2 comments about Theresienstadt: The Town the Nazis Gave to the Jews.

1. I read this book because my grandmother also spent three years in Theresienstadt. Although she openly talks about her experience, I wanted to read about it from someone else's perspective. Mrs. Schiff is able to tell her story in such a way, that you can practically imagine yourself there. I admire her strength to survive, and her love and devotion towards her family. My children are still very young (only 8 and 4), but one day, I hope that they will read this book, so that they know what their great grandmother went through, as well as millions of other Jews.

   Thank you, Mrs. Schiff, for sharing your haunting story, and allowing me to feel closer to my grandmother, as well as to my heritage.




2. I read this book because my grandmother also spent three years in Theresienstadt. Although she openly talks about her experience, I wanted to read about it from someone else's perspective. Mrs. Schiff is able to tell her story in such a way, that you can practically imagine yourself there. I admire her strength to survive, and her love and devotion towards her family. My children are still very young (only 8 and 4), but one day, I hope that they will read this book, so that they know what their great grandmother went through, as well as millions of other Jews.

   Thank you, Mrs. Schiff, for sharing your haunting story, and allowing me to feel closer to my grandmother, as well as to my heritage.

No comments about Ger-Nacht Und Nebel.

3 comments about Beyond These Walls: Escaping the Warsaw Ghetto - A Young Girl's Story (Virago Modern Classics).

1. This book was intriguing. After forty years, the author, Janina Bauman, is ready to tell her story of her life and experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. The story begins telling what a good life Bauman has with her father as a doctor and a loving close Jewish family. Then as the story goes on the war begins and their town is transformed into a Jewish ghetto. They are forced slowly to move from place to place, within the ghetto, each one worse than the other. With her remaining family she escapes the ghetto only to find more problems along the way to freedom, but in the end everything works out. This book gives in excellent detail, Bauman's experiences of friendship, love, death, poverty, adventure, and family problems. Many of her personal diary entries are included also showing exactly how she was feeling. The story is full of adventure and feeling and it was a joy to read.



2. THis book is one of the best I've ever read. It is clearly written and keeps you turning pages. The book chronicals the adventures of a teenage girl during the Holocaust years. It is not a depressing read, rather it is very inspiring and exciting. I highly recommend it.



3. Winter in the Morning is a captivating book. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It gives a very detailed account of a young girl's life during the Holocaust. It shows how this wealthy Jewish girl becomes stricken with poverty, alienated from her friends, and was sent to another school. It gives accounts of all the "safe houses," which were the houses that took Jews and hid them. It also showed how they lived in the ghetto with many other Jews, fighting disease, lice, and finding food that was scarce. This book was very inspiring, as well as well written. It gives an insider's version of the Holocaust and war and is very interesting, factual, and moving. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in what really went on in the Holocaust.

No comments about Belsen: The Liberation of a Concentration Camp (Routledge Twentieth Century European History).

1 comments about Don't Forget Us.

1. A wrenching, true story of how one family tried to escape the sharp claws of the Nazis.
   Author Susan Schoenenberger was visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. when an indescribable force nudged her
   heart and touched her innocent soul. She writes, "As we walked through the exhibit, staring at many photographs of Holocaust victims, I
   found myself searching to see if I could find a picture of my great-grandparents. I never knew what happened to them. I thought about the
   story of how they perished in the 'ovens' as my mother often said. "Don't Forget Us" is the untold story of Susan's great-grandparents,
   Jeanette and Karl Ladenburger, and the horrors of Hitler's wrath. As moving as the story "Schindler's List," "Don't Forget Us" is a true story
   based on letters, photographs, and documents that Susan gathered from her family. It took Susan more than five years to piece together
   this book, which she says, became instrumental in reuniting relatives, friends, and survivors around the globe. "I had my grandmother's
   immigration card with me so I pulled it out to once again look at the date...Oct. 25, 1938. I was so surprised to see they had left only two
   weeks before those fateful nights," Susan recalls. The "fateful night," Susan was talking about is "Kristallnacht," meaning "The Night of
   Broken Glass" - a turning point for Hitler's power over the Jews in Germany. According to Susan's research, this event marked the time
   when gangs of Nazi youths roamed through Jewish neighborhoods, breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes, burning
   synagogues, and looting. Jeanette and Karl Ladenburger died along with millions of Jews during the Nazi occupation. Susan's
   grandmother, mother, and uncle were lucky enough to escape the claws of death. To commemorate relatives and friends, who were killed
   by the Nazis, Susan is currently working on a project erecting a monument - a painful, but proud remembrance of the past - in the town of
   Bonfeld, Germany. Susan Schoenenberger believes it is important for the present generation to learn about their history. The Holocaust,
   she says, undeniably left a scar in the hearts and minds of survivors and their descendants. "Don't Forget Us" is a brave attempt to expose
   and examine that scar.

