After fleeing to France in the wake of the Night of the Broken Glass, Abraham Mahler joins the mass of humanity seeking to escape the lightning advances of the Wehrmacht. In Marseilles he is arrested and transported to the concentration camp Birkenau, often referred to as Auschwitz - Birkenau, where he rises to the rank of kapo and rules over zone B2d's kitchen, a fragile, insular world dedicated to feeding the zone's Jews. Driven by his conviction that the keys to survival are obedience, hard work and manipulation of the system, he drives his staff onward. But on one frigid January day in 1944 his world is threatened by a Ukrainian criminal. Armed with an iron pipe and an insatiable urge to kill, he seeks blood and victims.
Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku made a vow to smile every day and believed he was the 'happiest man on earth'. In his inspirational memoir, he paid tribute to those who were lost by telling his story and sharing his wisdom. 'Eddie looked evil in the eye and met it with joy and kindness . . . [his] philosophy is life-affirming' - Daily Express Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. The Happiest Man on Earth is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. 'Australia's answer to Captain Tom . . . a memoir that extols the power of hope, love and mutual support' - The Times
The Judaism of Sinai and the Judaism of Auschwitz are merging, resulting in new visions of Judaism that are only beginning to take shape. Each of the chapters of this book outlines an aspect of this work-in-progress, this Torah of Auschwitz, and we will see just how the ways of Sinai are being recast, the old wells re-dug. Jewish survival will not be assured until the grandchildren of survivors and others of their generation can begin to take the darkness of the Shoah and turn it into a song, absorbing the absurdity of a silent God while loving life nonetheless. "Compelling and provocative." --Yossi Klein Halevi, author, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor "Eye opening and thought provoking." --U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal "A powerful meditation on what Judaism could be in this time." -- Peter Beinart, author, The Crisis of Zionism "Hammerman's brave new vision challenges us and demands our attention." -- Gary Rosenblatt, Editor At Large, The Jewish Week "Should be read by every Jew who cares about Judaism." -- Rabbi Dr. Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, author, The Jewish Way
- Discussed an aspect of the Holocaust often overlooked - the camps of Soviet Russia. - Discussed an aspect of the Holocaust often overlooked - the camps of Soviet Russia. - Author is a survivor of the story. - Book includes twenty-five (25) b/w photos.
The "Sonderkommando of "Auschwitz-Birkenau consisted primarily of Jewish prisoners forced by the Germans to facilitate the mass extermination. Though never involved in the killing itself, they were compelled to be "members of staff" of the Nazi death-factory. This book, translated for the first time into English from its original Hebrew, consists of interviews with the very few surviving men who witnessed at first hand the unparalleled horror of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Some of these men had never spoken of their experiences before.
What was it like to be a Jewish teenager in Europe during World War II? One who couldn't escape or hide but who faced the Nazis head on and survived? Abe-vs-Adolf is the captivating tale of a boy who made it through nine different concentration camps, losing everything but his determination to live.Abe Peck was only fourteen when the Germans invaded Poland, took over his community and forced his family into a rundown ghetto. Over the next five horrific years, as a prisoner and slave in camps like Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Abe endured unimaginable cruelty. What got him through the relentless horror and atrocities? His only way to beat Adolf Hitler was to live to tell about it. As the sole living Holocaust survivor from his entire town, Abe is the only one left who can tell us what really happened to his civilized society when evil took over.
The Nazis murdered their husbands but concentration camp prisoners Priska, Rachel, and Anka would not let evil take their unborn children too—a remarkable true story that will appeal to readers of The Lost and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, Born Survivors celebrates three mothers who defied death to give their children life. Eastern Europe, 1944: Three women believe they are pregnant, but are torn from their husbands before they can be certain. Rachel is sent to Auschwitz, unaware that her husband has been shot. Priska and her husband travel there together, but are immediately separated. Also at Auschwitz, Anka hopes in vain to be reunited with her husband. With the rest of their families gassed, these young wives are determined to hold on to all they have left—their lives, and those of their unborn babies. Having concealed their condition from infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, they are forced to work and almost starved to death, living in daily fear of their pregnancies being detected by the SS. In April 1945, as the Allies close in, Priska gives birth. She and her baby, along with Anka, Rachel, and the remaining inmates, are sent to Mauthausen concentration camp on a hellish seventeen-day train journey. Rachel gives birth on the train, and Anka at the camp gates. All believe they will die, but then a miracle occurs. The gas chamber runs out of Zyklon-B, and as the Allied troops near, the SS flee. Against all odds, the three mothers and their newborns survive their treacherous journey to freedom. On the seventieth anniversary of Mauthausen’s liberation from the Nazis by American soldiers, renowned biographer Wendy Holden recounts this extraordinary story of three children united by their mothers’ unbelievable—yet ultimately successful—fight for survival.
