About the Book:

“HANNELORE, YOUR PAPA IS DEAD.”

In the spring of 1942 Hannelore received a letter from Mama at her school in Berlin, Germany–Papa had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Six weeks later he was sent home; ashes in an urn.

Soon another letter arrived. “The Gestapo has notified your brothers and me that we are to be deported to the East–whatever that means.” Hannelore knew: labor camps, starvation, beatings…How could Mama and her two younger brothers bear that? She made a decision: She would go home and be deported with her family. Despite the horrors she faced in eight labor and concentration camps, Hannelore met and fell in love with a Polish POW named Dick Hillman.

Oskar Schindler was their one hope to survive. Schindler had a plan to take eleven hundred Jews to the safety of his new factory in Czechoslovakia. Incredibly both she and Dick were added to his list. But survival was not that simple. Weeks later Hannelore found herself, alone, outside the gates of Auschwitz, pushed toward the smoking crematoria.

I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree is the remarkable true story of one young woman’s nightmarish coming-of-age. But it is also a story about the surprising possibilities for hope and love in one of history’s most brutal times.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

Going into stories on the Holocaust, I always try to forget all of my memories, and responses to the other stories that I have read about this subject.  Mainly because every account is different, and every story adds a facet to the dimension of the full magnitude of the history of the Holocaust.  This story is certainly no exception.  The experiences of Hannalore Wolff (Laura Hillman), during this nightmarish trip through hell began when she was only sixteen.  And while this is age appropriate for a teenage reading audience, this book is not simply another Anne Frank.  But then I have learned that everyone who has a story to tell about the Holocaust, must be approached as an independent story, because each account is new, and offers a unique perspective on the unimaginable.

This story is a little bit darker account of the Holocaust, as Hannalore spent quite a bit of time in the work camps of Nazi, Germany — and even some time in the infamous Auschwitz, before her rescue through the well known Schindler’s List.  But even through all of these experiences, there are two things that stand out as shining positives through this whole story, which stay with you as another lasting memory of the condemnation of the “Final Solution.”

First — this is an amazing story of mental and emotional survival, not just a physical luck of the draw.  While Ms. Hillman is very specific about the physical hardships that she suffered during her time in the Nazi camps, it is her mental and emotional choice to live, regardless of what happens that gave her the strength to survive.  I have encountered this idea, almost to a story, in every survivor story I have read.  That is not to say that those that died didn’t have the mental strength of character, or emotional ability to do so.  There were victims through this saga that were never given the chance to make their own choice.  Most of the holocaust victims we will never know their stories because they were taken from trains and never really passed through the camps — but were simply put to death upon arrival.  But those that passed the first “selection,” upon arrival all have a similar theme, which is very apparent in this particular story.  And that theme is the conscious choice to live, in the face of all odds.  It is this choice, and this choice alone that beat the Nazi atrocities.  And it is this strength of character that defines the survivors as a whole, in all of its simple beauty, while validating those that did not survive by allowing their memories to continue on.

Secondly — there is something surprisingly unique in this story.  Anne Frank fell in love with her Peter, before their betrayal, and her eventual death in the Nazi camps.  But the story of Ms. Hillman is set apart from that of Anne Frank, in that she met, and managed to fall in love under the most unimaginable circumstances.  And at times, it was this one relationship that gave her the strength to make the choice to live.  It is the first time I ever encountered a love story inside of the Nazi camps.  And while I am sure that it probably happened, probably more frequently than we will ever know, I was intrigued with how the beauty of this one relationship dramatically changed the entire outlook of this story.

I have never found a survivor story that isn’t worth reading, and in fact I have always found a lot of value in every survivor story, because of the lessons they teach us about life, and living it to the fullest.  This story is no exception.  And if the truth be told, I found myself enjoying this story even more than the story of Anne Frank.  But it isn’t really fair to compare the two, since the perspectives are very different, and the experiences of Hannalore, and Anne are as different as stories can be.  The story is poignant, and moving, but most importantly of all, it is inspiring on a very personal level.

