Sunday, January 27, 2013

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013


 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. This book is available at the library.

 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

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