Mój pies Lala [My Dog Lala]

Author: Romant Kent
Illustrators:
Translator: Katarzyna Łaziuk
Year: 2015
Publisher: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN
Place of publication: Warszawa
Pages: 54
ISBN: 9788394204839
Notes: Translation from English (2006). The book was the basis for a short animated film made by the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation in virtual reality technology (https://iwitness.usc.edu/SFI/Sites/360/).
Translations:
  • My dog Lala, ill. T. McWilliams, Auburn Hills, Ml: Teacher’s Discovery, 2006, pp. 48, ISBN: 9780756005405;
  • My dog Lala. La touchante histoire vraie d’un jeune garçon et de son chien durant l’Holocauste, trans. C. Denis, Paris: Kimé, 2012, pp. 54, ISBN: 9782841745753;
  • Mein Hund Lala. Die berührende Geschichte eines Jungen und seines Hundes in den Schrecken des Holocausts, ill. C.-A. Gagnant, trans. K. Hanta, M. Hanta-Davis, 2014, pp. 24.

Cover courtesy of the publisher. ©Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN, Warszawa 2015

This is a short autobiographical story about a female dog Lala, which one day appears in young Roman Kent’s family. The plot begins in interwar Łódź, a city of thriving industrial plants and factories. One of them is managed by the boy’s father, which allows the protagonist to spend his summers in a country house and live a carefree life. All of this is taken away by the outbreak of World War Two, and the forced relocation to the Łódź ghetto. The family’s entire wealth is confiscated. Other anti-Semitic restrictions are imposed later, such as the prohibition against the ownership of animals by Jews.

The author presents selected aspects of the advancing Shoah, including the detainment in the ghetto, the confiscation of property, the requirement to wear the star of David on clothing as well as “the first personal tragedy” [48]: the farewell to Lala. Kent’s story is illustrated with drawings created by students of an art school in Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland, and accompanied by a number of paratexts, including the author’s biography and the translator’s commentary.

Bibliography: