowed to access them, if/when these documents still exist.
It's during a visit back to his home village that Sam and Judy discover that Hena's family were buried beneath the cherry tree, by the farmer who barely escaped with his own life. The tree itself reveals the place of burial by producing cherries that never ripen, they just turn black & rot. Sam and Judy are told by the descendents of the farmer that this is sign the villagers cannot ignore as they ignored the gunshots and what had happened that night. Sam and Judy visit and say a prayer.
Sam visits Poland again later and obtains permission and has a piece of bone belonging his family members that were murdered and buried, exhumed so he can take it back to the family burial plot in America.
At one point Sam visits a monument that has been 'forgotten' and vandalised, so he scratches his name on it, defiantly saying he was here, that he survived!
Theres another story told of the grandmother of the family too old and ill to flee with her fitter family members, she is left at home to face the Jewish 'round up'. Defiant to the last she ignores the call to gather at the square and has to be dragged there literally kicking and fighting to the very last moment of her life when she is shot along with the other Jewish people rounded up from the village.

Judy notices that when Sam visits what he still considers his hometown, Sam has a sort of spark of energy, an arrogant defiance when in Poland, He is back! They missed one! He survived! He escaped! He made it and is here to tell what happened! However during the many visits to Poland and the book Sam is getting older, at times it all seems too much for him, too upsetting. At times he becomes irritated translating for Judy as she doesn't speak the language fluently. Sometimes he shuts Judy out of his meetings and excursions, other times he welcomes her. Judy herself become frustrated when Sam wishes to rely on locals who say they have information and leads about Hena only to find that they lead to nothing. People are still reluctant to speak and reveal the truth about what happened. They prefer to distract with thing they find less uncomfortable to deal with. An example of this is when someone takes Sam to visit someone who has some furniture that was his families. It's quite strange, they even warn Sam he must not try to steal it!!

I was both devastated & disappointed for Sam, and Judy that they didn't really obtain the conclusion they wished for with their search for Hena. I was stunned, shocked and horrified in equal measure that they discovered what happened to the Rozeneks was so common place and that in today's society it is still being 'swept under the carpet' by so many. Why not openly admit these atrocities occurred then perhaps information could flow more freely for those still alive and their descendants who want to know more their deceased families? Why not lift all restrictions on paperwork to enable families to be reunited before it truly is too late? Maybe this book will bring out someone who knows/knew Hena or even Hena herself, or her descendants which would be truly amazing! For them to be reunited with Sam, and his descendants.

This book is not a light hearted, nor is it a 'happy ever after' read, it is quite facts & figures heavy in places. It contains details of the murder of innocent people of all ages. Though this is just one families true story there are so many branches of it to be told. The stark thing is that this is just one families story, how many more similar stories are there out there. It makes you think of the families with no one left alive to tell their stories, it really is thought provoking, and heart breaking too. There is so much information within this book about the people at the time of the war and the years following it, I feel like I could talk forever about it, my review just touches on certain parts of the book, there is so much contained in this biography/memoir. There were many times I felt like reaching out and hugging both Sam, Judy and the descendants of those that hid Jews from the Nazis and partisans. It's so difficult to fathom why did the farmers neighbours feel the need to give the Jewish family away so close to the end of the war? Why did the partisans that were fighting the Nazis could/would murder a Jewish family?

Having said all that I am glad I read the book, it tells a devastating true story from a horrible point in real history that should never, ever be forgotten.

"Jews in the Garden" joins the excellent trend of writers using modern knowledge and techniques to discover the fate of family lost in the Holocaust--Anne. Berest's "The Postcard" and Sarah Wildman's "Paper Love" would be two other books worth checking out. "Jews in the Garden" is different in that one of the main players survived the War, and with his younger cousin, investigative reporter Judy Rakowsky, he visits his Polish home town nine times between 1991 and 2021.

Two sets of Sam's family were hidden by Christian friends, only to be discovered and murdered in the final days of the war. He learns that there is the possibility that his cousin Hena may have escaped, and with the collapse of communism in Poland, he may be able to find her. Sam is. looking forward to seeing old friends but they discover a poor, wretched country with frightened people hiding from them even though they have come with thanks. Sam is a warm, open man, but old friends are too suspicious to succumb to his charm. It will take decades of visits and political changes in Poland before the stories begin to leak out. Descendents of the families who hid Sam's aunts, uncles, and cousins were harassed for decades by neighbors for hiding Jews. Sam and Judy's discovery of who actually killed his relatives puts them at odds with Poland's new narrative of whitewashing history in the name of national pride.

Judy Rakowsky knows her stuff as a writer, researcher, and historian. "Jews in the Garden" reads like a well-developed mystery, filled with new discoveries about the past and possibly the future.

Many, many thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This turned out to be a shocking revelation to me on the subject of hidden Jews in Poland, the Holocaust, etc. I’ve read multiple books by various survivors and thought I was fairly informed about most of what went on. But this opened my eyes to something I’ve never heard before and I consider it a very worthwhile read. Recommended.

A griping and intense read about the real life tragedies in Poland during WWII. While at times a difficult read, it was an important and necessary read for people interested in the truth of the time.

CONTENT WARNING: Holocaust imagery, genocide, blood, gun violence, antisemitism, violence, grief

I couldn’t help but request this book, since the author’s cousin’s experience so closely resembled that of my father’s. Both Holocaust survivors who were in hiding in Poland, I was curious to see how the author would handle the issue of addressing the role that Poland played in the events of the Holocaust, which is a touchy topic especially in Poland, where it’s illegal to say that Poland collaborated in any way with the Nazis.

