Author: John Wiernicki
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815607229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
1943: Polish underground fighter John Wiernicki is captured and beaten by the Gestapo, then shipped to Auschwitz. In this chilling memoir, Wiernicki, a Gentile, details "life" in the infamous death camp, and his battle to survive, physically and morally, in the face of utter evil. The author begins by remembering his aristocratic youth, an idyllic time shattered by German invasion. The ensuing dark days of occupation would fire the adolescent Wiernicki with a burning desire to serve Poland, a cause that led him to valiant action and eventual arrest. As a young non-Jew, Wiernicki was acutely sensitive to the depravity and injustice that engulfed him at Auschwitz. He bears witness to the harrowing selection and extermination of Jews doomed by birth to the gas chambers, to savage camp policies, brutal SS doctors, and rampant corruption with the system. He notes the difference in treatment between Jews and non-Jews. And he relives fearful unexpected encounters with two notorious "Angels of Death": Josef Mengele and Heinz Thilo. War in the Shadow of Auschwitz is an important historical and personal document. Its vivid portrait of prewar and wartime Poland, and of German concentration camps, provides a significant addition to the growing body of testimony by gentile survivors and a heartfelt contribution to fostering comprehension and understanding.
War in the Shadow of Auschwitz
Author: John Wiernicki
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815607229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
1943: Polish underground fighter John Wiernicki is captured and beaten by the Gestapo, then shipped to Auschwitz. In this chilling memoir, Wiernicki, a Gentile, details "life" in the infamous death camp, and his battle to survive, physically and morally, in the face of utter evil. The author begins by remembering his aristocratic youth, an idyllic time shattered by German invasion. The ensuing dark days of occupation would fire the adolescent Wiernicki with a burning desire to serve Poland, a cause that led him to valiant action and eventual arrest. As a young non-Jew, Wiernicki was acutely sensitive to the depravity and injustice that engulfed him at Auschwitz. He bears witness to the harrowing selection and extermination of Jews doomed by birth to the gas chambers, to savage camp policies, brutal SS doctors, and rampant corruption with the system. He notes the difference in treatment between Jews and non-Jews. And he relives fearful unexpected encounters with two notorious "Angels of Death": Josef Mengele and Heinz Thilo. War in the Shadow of Auschwitz is an important historical and personal document. Its vivid portrait of prewar and wartime Poland, and of German concentration camps, provides a significant addition to the growing body of testimony by gentile survivors and a heartfelt contribution to fostering comprehension and understanding.
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815607229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
1943: Polish underground fighter John Wiernicki is captured and beaten by the Gestapo, then shipped to Auschwitz. In this chilling memoir, Wiernicki, a Gentile, details "life" in the infamous death camp, and his battle to survive, physically and morally, in the face of utter evil. The author begins by remembering his aristocratic youth, an idyllic time shattered by German invasion. The ensuing dark days of occupation would fire the adolescent Wiernicki with a burning desire to serve Poland, a cause that led him to valiant action and eventual arrest. As a young non-Jew, Wiernicki was acutely sensitive to the depravity and injustice that engulfed him at Auschwitz. He bears witness to the harrowing selection and extermination of Jews doomed by birth to the gas chambers, to savage camp policies, brutal SS doctors, and rampant corruption with the system. He notes the difference in treatment between Jews and non-Jews. And he relives fearful unexpected encounters with two notorious "Angels of Death": Josef Mengele and Heinz Thilo. War in the Shadow of Auschwitz is an important historical and personal document. Its vivid portrait of prewar and wartime Poland, and of German concentration camps, provides a significant addition to the growing body of testimony by gentile survivors and a heartfelt contribution to fostering comprehension and understanding.
