one puzzle of daily life at the villa was this: How do you retain a spirit of affection and humor in a crazed, homicidal, unpredictable society?

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany, emboldened by the recently-signed Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with Stalin’s Soviet Union, invaded Poland. Warsaw was pummeled, then occupied. With the Nazis’ bizarre fixation on racial purity (which extended to animals) and hatred for Jews, it became an existential crisis merely to be Jewish in the city. Amid the carnage and daily horror, heroes emerged. One of them was Antonina Żabiński.


Antonina and Jan Żabiński... ...more

Finally!!! Whew!
I've owned this book for more than 5 years!!! It was passed to me from our friend Steve! I had planned to read it -- like other books --a dozen times.
Quilty-as Charged: It took the Hollywood 'soon-to-be-released' movie - to procrastinate-no-longer!

I knew much about this story -- but, as I said, had not actually read it myself.
Author Diane Ackerman has a long list of many other books she has written- but this is my first time reading her.
It reads like fiction --( wish it were) -- scary/terrifying/heartbreaking moments....sometimes funny...
.....other times this story is... ...more

Feedback on the movie - just as good as the book :) and lived up to the books standards!

This book is about acts of heroism of Jan and Antonina Żabiński, a family that put their lives in jeopardy to save others!





This book is remarkable as it was based on true events and facts captured in the diary of Antonina during World war 11, and about Antonina, Jan and their son Ryszard (named after a saint as they formed part of the Polish Cathoholic tradition) Żabiński.



Jan Żabiński, was the director of the Warsaw Zoo since 1929, and Antonina and Jan spend their lives among Animals, in 1931 they... ...more