Ponary Diary, 1941-1943: A Bystander's Account of a Mass Murder Book

Ponary Diary is Kazimierz Sakowicz's objective notes reporting out on the extermination of Jews, Poles, and Soviets in his town of Ponary. He writes entries on pieces of paper then stuffs the sheets into lemonade bottles before burying them in his yard. The bottles are dug up after the war and pieced together; the entries were first published in Polish in 1999.

Entries are interspersed with historical information and context that helps the reader understand what is going on, which I found very helpful. I could compare and contrast the hindsight information collected from various sources against the first person accounts and see how they fit together and complement each other.

The objectiveness of the material - thousands of people, mostly Jews, being shot to death, naked, in a shallow pit dug into the ground - makes it a little easier to get through the pages without breaking down. The objectiveness also allows more of an opportunity to think about what happened, which left me with a heavy heart and horrible feeling in my stomach.

I wonder what Sakowicz's intent was when he started detailing the events of Ponary. I also wonder how he felt witnessing the truckloads of people, hearing the screams, then the shots, followed by silence. Unfortunately, we will never know because he was shot while riding his bicycle in 1944.