For more information about this book, and its author — be sure to visit the following websites:

Laura Hillman Website

Publisher Website

Interview with the Author

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2010-12-06 07:46:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Olga Lengyel tells, frankly and without compromise, one of the most horrifying stories of all time. This true, documented chronicle is the intimate, day-to-day record of a beautiful woman who survived the nightmare of Auschwitz and Birchenau. This book is a necessary reminder of one of the ugliest chapters in the history of human civilization. It was a shocking experience. It is a shocking book.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is a subject that I will continually return to.  At first, I think it was morbid curiosity that first caught my attention about the topic of the Holocaust.  However, the farther I delve into the study of this period of history, the more I came to appreciate that these are stories that we, as a people, cannot allow to pass from the memory of others.  And I don’t feel that this is something that needs to be kept alive as a way of vengeance, or spite.  Rather, I feel that we, like the long cultural traditions of the Jewish people, are obligated to keep the memory of those that have gone before — Alive!  We cannot allow the millions of people that suffered and died as victims, remain victims through the forgetfulness of history.  It is only by keeping the memory of those that suffered and died alive, that we are able to keep them from being forever victims throughout all the annals of history.

So, I have once again returned to my topic of choice, when it comes to my study and reading of history.  This story, the autobiographical account of Olga Lengyel, as a survivor of the work camp — Auschwitz, and the death camp — Birkeneau is powerful in the extreme.  And it is once again demonstrated that the power of these stories is not the harrowing depth, and magnitude of the suffering, in these alter incarnations of hell.  Rather, it is the portrayal that is the power behind the story.  If you have never read a concentration camp survivor story — many of them are similar.  It is the names and faces that change.  And while many of the stories are almost identical — the histories they recount are not.  They only appear that way because of the way that most of these stories are told.  It is that straight forward, no apology, no excuse, no rationalization of the experiences.  It is almost like reading a shopping list of horrors — for all the emotion that comes through.  And yet — it is this type of presentation that is the most graphic demonstration of the depth of the horror that was inflicted in these camps.

In reading these books — and this book is no exception — the reader comes away truly understanding what it was like to have walked into one of those camps.  The need to have to shut down the emotional response, simply to deal with the reality of what you are being exposed to.  And then the factual account, as if there is no emotional connection to the events that are being recounted tells you how deeply damaged, and affected these survivors were.  Their need to have to disengage the emotional connection, in order to even be able to recount the story is more telling, in my opinion, than if they were ranting, and accusatory at ever turn of the page.  And in the end, the reader walks away feeling as if they have had a small glimps into this revelation of hell — as their identity is stripped from them, and they are forced to endure the unimaginable, with no reprieve, and no appeal.

Ms. Lengyel’s story is another one that belongs in the hearts and minds of people for generations to come, if for no other reason than to prevent atrocities like this from ever happening again.  And yet, this book is also a powerful testimony of those that she lost through this horrifying experience.  It is her statement that her children, and her parents lived in this world.  They were good people that influenced her in the importance of family, love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  They helped her to become a great woman of strength — and those she lost deserve to be remembered if for no other reason than that they lived, and their lives were cut short through the hatred, and bigotry of others.

This is a powerful book to read.  And while I consider this book, and all the others like it must reads — I recognize that this type of reading is not for everyone.  Mainly because it is not an easy read.  But then — the lives that this book commemorates were not easy lives.  And we, as readers need to remember that their lives had as much value as ours do today.

For more information about this book, and its author, be sure to visit the following websites:

Jew Wishes Book Review

Memorial Library Website

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2010-12-14 07:00:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

By the spring of 1945, the Second World War was drawing to a close in Europe. Allied troops were sweeping through Nazi Germany and discovering the atrocities of SS concentration camps. The first to be reached intact was Buchenwald, in central Germany. American soldiers struggled to make sense of the shocking scenes they witnessed inside. They asked a small group of former inmates to draft a report on the camp. It was led by Eugen Kogon, a German political prisoner who had been an inmate since 1939. The Theory and Practice of Hell is his classic account of life inside.