It was especially difficult for me to separate out my own feelings with regard to my father’s experiences from the story in this book. I grew up knowing that antisemitism was virulently present in Poland well before WWII started, and I vividly remember my father telling me that when they were in hiding, they often saw other Jews who had trusted the wrong Polish neighbors get sold out to the Nazis. He also explained that the Germans relied on the Polish gentiles to identify their Jewish friends and neighbors, which they had no compunctions doing.

However, this story veers into different territory. Sam, a Holocaust survivor, bring Judy, a younger cousin, back to Poland with him on multiple visits. He’s happy to go back, and easily identifies himself as a Polish Jew returning back home. But Poland has changed how they view Jews, and the relationship between gentiles and Jews has changed over the years:

“He still saw himself as a Pole even though his nation had distanced itself from “Poles of Jewish nationality,” the official term for Polish Jews.”

Asking about the whereabouts of his family members who were murdered leads to the people in the homes showing them mass burial sites in the gardens of the home. This occurs in multiple locations, and the fact that these murders were committed by Polish partisans acting on their own, not in concert with Germans, was widespread knowledge. The families knew that hiding Jewish people was the right thing to do, even though they received ostracism and abuse from the other people in the community for multiple generations. But when they ask about one family member who survived, they are blocked at every turn, and no one seems to know anything about it.

While I was caught up in the mystery of what happened to Hena, I was also intrigued by the relationship growing between Judy and Sam. I could see a lot of my father’s personality traits in Sam, and also a lot of the PTSD that my father struggled with. In addition, I was especially interested in the dynamics at play in how antisemitism changes and shifted over the years in Poland. How and why the legislation protecting Poland and its people for playing any sort of role in the atrocities of the Holocaust came about was also interesting, and it is multifactorial. Rakowsky goes through multiple explanations about this, exploring how people were so easily turned against their friends and neighbors, becoming violent and murderous to such a tiny minority in their midst.

Lately, there are a plethora of Holocaust fiction books available. In the vast majority of these that I’ve seen, they most commonly involve righteous gentiles saving Jews, and that’s the narrative that the Polish government pushes as well. In fact, using the population numbers and the number of righteous gentiles honored by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, the actual percentage of righteous gentiles in Poland works out to be 0.02% of the population.

“In particular, the government insists that it was the norm during the war for Poles to rescue Jews. But if that were the case, if so many had been righteous gentiles saving Jews why do the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the brave rescuers we met still have to endure anger and abuse from their neighbors and communities?”

This book isn’t so much a Holocaust biography as the case study of one family trying to discover what happened to various branches and tracking down one lost member, and trying to figure out how they fit into the history of Poland, where their family had deep roots and tragic ends. It’s the kind of book that hooked me quickly, and I flew through it, finding myself way more emotionally invested that I had expected to be. I’m glad that I read this, and while it is a tough read, it was well worth it, and a great addition to my Jewish Heritage Month reading.

memories, journalist, journaling, cultural-heritage, culture-of-fear, family-history, Jews, Poland, research, historical-places-events, history-and-culture, holocaust, never-again, never forget, bureaucracy, photos, genocide, nonfiction, real-horror, investigations, family, relatives, lies, secrets*****

Because the bodies were planted in the garden of those who did try to make a difference.
This is told from the perspective of the author as she journeyed nine times (1991-2021) with her uncle back to the Poland of his past trying to locate one woman relative who escaped from being murdered by her neighbors for the crime of hiding a Jewish family. It's a tough read at times for one whose grandmother came from Poland. A good and necessary read.
I requested and received an EARC from Sourcebooks via NetGalley. Thank you.

Sometimes grumpy uncles can be great travel companions. At least, when they aren't especially cranky. Or when they aren't actively trying to stop you from visiting Poland well after World War II. Judy Rakowsky can tell you all about it in her book, Jews in the Garden.

World War II buffs will know that Poland has abundant and amazing stories about protecting the Jewish population during the German attack and occupation. Rakowsky's book looks at the other side of the coin where portions of Polish society turned on their Jewish neighbors with a callousness usually reserved for the Gestapo. This is all told through the lens of Rakowsky trying to find a long lost cousin of her uncle, Sam, who avoided execution while the rest of her family perished. Rakowsky is a good writer and Sam is how I assume most people picture their elderly uncles. A little crazy, a little driven, and very hard to read at times. The book is best when Rakowsky is in Poland with Sam and interrogating old friends and neighbors.

There are times where the book will drag. Towards the end of the book, Rakwosky starts to expand the scope of the book to unveil a Poland which is struggling with its past. While this view is important, this book truly sings when it focuses on Rakowsky and Sam. It loses its steam when it goes away from that dynamic. However, the book is still a good read.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Sourcebooks.)

Though the book started out as a Holocaust survivor in his 80's, along with a niece who was a journalist, was trying to locate one cousin who had escaped being shot with her family in Poland, it soon became another sort of journey of discovery, that being the astonishing fact that not all Jews were killed by the Germans during/after WWII. Instead, as this family discovered, many of the Jews killed during, and especially after, WWII were done by fellow Poles, something that is heavily disputed and denied to this day. The repercussions of their search for a missing cousin showed people 75 years later were still not willing to admit what some of them in Poland had done to neighbors, friends, anc co-workers.

I will be the first to admit that the constant repetitions of Polish names and locations tended to be rather confusing, and there is no way I was able to pronounce them in my mind, as I like to do! Great uncle Sammy rubbed me a little the wrong way at times, but then I had to remember that he was the survivor, he was in his 80's and 90's, and it was his journey of discovery that I was following in this book. However, he did the world a great service by bringing to everyone's attention the fact that Poland was NOT blameless concerning the deaths of her Jewish citizens, that Poland was not an innocent victim in every instance, and that truth needs to be brought to light.

I was sent this ebook ARC by NetGalley; my opinions, however, are all my own.