When Being Jewish was a Crime

by Rachmiel Frydland

This is the amazing story of how Rachmiel Frydland, a Jew, was delivered from death time after time during the years of the Nazi occupation of Poland. Perhaps more importantly, this is Frydland's account of how the God of his ancestors took over and occupied his life, delivering him from death -- spiritually, then physically--and led him into a ministry of proclaiming Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). Rachmiel Frydland was a Jew who suffered persecution under the Nazis; he was a believer in the Messiah who sometimes suffered rejection by Christians during his years as a fugitive. He challenges us to consider what our response might be in similar cases of inhumanity both now and in the future.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Holocaust, World War II, Christian

181 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Yibbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many biographies about and autobiographies by Holocaust survivors. All of them are overwhelmingly tragic. This one has all the same elements, the terror, pain, separation, loss, betrayal, and death; however, it has one very unique element. It is not hopeless.
Fryland begins his account with his own childhood as an observant Orthodox Jew and youth at various yeshivas. Then he explains how he met his Savior Jesus Christ and the changes that brought to his family and life. Then the War started. It’s just heartbreaking. He was so alone through most of those years, but he constantly points toward the One who was always with him. I have often wondered if there were any Hebrew Christians in Poland during those days. Now I know that Christ had his witnesses there, right to the final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, there were saved Jews living, witnessing there.
Frydland doesn’t claim to have the answers to all the questions raised by the horrific suffering, but he does point us to the One Who does.
He also has a stern warning for the church. Because of his close relationship with Christians before the war, he turned to them in his times of greatest need. Some did their best to help, and some turned their backs on him. He asks us to carefully examine our doctrine and where it might lead us if we were to face the same choices.
I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s an important subject, and while not a literary masterpiece, this book gives us a glimpse of one man’s journey through it with his Savior.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frydland grew up a Jew in a traditional family in 1930's Poland.

Thanks to Christian missionaries, he accepted Jesus as Messiah and Savior; the first half of this book tells of his young life and spiritual journey. It isn't a detailed story - this's a quite short book - but I'm glad to hear what we got, and I especially appreciated how he points out that he intellectually recognized Jesus as Messiah some time before actually giving his life over to him.

In the second half... well, we know what tragedies ended 1930's Poland and the Jewish community there. Frydland himself escaped being sent to a death camp and was able to hide himself with Gentile friends. Almost his entire extended family and community was killed; he regarded himself as spared to tell the account of what had happened.

The most moving section is when he reflects afterwards on what weaknesses led the Church in Poland to fall apart in the face of the Holocaust. He also laments growing spiritual weakness in Israel. Half of each of those indictments could easily apply to the modern American church as well.

[AlegnaB † · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Doug May · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am biased on this book as it was written by my father-in-law. To be honest the first reading was not as impactful. It took two readings to understand much of his writings as he was a very mature christian having suffered deeply for his faith during the holocaust. It is a miraculous story of God's providence in protecting his own. Rachmiel's testimony lives on in the lives of his widow and children including my wife.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful: an eyewitness account of a Polish Jew as a child between the world wars living a life of extreem piety and poverty. And dreadful: an eyewitness account of the German occupation and the attrocities commited against the Jews. Rachmiel Friydland recounts how he became a 'completed' jew, discovering Jesus to be the Messiah, and his many miraculous escapes through the war.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Choppy but interesting true story in 1st person about survival & God's providence.