Toronto Reference Library Blog

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, April 19-May 16, 1943

70 years ago, on April 19, 1943,  the Nazi occupiers of  Warsaw,  Poland, planned to liquidate the remaining inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto they had created in that city.   But those inhabitants rose up in organized resistance, and despite the far superior German numbers and weaponry,   held out for almost a month,  until May 16.

 

This year, the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews opened in Warsaw, to commemorate the uprising, and to remember the long history of the Jewish people in Poland.  The Polish Jewish community was the oldest and largest in Europe at the start of World War II, with  over 3 million members.  Today, after the Holocaust and the upheavals of post-war Europe, there are approximately 20,000 Jews living in Poland.

    



 

 

 

The Toronto Reference Library has books and memoirs on the ghetto uprising and  the Jews of Poland in English, French and Polish. The Bravest Battle: the twenty-eight days of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, provides a day-by-day account of the uprising, portraying the experiences of Jewish fighters and ghetto residents, Polish underground fighters, and their Nazi tormentors.

In The Jews of Warsaw: 1939-1943: ghetto, underground, revolt, resistance fighter and survivor Israel Gutman drew upon huge amounts of archival material to write a comprehensive history of the ghetto from beginning to end. Warsaw Ghetto: a guide to the perished city, is a masterwork by two Polish historians drawing on archives in Poland, Germany, Israel, and the United States. Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto is by Emmanuel Ringelblum, chronicler of the Warsaw Ghetto. He and his friends collected detailed information and buried their archive before the final destruction.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Berg was one of several dozen American Jews imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. Thanks to her mother’s American citizenship, she and her family were allowed to leave for the United States. Her diary records the horrors of the ghetto and the agonizing months spent waiting for return to the USA. Adam Czerniakov, chairman of the Warsaw Ghetto’s Jewish Council, tried for two years to soften the Nazis’ blows against the Jews of Warsaw. He committed suicide in protest against the deportation of the ghetto’s children, and his wartime journals are reproduced in The Warsaw diary of Adam Czerniakov: prelude to doom.  The Pianist, which became an award winning film by Roman Polanski in 2007, is the memoir of Władysław Szpilman, a celebrated musician who survived the ghetto and its destruction. See also books by Marek Edelman, Janusz Korczak, and Pawel Szapiro .

 

The eh List Author's Series: The Matadora

Elizabeth Ruth has been receiving a lot of attention for her new novel Matadora.

 

The National Post exclaimed “Luna must be counted among the most vital and alluring of Canada’s literary heroines. She simply enthralls. Ruth commits fully to her task, delivering a rare and indelible tale that engages the reader — body and soul. A wonderful book.” NOW magazine included it as one of its Books You Have to Read this Season

 

Ruth will be appearing as part of The eh List Author Series on Wednesday May 15 at 7:00 pm in the Beeton Auditorium in the Toronto Reference Library. Susan G Cole will be conducting the interview.

Here’s the trailer for the book:

  

 

Usually bullfighting immediately summons up images of Hemmingway and Picasso. This short clip from Ruth’s website gives an idea of the amount of research behind the novel:

  

Sadly I don't have time to link to all the wonderful authors and artists that went into the production of the novel. But why not drop by Toronto Reference Library, hear about one of this season's celebrated books and start your own exploring?

 

Elizabeth Ruth - The Matadora

7:00 p.m.  Wed May 15, 2013

Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium Toronto Reference Library 

 

 

TCAF 2013: Toronto Comic Arts Festival on now!

Calling all comic fans! TCAF or the Toronto Comic Arts Festival is back at the Toronto Reference Library for another year of fun and fandom.

Join us today and tomorrow, Sat May 11 (9am-5 pm), Sun May 12 (11am-5pm) for a day packed with events and programs and featured guests.

Check the full program for events here and outside the library.  Visit our 5th floor Arts Department for books on Manga, Comic Arts, and Drawing, plus check out our magazines, such as the International Journal of Comic Art and Animation Magazine.

  

Come on down and join the celebration!

 

 

Doors Open(ed)

Who doesn't like to take a peek at something that has been hidden? We are curious beings by nature and when someone hides something from us - well, we just love to find out what the big secret is all about.

