With a Yellow Star and a Red Cross

Book excerpt: "With a Yellow Star and a Red Cross is a description of Arnold Mostowicz's experiences in the Lodz ghetto and Nazi concentration camps. As a physician in the ghetto, and intermittently in the camps, he was a witness to and participant in events that have received little attention. For example, the book contains an account of a workers' demonstration in 1940 and a description of the Gypsy camp that the Nazis created on the edge of the ghetto. Mostowicz describes the antagonism between the Lodz Jews and the German and Czech Jews who were deported to the Lodz ghetto, and the ways in which some members of the Jewish underworld attempted to continue their illicit activities in ghetto conditions. He challenges many accepted views, particularly those of the survivors and historians who condemn Rumkowski, the 'Eldest of the Jews', as a Nazi collaborator. His memoir has the courage to confront a number of controversial issues, including ethical dilemmas that arose in the ghetto and camps. He questions the morality of his own actions in situations where the fate of others depended on his admittedly very limited power to make decisions. Through the unusual device of writing in the third person, Mostowicz invites readers to bear witness to his own and others' actions without consigning them to an absolute point of view."--BOOK JACKET.