In the Shadow of Auschwitz
Author: Daniel Brewing
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 180073090X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
The Nazi invasion of Poland was the first step in an unremittingly brutal occupation, one most infamously represented by the network of death camps constructed on Polish soil. The systematic murder of Jews in the camps has understandably been the focus of much historical attention. Less well-remembered today is the fate of millions of non-Jewish Polish civilians, who—when they were not expelled from their homeland or forced into slave labor—were murdered in vast numbers both within and outside of the camps. Drawing on both German and Polish sources, In the Shadow of Auschwitz gives a definitive account of the depredations inflicted upon Polish society, tracing the ruthless implementation of a racial ideology that cast ethnic Poles as an inferior race.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 180073090X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
The Nazi invasion of Poland was the first step in an unremittingly brutal occupation, one most infamously represented by the network of death camps constructed on Polish soil. The systematic murder of Jews in the camps has understandably been the focus of much historical attention. Less well-remembered today is the fate of millions of non-Jewish Polish civilians, who—when they were not expelled from their homeland or forced into slave labor—were murdered in vast numbers both within and outside of the camps. Drawing on both German and Polish sources, In the Shadow of Auschwitz gives a definitive account of the depredations inflicted upon Polish society, tracing the ruthless implementation of a racial ideology that cast ethnic Poles as an inferior race.
Out of the Inferno
Author: Richard C. Lukas
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
“Moving testimonies recount the sadism, mass murders, deportations and imprisonment which Poles suffered at the hands of Hitler’s invading army.” —Publishers Weekly Richard Lukas’s book, encompassing the wartime recollections of sixty “ordinary” Poles under Nazi occupation, constitutes a valuable contribution to a new perspective on World War II. Lukas presents gripping first-person accounts of the years 1939–1945 by Polish Christians from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Their narratives, from both oral and written sources, contribute enormously to our understanding of the totality of the Holocaust. Many of those who speak in these pages attempted, often at extreme peril, to assist Jewish friends, neighbors, and even strangers who otherwise faced certain death at the hands of the German occupiers. Some took part in the underground resistance movement. Others, isolated from the Jews’ experience and ill-informed of that horror, were understandably preoccupied with their own survival in the face of brutal condition intended ultimately to exterminate or enslave the entire Polish population. These recollections of men and women are moving testimony to the human courage of a people struggling for survival against the rule of depravity. The power of their painful witness against the inhumanities of those times is undeniable. “Lukas presents a selection of oral and written memoirs of some 60 Polish men and women who lived through the German occupation of Poland in World War II.” —Library Journal
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
“Moving testimonies recount the sadism, mass murders, deportations and imprisonment which Poles suffered at the hands of Hitler’s invading army.” —Publishers Weekly Richard Lukas’s book, encompassing the wartime recollections of sixty “ordinary” Poles under Nazi occupation, constitutes a valuable contribution to a new perspective on World War II. Lukas presents gripping first-person accounts of the years 1939–1945 by Polish Christians from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Their narratives, from both oral and written sources, contribute enormously to our understanding of the totality of the Holocaust. Many of those who speak in these pages attempted, often at extreme peril, to assist Jewish friends, neighbors, and even strangers who otherwise faced certain death at the hands of the German occupiers. Some took part in the underground resistance movement. Others, isolated from the Jews’ experience and ill-informed of that horror, were understandably preoccupied with their own survival in the face of brutal condition intended ultimately to exterminate or enslave the entire Polish population. These recollections of men and women are moving testimony to the human courage of a people struggling for survival against the rule of depravity. The power of their painful witness against the inhumanities of those times is undeniable. “Lukas presents a selection of oral and written memoirs of some 60 Polish men and women who lived through the German occupation of Poland in World War II.” —Library Journal
The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz
Author: David Kranzler
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815628736
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 380
Book Description
George Mantello, First Secretary of the El Salvador Consulate in Geneva from 1942 to 1945, defied strict censorship to launch a press campaign against the daily deportation of 12,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. This is the true story of one man’s efforts to bring horrific news of the Nazi genocide to the Swiss public and to the rest of the world. Armed with this information, prominent Swiss church leaders and theologians condemned the unfolding Holocaust from their pulpits, spurring large public demonstrations. In 400 articles appearing in 120 newspapers, Mantello reached opinion makers throughout the world community. International pressure halted the Hungarian deportations, and Mantello distributed thousands of Salvadoran citizenship papers to Jews in Nazi-occupied territories. In addition to Mantello’s role, Kranzler shows how Swiss theologians such as karl barth and paul Vogt mobilized thousands of Christians against the Germans and against the indifference of the Swiss government and the International Red Cross. This fresh look at the intersection of politics and religion also allows for a new assessment of Swiss complicity in the crimes of the Nazi Third Reich.
