The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square

By Joseph Ziemian

Book Overview

The astonishing, true story of a group of Jewish children who managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and survive in the Aryan section of the Nazi-occupied city. Sentenced to death, hounded at every step, they kept themselves alive by peddling cigarettes in Warsaw's Three Crosses Square - where the author, a member of the Jewish Underground in Poland, met and helped them and recorded their story. Several of the children were finally caught and killed, but most survived and are alive today. The story of the cigarette sellers has been published in Polish, Romanian, Hebrew and Yiddish, and a dramatised version has been broadcast in Israel. The book was awarded a literary prize by the World Jewish Congress in New York.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0853036861
• ISBN13: 9780853036869
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 12 to 16 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 11

Customer Reviews

Jewish Boys Surviving in Aryan Warsaw. Insight into Benefactors and Blackmailers

Instead of repeating other reviewers, I focus mainly on barely-mentioned and unmentioned content. The story of the Jewish boys who sold cigarettes in the Polish side of Warsaw is a moving one. The Jewish boys met Polish boys who bullied them, and other Polish boys who protected them. (p. 116). The Jewish boys obtained fake identification (pp. 125-126), probably from the Zegota, a one-of-a-kind Polish organization of aid to Jews (unmatched anywhere in all of German-occupied Europe.) Polish boys were also involved in trade. (p. 115). In fact, the reader who is interested in a more broad-based analysis of the experiences of both Jewish and Polish children should read Did the Children Cry: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945. Ziemian focuses on the challenges of living in the Polish side of Warsaw: "The street urchins, whose only possessions were their meager clothing, did not attract any special attention from the shmalzers [szmalcowniki](blackmailers who denounced Jews to the Germans) and were therefore in less danger than the adults." (p. 14). When the Jewish boys did experience threats of denunciation to the Germans, it was in order to try to force them to disclose the names and addresses of wealthy fugitive Jews. (pp. 52-53, 64). The fact that the Jewish boys were usually left alone by the blackmailers adds to the contention that most szmalcowniki were not hard-core Jew hunters. Instead, most of them were petty extortionists who did not actually denounce Jews to the Nazis. (See the Peczkis review of Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945). In addition those who actually denounced Jews to the Germans were not limited to Poles. While in Aryan Warsaw, fugitive Jews often ran to each other. Ziemian comments: "Chance meetings between Jews, even among acquaintances, unless they were true friends, usually ended with the words: `Excuse me; I don't know you, you must be mistaken.' and a fast retreat in the opposite direction. Every Jew was afraid of his own shadow." (p. 14). Not mentioned is the fact, noted in other Jewish memoirs, that any "fugitive Jew" could be a Gestapo agent. Some of the Jewish boys were later involved in the Poles' Warsaw Uprising (1944), and even performed feats of bravery. (p. 155). After the war, many of the Jewish boys, soon to be men, moved to Israel, where many of them led very successful lives.

unforgettable book for children

I read this book as a child in Hebrew - it was one of the most powerful books I've ever read as a child. It's a "simple" story of everyday survivel of group of Jewish children - who lived under a Polish identety beyoned the Warsow Getto. The book contains real pictures of those children - in real time - which makes everything "live like" and make the Holocaust "touchable". As a mother - I am buying this book to my children and I hope they will never forget as well.

great read

The book The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square is a great book. When I read it, I was always on edge. It just had so many surprising events; I just did not want to put it down. The book chronicles the survival of a group of orphaned Jewish children in German occupied Poland during WWII. The author, Joseph Ziemian, was a member of the Jewish resistance. He helps the children by getting them false identification papers and money. The children had a very meager and bleak existence, some escaped detection and survived to be liberated, some did not. This book is best for junior high and up, as there are some graphic scenes. There are two editions of the book; one published in the seventies and one published in '05. The books are identical except for one thing; the '05 edition has an additional epilogue. It gives an account of what happened to the character in the eleven years since the book was first published. I recommend the '05 edition for this reason.

True stories are the best stories.

This book catalogues the experiences of children who survived World War Two. That in itself is a stunning feat. But these weren't just children, these were Jewish children. They escaped from the Warsaw ghetto. The book follows the lives of the Sellers, both while within the ghetto and while they lived beyond it's walls. Being agile, and small, they were able to cross over the border into Gentile Warsaw and forage for food. They would bring the food back to their families, being the sole providers in a world designed not to provide. When the ghetto was liquidated, these children moved as they always had, into the city, but never moved back. The book follows their lives, their exploits and adventures, and their heartbreaks. It is a stunning book, not only for the subject matter, but for it's testament to the human spirit. These children didn't just survive. They lived.