This volume features 50 documents in Polish Yiddish and German with English translations
exemplifying early Holocaust research undertaken by the Central Jewish Historical Commission in
Poland in the years 1944-1949. Featured texts include methodological reflections on how the
destruction of European Jews ought to be studied witness testimonies and journalistic essays.
These writings shed light on the motivations of the commission: commemorating the dead keeping
a historical record of the events gathering evidence that could be used to bring the
perpetrators to justice working through trauma loss and destruction and providing material
for future historical research. The documents are a testimony to the survivors' efforts in
using both victim and perpetrator sources to describe the everyday life and death of European
Jews under the Nazi regime while placing the experiences of Jewish communities at the center.
