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FLARES OF MEMORY: Stories of Childhood During the Holocaust
In a series of writing workshops at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, survivors who were children or teens during World War II assembled to remember the pivotal moments in which their lives were irreparably changed by the Nazis. These "flares of memory" preserve the voices of over forty Jews from throughout Europe who experienced a history that cannot be forgotten.
Ninety-two brief vignettes arranged both chronologically and thematically recreate the disbelief and chaos that ensued as families were separated, political rights were abolished, and synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed. Survivors remember the daily humiliation, the quiet heroes among their friends, and the painful abandonment by neighbors as Jews were restricted to ghettos, forced to don yellow stars, and loaded like cattle into trains. Vivid memories of hunger, disease, and a daily existence dependent on cruel luck provide penetrating testimonies to the ruthlessness of the Nazi killing machine, yet they also bear witness to the resilience and fortitude of individual souls bombarded by evil.
"I don't think that there will be many readers who will be able to put this book down."--Jerome Chanes, National Foundation for Jewish Culture
Ninety-two brief vignettes arranged both chronologically and thematically recreate the disbelief and chaos that ensued as families were separated, political rights were abolished, and synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed. Survivors remember the daily humiliation, the quiet heroes among their friends, and the painful abandonment by neighbors as Jews were restricted to ghettos, forced to don yellow stars, and loaded like cattle into trains. Vivid memories of hunger, disease, and a daily existence dependent on cruel luck provide penetrating testimonies to the ruthlessness of the Nazi killing machine, yet they also bear witness to the resilience and fortitude of individual souls bombarded by evil.
"I don't think that there will be many readers who will be able to put this book down."--Jerome Chanes, National Foundation for Jewish Culture
385 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 1, 2018
Puts together a series of vignettes gathered at a writers workshop at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, of Holocaust survivors who were children or young people when the vents took place.
Highly memorable, touching and at parts harrowing.
Sections on Jewish life before the Holocaust, where witnesses remember their lives in Europe before the Nazi inferno. For example, Marga Randall recalls the wonderful large garden of her childhood home in Schermbeck, Germany, the town which she visited against decades later.
Dora Zueg Iwler recalls how on their final parting her father said "Before I die I would like to see the blue and white Jewish flag". It was her father's dying wish that motivated her to work for the State of Israel making his dream come true in a small way.
The Destruction Of A Society focuses on the brutality of Kristallnacht and the destruction of Jewish life in Germany. Ruthlessness As A system examines the genocide by the Einsatzgruppen and the horrors oft he death camps. Survivors relate what they witnessed and how they survived. The very uncertainty and seeming small chance of whether one would survive is captured in The Lottery of Death And Life. Disguise As A Way of hiding relates how Jewish children and teenagers hid from the Nazi killing machine, often disguised as Christians while The Virtuous and the Vicious deals with the heroic gentiles who risked everything to help Jews to survive, as well as those evildoers who turned Jews in or helped the Nazis in their genocide.
Other chapters examine other aspects. The starkness and horror of the Nazi monstrosity, the tenaciousness of the survivors, and the determination to never forget is brought to life in these pages of this important testimony
Particularly pertinent at a time when Israel-the Jewish state- and the home of so many survivors and their descendants is fighting for her life, against a world in which Jewish life has again become cheap and there are those determined to destroy her and all her people,as vowed by would be Hitler,s such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Ayatollahs of Iran.
Highly memorable, touching and at parts harrowing.
Sections on Jewish life before the Holocaust, where witnesses remember their lives in Europe before the Nazi inferno. For example, Marga Randall recalls the wonderful large garden of her childhood home in Schermbeck, Germany, the town which she visited against decades later.
Dora Zueg Iwler recalls how on their final parting her father said "Before I die I would like to see the blue and white Jewish flag". It was her father's dying wish that motivated her to work for the State of Israel making his dream come true in a small way.
The Destruction Of A Society focuses on the brutality of Kristallnacht and the destruction of Jewish life in Germany. Ruthlessness As A system examines the genocide by the Einsatzgruppen and the horrors oft he death camps. Survivors relate what they witnessed and how they survived. The very uncertainty and seeming small chance of whether one would survive is captured in The Lottery of Death And Life. Disguise As A Way of hiding relates how Jewish children and teenagers hid from the Nazi killing machine, often disguised as Christians while The Virtuous and the Vicious deals with the heroic gentiles who risked everything to help Jews to survive, as well as those evildoers who turned Jews in or helped the Nazis in their genocide.
Other chapters examine other aspects. The starkness and horror of the Nazi monstrosity, the tenaciousness of the survivors, and the determination to never forget is brought to life in these pages of this important testimony
Particularly pertinent at a time when Israel-the Jewish state- and the home of so many survivors and their descendants is fighting for her life, against a world in which Jewish life has again become cheap and there are those determined to destroy her and all her people,as vowed by would be Hitler,s such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Ayatollahs of Iran.
October 6, 2010
How anyone lived to tell about this horrible time is beyond me. True holocaust stories are amazing. You couldn't make this stuff up! (The best fiction I have read about this era is Sarah's Key. What makes it so gripping is that it easily could have been true.) Read this and as many holocaust books you can find and Never Forget.
November 29, 2018
Even though I am not a huge reader and I don't nessecarily like reading, this book was not too bad and I would recomend it for someone who is very interested in the Holocaust and enjoys reading diary type books.
February 3, 2010
I think it should be said that most of the contributors to this book were in their mid to late teens during the Holocaust, and several were in their twenties. So they were not little children like the title implies. A more accurate title would be "Stories of Young People During the Holocaust."
That said, this is an excellent selection of short pieces spotlighting the Holocaust at different times and in different parts of Europe. The accounts cover everything from pre-Holocaust days up until readjusting to normal life following the liberation, and they include many European countries including Lithuania, Belgium, Greece, Italy and more, not just the usual Germany and Poland.
That said, this is an excellent selection of short pieces spotlighting the Holocaust at different times and in different parts of Europe. The accounts cover everything from pre-Holocaust days up until readjusting to normal life following the liberation, and they include many European countries including Lithuania, Belgium, Greece, Italy and more, not just the usual Germany and Poland.
November 12, 2012
The stories were all very well chosen and extremely well written (I'm guessing ghost writers because there's no way EVERY Holocaust surviver they found just HAPPENED to be an excellent, thoughtful and creative writer). The editor's introductions to each chapter annoyed me greatly; she told you what kind of lesson you should take away from each story and even gave away some of the endings. She should have ONLY explained the unifying theme in each chapter.
August 8, 2011
This is a collection of memory written by people who were very young during the Holocaust. Brostoff also included testimony of those who particapted in the liberation. The essays focus mostly on Eastern Europe and cover a range of experience. For some of the essays the writing isn't polished, but it is worth reading simply for the wealth of experience represented here.
It should be noted, however, that a guide or a reference to indicate when a narrative continues should have been used.
It should be noted, however, that a guide or a reference to indicate when a narrative continues should have been used.
April 2, 2016
I understand why it may have taken a writing project to get these stories out. I can't imagine the pain in remembering. The descriptions are vivid. Now, I have to read something fun before going to sleep to ward off the nightmare.
July 21, 2008
These entries were written by men and women who were children during the Holocaust and it is absolutely amazing.
July 22, 2011
An excellent record of Holocaust experiences. Inspiring, poignant and heartbreaking.
February 21, 2022
read for class => US and the Holocaust (fall 2020)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews