We Survived the Holocaust - Hardcover

Landau, Elaine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531152294 ISBN 13: 9780531152294

Publisher: Franklin Watts, 1991

Synopsis

A collection of the memoirs of sixteen Jewish Holocaust survivors

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Sixteen men and women describe their Holocaust experiences and tell how they survived. All were in their teens at the time and now live in the US. Interviewer Landau presents their accounts as simple narratives of events, skillfully arranged to bring out the similarities and contrasts and to enable readers to endure the accumulating horror: beginning with Germany itself, from which some Jews managed to escape before the war, she moves to Poland, site of the most vicious and inescapable persecution, then finally to Holland and the lucky few who were successfully hidden, and finally to the experience of a Transylvanian who was sent from one death camp to another, including Auschwitz, in the war's last days. The experiences are many: prewar persecution, forced labor, special treatment for special skills (including diamond cutters), encounters with betrayal and with Righteous Gentiles, visas denied and citizenship purchased in El Salvador (not at war with Germany), passing as Gentile to work in the underground. Though told without dramatizing, each story has enough material for a novel--each survivor had a unique combination of stamina, courage, persistence, and rare luck, and has apparently been able to set grief aside in order to go on to a productive life. Valuable source material, rich with telling detail. Excellent b&w portrait photos, past and present; glossary; list of 43 Holocaust organizations; books and articles for further reading; index. (Nonfiction. 13+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-12-- Poignant and moving memories, presented in a straightforward manner. Sixteen first-person narratives describe the Holocaust from the perspective of Jewish adults remembering their experiences in several European countries after Hilter became the German chancellor in 1933. Common themes include their surprise at the first experiences with anti-Semitism, gradual awareness of the seriousness of the Nazi threat, attempts to reach safety, horror at the desecration of Jewish religious objects, and accounts of arbitrary cruelty in the concentration camps. In many cases, these are people who are still trying to make sense of a world turned inexplicably topsy-turvy. The individual stories reflect the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the young people involved, many of whom became the primary support for their families. Because each entry is brief, (three-to-eight pages), readers won't necessarily identify with any particular person, and the book as a whole does not have the impact of other single-person Holocaust narratives such as The Cage (Macmillan, 1986) by Ruth Minsky Sender and Aranka Siegal's Upon the Head of a Goat (Farrar, 1981). The accounts also have a certain similarity, which becomes repetitive and unfortunately tedious. --Susan Kaminow, Arlington County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Franklin Watts
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0531152294
• ISBN 13: 9780531152294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144