When Adam Czerniakow was appointed chairman of the Warsaw Jewish Community on September 23, 1939, he was aware of the gravity of the task, but he had no idea what burden and superhuman efforts this position would impose on him. For almost three years, he meticulously recorded in tiny handwriting what he saw, what he experienced, and what he did. His diary is a unique document of powerlessness in the face of the German reign of terror, but also of courage and humanity in a hopeless situation. When Czerniakow realized that all his efforts were in vain and he was forced to organize the deportations to the death camps himself, he took his own life.