It is International
Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013
To honor this day I’d
like to spotlight the book Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele
Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor, & Lisa Rojany Buccieri. Eva is an
amazing woman you can learn her story here on her Candles Holocaust Museum Site.
So important to never forget and make sure these atrocities never happen again.
Recently I read her book Surviving the Angel of Death: The
Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when
she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to
the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the
man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele's twins were
granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were
also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for
their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiements
or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp. In a narrative told with
emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child's endurance and survival
in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue on
Eva's recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly
forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her
life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for
people who have suffered, and working toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and
the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.
My Review:
I was interested in this book because I have watched the
documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele and as a librarian I am always looking for
non-fiction books written for middle grade or young adult. I also have found
that now I want to read the stories from the survivors, everyone knows the
story of Anne Frank she is the go to book about the holocaust especially for
this age group and I am glad to have a found this compelling story from a
survivor I think that is what makes Eva & Miriam’s story so important is
they survived the awful things this lunatic Mengele did to them and so many
others. Her letter forgiving what Mengele and the Nazi’s did to her and
countless others is an amazing act of compassion and courage.
This quote from the Declaration of Amnesty Eva wrote for the
50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is so powerful I love that she
chose not to be a victim anymore and how forgiving liberated her too-
“I hope in some small way, to send the world a message of
forgiveness, a message of peace, a message of hope, a message of healing. Let
there be no more wars, no more experiments without informed consent, no more gas
chambers, no more bombs, no more hatred, no more Auschwitzes.”
-----------------Eva Mozes Kor
That is the reason this book is so important for young
people the telling of the story and the learning to live with the atrocities
done to you and in the end to find the strength within you to forgive, that is
what makes this a powerful read. It is a short book but sure packs a lot into
it.
Another thing I found fascinating was how the guards and
such at the camps said the twins were the lucky ones because they got the
special attention from Herr Doktor but what these poor children went through
was not special, it is horrific when you read in Eva’s own words what was done
it is horrifying, the experiments and tests he did we won’t allow on animals
let alone children. That is another reason this book is so important is so we
never forget, be always vigilant so nothing like this ever happens again.
I recommend this to all middle grade & young adult
readers and for the adults that want even more of the story try Echoes From
Auschwitz: Dr. Mengele's Twins: The Story Of Eva And Miriam Mozes by Eva Mozes
Kor, Mary Wright and also the documentary I mentioned above Forgiving Dr.
Mengele as of this writing it is streaming on Netflix.
4 Stars
I received this book from netgalley & the publisher for
a fair and unbiased review
Cross Posted on Eddy-New Rockford Library Blog
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