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815628736
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 380
Book Description
George Mantello, First Secretary of the El Salvador Consulate in Geneva from 1942 to 1945, defied strict censorship to launch a press campaign against the daily deportation of 12,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. This is the true story of one man’s efforts to bring horrific news of the Nazi genocide to the Swiss public and to the rest of the world. Armed with this information, prominent Swiss church leaders and theologians condemned the unfolding Holocaust from their pulpits, spurring large public demonstrations. In 400 articles appearing in 120 newspapers, Mantello reached opinion makers throughout the world community. International pressure halted the Hungarian deportations, and Mantello distributed thousands of Salvadoran citizenship papers to Jews in Nazi-occupied territories. In addition to Mantello’s role, Kranzler shows how Swiss theologians such as karl barth and paul Vogt mobilized thousands of Christians against the Germans and against the indifference of the Swiss government and the International Red Cross. This fresh look at the intersection of politics and religion also allows for a new assessment of Swiss complicity in the crimes of the Nazi Third Reich.
In the Shadow of the Holocaust
Author: Michael Fleming
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009098985
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Book Description
Examines the struggle to ensure that war crimes which took place during the Second World War were prosecuted.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009098985
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Book Description
Examines the struggle to ensure that war crimes which took place during the Second World War were prosecuted.
The Auschwitz Escape
Author: Joel C. Rosenberg
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 1414336241
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 481
Book Description
Joel C. Rosenberg delivers a spellbinding novel about one of the darkest times in human history.
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 1414336241
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 481
Book Description
Joel C. Rosenberg delivers a spellbinding novel about one of the darkest times in human history.
The Child of Auschwitz
Author: Lily Graham
Publisher: Bookouture
ISBN: 1838880682
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
‘She touched the photograph in its gilt frame that was always on her desk, of a young, thin woman with very short hair and a baby in her arms. She had one last story to tell. Theirs. And it began in hell on earth.’ It is 1942 and Eva Adami has boarded a train to Auschwitz. Barely able to breathe due to the press of bodies and exhausted from standing up for two days, she can think only of her longed-for reunion with her husband Michal, who was sent there six months earlier. But when Eva arrives at Auschwitz, there is no sign of Michal and the stark reality of the camp comes crashing down upon her. As she lies heartbroken and shivering on a thin mattress, her head shaved by rough hands, she hears a whisper. Her bunkmate, Sofie, is reaching out her hand... As the days pass, the two women learn each other’s hopes and dreams – Eva’s is that she will find Michal alive in this terrible place, and Sofie’s is that she will be reunited with her son Tomas, over the border in an orphanage in Austria. Sofie sees the chance to engineer one last meeting between Eva and Michal and knows she must take it even if means befriending the enemy… But when Eva realises she is pregnant she fears she has endangered both their lives. The women promise to protect each other’s children, should the worst occur. For they are determined to hold on to the last flower of hope in the shadows and degradation: their precious children, who they pray will live to tell their story when they no longer can. A heart-breaking story of survival, where life or death relies on the smallest chance and happiness can be found in the darkest times. Fans of The Choice and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will fall in love with this beautiful novel. Readers are captivated by The Child of Auschwitz: ‘This hauntingly heart-breaking story is one of pure, instinctual survival. It is a story of fierce friendships, unbreakable spirits, and the most powerful love possible … I was so spellbound by this captivating, riveting read that I could not put it down until I read every last word.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book grabbed me from the first sentence and didn't let me go for the entire journey. I had goosebumps while reading… It is a beautiful story.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘You will cry, you will be addicted from the start and will find it hard to put down. This book ranks high on my favourite books list a BRILLIANT book and worth far more than 5* in my opinion EXCELLENT.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A book that plays with your emotions, sad and poignant in parts and a book I just couldn’t put down. A compelling, haunting story. Read it in one day.