Unlike many other books by survivors who published immediately after the war, The Theory and Practice of Hell is more than a personal account. It is a horrific examination of life and death inside a Nazi concentration camp, a brutal world of a state within state, and a society without law. But Kogon maintains a dispassionate and critical perspective. He tries to understand how the camp works, to uncover its structure and social organization. He knew that the book would shock some readers and provide others with gruesome fascination. But he firmly believed that he had to show the camp in honest, unflinching detail.

The result is a unique historical document—a complete picture of the society, morality, and politics that fueled the systematic torture of six million human beings. For many years, The Theory and Practice of Hell remained the seminal work on the concentration camps, particularly in Germany. Reissued with an introduction by Nikolaus Waschmann, a leading Holocaust scholar and author of Hilter’s Prisons, this important work now demands to be re-read.

Book Review: ★★★★★★

Most people, even today will still have memories of the images that originated out of the Holocaust — particularly the horrifying images of the liberation of the concentration camps as Nazi Germany fell.  And there are still survivors of those hellish camps that are alive today — but their numbers are getting fewer as that generation passes on.  It is the losses of these survivors that makes the written history of this time period so important.  It is imperative that we remember these troubling times, and learn the lessons that have been left to us, so that we can prevent another criminal episode of this magnitude from ever happening again.

Just as most people know the historical background of the Holocaust, the tremendous loss of life, the coined term of “genocide,” and even the concept of bigotry and racial hatred — both of which took on new meaning in the wake of these troubling years — few people realize the depth of the Nazi’s criminal mentality.  It is not commonly understood that the concentration camps were more than just a place to gas thousands of people at one time, and then place them on a conveyor belt of incineration.  What is not realized, especially by upcoming generations that are much farther removed from these events, is that these camps were designed to systematically destroy more than a race of people.  These camps were conceived, designed, built, and enacted with the purpose of mental, physical, emotional, and psychological destruction in mind.

From the moment of arrest within the Nazi machine one was subjected to a systematic process that would eventually leave the individual — those that survived — stripped bare of any mental, moral, ethical, or physical attachments to the outside world.  Cut off from the lives they knew so intimately, victims would be traumatized with a deliberate brutality that was designed to destroy in every human way conceivable — leaving the victim, as well as the Nazi keepers reduced to nothing more than animal instinct.  And it is this result that gives us such a profound insight into the dangers that exist in this type of criminal action.

Kogon gives us an intimate insight into how these camps were conceived, created, established, and eventually developed into well run killing machines.  But he also offers insight into the much more subtle nuances that made these camps of internment the living definition of hell on earth.  Objectively presented, Kogon paints a picture that incorporates both the damaging effects found in not only the Nazi enforcers, but the prisoner population as well.  This book also gives us a look into what happens to men when they have been reduced to the natural instincts of the bare essentials, and allows us to see to what extent men will go, in order to survive in the face of brutality and psychological devastation.

This book is one that I would consider a  must read for any student of the Holocaust years.  But it is also something that should be taught in Psychology classes, and history classes the world over.  For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Eugen Kogon Article

Book Essay

The Nizkor Project

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-02-23 08:04:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship – and innocent love – that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice – words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

If we are the sum of our collective, historical past then this book is a great insight into where we have been, and what we have come from.  Many people roll their eyes and start walking the other way the moment I mention World War II.  And maybe it is because it has been a life long area of study that I have always been consumed with.  But frequently when the topic of World War II comes up there are certain events that come to mind, which will forever mark this period of history, such as the Holocaust, Hiroshima, Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, and the Baatan Death March.  But there are other parts of this war that are frequently forgotten, if not completely overlooked.  One of the biggest irony’s of this war is that as we remember the victims of the concentration camps throughout Europe — we frequently forget many of the other situations where similar camps were used.  Some of those camps were right here on the American continent.  This book explores the horrifying history of the Japanese-Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Marked as enemies of the nation, the Japanese-Americans, even though they had all the rights of American citizens, were all rounded up and forced to move into internment camps, most for the duration of the war.