5 comments about Survival.

1. This is an amazing first hand account of the horrors of the Holocaust. Very candidly, Magda shares about what happened to her, her family and loved ones, as the unbelievable events of the world unfolded in the early 1940's. As a survivor of the tragedy, she proclaims her faith in God, and the hope of being reunited with her family and friends as the unseen strengths that kept her alive, and brought her through. She has made it her purpose and calling in life to make others aware of the reality of what happened, and she does a great job issuing a warning of the capabilities of what humans can do if evil is allowed to reign in their hearts.
   
   My praise for this book! A must read!



2. Survival
   
   This is not just another Holocaust book. Magda's story is a slap in the face to the "historians" and racists who deny that the Holocaust ever took place. But this book is so much more than a historical document; it is the story about one woman's courageous life, and a life that has been lived to the full.
   
   I had the pleasure of hearing Magda share her story at our Messianic Congregation. Magda is willing to share her story with both Christians and Messianic Jews because she loves God and loves people. She is a bundle of energy, and if you ever get the chance to see her in person, I would highly recommend that you do so.
   
   The book seems to fly by as we see the life of Magda transition from a happy, athletic child to a left-for-dead survivor, to her development into vibrant adulthood. The part where she is re-united with her mother is priceless; Magda's mother saved a change of clothes and some chocolates in case her daughter would ever return, and Baruch HaShem she did. Magda is also a poet, and she has many poems mixed in; one that stuck me in particular was one she recited when she thought she would die near the camps. The poem is a chilling reminder of the powerful emotions one would feel at that time when normal words cannot adequately explain our emotions.
   
   What I really loved about her work, oral and written, is that she has a wonderful balance of remembrance and hope. She does not forget or ignore the past, but neither does she let it impede her. We remember the horror, but we also get to hear about how after the war she went to medical college, found the love of her life (recently celebrating 60 years of marriage), and became a poet and an inspirational speaker.
   
   This book is important for both Jews and Christians to read. Both will walk away blessed. But also to those who feel that there is no hope in the world, this is a great example to demonstrate the opposite. Don't miss an opportunity to see what one woman did who was described as "saved by God." It will warm your heart.



3. I've known Magda Herzberger almost 30 years and during that time I saw in her compassion, a love of life, an intellect and a strong heroic desire to be a voice and tell what happened to 6 million Jews in Hitler's death camps of Auschwitz, Bremen and Bergen-Belsen. She can be that voice because she was there from 1944 to 1945.
   
   "Survival" begins with 18 year old Magda writing about her loving family, mother, father and aunts and uncles. It is memories of these peaceful and happy days that will help Magda in the death camps where horror, humiliation and cruelty reign.
   
   To write this book Magda had to summon all the horrors she endured in the camps back into her conscious mind and relive them. While writing the book, she endured many nightmares as she summoned the grisly past to the present. To continue on writing this autobiography is a tribute to her courage.
   
   She writes she was shipped with thousands of other Jews jammed into cattle cars that would take them to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In her book, she takes us through a week by week account of the "work" assigned to her in the camp. Death was next to her every moment. The daily living was so abhorrent that many of the women found themselves in deep depression and committed suicide. Magda's strong belief in the Almighty kept her from doing the same. The reader will see how Magda uses many different positive thinking techniques to keep her sanity.
   
   The reader will find a book that gives living testament to what it was like in the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the streets of bombed Bremen and finally, the trip to the camp of starvation in Bergen Belsen.
   
   This book begins with a wholesome, loving teenager who is snatched along with her family and other Jews to arrive at a death camps and end a year later with an emaciated woman with her arms wrapped around a birch tree coming to terms with death knowing it is not far away.
   
   This is not to be her end. She does find happiness.
   
   I think this book should be in every library, school, and book store.



