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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
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THE COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS
Joanna Sliwa Elizabeth B. White
The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust
The remarkable true story of a German Jewish mathematician who posed as a Polish countess during World War II and was responsible for helping to save thousands of Polish victims of Nazi persecution.
We are now familiar with the stories of Jews who were tortured and killed in concentration camps throughout the Third Reich. But less is known about the persecution of Polish prisoners housed in Majdanek, a concentration camp in Lublin, Poland. THE COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS tells this story through the lens of the efforts of one remarkable woman, herself a Jew, who passed as Polish aristocracy, became a lead official in a Polish relief organization and an officer in the underground Polish Home Army. Using the false identity of Countess Janina Suchodolska, Josephine Janina Mehlberg persuaded Polish authorities to give her access to prisoners, bringing them soup, clothing, medicine and tending to their needs.
Janina would emigrate to the United States, where she taught at the University of Chicago. She penned her memoir which has never been published. After her death, it was entrusted to Dr. Elizabeth B. White, Senior Historian for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. With the help of Dr. Joanna Sliwa, a Polish American Holocaust scholar working for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims in New York, the memoir was validated and the two historians were able to demonstrate that Mehlberg and Suchodolska were one and the same.
Now through the assiduous research of two Holocaust historians in Poland, Ukraine and the US, her story is told for the first time, weaving historical research and excerpts from the memoir in Janina's vibrant voice.
Elizabeth "Barry" White, Ph.D., is a senior historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she regularly speaks to Museum audiences and contributes to the Museum's online Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. She has also written official statements for the Museum, speeches for its top leaders, provided content for its exhibits and social media, and given press, radio, and television interviews. Prior to working for the USHMM, Barry spent a career at the U.S. Department of Justice working on investigations and prosecutions of Nazi criminals and other human rights violators who immigrated to the United States and has written numerous scholarly articles.
Joanna Sliwa, Ph.D. works as Historian at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in New York, the only organization that negotiates with the German government for compensation for Jewish Holocaust survivors. She previously worked in the Global Archives Department at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, where she managed academic initiatives to promote the history of the organization. She has taught Holocaust and Jewish history at Kean University and at Rutgers University and has served as a historical consultant and researcher for PBS television programs, including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler. Joanna's scholarship has been featured in American, British, German, and Polish publications, both edited volumes and journals.
Janina would emigrate to the United States, where she taught at the University of Chicago. She penned her memoir which has never been published. After her death, it was entrusted to Dr. Elizabeth B. White, Senior Historian for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. With the help of Dr. Joanna Sliwa, a Polish American Holocaust scholar working for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims in New York, the memoir was validated and the two historians were able to demonstrate that Mehlberg and Suchodolska were one and the same.
Now through the assiduous research of two Holocaust historians in Poland, Ukraine and the US, her story is told for the first time, weaving historical research and excerpts from the memoir in Janina's vibrant voice.
Elizabeth "Barry" White, Ph.D., is a senior historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she regularly speaks to Museum audiences and contributes to the Museum's online Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. She has also written official statements for the Museum, speeches for its top leaders, provided content for its exhibits and social media, and given press, radio, and television interviews. Prior to working for the USHMM, Barry spent a career at the U.S. Department of Justice working on investigations and prosecutions of Nazi criminals and other human rights violators who immigrated to the United States and has written numerous scholarly articles.
Joanna Sliwa, Ph.D. works as Historian at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in New York, the only organization that negotiates with the German government for compensation for Jewish Holocaust survivors. She previously worked in the Global Archives Department at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, where she managed academic initiatives to promote the history of the organization. She has taught Holocaust and Jewish history at Kean University and at Rutgers University and has served as a historical consultant and researcher for PBS television programs, including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler. Joanna's scholarship has been featured in American, British, German, and Polish publications, both edited volumes and journals.
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