| While researching the history of the Polish Aryans, I came across some important polemics between Catholics and Protestants regarding painting at the time of the Reformation and the Counter Reformation in Poland. The editor of these volumes was Halina Nelken, whose scholarly works published in Poland I knew long before I met her in person in front of Widener Library. |
| She was brought to Harvard University by one of the most eminent art historians, Professor Jakob Rosenberg, as his assistant at the Graphic Art collection. While she worked at the Fogg Art Museum, she cooperated with me in reading together the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century texts in Polish and Latin and interpreting them with her profound knowledge of Polish history, art, and literature. Such was the beginning of our long intellectual friendship. |
| Her energetic and cheerful nature hardly let one suspect what she had gone through during World War II. She was an effective and beloved teacher, a respected researcher and authorbut above all, she was a mother. |
| I witnessed the difficult struggle of a woman alone in a foreign land, raising her little sonthe only family she had in the world. No matter how difficult the task, she succeeded. She told me that nothing could compare to Auschwitz, her measure of all things, and she mentioned her diary. I urged her to transcribe it. While reading it, I realized what a treasure it was, not only as a historical document, but also as a testimony of the unconquerable human spirit. |
| It touches us all, young and old, how this resourceful woman, unscathed by cruel depravity, evil, and hatred, survived with spirit, courage, and integrity. |
 | GEORGE HUNSTON WILLIAMS
HOLLIS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, EMERITUS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
OCTOBER 15, 1997 |
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