No comments about Joseph Gavi.

3 comments about Survival: The Story of a Sixteen-Year-Old Jewish Boy (Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust).

1. Survival: The Story of a Sixteen-Year-Old Jewish Boy begins with Israel J. Rosengarten's deportation in 1942 to the Belgian concentration camp of Breendonk at the age of sixteen and follows his movements through a series of camps until 1945. Survival is a compelling, personal account that concludes with the Auschwitz death march, liberation by the Americans, and Israel's return to Belgium -- only to discover that he was the lone survivor of a family of seven. This intimate story of what it was like to be a teenage boy in the concentration camps of the holocaust, of surviving almost 1,000 days of internment through a series of incredible coincidences, miracles, and a fierce struggle to stay alive against impossible odds. Survival is a welcome addition to the growing body of holocaust literature.



2. A truly haunting book in its simplicity. This is not high emotion, but an incredibly comprehensive recollection of life in various concentration camps. Israel Rosengarten conveys the true horror of the concentration camps via his narrative of the details and minutiae of day to day life. It is the very ordinariness of many of the details which jolts us and the capriciousness with which one either lived or died. Mr. Rosengarten's detailed memories of the routine of the camps 50 years after the events is what sets this book apart. It is this which conveys the true horror of the Holocaust and makes it a must read. It is a pity that the Publisher allowed such obviously poor translation and editing to be done of such an important work.



3. This testimony to man's inhumanity to man is a welcome addition to Holocaust literature. Mr. Rosengarten's personal story is a tribute to the human spirit and the will to survive. Although the book was originally planned for his children, I appreciate the fact that he shared his experiences, his courage and love of family with the general public. Because this authentic and moving book made such a lasting impression on me, I wish to donate a copy to our library.

5 comments about Edith's Story: The True Story of a Young Girl's Courage and Survival During World War II.

1. I've read a number of accounts by Jews who were hidden by heroic friends and strangers during the Holocaust. But Edith Velmans' story stands out. I found myself totally drawn into her idyllic teenage life in the Hague as war slowly began to overshadow the sunshine of her youthful pusuits. She lovingly paints a warm but realistic picture of her community and family. I was especially touched by the letters she shares from her parents. Velmans also relates her psychological adjustment of going into hiding and taking on another identity, something other accounts have rarely mentioned. Yet through it all, Velmans captures the fact that despite the agony of going through such a painful experience, she emerged with her courage intact. I highly recommend this book, especially for teachers in search of good reading material for high school students studying the Holocaust. But anyone would enjoy this book. I read it one evening, unable to stop.



2. This book may not have the deep poignancy of Anne Frank's diary, as its author tells her story from an adult vantage point. But it does offer a vivid picture of day-to-day life as a jew in hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland. I readily felt Edith's anxiety, as she attempted to pass for a gentile, far from friends and family, and not knowing what had become of those she loved. The story also has a deep honesty -- it is clear, for example, that she often found the family who saved her difficult, and that she felt resentments as well as gratitude. I'm sure that this is, in fact, how it felt, and am grateful to Edith Velmans for the straightforward telling of her story.



3. This book is an absolute treasure. It is a very moving account of an adolescent Jewish girl's life in Holland as the Nazi regime moved in and took over. The book contains some of her actual diary entries written as a teenager along with her present-day adult comments to help put the entries into perspective. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, but most especially to young people. It's a gripping story of a girl from the past with great courage and love of life.



4. Edith's Story written by Edith Velmans is a true story about courage, love, and survival during WWII. Edith's family is Jewish living in Holland during WWII. Her eldest brother Guss moves to America before the start of the war. The rest of the family does not want to leave. They don't believe Hitler will actually start rounding up Jews. They soon find out they were wrong. They first have to sew the yellow stars of David on all of their clothing. Then they are not allowed to go to the same school with non-Jews. Things keep getting worse and worse. Especially when Edith's mother has to go to the hospital and get her hip operated on. Her family soon decides to find places where Edith and her older brother, Jules, can go into hiding. Jules goes to live with a farmer up north and Edith goes to live with a family were she plays the part of Netti. A friend whose parent's have fallen ill and cannot take care of her. The rest of the story is about how Edith takes all of her courage and love to survive the war and worse the braking apart of her loving family.
   I loved the book Edith's Story. It is the most loving heartwarming book I have ever read. For someone to have that much strength in such an awful part of history like Edith is amazing. This was a very good book. I normally do not like to read Holocaust books but I enjoyed this one a lot. This is a truly moving book with so much great hope in it. I recommend this book to any one because it is a wonderful story.



5. I read this book in one sitting! I have read many books on the Holocaust and this is one of my favorites! Edith gives a detailed look into the life of a young girl who survives WWII, this book made me very emotional, which I think all great books should do. Enjoy!

1 comments about Light from the Ashes: Social Science Careers of Young Holocaust Refugees and Survivors.

1. Light From the Ashes arrived as I was watching the latest news about the U.S.'s war against terrorism. I have often wondered if war were declared on the U.S., as it has been declared on so many other nations during my lifetime, how I would "survive." I fear the struggle to survive almost as much as I fear death. Light From the Ashes gives new insight into what it takes to survive war, deprivation, persecution and other horrors of war and holocaust. While many who survived the Nazi Holocaust as adults have written and spoken of their experience and its affect on their remaining years, few, if any have spoken and written of the experience as a child or adolescent. This collection of how those early experiences may have shaped the choice of career in the social sciences is monumental is helping me understand the term "survivor." The essays are literate but completely comprehensible to the layman. The insights into the life of each contributor and editor (also a contributor) comes to light in some cases because they were asked to participate in this volume. It is a timely work, and, I am sad to say, will probably never be out of context in our world.

