Gates of Tears is the first book in Eng­lish to exam­ine the Shoah in the Lublin Dis­trict, an area cen­tral to Nazi anti-Jew­ish pol­i­cy. Its analy­sis traces forced pop­u­la­tion move­ments and forced labor, con­stants in Ger­man pol­i­cy, the bit­ter ear­ly mem­o­ry of which influ­enced Jews’ lat­er actions. Many hid or fled the depor­ta­tions to death camps and forced labor, fear­ing an extreme return of ear­li­er expe­ri­ence, unable to grasp the ​“Final Solu­tion.” Lublin was a con­tra­dic­to­ry dis­trict — few ghet­tos yet lit­tle sur­vival; Jews could not affect their col­lec­tive fate. As Rab­bi Tzvi Elim­elech Tal­mud wrote in a last let­ter, no hope remained ​“only the gates of tears have not been locked before us.” Only luck could save them, but luck was scarce.