Transcending Darkness: A Girl’s Journey Out of the Holocaust

Modern Jewish History

by Estelle Glaser Laughlin

“Please, Mama, I don’t want to live like this,” pleaded twelve-year-old Estelle Glaser’s older sister as they watched the bodies of friends dangle from the gibbet in the center of the appelplatz of the Madjanek concentration camp. “I cannot take the indignities and brutalities. Let’s step forward and make them kill us now.” But Estelle’s mother fiercely responded to her two No! Life is sacred. It is noble to fight to stay alive. Their mother’s indomitable will was a major factor in the trio’s survival in the face of brutal odds. But Estelle recognized other heroes in the ghetto and camps as well, righteous individuals who stood out like beacons and kept their spirits alive. Their father was one, as were hungry teachers in dim, cold rooms who risked their lives to secretly teach imprisoned children. Estelle herself learned to draw on a joyful past, and to bring her own light into the void. Estelle’s memoir, published sixty-four years after her liberation from the Nazis, is a narrative of fear and hope and resiliency. While it is a harrowing tale of destruction and loss, it is also a story of the goodness that still exists in a dark world, of survival and renewal. Also 04 Activeable in e-book formats, 978-0-89672-800-4

Genres: Nonfiction, Holocaust, History

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Miles Kear · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is important to read these accounts.

[Noah Zagor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually my second time reading this, although the first time it was still a working draft, so there are some changes. I should be honest, that my review is biased because the author is my Great Aunt and therefore I am obviously very close to this story. Regardless, I think I can say that this story is extremely powerful and well written. The details at time are expressed almost poetically capturing both the unimaginable cruelty, but also the beauty of the human spirit. Ultimately, it is an uplifting story. One of hope, the power of love and good, luck, and as the title says, transcendence.
My whole life I've been told these stories, mostly form the perspective of my grandmother, the author's older sister, Fredka. But taking in the whole story, from their happy childhood to their eventual arrival in America as a single story made this an entirely new experience, one that will never cease to both shake me to the core and fill me with pride.
This story is not just about my family and not just about the Holocaust. This is the story of oppressed people everywhere and their ability to overcome. It's a universal story and one that should be read.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Laughlin's book was wonderful, but there were definitely times it was difficult to read because I got teary-eyed. It sounds cliche, but this book really was about the triumph of the human spirit. It gave the reader a much better picture of what it was like to make a life after being liberated from a concentration camp.

[Leonard Balinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transcending Darkness is a wonderful book of overcoming some of the worst horrors in human history and finding hope in the worst moments. However, Estelle's message is one for everybody. She showed how no adversity is impossible to overcome. Furthermore, her book and through talking to her after hearing her speak at Vanderbilt University, she taught me how to not view my family's holocaust story as a burden or something to fear, but rather a story people should hear. Overall, her story is more than just a tale about hardship, or in the title "Darkness," but rather about the life after and how she chose to make something of it.

[Vanessa Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a haunting true story of one young girl, her families struggle to survive the concentration camps and their life afterward. Listening to her experience living in the concentration camps was painful. This is a story that should be read because I could not imagine the horrors this teenager experienced and still made it through.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Richard Battle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estelle Glaser Laughlin’s Transcending Darkness is an inspiring story about courage, overcoming adversity, and persistence. She vividly describes her life, leaving the reader eager to anticipate continually, “What’s next?” Laura Schreiber’s incredible voice brings the story alive in the audio version, placing the reader alongside Estelle through her travails and joys. It is another crucial narrative essential to understand World War II.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling, and beautifully written. It completely draws you in... however the publishing is terrible!!!!!! It is printed at about a size 8 font making it difficult to read. That is my only real complaint.

[Jill Streitmatter · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read. Truly inspirational!

[Tash Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estelle is a phenomenal writer and I’m so grateful she shared her story with us. Personal accounts like this will become the history books we should protect for the future.

[Reikista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estelle, her sister and her mother surviver the Warsaw Ghetto and numerous concentration camps. Especially interesting are her experiences after liberation by the Russians, traversing Poland trying to find family and future, facing danger even then.

[Moriyah Cordova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Here is a little story about how I found out about this book.

My charter school had a history class on WW2 and the Holocaust earlier this year. On the last day we zoom called a Holocaust survivor named Estelle LaughlinI. She is a sweet old woman with a thick polish accent and she told us her story. About when she was little, how the war started, being in the Warsaw Ghetto, going to concentration camps, watching people die, and the hardships even afterward, walking through the snow for hours starving at times because there was no place for her to live even after she was liberated.

She is such an inspiring and strong woman. Her story inspired me to write a novel set in this time though I am waiting to write it. Her story is very inspirational and I am so glad I was able to read her autobiography and hear her story.

This book was hard.

I cried on multiple occasions and felt sick on others. There is a heaviness to this book, a brokenness.
Transcending Darkness follows Estelle before war begins and ends with her being a woman who transcended darkness and immigrated to America and started a new life and had a family.

A sad and broken story turns into a hopeful story showing that even after great darkness, you can still find the light.


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Find more bookish content at https://fablerosemc.blogspot.com/

[Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estelle is a Holocaust survivor and this is her story. She was just a small girl when her family was taken to the camps. In her story she tells all, good, bad and very, very ugly. This book touched my heart in so many ways. Reading what loving parents sacrifice to keep their child alive. There were many times it was hard to listen to and yes, it did make me cry. I will never be able to wrap my head around the cruelty and pure hate shown to others just because of religion, color, whatever. These Nazi's were monsters! Yet through it all a little girl endures and becomes a survivor. Estelle also teaches us what real forgiveness looks like. Absolutely wonderful read that must be read.

Thank you to the author and BookSprout for this audiobook to read and give my honest review.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of hearing the author speak at the Holocaust Museum in DC last month. I stood in line afterwards to buy this book and meet Estelle, and it was so worth it. There were so many people in line, she ran out of books.

The book is an amazing read. I think what moved me most how the love for each other helped them keep moving forward through the most horrific time this world has ever seen. While she writes about the horrible horrible things she lived through, she also writes about beauty, love, and hope.

When she signed my book, she signed it to my children, wishing for a world with no hungry children and no hatred. What an amazing lady.

[Kary H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estelle Laughlin writes an unflinchingly honest account of her survival of the Warsaw Ghetto, Uprising and concentration camps. Her spirit is stunningly beautiful, and I'm honored to say that I met her. The strength she took from her family (father, mother and sister) was key to how she endured the atrocities. An excellent memoir of a tragic era in history, but one which has lessons for today's reader that are of the utmost importance: Love must be the guide (paraphrased from the book).

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was raw, honest, heart wrenching, and ultimately came to a peaceful conclusion. Estelle's strength and determination astound me, as does her ability to forgive and forge a life of happiness and love for herself and her family.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is "A Girl's Journey..." But what captured my heart was the profoundly intimate details of what two parents did to protect their children.

[Len · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful Story!
My wife and I met and spoke with Estelle Glaser Laughlin at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center a few years ago. The book came home with us.
Highly Recommended.

[Meaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving Holocaust memoir from a perspective we don’t often see. It starts from the author’s childhood in Warsaw and follows her to present day. I’ve read a lot about the Holocaust, memoirs, historical fiction, etc, I’ve not been privy to this perspective. Definitely a must-read.