4. This is a must read for Jews and non Jews alike. For Jews, to reinforce the motto "NEVER AGAIN" and for all non Jews so that they may understand. It took only a few years of indoctrination by the Nazis for a people to learn to hate a culture and religion so intensely. They were able to justify the denegration, torture and murder of millions of Jews Gypseys and others. One may wonder how much worse it may become for us, Jews and non Jews alike, in today's world where children are studying the same hateful rhetoric in madrasses (sp)...but for years and years. Enough hate and vitriol so that they are willing to give up their lives in order to murder innnocent people. I had to put this book down periodically because it so clearly illustrated "man's inhumanity to man". I am personally acquainted with Magda. She is wonderful, incredibly resiliant human being. There is a glow in her face and demeanor. Her father's message of "FAITH, LOVE & HOPE...foregiveness and tolerance...no mater what happens" is almost impossible to imagine under those circumstances...but if Magda can do it...maybe...we all can.



5. "Survival" is chilling! The contents give grizly details of three Nazi prison camps.But Magda Herzberger's superb ability to pen her thoughts takes the reader throuh her journey of awe and wonderment that led to her hell-hole of nearly unsurvivable torture.And then she brings us back to the real world.
   When I read about Magda's background [ off a well connected family with above average attitudes to make a positive difference in their community],I mentally engaged in that same strength.The when I read how she was shoved into the brink of near insanity,I felt her deep dark pain,and at the same time,I appreciated her tender-hearted goodness throughout the book.I applaud the author's courage to spill her gut-wrenching experiences onto the printed page and show the reader how she maintained her God-loving dignity.
   Magda does not give a world-involved view of the war;she writes her daily account from the frame of a teenager.She places the reader within her,so we experience the pain of her flesh and the light of her soul.Her prose throughout the book captures additional heart-felt thoughts that give support to her storyline.
   I recommend his book for teenagers as well as adults.We can learn from Magda Herzberger;she doesn't live in a prison of unforgiveness;instead,she looks for life and lives it.I suggest we all take a thankful attitude for the air we breathe.

1 comments about Jean Moulin, 1899-1943: The French Resistance and the Republic.

1. Jean Moulin, celebrated resistance hero, creator of the 'army of the night' a national icon in France and a martyr....yet little is known about him in the English speaking world. A decent work on the man who has assumed the status of secular saint is long overdue. In France this pre-war dilettante with his leftist leanings and a talent for art has come to symbolise the courage of resistance, that enabled the re-establishment of the French Republic in 1944. Facing the German invaders, Moulin as Préfet of the Eure-et-Loir département, stayed at his post, organising what help he could for the poupulation. From his initial somewhat foolhardy dealings with the German occupying powers grew the conviction that something had to be done and Moulin turned his skills of organisation to uniting the disparate elements of resistance. As De Gaulle's representative in France he played a key role in the great drama of 'les années noires' before finally being betrayed at a meeting in a suburb of Lyons in June 1943..captured & tortured by the infamous Klaus Barbie, the story of the circumstances of his capture and subsequent death at the hands of his torturers has all the fantastic elements of the best crime thrillers and probably does much to explain the enduring appeal of his story in France. However while the author rightly takes author Patrick Marnham to task for his recent over wrought & sensationalist account of the enigma that was Jean Moulin, this new work is ultimately far too bland to recommend absolutely..In the early chapters the author concentrates on portraying Moulin in the context of France's republican & administrative tradition, not exactly riveting stuff. Building an army of resisters, living on the run, parachutages, secret rendez-vous at safe houses, all the ingredients of a fantastic thriller are here..Yet..progress was slow & painful & amateurish and the resisters themselves, in many ways careless, & bitterly divided, could have led the clumsiest of detectives to the key suspect..I suppose the authors achievement here is showing how Moulin's capture & death was perhaps a result of this inept bungling and stupidity, resulting in a banal end for a tragic hero..this book ultimately reflects this mundanity.. the best & last chapter of the book looks at Moulin's contested legacy, reviewing the literature & some of the more recent & increasingly bizarre theories of how & why Moulin died and what he represented..
   ..However the main reason for only three stars here is the incredible price tag on this work...designed perhaps for undergraduate or university libraries, anyone actually having to pay for a decent history of Moulin and France during the years 1940-44 should forgo this work and acquire Julian Jackson's superlative "France 1940-44 - the dark years", which is a book three times the size of this one for a third of the price..!

No comments about Look Only Upward--A Reason to Be Born.

No comments about German and Jew: The Life and Death of Sigmund Stein.

5 comments about In the Mouth of the Wolf.