Doors Open Toronto is this wonderful opportunity to see and be inside buildings we just can't get into most of the time. Toronto was the first city in North America to launch this prestigious event dedicated to built heritage, architecture and design.                                                           

The 14th annual Doors Open offers everyone an opportunity to take a peek behind the doors of over 150 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city on  Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, 2013. Developed as a millennium project in 2000 by the City of Toronto, Doors Open Toronto has since attracted over 1.5 million visitors to hundreds of buildings throughout the city. 

Want to have a peek before Doors Open? Come to the Toronto Reference Library, Humanities and Social Sciences on the 2nd floor. Look for the Toronto Collection by the Reference Desk. Have a look at some of our Toronto architecture and history books.

Piqued your interest? Here are a few titles:

Free Screening: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

As part of its Asian Heritage Celebrations, Toronto Reference Library will be screening the documentary Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry in the Beeton Auditorium on Tuesday May 14th at 2:00 pm.

Last year he transformed his own (rather late) version of internet meme Gangnam Style into a protest for free speech.

 

Rachel Arons in the New Yorker writes:

Ai Weiwei’s version of “Gangnam Style” is as stupid-silly as any other, and more poorly made...but it’s also an ingenious response to the attitude toward creativity put forth in the Chinese media. Ai called his video “Grass Mud Horse Style,” after a made-up creature, invented in 2009, that has become a symbol of anti-censorship in China...and, by embedding it in otherwise harmless content, it has become a way for dissenters in China to give the finger to government censors.

In support, sculptor Anish Kapoor (of Chicago's "Cloud Gate" fame) answered with his own "Gangnam for Freedom"

 

From August 17 – October 27, the Art Gallery of Ontario will be hosting a major retrospective of his work Ai Weiwei: According to What?

Recent visitors to the AGO will have seen the Snake Ceiling commemorating the over 5,000 school children killed by the 2008 earthquake--and what Weiwei calls "tofu construction"--in China's Sichuan province.

   

 The library has lots of resources on this important artist and dissident, but you might want to get prepared for the AGO exhibition with one the following:

Ai Weiwei : circle of animals by Ai, Weiwei.(with Susan Delson) Prestel, c2011.	Ai Weiwei's blog : writings, interviews, and digital rants, 2006-2009 by AiWeiwei (with  Lee Ambrozy,) MIT Press, 2011.	Ai Weiwei : So Sorry by A  Weiwei. (with Mark Siemons) Prestel 2009

 

 

 

 And remember the screening this Tuesday:

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Tuesday May 14, 2013

2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Toronto Reference Library Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium

 

The Most Dangerous Job in Journalism?

Writing obituaries can be a mine field.

Margaret Thatcher’s death re-opened fierce debate on the legacy of her political policies. A recent New York Times obituary of rocket scientist Yvonne Brill drew scathing  arguments about the trivialization of  women’s accomplishments.

From her last ten years at the Globe and Mail, Award winning journalist Sandra Martin knows all about the complications writing the first and often final summation of someone's life. She will talk about her book Working the Dead Beat  in the Beeton Auditorium on Thursday May 2^nd at Toronto Reference Library. The book features Martin’s obituariesof key Canadian figures who died in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The result provides not only a portrait of some remarkable Canadian individuals but also a chronicle of our country's contemporary history.

Martin’s subjects include Pierre Berton,  William Hutt  and Supreme Court Judge Bertha Wilson:

 

 If you can't wait till Thursday, CBC’s Fresh Air also has a wonderful interview with Martin.

 

 

Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada by  Sandra Martin
The title is also available for downloading as an ebook.

 

Another one of Martin’s subjects who had a lasting impact on Canadian life is June Callwood.The 2013 June Callwood Lecture will be given by Olympic swimming champion Mark Tewksbury

Here are the details:

2013 June Callwood Lecture: Mark Tewksbury

Mon May 27, 2013  7:00 p.m. -8:30 p.m.

Toronto Reference Library Bram & Bluma Appel Salon

 

And don't forget Sandra Martin this Thursday:

 

The eh List Author Series:

Sandra Martin: Working the Dead Beat

Thu May 02, 2013 12:30 p.m. -1:45 p.m.

Toronto Reference Library Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium

 

 

 

 

Tafelmusik on Beethoven

Allen Whear, violoncello performer with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, speaks about classical giant Ludwig van Beethoven. Allen Whear is a composer, recording artist, the Artistic Director of Baltimore's Pro Musica Rara and holds a Doctorate from Rutgers University.

