My name is Joshua Aronowitz Mercer. I am an undergraduate at the University of Birmingham reading History. I intend to write my dissertation on my great-great uncle, Isy Aronowitz’s unpublished diary, which he kept during his time interned at Sternberg labour camp during the Holocaust.  He was elected as Unterfurher for his duration at Sternberg, a position scarcely mentioned in Holocaust academia.

For my dissertation project, I wish to examine the dynamics of Jewish leadership in the camps with both Nazi officials and fellow inmates. Unfortunately, the diary is written in a combination of German and Yiddish, and I can read neither. I am currently trying to get this diary translated to English, and have made contact with an experienced translator, who has previously worked with such sources like Anne Frank’s diary, but the costs of this may make my deeply important project untenable.

This project is of huge significance to me personally and academically. It could significantly contribute to our understanding of the decisions and conditions that faced those in the Holocaust. It will also eventually take its place as one of the very few complete Holocaust diary sources in existence. Any contributions are deeply appreciated.