Talk:Hilda Dajč/GA1

Main article text & images

• The fair-use photo of Dajč and the plaque memorial photo look properly tagged/licensed, but the photo of Pavilion No. 3 is lacking details about origin, year of creation/publication, and a rationale tag for why it should be considered public domain in the U.S. (even if it's not an American photo, it still needs to be public domain under American copyright rules because Wikipedia hosts its servers in the U.S.). You'll either need to confirm its copyright status or remove/replace the photo.
• The Lead section says Dajč's letters "constitute the only known written testimony by Jewish prisoners of the camp", while the Legacy section says that they're "virtually the only preserved documents written by Jewish prisoners at Sajmište". Which phrasing is more accurate? I feel like the word "virtually" suggests that the letters are "almost but not quite" the only documents written by Jewish prisoners at the camp.
• The article begins by referring to the concentration camp as "Sajmište" (with an explanation of Zemun vs. Semlin as names for the nearby town), but throughout the Letters section and part of the Persecution & Imprisonment section the camp is referred to as "Semlin". I think "Sajmište" should be consistently used for the camp.
• "While imprisoned, Dajč wrote and smuggled four letters to her schoolmates Nada Novak and Mirjana Petrović, both members of the Literary Society." --> What literary society was this? Were Novak and Petrović both in Belgrade and/or working at the Jewish hospital? I'm wondering whether they survived and how Dajč's letters were ultimately preserved.
• "Dajč's letters were first published by Almuli in the anthology..." --> This paragraph should probably be shifted into the Legacy section alongside other publication/archival info.
• The mobile gas van "resulted in the murder of approximately 6,300 Jews, nearly all those detained at Semlin, including Dajč's parents and her younger brother Hans." --> When were Dajč's family detained at Semlin? Were they there at the same time as Dajč? I understood that her father's position on the Vertretung der jüdischen Gemeinde gave him some protection, and I can't locate within the text when that situation changed.

Sources & Spot Check

• The 2010 Almuli book citation has a broken Google Books link (404 error).
• "A number of Roma women and children were also detained but were released in the spring of 1942." --> Subotić doesn't specify the genders/ages of the Roma prisoners.
• "Dajč appeared thin and pale and seemed increasingly dejected and desperate." --> This could use stronger paraphrasing (a little too close to original).
• "Between her last known letter in early February 1942 and 10 May 1942, a mobile gas van, referred to by the German authorities as a "delousing truck" (Entlausungswagen), was used to kill prisoners from the camp..." --> Can you double-check the page #? It's cited as pp. 52-53 of Subotić (I can't access those pages), but all this information is clearly listed on pp. 2-3 of the same source.
• The mobile gas van "resulted in the murder of approximately 6,300 Jews, nearly all those detained at Semlin, including Dajč's parents and her younger brother Hans." --> The cited sources (Subotić and Experiencing History) don't confirm that the whole family was murdered, only that they died at Sajmište.

Extras

• In terms of MOS: this isn't necessary for meeting basic GA criteria, but I'm wondering if it might be appropriate to apply historical present or "literary present tense" to the direct discussion of the contents of Dajč's four letters (e.g., "Dajč explains her decision to enter the camp as an act of conscience" and "She also expresses optimism about the assistance she hoped to provide"). Dajč's written words are critically important to this article, and they form the core of the discussion about her experiences -- I don't think it would be incorrect to view the letters as literature. MOS states that biographies can use present tense "when discussing the work of a writer or philosopher". What do you think?

Thanks for your work on this article. It's a tough read, but it's so important to preserve and make accessible the stories of Hilda Dajč and others like her. Let me know when you're done responding to my comments, and I'll come take another look. Best, Alanna the Brave (talk) 18:25, 3 July 2026 (UTC)