But this is not all that is remarkable about this great book.  This story presents a great look into the lives of some amazing characters.  The relationship that develops between Henry and Keiko is beautiful to read, and I love the way Ford has created characters that give us a great insight into not only the troubling times this story is set in, but also into how people learned to live during these difficult times.  Henry and Keiko give us more to reflect on than these obvious themes.  They also help us to see the challenges that exist when different cultures come together.  In America it is part of a way of life to meet people that are of different cultures and backgrounds.  But this myriad of cultures, and the diversity of people are still a great cause for contention, and cultural strife, no matter how often we would try to deny this.  Henry and Keiko give us an amazing example of the challenge of learning to look beyond the cultural differences that divide us, and learn to appreciate those characteristics that bring us closer together.

This book also challenges us to learn to redefine those we identify as enemies.  This topic is particularly significant in this modern world, when we find ourselves in the midst of wars against specific cultural groups under the pseudonym of terrorists.  Unfortunately we forget that just because someone belongs to the same cultural background as one identified as participating in criminal acts, it does not automatically follow that those individuals must also be terrorists.  The friendship that grows and develops between these two powerful characters help us to remember that culture is simply one aspect of anyone, and there is always more we need to learn about, before we can truly claim to know any individual.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Jaime Ford Website

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Reading Guide

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-05-10 06:00:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is a book that I tried to read several times.  It was recommended to me through several sources — primarily book review blogs.  Most of what I have read about this book were raving comments about how wonderful this book is.  Every time I picked it up I just had a hard time getting into it.  And the problem I kept running into was the format of the story.  It is all in letter format, which made it really difficult to orient to the story in the beginning, and even harder to figure out who the primary characters are.  However, once I checked this book out and started listening to it in the audio format — everything just seemed to fall into place!  And I am so glad I stuck with this one, until I found a format that worked for me.  The book is everything that others have said it was — and more.

The story provides everything that I love about reading.  Real characters with depth and personality, A historical setting during the World War II era, and different approach to the Nazi atrocities, and multiple sub-plots all combined to make a fantastic read.  It is common to find books dealing with this time period to explore the depths of of depravity in human nature, and the extent of violence that people are capable of.  They will frequently deal with injustice, brutality, and genocide.  But this book explores another aspect of the war years that is frequently acknowledged, but rarely developed and examined.

This book looks at the uncertainty that came with the oppressive nature of the Nazi regime, as well as the uncertainty that came through the sudden and unexplained disappearance of neighbors, friends, and family members during this time.  It is often the case that people would suddenly find themselves arrested, with no explication or allegations.  Once the arrests were effected, they would disappear from the world.  Family and friends would frequently be told all kinds of conflicting stories, and never given a certain place where their loved ones could be found.  Eventually they would receive notice of the death of their loved one, without explanation of how or where they died — and often these deaths happened without trials, and due process of law.

But this book is also a look into the effect of the Nazi oppression of a small community, and the difficulties that the war had on the people of these close societies.  Set on an island, this book magnifies the effects of the emotional impact of the Nazi occupation — and gives the reader the opportunity to know what it felt like to be part of an isolated community without protection from the outside world.  This story gives us an understanding into how the Nazis worked — isolating these smaller communities, until they could oppress the whole.  The format of this story adds credibility, and established a historical feel to the setting. The letters — the part of the book I had so much trouble with in the beginning, I found to be the greatest strength of the book.

This book is a wonderful read — and it is one that, once I found the appropriate format, which worked best for me, proved to be another new favorite book.  The characters were diverse and real — they were easy to identify with, and kept me wanting more.  The format of the letter presentation of the book was powerful, with a sense of authenticity.  It was like looking into the lives of people, and seeing the world through their eyes.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Mary Ann Shaffer Profile

Annie Barrows Website

Stuck in a Book Book Review

Novel Insights Book Review

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-05-27 07:56:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Few family secrets have the power both to transform lives and to fill in crucial gaps in world history. But then, few families have a mother and a daughter quite like Sala and Ann Kirschner. For nearly fifty years, Sala kept a secret: She had survived five years as a slave in seven different Nazi work camps. Living in America after the war, she kept from her children any hint of her epic, inhuman odyssey. She held on to more than 350 letters, photographs, and a diary without ever mentioning them. Only in 1991, on the eve of heart surgery, did she suddenly present them to Ann and offer to answer any questions her daughter wished to ask. It was a life-changing moment for her scholar, writer, and entrepreneur daughter.