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This stunning historical fiction in the setting of Auschwitz will haunt me for a long time to come. It’s a story of love, hope and told through a combination of the present and the past flashbacks. It completely captivated me that I read it in a day because I just couldn’t stop’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The Child of Auschwitz by Lily Graham. Such a beautifully written, incredible story of love, loss, friendship, family… this book was very, very good.’ Abbygabbyreadsrightnow, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This beautiful story needs to be read and cherished.’ Netgalley Reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This story will stay with me. And despite the despicable conditions love can be born of the situation.. if I could rate higher than five stars I would. Superb!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I found this such an emotional and evocative read and it kept me gripped and turning those pages well into the night. …Great characterization and rich descriptive prose that made you feel the cold and their everyday hunger and agony made this a 5 stars highly recommended read from me.’ Netgalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An emotional roller coaster of a read. Parts were horrific, saddening, shocking, heart warming, I think I went though every emotion possible whilst reading it ... An absolute must read.’ BytheLetter Book Reviews
Publisher: Bookouture
ISBN: 1838880682
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
‘She touched the photograph in its gilt frame that was always on her desk, of a young, thin woman with very short hair and a baby in her arms. She had one last story to tell. Theirs. And it began in hell on earth.’ It is 1942 and Eva Adami has boarded a train to Auschwitz. Barely able to breathe due to the press of bodies and exhausted from standing up for two days, she can think only of her longed-for reunion with her husband Michal, who was sent there six months earlier. But when Eva arrives at Auschwitz, there is no sign of Michal and the stark reality of the camp comes crashing down upon her. As she lies heartbroken and shivering on a thin mattress, her head shaved by rough hands, she hears a whisper. Her bunkmate, Sofie, is reaching out her hand... As the days pass, the two women learn each other’s hopes and dreams – Eva’s is that she will find Michal alive in this terrible place, and Sofie’s is that she will be reunited with her son Tomas, over the border in an orphanage in Austria. Sofie sees the chance to engineer one last meeting between Eva and Michal and knows she must take it even if means befriending the enemy… But when Eva realises she is pregnant she fears she has endangered both their lives. The women promise to protect each other’s children, should the worst occur. For they are determined to hold on to the last flower of hope in the shadows and degradation: their precious children, who they pray will live to tell their story when they no longer can. A heart-breaking story of survival, where life or death relies on the smallest chance and happiness can be found in the darkest times. Fans of The Choice and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will fall in love with this beautiful novel. Readers are captivated by The Child of Auschwitz: ‘This hauntingly heart-breaking story is one of pure, instinctual survival. It is a story of fierce friendships, unbreakable spirits, and the most powerful love possible … I was so spellbound by this captivating, riveting read that I could not put it down until I read every last word.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book grabbed me from the first sentence and didn't let me go for the entire journey. I had goosebumps while reading… It is a beautiful story.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘You will cry, you will be addicted from the start and will find it hard to put down. This book ranks high on my favourite books list a BRILLIANT book and worth far more than 5* in my opinion EXCELLENT.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A book that plays with your emotions, sad and poignant in parts and a book I just couldn’t put down. A compelling, haunting story. Read it in one day.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This stunning historical fiction in the setting of Auschwitz will haunt me for a long time to come. It’s a story of love, hope and told through a combination of the present and the past flashbacks. It completely captivated me that I read it in a day because I just couldn’t stop’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The Child of Auschwitz by Lily Graham. Such a beautifully written, incredible story of love, loss, friendship, family… this book was very, very good.’ Abbygabbyreadsrightnow, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This beautiful story needs to be read and cherished.’ Netgalley Reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This story will stay with me. And despite the despicable conditions love can be born of the situation.. if I could rate higher than five stars I would. Superb!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I found this such an emotional and evocative read and it kept me gripped and turning those pages well into the night. …Great characterization and rich descriptive prose that made you feel the cold and their everyday hunger and agony made this a 5 stars highly recommended read from me.’ Netgalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An emotional roller coaster of a read. Parts were horrific, saddening, shocking, heart warming, I think I went though every emotion possible whilst reading it ... An absolute must read.’ BytheLetter Book Reviews
