The Guardian of Memory

The Guardian of Memory is a deeply moving testament to the endurance of memory and the resilience of the human spirit. Through the vivid recollections of his father, Henryk (Chaim), Joseph Janusz Poznäski unearths the intimate and tragic history of a family shaped by love, faith, and unimaginable loss.From a modest apartment in Warsaw to the vast shadows of the Second World War, this book weaves personal memory with the seismic events of history. At its heart stands Henryk Poznäski-survivor, witness, and moral custodian-who, between 1950 and 1962, worked in the Department of Museums and Monuments of Struggle and Suffering within Poland's Ministry of Art and Culture. As the only employee of Jewish heritage, Henryk devoted his life's work to safeguarding the sites of Jewish extermination-Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Majdanek-not as abstract memorials, but as enduring testimonies to the Shoah.In a political climate that elevated narratives of Polish heroism while marginalising Jewish suffering, Henryk fought a lonely and often perilous battle against historical erasure. Isolated, disillusioned, yet unwavering, he became a guardian not only of places, but of truth itself.The Guardian of Memory is both a son's act of remembrance and a profound meditation on responsibility, conscience, and the moral cost of bearing witness.