A chronological history of the Jewish people—from the earliest attempts to establish a homeland during Biblical times to the creation of Israel. More than seventy years ago in 1948, the State of Israel came into being amidst great controversy. How did the state arise? What led to the founding of Israel? This book sets out to give a chronological journey of the Jewish people from the time Abraham came out of the land of Ur three thousand years ago, until six million of them died in the horror of the Holocaust under Hitler and his Nazi regime. It recounts the many expulsions from the land in which they lived, the suffering under Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, the destruction of their temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, and finally, genocide and the expulsion by the Romans in 132 AD creating a diaspora across the world. The Jews would be charged with killing God and throughout the following centuries would be expelled from countries, burned alive after being locked in synagogues or at the stake, have all their property seized, and get herded into ghettoes. All of this until that fatal Holocaust, which attempted to wipe them from the face of the earth. This book recounts their story to achieve a homeland, using a wide-range of historical documents to tell the story of humiliation, suffering, poverty, and death. It tells of religious persecution that would not let them rest, and as their journey enters the twentieth century, gives a behind-the-scenes look at how governments manipulated the Middle East and exacerbated divisions.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Yet its story is not fully known. In Auschwitz, Laurence Rees reveals new insights from more than 100 original interviews with Auschwitz survivors and Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their testimonies provide a portrait of the inner workings of the camp in unrivalled detail-from the techniques of mass murder, to the politics and gossip mill that turned between guards and prisoners, to the on-camp brothel in which the lines between those guards and prisoners became surprisingly blurred. Rees examines the strategic decisions that led the Nazi leadership to prescribe Auschwitz as its primary site for the extinction of Europe's Jews-their "Final Solution." He concludes that many of the horrors that were perpetrated in Auschwitz were driven not just by ideological inevitability but as a "practical" response to a war in the East that had begun to go wrong for Germany. A terrible immoral pragmatism characterizes many of the decisions that determined what happened at Auschwitz. Thus the story of the camp becomes a morality tale, too, in which evil is shown to proceed in a series of deft, almost noiseless incremental steps until it produces the overwhelming horror of the industrial scale slaughter that was inflicted in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Insights gleaned from more than one hundred original interviews shed new light on history's most famous death camp, with the testimonies of survivors providing a detailed and chilling portrait of the camp's inner workings, in a companion volume to the PBS documentary.
Abe Korn was only 16 when the Nazis invaded his hometown of Lipno, Poland, on the first day of World War II. He survived the entire war as a Jewish prisoner, enduring two Nazi ghettos, eight concentration camps, and a 45-day Death March from Auschwitz. Astonishingly, Abe kept his sense of human dignity- with gangrenous feet he struggled to stay on the healthy workers list; with scan supplies he bargained for food and coal and helped others survive. Abe never gave up hope. He always believed he could live one more day, and on April 11, 1945, when Buchenwald was liberated, Abe was finally free. After Liberation, Abe focused on going to school and earning a living. Eventually, as a man earnest to forgive past sins and take individuals at face value, he married a German Lutheran, who later converted to Judaism. They moved to the United States, where Abe had a remarkably successful business. Abram Korn died in 1972. Abe left the rough draft of a manuscript of his story. Twenty years after his death, Abe's son, Joey began completing his father's story and the First Edition of Abe's Story was published by Longstreet Press on April 11th, 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of Abe's liberation. The current edition is published by Sugarcreek Press. To the family he raised proudly in the Jewish tradition, Abe left a legacy of powerful inspiration. For modern-day readers seeking the best in Holocaust literature and riveting drama, Abe's Story is an incredible story of hope, of the human potential to do good in the face of horrible evil. Abe's Story is about hope, not despair. It's about life, not death. It's a powerful source of inspiration for a all who read it. "Important testimony." ¬- Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Price Laureate and author of Night. "Powerful. Unforgettable. Abe's Story is an inspiration to all who read it." - Pat Conroy, author of Prince of Tides and Beach Music. "An extraordinary memoir by an Auschwitz survivor, whose son rescued the manuscript from oblivion." - John Stoessinger, Trinity University, author of Might of Nations and Why Nations Go to War.'