No comments about Smothered Words (Holocaust Studies).

2 comments about The Youngest Partisan: A Young Boy Who Fought the Nazis.

1. I found this to be an amazing book. The book is about a young Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia who survived through all the Nazi efforts to kill him and the people he was with. Despite the difficulties he maintained his faith. Unlike other holocaust books, this doesn't make one feel helpless, because he fought back. It made me feel as if I was there myself. The amazing thing is that it is all true!



2. This is an amazing true story about a Jewish boy from Pressburg, Checkoslovakia who survived the Nazis. Once you start reading it, you can't put the book down. It fully captivates you. The story is so awesome that you feel as you're the one experiencing the horrible trials that this boy was presented with.
   I happen to know the author (the boy in the book), Romi Cohen. He's now prominent business man and a world famous Mohel in New York who brings great mitzvah to the world.

2 comments about Foiled!: Hitler's Jewish Olympian : The Helene Mayer Story.

1. This book tells the story of one of the 20th century's greatest Olympic foil fencers, who also taught in Oakland, CA for a while! The book is not about fencing per se, but about the life of an athlete who, through no fault of her own, fell from glory to disgrace and was forced to walk a political tightrope. It's worthwhile to remember that fencers are human beings with real struggles, even when off the piste. The book has lots of good photos, too.



2. From back cover:
   
   "With Americans threatening to boycott the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games over the issue of anti-Semitism, the ruling Nazi Party came up with a brilliant public relations strategy. For two fun-filled weeks in August, the German capital would be declared a hate-free city. Anti-Semitic publications were removed from newsstands, and racist posters were torn down. The Third Reich also announced that Helen Mayer, a blonde beauty once viewed as the essence of Aryan womanhood, would be brought home to fence for the fatherland. The daughter of a Jewish father and a Christian mother, she had been living in self-imposed exile in California and was teaching at Mills College in Oakland.
   
   Winner of the gold medal in the 1928 Olympics, Mayer was the leading woman fencer of her time, regularly defeating opponents. In living rooms across Germany fans proudly displayed porcelain statuettes of this national heroine. Now, as Hitler's token Jewish Olympian she was determined to win back her citizenship rescinded by the infamous Nuremberg Laws. Poised to win the gold for Germany a second time, Mayer found once adoring fans ambivalent about her return."

2 comments about Flee the Captor.

1. This book is very touching, inspirational, and gripping. It follows the experience of one man who would do anything to free as many Jews as possible in the Holocaust. It talks about those who helped him in his efforts, and how he himself escaped some very scary situations with the Lord's help. Everyone should read this book!



2. Herbert Ford succeeded to write an original book about World War II. His heros John Weidner created an underground network as soon as 1940 and saved a thousand people (Allied pilots gunned down by the Nazis and Jews) without ever wearing a weapon. The great originality of the network Dutch-Paris is its high morale standards and its efficiency in making fugitives escape occupied France, Belgium and Netherlands towards Switzerland and Spain. A great book about an unusual heroe that deserves to be better known.

3 comments about The Long Voyage (Tusk Ivories).

1. This is a wonderful and moving novel about a French Resistance fighter of Spanish origin who is captured by the Nazis and sent to Buchenwald. It is brilliantly written, and I would recommend it to anyone intested in good writing, the Holocaust or the human spirit.



2. I read this book because I was, and still am, interested in what happened during the Holocaust. I was hoping that I would find a lot of new and interesting things in this book, but I was disappointed. The book focuses on the tiresome journey to the camp, instead of what happens at the camp. The plot is also panoramic, and not episodic, so it is hard to understand which happens first, later, or at the present. The author uses really long sentences that is hard to understand, and extremely repetitive. However, the repetition functions wonderfully as an emphasis to what the author is feeling, or trying to express. Overall, not a bad read. Just takes a lot of time and patience to really absorb the novel.



3. Jorge Semprun was born in Spain but has lived most of his life in France. At a young age he joined the communist party and while active at the French resistance was captured by the Nazis. "The Long Voyage" is an autobiographical narrative, concentrating on the author's experience while being transported in a train to Buchenwald. Contrary to most Holocaust literature, this book is not a compilation of horrors and atrocities, but a stream-of consciousness description of a journey to the unknown, when time has ceased to exist, when "past," "present," and "future" all have lost meaning. This is what makes Semprun's narrative so interesting. It is not the logical sequence of events that dictates the narrative, but the mind's attempt to understand and, at the same time, escape reality.

2 comments about Escape Into Darkness.

1. I had to put this book down to check to see what others'responses to it were, even before I am finished. I wanted to see others' enthusiastic responses. I am amazed to see that no one has written a review of it before. For academic reasons I have been reading quite a few books on the Holocaust this month. This is an astonishing book of a resilient, inventive child/young woman who survives against incredible odds....yes, this sounds like a pat review....but her story is so unique. Although it was in the young adult section it is well, and intelligently written. This should certainly be made into a movie. Astonishing....must go finish.



2. This story is beyond amazing. No one could have made up such a story with more twists and turns than a roller coaster, although this was a deadly roller coaster. The author should create an audio version of this story so that we could hear her voice. The truth of her history is ultimately illuminating of Germany and Poland during WWII. Her exceptional skills at survival, and storytelling rival any I have heard of before. Sonia Games you are a most amazing woman! Told in a first person account this story recounts the author growing up in a comfortable, even well-off family in Poland, of her survival in Jewish ghetto's and then in the streets and railways of Poland, and even Germany, as war rages on. A superhero of survivalists! This is a VERY IMPORTANT BOOK!