We know surprisingly little about the vast network of Nazi labor camps, where imprisoned Jews built railroads and highways, churned out munitions and materiel, and otherwise supported the limitless needs of the Nazi war machine. This book gives us an insider’s account: Conditions were brutal. Death rates were high. As the war dragged on and the Nazis retreated, inmates were force-marched across hundreds of miles, or packed into cattle cars for grim journeys from one camp to another. When Sala first reported to a camp in Geppersdorf, Poland, at the age of sixteen, she thought it would be for six weeks. Five years later, she was still at a labor camp and only she and two of her sisters remained alive of an extended family of fifty. In the first years of the conflict, Sala was aided by her close friend Ala Gertner, who would later lead an uprising at Auschwitz and be executed just weeks before the liberation of that camp. Sala was also helped by other key friends. Yet above all, she survived thanks to the slender threads of support expressed in the letters of her friends and family. She kept them at great personal risk, and it is astonishing that she was able to receive as many as she did. With their heartwrenching expressions of longing, love, and hope, they offer a testament to the human spirit, an indomitable impulse even in the face of monstrosity.

Sala’s Gift is a rare book, a gift from Ann to her mother, and a great gift from both women to the world.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

I have recently been told that I am obsessed with the Holocaust. This may, or may not be true. But I do know this — some of the most incredible stories are to be found within the era’s of great turmoil, and upheaval. When evil is given free reign in this life, the greatest moments of heroism, hope, and faith can then be found. This has always been my perception of the Holocaust. It isn’t the atrocity that I find so fascinating, but the hope I find for the human race, in the stories of the survivors, the heroes, and the people that most of society class as the victims.
One story that so beautifully portrays this message is in the book I just finished reading. Sala’s Gift is the story of a young girl, who volunteers to go to the work camp, in Poland, in the place of her sister. This is an unusual Holocaust story, in that Sala spent no time in the death camps, of the Nazi war machine. She spent all of her time in the work projects, mostly that worked on the German Autobahn. Her unique personality, and independence gave her the tools that were necessary to survive. And when her own strengths failed her, she would fall back on the letters that she received from her friends, and family, during the time she was interred.

There are certainly some heartbreaking moments found in this book, as letters from people she knew, and loved became fewer, and fewer, until they finally ceased to come all together. It wasn’t until the end of the war that Sala finally realized the magnitude of what those ominous silences meant — and the true extent of her losses became a reality.

But this is also a unique story of the love, and the strength of relationships and between family members, and friends — and what a critical role those relationships played, in the survival of those who managed to get through. The beauty of this story cannot be overshadowed by the horrors that were going on around Sala, in one of the darkest chapters of human history. And through the letters she went to great lengths to preserve, the voices of Sala, and those closest to her will never be silenced. They will outlive the horrible plan that the Nazi’s devised for them. Their lives will forever carry on in the memories of those that read their heritage — while the fates of the Nazi’s fade into the minutia of history.

This is a book that I can’t recommend enough. So much strength and goodness have survived through this story. It is an amazing book to read, and one that I would love to share with everyone.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Sala’s Gift Website

Sala\’s Gift Video

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-01-28 07:00:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Nineteen-year-old Emma Bau has been married only three weeks when Nazi tanks thunder into her native Poland. Within days Emma’s husband, Jacob, is forced to disappear underground, leaving her imprisoned within the city’s decrepit, moldering Jewish ghetto. But then, in the dead of night, the resistance smuggles her out. Taken to Krakow to live with Jacob’s Catholic cousin, Krysia, Emma takes on a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile.