	Tue May 07, 2013 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Toronto Reference Library Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium   Speaker: Allen Whear Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

After the lecture there will be a draw for two tickets to Tafelmusik's Season Finale at Koerner Hall, CHOPIN & BEETHOVEN, featuring Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska and conducted by Bruno Weil.

Tafelmusik, Canada’s award-winning period instrument orchestra, was founded in 1979 and has long been renowned in North America and internationally for its distinct, exhilarating and soulful performances.  Under the outstanding leadership of Music Director Jeanne Lamon, C.M., it has excelled equally in music ranging from the baroque and classical eras and beyond, including adventurous cross-cultural reinventions of baroque classics.  In the words of Gramophone, Tafelmusik is “one of the world’s top baroque orchestras.”

Conan Doyle and the Scientific Naturalists

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

    
     The Friends of the

Arthur Conan Doyle Collection of

     The Toronto Public Library

are pleased to present

The 2013 Cameron Hollyer Memorial Lecture 

 

York University Professor Bernard Lightman will talk about Conan Doyle and the scientific naturalists.  What did Arthur Conan Doyle think of the scientific naturalists and their defense of Charles Darwin?  Was he influenced by their naturalistic approach to science?  Come out and join the discussion.

 

ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.

THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR ADMISSION.

 

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013, 3:00 pm

The Beeton Auditorium Toronto Reference Library

789 Yonge Street, Toronto

The Cook who Inspired Downton Abbey: Margaret Powell's Memoirs and Recipes

 

 

Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, describes Margaret Powell as:

"the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world where servants and their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof. Her memories, funny and poignant, angry and charming haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera. I certainly owe her a great debt." (The Downstairs Cookbook, i)

 

 

Born in 1907,  Margaret Powell began her life in domestic service at the age of fifteen as a kitchen maid and worked her way up to Cook. She is the author of several memoirs as well as The Downstairs Cookbook: Recipes from a 1920s Household Cook. This book includes fascinating details about kitchen life. Powell had no idea how to cook when she started out, and one of her early challenges involved dealing with the live fish delivery. Powell learned by watching and assisting, and after the day's work was done, she would stay up late writing down as much as she could remember about the recipes.  

Powell describes the separate, underground world of the staff, and how they were often treated in a disparaging way; however, she speaks with great pride about her work: 

"I know look back on myself not as a skivvy, as we were so derogatively called, but as a person who was doing something really worthwhile, and something that, when I became a cook, I found great pleasure in doing and in having done well." (The Downstairs Cookbook, xviii)

Powell's love of food is evident throughout the book, and she makes it clear that she does not eat food because it's good for her, but because she loves it. Her recipes will be familiar to fans of Downton Abbey and they are generally not too  complicated. Some ingredients may be hard to come by though, such as the eels for fried eels. 

The Toronto Reference Library has many unique historical cookbooks such as The Cook and Housewife's Manual: a Practical System of Modern Domestic Cookery and Family Management by Christine Isobel Johnstone from 1833. Two Victorian classics include Mrs. Beeton's Cookery and Household Management (originally published in 1861) and Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families (first published 1845).

 

 

World Book and Copyright Day: April 23, 2013



UNESCO has celebrated World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April for 17 years now. UNESCO Member States around the world celebrate the power of books to bring us together and transmit the culture of peoples and their dreams of a better future.

This day provides an opportunity to reflect together on ways to better disseminate the culture of the written word and to allow all individuals, men, women and children to access it, through literacy programmes and support for careers in publishing, book shops, libraries and schools. Books are our allies in spreading education, science, culture and information worldwide. This is am source of inspiration in our collective efforts to promote editorial diversity, and to protect intellectual property and equitable access to the wealth of books.

UNESCO is committed to this work in the spirit of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, along with all its partners, including the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers' Federation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

This day also calls us to reflect on the changes in books over the long term and the intangible values that should guide us. Digital books offer new opportunities for access to knowledge, at reduced costs and over wide geographical areas. Traditional books are still powerful technology: failsafe, portable and standing the test of time. All forms of books make a valuable contribution to education and the dissemination of culture and information. The diversity of books and editorial content is a source of enrichment that we must support through appropriate public policies and protect from uniformity. This bibliodiversity is our common wealth, making books much more than a physical object, for they are our most beautiful invention for sharing ideas beyond the boundaries of space and time.

The city of Bangkok has been designated “World Book Capital 2013” in recognition of its programme to promote reading among young people and underprivileged sections of the population.

 

Irina Bokova,
Director General for World Book and Copyright Day 2013