The book "Notes from the Valley of Slaughter" ("Notes from the Valley of slaughter") is the diary of a Holocaust survivor, which testifies to the life of the Šiauliai Jewish community and its destruction. The diary, while in the Šiauliai ghetto, was written by the doctor, scientist Aharon Pick (1872-1944). He was the leader of the Jewish community of Šiauliai, and when he got into the ghetto, he closely watched the life of the ghetto and described in detail in his diary the tragic events of 1940-1941. The doctor was one of the few Šiauliai Jews who survived in the ghetto, but in the spring of 1944 fell ill and died just before the liquidation of the ghetto. His son, before escaping from the ghetto, buried the manuscript, and later recovered it and transported it to Israel.
A. Pick, a northern doctor, was told to journalist A. Cassel by his grandfather, who was a friend of the doctor. While attending one seminar, Cassel heard that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., houses Mr. Pick's diary. He initiated the English translation of this diary and is one of his translators.
Pick's diary is a written testimony, one of the few surviving authentic stories about the Šiauliai ghetto, which was located next to chaim Frenkel's villa. There are not many sources about the Šiauliai ghetto, so the book is important for the study of the Holocaust on a European scale, it is an invaluable resource for getting to know the life of Jewish communities and their tragic outcome.
The book is written in English.