Emma’s already precarious situation is complicated by her introduction to Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official who hires her to work as his assistant. Urged by the resistance to use her position to access details of the Nazi occupation, Emma must compromise her safety—and her marriage vows—in order to help Jacob’s cause. As the atrocities of war intensify, so does Emma’s relationship with the Kommandant, building to a climax that will risk not only her double life, but also the lives of those she loves.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is a powerful story, and one of the more memorable of the Holocaust era stories I have read.  This particular topic is so hard to write fiction about for several reasons — everything from the difficulties of not diminishing the magnitude of the crimes that occurred during this time, through to running the risk of not being able to successfully portray the horrors experienced by so many.  The trouble with these books is that they will always be compared to the surviving accounts of true stories — and it is really hard to make a mark in the face of stories that are already so overwhelmingly memorable.  However, Jenoff has successfully presented a story that accomplishes this feat.  And interestingly enough she managed it through the characters, rather than the setting and background.

This is a book that has such well developed characters that I found myself wanting everything to work out for all of them — even though the two main characters, Emma and Kommandant Richwalder are not only at cross purposes, but they are complete enemies.  Is it possible to love someone you hate, and to hate the life of someone that you have fallen in love with?  These two characters really bring out how difficult it can be for relationships — particularly in the midst of war.  It is also a look into how there is both good and bad in everyone — and when we fall in love with someone, we are forced to take both the bad and the good.

This book also presents a look at the difficulties encountered, both  moral, and physical of the people subjected to the challenges of the Nazi regime.  With insights into life in the ghetto’s, the concentration camps, within the Nazi regime, as well as for those that fought so valiantly for the resistance during this time — we really get a feel for the challenge of living during this devastating time in history.

I think the only thing about this book is the doomed nature of some of the relationships and characters presented in this book.  I have always been a fan of not so much romance books, as for love stories that present the difficulties of overcoming life in order to be together.  But this book presents two different love stories — one that we have very little feel for, and one that we come to be involved in through the story telling gifts of Jenoff.  But, as with all relationships — sometimes they work out, and sometimes they don’t.  And going in the reader knows that there is no way they can both work out in this one.

This book also presents a good look at the moral dilemmas of living under the Nazi lifestyle.  Kommandant Richwalder, and the story of his first wife is a look into the difficulties that the average German citizen had to confront when Hitler came to power.  The pain of having to try to survive, while at the same time remaining true to their own moral values was more than just challenging.  And when religions were finally as black listed as all the Jewish people, we come to see that sometimes the choices between right and wrong are not always black and white.  Sometimes the choices we are forced to make are not only difficult — but more a choice between bad and worse.  And when we are faced with these kinds of choices, how does one choose between the varying shades of gray?

This really is a great book.  It is a wonderful love story, as well as a great novel that adds to the Holocaust era genre of literature.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Pam Jenoff Website

Pam Jenoff Publisher Page

I Just Finished Reading Book Review

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-03-25 06:00:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“The Nuremberg Interviews reveals the chilling innermost thoughts of the former Nazi officials under indictment at the famous postwar trial. The architects of one of history’s greatest atrocities speak out about their lives, their careers in the Nazi Party, and their views on the Holocaust. Their reflections are recorded in a set of interviews conducted by a U.S. Army psychiatrist. Dr. Leon Goldensohn was entrusted with monitoring the mental health of the two dozen German leaders charged with carrying out genocide, as well as that of many of the defense and prosecution witnesses. These recorded conversations have gone largely unexamined for more than fifty years.” “Now, Robert Gellately – one of the premier historians of Nazi Germany – has transcribed, edited, and annotated the interviews, and makes them available to the public for the first time in this volume. These interviews are deeply disturbing in their illumination of an ideology gone mad.” Each interview is annotated with biographical information that places the man and his actions in their historical context. These interviews are a profoundly important addition to our understanding of the Nazi mind and mission.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

The 20th century saw the rise of many new developments, which caused the post World War II world to grow at unprecedented rates. Everything from the atomic bomb, to some of the smallest computers the world has ever known.  Today, most people have items in their homes, as simple common-place conveniences, which in the 19th century would have been seen as giving credence to the greatest science fiction writers.  These developments were no less apparent in the field of literature than anywhere else.  As the world’s ability to access books became much more convenient, and the literacy rate of the world rose more than 80%, the need for diversification in literary options became necessary.  This was the environment that gave birth to one of the fastest growing genres of literature in the world today — true crime.

