"The Great Fear," an autobiographical novel by Julian Stryjkowski, tells the story of his childhood in an indigent Jewish family, at a time of growing anti-Semitism. It tells the story of a Polish Jew's road to communism, and shows why totalitarianism could seem like a remedy for all the evils of the world.
Atur Salz, a history teacher, applies for a job as an editor in Lvov, where he arrived when World War II broke out. Salz radicalizes his views, as a result of which he gets the job, but as time passes and he observes what is happening around him, he has more and more doubts about the political current he has come to believe is right.
Stryjkowski said of this novel and its protagonist that it is an autobiographical story, that he presented in "The Great Fear" his own doubts and fears about communism, of which he was initially a staunch supporter. Wartime experiences and tragedies verified the views of both Stryjkowski and Salz. He went from the fervent support he had expressed for the idea even before the war to the eponymous great fear that peeked through the eyes of people afflicted by history. The novel has been recognized as an extremely important voice in the debate on Jewish issues and communist beliefs verified by many as a result of personal experiences.
UNIQUE LONDON EDITION.
Publisher: Zapis, No. 14/1980, London.
Format 205 x 145 mm, 176 pages.