1. What would you do if you were one of the lucky Jews able to escape one of the Nazi's ghettos? In the Mouth of the Wolf by Rose Zar is a non-fiction memoir written about Rose Zar and her ability to do just that. Written in 1st person, Rose describes what it was like for her when the Germans invaded Poland. When Rose was 18 years old, she and her brother, Benek, escape the Piotrkow ghetto. They leave their family and everything they once knew behind to try to reach freedom. Rose lives under false papers as a young Polish girl and outsmarts any Germans who try to accuse her of being Jewish. Intelligent and brave, Rose finds many jobs to keep her fed and keep money in her pocket. Throughout the story, Rose has to face the sight of her fellow Jews being shipped off into concentration camps, and act like it doesn't affect her at all. This book is written wonderfully and I am very glad that I selected it to read. I strongly recommend this book to middle school students and older. The concept and plot might be to "grown up" for anyone below the 6th grade. Overall, In the Mouth of the Wolf is a well-written book that I strongly recommend.



2. I have just finished this true story. My son brought it home from school one day, as it was required reading material for him (of course, I didn't read it until he was done!) and I couldn't put it down. It makes you feel, deep down in your soul, for the Jews who had to survive during the Nazi reign. You feel like you are right there along side the main character as she tries to constantly be on the guard for the slightest mistake, all the while trying to make friends here and there. Those friendships never last long though, because she would have to move on yet again. She is literally living in the mouth of the enemy. She says it is the best place to hide and the last place they would look. You feel her agony as she tries to come to terms with what has happened to her family members, yet forcing herself to look past it in order to continue living one more day. It is outstanding and I highly recommend it.
   
   Carrie Lynn Jones
   Author of It All Began... When Jesus Gave Me Sneakers



3. In the book in the mouth of the wolf the runaway Jew Wanda had many close encounters with the German police and others while trying to hide out from being another victim of the holocaust. She used the knowledge that was passed down from her father to her to survive on the run. most of the book was her tring to stay out of the way and incuspecuas but she tends to get herself into loads of trouble and somehow gets lucky enough to have a friend to run to or for someone to not notice a small detail.i thought that the book was very captivating in the fact that it kept your attention through the majority of the book with little sub stories and confrentations. Although the author kind of lost track of an important character (her brother) i found it too be very reilistic the fact that she could not keep contact with anyone from her pervious life or even become intimate with anyone. But i did think that the end kind of fizzled out the ss officer caught her and let her go after 3 days in aprehention then she just lost my attention. i would encourage anyone and everyone to read this book to get a more solid understanding of what its like to be on the run for being you.



4. In The Mouth of the Wolf by Rose Zar is a suspenseful story about the life of a young lady who escapes from the Piotrok Ghetto during the holocaust to live under false papers as a Pole. Courageously, strongly and smartly she outwits anybody and anything that gets suspicious or tries to turn her in. Astonishingly, she lands a great job for a Jew on the run in Krakow as a nursemaid for the S.S. Kommandant, his wife and their newborn. She very often remembers the things that her father told her about his life. For instance, the safest place is In the Mouth of the Wolf. Working for a Kommandant in the SS Army put her directly in danger but this is why most people would not even consider the fact that she was Jewish. She constantly craves companionship and friendship but she realizes that she cannot trust anyone and although she wants to talk with and be friends with fellow Jews on the run she again remembers what her father said and that a single Jew is less noticeable than two or more Jews. She and her brother were luckier than many Jews because they did not look Jewish and therefore it was much easier for her to pass as Polish. Her boyfriend and good friend were not so fortunate and they had to stay behind in the Ghetto. She goes back to see her father and is surprised by how much he has aged during her short time away from home. Her relationships with the people she meets and runs into along her journey made this book a great read from beginning to end.
   
   In the Mouth of the Wolf was a great read and by far my most favorites. Some of the things Rose Zar explains during the course of the book almost make you feel like you are there and make you realize really how much of a JOB it was to get away and live through the Holocaust. This book was a very remarkable read. It was very descriptive and most times always filled with action. I would recommend this book to young adults because it is not the hardest book to read but has its challenges and keeps you interested throughout the whole book.



5. This book is about a teenage Jewish girl that is forced to run for her life when the word gets out that the Germans will start killing Jews in the ghettoes. Armed with only fugitive skills passed on by her father and an enormous will to live, she courageously runs from enemies all around her and eventually finds herself hidden "in the mouth of the wolf" as a maid for an SS officer.
   The book is a great read, with just enough detail to be interesting, but not to the point of becoming boring like, say, Lord of the Rings can be. The stories told are all true, as the main character is actually the author, making the book partially an autobiography. The result is that the story is more believable and heartfelt. The ending of the book is very depressing, as she goes back to the Ghetto, where she grew up, after the Russian Army had ripped through. She walks up the stairs to her old house, and she notices that everything has changed around her, but the one stair in front of the house is ironically still loose, just like she remembered.