In the Shadows of Paris
Author: Anne Sinclair
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1733395865
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A personal journey into a family’s history gradually becomes a historical investigation into the lesser known tragedy of the Nazi’s mass arrests of prominent French Jews and their imprisonment at the “camp of slow death” just fifty miles from Paris. “This story has haunted me since I was a child,” begins Anne Sinclair in a personal journey to find answers about her own life and about her grandfather’s, Léonce Schwartz. What her tribute reveals is part memoir, part historical documentation of a lesser known chapter of the Holocaust: the Nazi’s mass arrest, in French the word for this is rafle and there is no equivalent in English that captures the horror, on December 12, 1941 of influential Jews—the doctors, professors, artists and others at the upper levels of French society—who were then imprisoned just fifty miles from Paris in the Compiègne-Royallieu concentration camp. Those who did not perish there, were taken by the infamous one-way trains to Auschwitz; except for the few to escape that fate. Léonce Schwartz was among them.
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1733395865
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A personal journey into a family’s history gradually becomes a historical investigation into the lesser known tragedy of the Nazi’s mass arrests of prominent French Jews and their imprisonment at the “camp of slow death” just fifty miles from Paris. “This story has haunted me since I was a child,” begins Anne Sinclair in a personal journey to find answers about her own life and about her grandfather’s, Léonce Schwartz. What her tribute reveals is part memoir, part historical documentation of a lesser known chapter of the Holocaust: the Nazi’s mass arrest, in French the word for this is rafle and there is no equivalent in English that captures the horror, on December 12, 1941 of influential Jews—the doctors, professors, artists and others at the upper levels of French society—who were then imprisoned just fifty miles from Paris in the Compiègne-Royallieu concentration camp. Those who did not perish there, were taken by the infamous one-way trains to Auschwitz; except for the few to escape that fate. Léonce Schwartz was among them.
The Longest Shadow
Author: Geoffrey H. Hartman
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253330338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Distinguished literary scholar Geoffrey H. Hartman, himself forced to leave Germany at age nine, collects his essays, both scholarly and personal, that focus on the Holocaust. Hartman contends that although progress has been made, we are only beginning to understand the horrendous events of 1933 to 1945. The continuing struggle for meaning, consolation, closure, and the establishment of a collective memory against the natural tendency toward forgetfulness is a recurring theme. The many forms of response to the devastation - from historical research and survivors' testimony to the novels, films, and monuments that have appeared over the last fifty years - reflect and inform efforts to come to grips with the past, despite events (like those at Bitburg) that attempt to foreclose it. The stricture that poetry after Auschwitz is ""barbaric"" is countered by the increased sense of responsibility incumbent on the creators of these works.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253330338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Distinguished literary scholar Geoffrey H. Hartman, himself forced to leave Germany at age nine, collects his essays, both scholarly and personal, that focus on the Holocaust. Hartman contends that although progress has been made, we are only beginning to understand the horrendous events of 1933 to 1945. The continuing struggle for meaning, consolation, closure, and the establishment of a collective memory against the natural tendency toward forgetfulness is a recurring theme. The many forms of response to the devastation - from historical research and survivors' testimony to the novels, films, and monuments that have appeared over the last fifty years - reflect and inform efforts to come to grips with the past, despite events (like those at Bitburg) that attempt to foreclose it. The stricture that poetry after Auschwitz is ""barbaric"" is countered by the increased sense of responsibility incumbent on the creators of these works.
Sala's Gift
Author: Ann Kirschner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416542582
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
"Do you know why I write so much? Because as long as you read, we are together." -- Raizel Garncarz (Sala's sister), April 24, 1941 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.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416542582
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
"Do you know why I write so much? Because as long as you read, we are together." -- Raizel Garncarz (Sala's sister), April 24, 1941 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.