Given name: brat Natana Family name: Żelechower

Jewish Historical Institute Archives; 302/139; Nathan Zelechower (Jan Kurczab); no title.
The author extensively describes Jews' experiences during the Nazi occupation. He starts his narrative in the spring of 1942. He describes living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto, the Great Action and how he managed to survive it. He characterises consecutive hideouts and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising seen from the perspective of the camp, untouched by the fights, he was in. He then describes his deportation to the Majdanek concentration camp, transport to Auschwitz, his stay in camp in Jawiszowice and work in the mine. The death march to Wodzislaw Slaski and evacuation to Buchenwald. His work (in a quarry) in the Ohrdruf and Crawinkel camps is described, foot evacuation to Buchenwald. In each case, the author describes the situation in the camps, Jews' suffering and events which he remembered most. He describes the liberation by the Americans and the position of former prisoners after it. The author was a dental technician. He donated the diary, written after the war, to the Jewish Historical Commission in Cracow. His assumed name and the name of a publicist and social activist form Cracow are coincidental.
Published in: Natan Zelechower, Siedem obozow, „Biuletyn ZIH”, nr 4 (68), 1968, p. 7-51 (summary); Pamietniki z getta warszawskiego, Warszawa 1993, p. 46-47, 86-89, 129-135 (fragments)