Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

On the evening of Tuesday, January 27, the first copy of the privately published autobiography of the late Joseph L. Zygielbaum will be presented to his widow, Adele Zygielbaum, a Santa Rosa resident. The public is invited to this presentation of Odyssey of a Partisan, which will take place 7-9 pm on the bottom floor of the Doyle Library at Santa Rosa Junior College, on Elliott Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Odyssey of a Partisan describes Mr. Zygielbaum’s tragic experiences and heroic struggles as a Jewish partisan leader in the Second World War, including the loss of his first family, his captivity in the Soviet Union, his military action in Poland, Russia, Belarus, Yugoslavia, and Finland, and his survival to become an American military intelligence analyst and contributor to America’s early space program.

Following is an excerpt from the editor’s preface to Odyssey of a Partisan:

“This book is a true story… I found myself in the forests in Belarus, wandering with the partisans as I read. I found myself understanding a perspective of the Second World War that is not well known. I found myself in awe of a man who could not only live through such ordeals, but live to tell them, to tell us what happened. That was what he wanted. He wanted people to know how it really was for Jews in Poland during the occupation. He wanted people to know about the hide-aways of partisans in the forest. He wanted his story told so that we would not forget… I… asked myself: what and where are the similarities today? I believe that is what Joseph Zygielbaum wants his readers to ask. He wants a story told so that history remains in the past and does not repeat itself. Odyssey of a Partisan is his story, in his words.”

The narrative also relates the ordeal of Mr. Zygielbaum’s father, Szmul Zygielbojm, the famous Polish labor leader, who defied Nazi authority and became a martyr to the effort to save the remaining Jews of Poland during the Warsaw Uprising. The presentation will touch upon this aspect of the family’s history.

Mrs. Zygielbaum will be joined by her sons, Paul, also of Santa Rosa, and Arthur, of Lincoln, Nebraska, who together oversaw completion of the book’s publication, and by Krista Burlae, editor of the manuscript. They will present their perspectives on the tragedies and triumphs of Joseph Zygielbaum’s remarkable life and the completion of his autobiography.

Following the presentation of the book, Mrs. Zygielbaum, who frequently speaks to community groups, will go on to describe and discuss her own experiences as a concentration camp survivor.

For further information, contact Paul Zygielbaum at psz@mpzyg.com