The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

October 7, 2019

October 7, 1948

Witold Wroblewski was an elderly Polish bachelor, accustomed to farming animals, when the German occupation officials put him in charge of a farm designed to provide fur for army uniforms. Wroblewski himself kept a pet cat named Balbina, and some parakeets. The farm was near Warsaw. on the site of a prewar zoo,  The site included a villa occupied by the former zoo owners, Jan and Antonina Zabinski. Antonina  had engineered a scheme to hide Jews there, and the three of them, united on this goal, saved hundreds of people.

The story is told, based on, among other things, Antonina's diary, by Diane Ackerman (October 7, 1948) in her 2008 bestseller, The Zookeeper's Wife.
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