When it comes to true crime literature there is an apparent fascination with the criminal element that is part curiosity, and part morbid interest, but always captures the reader’s need for more.  The more reprehensible the crime, the greater the interest on the part of the public. And always in the wake of the criminal act, when everything else is cleaned up, and sometimes even solved, there remains the haunting question of why.  No where is this more apparent than the study of the Holocaust, and the haunting deaths of 8 million people.  The 20th century, particularly the generation immediately following the end of World War II was forever changed due to the atrocities committed during this war, which gave birth to such terms as genocide, and forever altered the meaning of others such as Auschwitz, concentration camp, racial cleansing, the final solution, and Nuremberg.

This book, originally compiled by a U. S. Army psychiatrist, gives an interesting insight into the minds of many of the perpetrators of this horrific time in history.  And there are certainly parts of these minds that one would expect to find in this book.  (After all, it was the post World War II era which saw the death of innocence, and gave birth to the cynicism that engendered the belief that “there are no guilty men in prison.”)  And just as we watched these men profess day after day that “they were merely following orders,” and “shouldn’t be held accountable for the orders passed down from another,” we also watched something else that engendered the question of how could something like the actually happen?

This book also presents another side of the mentalities of these men, immediately following the close of the World War II conflict. The blind obedience, smug acceptance, callous indifference, complete lack of empathy, vitriolic hatred, and even righteous indignation and perceived justification — all of this, and more can be found in these insightful interviews.  I don’t know that the question of why will be explained in this book — but then I don’t know that the answer to why can be answered fully, since there can be no justification for the slaughter of so many.   But these interviews do offer a fascinating look into how people are able to justify, if only to themselves, the brutality manifest during this horrific time period.

If you go into this book looking for hard and fast answers to why the Holocaust happened, be prepared to be disappointed.  However, if you are going in with the approach of trying to understand how the minds behind this atrocity were able to conceive of, implement, and ultimately carry out the horrifying requirements of “The Final Solution to The Jewish Question” then you will certainly find this book insightful.  But above all else, this book gives us an intimate look into the human side of the inhuman monsters of the 20th century.  And some may even find it troubling to realize that the face of evil is much more similar to ourselves than we are ever comfortably admitting.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

SF Gate Article

The Nuremberg Interviews Website

Forward Website Article

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-03-14 06:52:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Grade 4-8 In this novel, Yolen attempts to answer those who question why the Holocaust should be remembered. Hannah, 12, is tired of remembering, and is embarrassed by her grandfather, who rants and raves at the mention of the Nazis. Her mother’s explanations of how her grandparents and great-aunt lost all family and friends during that time have little effect. Then, during a Passover Seder, Hannah is chosen to open the door to welcome the prophet Elijah. As she does so, she is transported to a village in Poland in the 1940s, where everyone thinks that she is Chaya, who has just recovered from a serious illness. She is captured by the Nazis and taken to a death camp, where she is befriended by a young girl named Rivka, who teaches her how to fight the dehumanizing processes of the camp and hold onto her identity. When at last their luck runs out and Rivka is chosen, Hannah/Chaya, in an almost impulsive act of self-sacrifice, goes in her stead. As the door to the gas chamber closes behind her, she is returned to the door of her grandparents’ apartment, waiting for Elijah. Through Hannah, with her memories of the present and the past, Yolen does a fine job of illustrating the importance of remembering. She adds much to children’s understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This book was the 1989 winner of the National Jewish Book Award.  Published as a young adult fictional account of the Holocaust, this book is an excellent starting place for young adults who are looking to learn more about the Holocaust.  Written in honest and open terms, it is meant to help the reader understanding what it was like to actually be in the camp, as a child.

