Description: Life in Transit is the long-awaited sequel to Shimon Redlich's widely acclaimed Together and Apart in Brzezany, in which he discussed his childhood during the War and the Holocaust. Life in Transit tells the story of his adolescence in the city of Lodz in postwar Poland. Redlich's personal memories are placed within the wider historical context of Jewish life in Poland and in Lodz during the immediate postwar years. Lodz in the years 1945-1950 was the second-largest city in the country and the major urban center of the Jewish population. Redlich's research based on conventional sources and numerous interviews indicates that although the survivors still lived in the shadow of the Holocaust, postwar Jewish Lodz was permeated with a sense of vitality and hope.
Review Quotes: "Life in Transit is an engaging and well-rounded narrative of interest to anyone who studies modern east European and east European Jewish social history, the Holocaust and its impact, and urban studies. By employing interviews and other personal accounts, Redlich is able to explore successfully the multiple dynamics and evolution of Jewish identity and values after the Holocaust. He pays constant attention to the differences in the prewar and wartime lived experiences and values of the Jews who lived in the city in the early postwar period, offering insight into the diverse and sometimes contradictory perceptions of what the city and life in it meant to them."