The account of a young girl, Hannah, who finds herself transported from her Seder celebration back in time to Nazi occupied Poland, learns the importance of what it means to remember.  This is a common theme that you will frequently find in many accounts of the Holocaust, the importance of remembrance.  And this is also a very important concept to understanding the Jewish culture — since much of their national identity is related to memory, and remembering — rightfully so.  In a time when so many people disappeared without record of their passing, nor memorial of their lives, which had been stripped from them — the only form of validation of so many individuals is in the memories that survivors carry on.

I consider this theme, and particularly as presented in this book an essential topic, now more than ever.  As we move from the first person, survivor generation, to subsequent ones that only have the memories of the stories that have been passed down, these types of stories will become essential.  For, I believe that the only way that the criminals win — is when the memory of the victim’s passes from this life.  That is why these books about the Holocaust become so important.  They insure that the names, faces, a lives of the victims will continue on, and they will never be a forgotten people that were never retained in history’s fickle pages.

The story of Hannah is also significant because it helps us to realize the importance of tying the past to the future.  To separate these two, is to alter someone’s life so completely that they will never be the same individual.  Hannah learns this hard lesson, when she finds herself in an unnamed concentration camp, living the life of a Jewish prisoner.  The longer she is experiencing life in the past, the more of her present she forgets — until the memories of what is her real life, and what shaped her into the person she is, are stripped from her, to be replaced by the life of Chaya, the young girl she is seen as in the past.  It is only when she realizes the significance of all the people closest to her — in both of her lives, that she comes to realize how dependent the past and the future are on each other.  The generations are very much a representation of this idea.  And as we have come to see — particularly now, to forget the significance of the lessons of the past — is to remove from us the elements that make us who and what we are today.

This book is an excellent book.  Though short, it is well written, and a perfect beginning for young adults, without much of the horror that is found in other books that are out there.  And while I feel that all of the books about this subject are essential — this is an ideal starting point for younger readers, that are not yet ready for the full reality of the crimes committed during the Holocaust years.

For more information about this book, and its author — be sure to visit the following Websites:

Jane Yolen Website

Author Biography

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2010-12-04 09:03:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is a book that I can’t begin to say enough about!  This book is one that I picked upon a whim, and I became so engrossed, so quickly, that I couldn’t put it down.  In fact I recommended this book to my sister to read, and at first she thought that I was a little crazy for the recommendation.  But the book is just so different that I cannot say enough good about it.

The narrator of the story is so unique that the book takes on a very unusual tone, right from the very beginning.  Told from the perspective of death — during one of the most lethal times of history — he introduces us to the protagonist as he encountered her.  A young girl that was in the act of stealing a book — one of the past times that she will frequently repeat throughout the entire story.  The books carry significance — but not so much in what the books are, but rather where she encounters them — and the significance they carry because of where they originate from.  But the beauty of the story that is built around this narration is poignant in the extreme. The characters are incredibly powerful for not only their strengths and weaknesses — but also because of their idiosyncrasies during the Holocaust — a time when the world made no sense anyway.

The author, Mr. Zusak, is also brilliant with his imagery, and use of color throughout the book.  This is a book that the symbolism, and the imagery is so powerful that the reader finds themselves reflecting on the story — and the images presented in it, long after the book is closed.  The scenes are graphic, and beautiful — even in their most volatile and horrifying of times.

It is a book that when you first start reading it, you wonder what the author is trying to say — and where he is going with the story.  It is very different in a hard way to describe.  The only descriptive word that I have ever come up with to describe this story is hauntingly strange.  And yet — the farther into the story you go, the less it seems strange, and the more it seems powerful in Mr. Zusak’s story telling abilities.

This also is a very different look at the World War II saga — and the horrors of the Holocaust.  Rather than focusing on the inanity of genocide — the story is shown through the eyes of death, and a young child that is trying to make sense of madness.  Gripping in its challenge of warfare, genocide, and the crimes so frequently committed against humanity — this is a book that belongs on mandatory reading lists for years to come.  A must read — but even more important, a must consider and reflect.  This is a book that becomes a part of the reader — and will carry influence of challenging the thoughts and beliefs of all readers.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Markus Zusak Website

Random House Publisher Site

Teen Reads Author Profile and Interview

New York Times Book Review

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-01-12 07:00:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter