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Unshed Tears
Unshed Tears, written soon after the war, relates the authors experiences of being deported to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. It has only very recently been published. Although it has been written as a novel, it details events, which were all too tragically true.
Edith Hofmann is a survivor of the Holocaust, born in Prague in 1927 as Edith Birkin. In 1941, along with her parents, she was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where within a year both her parents had died. At 15 she was left to fend for
herself.
The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto to Warsaw, and was established for Jews and Gypsies in German-occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Lodz in Poland and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial centre, providing much needed supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army.
Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944, when the remaining population, including Edith, was transported to Auschwitz and Chelmno extermination camp in cattle trucks. It was the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated due to the advancing Russian army. Edith was only 17, and one of the lucky ones.
For the majority, it was their final journey. A small group of them were selected for work. With her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia, to work in an underground munitions factory.
Edith Hofmann is a survivor of the Holocaust, born in Prague in 1927 as Edith Birkin. In 1941, along with her parents, she was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where within a year both her parents had died. At 15 she was left to fend for
herself.
The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto to Warsaw, and was established for Jews and Gypsies in German-occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Lodz in Poland and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial centre, providing much needed supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army.
Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944, when the remaining population, including Edith, was transported to Auschwitz and Chelmno extermination camp in cattle trucks. It was the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated due to the advancing Russian army. Edith was only 17, and one of the lucky ones.
For the majority, it was their final journey. A small group of them were selected for work. With her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia, to work in an underground munitions factory.
482 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2012
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April 2, 2014
I think some of the reviewers are missing the point of this book. It is not meant to be a literary accomplishment, it is meant to be a memoir of a young girl who survived a period of great horror. And she did, by sheer hope and determination. Reading Judith's story, I have to assume that she is off somewhere now, surrounded by love and happiness. I certainly hope so, she survived far too much anguish and ugliness brought forth by Hitler and the pathetic men that followed him. Never forget!
April 21, 2020
Quoted from introduction, by publisher:-
"When Edith Hofmann sat down to write this book, she was a 19-year-old coming to terms with the fact of her own survival. It is a story which describes a struggle; the struggle to come to terms with a haunting past, the struggle to survive, and the struggle to unburden a broken heart. It also embodies a struggle to form, in language, that which at times all but defies linguistic form. When Hofmann started writing this book she had only been speaking English for two years, and yet she wanted to convey her experiences, in English, to those with whom she had made her home.
"The cruel reality was that no one really wanted to hear. She poured out her soul, only to be told that ‘no one was interested in the war any more’. This was 1950. ... Her story is a novel, but it certainly is not a fiction. Scared for her own safety, Hofmann chose to write in the third person rather than pen a memoir. Every page is bound up with the intricate details of her life, those whom she loved, and those whom she lost; the echoes of those terrible years, and the memory they imposed. ..."
............
This work, while written in form of a novel, is autobiographical, and differs from many other accounts in one major aspect. Most other holocaust memoirs are necessarily about either concentration camps and life therein, or hiding, even hiding in plain sight. This one is about life in a small town Polish ghetto where the protagonist and her people have been transported from Prague where they had a middle class life. As such, there is alienation and loneliness even within the Jewish ghetto, what with change of country and language, and the difference of a cosmopolitan capital vs a backwoods small town.
Moreover, while over halfway through when allies are already on Italian peninsula and Russian forces are proceeding West and American planes are bombing Germany - which meant daylight raids, accompanied by the British nightly ones - the protagonist and her people, those not yet dead or carted away, are still in the small town ghetto.
The small town is Lodz, not too far from various concentration camps including Auschwitz. They don't know about them, but a moderately well informed reader does, filling one with an anxiety, anticipation of dread as one reads.
And then it arrives, the incredible moment when the ghetto is emptied and people taken to Auschwitz, even as allied forces are closing in from East, West and South- because the Nazi regime and their leader cared more about finishing genocide than about Germany or German people or their lives or future.
As such, it's not so much a memoir as much as a first hand account of the times written by a young survivor, of not just Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen but also a work camp in forests of Silesia, and a death march from Silesia to Bavaria before transport to the death camp at Bergen-Belsen, written up while it was all still fresh - in fact some of it was written while some of the last parts were happening - unlike other memoirs written by survivors a half century later when they could safely face it all, having had a life post holocaust.
............
"The place was Prague. The time was five o’clock in the morning on a misty October day in the year of 1941. The streets were quiet, the city still asleep. The capital’s picturesque buildings and its hundred spires rearing up proudly towards the sky, were surrounded by peace and darkness, unaware of the thousand souls for whom this hour meant the beginning of a journey into the unknown. Even the Germans who have changed the gay and prosperous city into a place of fear and hatred, were still tucked under their heavy feather beds, dreaming of a greater Reich.
"The winter had come in exceptionally early and the north wind that had been blowing all through the night was bringing with it gusts of sleet and snow. A bird rising to great height could have perceived a thousand little specks weighed down by heavy loads, struggling against the weather and darkness, making their way from all corners of the city to a strange meeting place."
"The bitter crying of children pierced the air. They were uncomfortable and cold and scared of the German officers who were marching stiffly up and down the line, securing order by waving their whips in front of people’s eyes, and bellowing in their faces every time anything occurred that did not fall in with their pattern of discipline."
"Most of the older boys and girls were imbued with an adventurous spirit, and an eager gleam, mixed with curiosity, shone forth from their eyes. They were going to see the world! Their excitement, innocence and good humour brought tears to the eyes of many mothers whose hearts were charged with foreboding.
"Step by step the thousand people moved slowly down the gentle slope towards the big gate – towards a future which all of them were to share. It was the third transport from Prague – the so-called ‘intelligentsia transport’, because most family men had academic backgrounds. The transport before them, in whose footsteps they were following, now bore the reputation of being the ‘millionaires’, just as the first transport that had left Prague a fortnight earlier, comprised one thousand of the poorer Jews who had settled in the young nation’s capital."
"“From now on you can forget your names and call yourselves 118, 119, and 120. Remember that! Your places and your luggage will be marked likewise. Is that clear?”"
"The three days before their departure passed fairly peacefully. They had three meals a day; breakfast that consisted of coffee and rolls, a main meal and a snack in the evening."
"Surprisingly, people slept well during the nights, and the silence was broken only by snores, some of them very violent, and here and there by a crying child."
"A special train stood waiting for them. The thousand people were divided into groups of fifty and then, with a guard in the lead, were marched off to their appointed places. Fifty to a waggon, and every place was marked by the prisoner’s number. On each seat lay a little parcel containing a bun, a piece of cheese and dried prunes. The seats were wooden, the windows were bordered by black-out curtains.
"After a quarter of an hour’s commotion the locks of the doors clicked from outside, and then everything was still. For a whole hour the train stood waiting in the station."
............
They were taken to Katowiece to a ghetto, where they could see their future in faces of the residents who'd been starving and had only rags. Things got worse. Judith lost her parents one after another, chiefly due to starvation, and was depressed for a long time, until Michael Alexander brought her out of it with kindness and hope. She discovered his activity añd shared it, writing letters describing their realities, to be sent to people outside.
............
She'd found work in a children's factory.
"The factory was brightly lit and in every room a fire was burning in a cylindrical stove. The bell had not yet gone and the children were standing around it, warming their numb limbs. The heat did not spread much through the room. However, the temperature was a bearable 48° and in five hours’ time they were going to get hot soup.
"Some of the children were miserably dressed. Their bones stuck out and there was a pitiful expression on their faces. Judith herself had got much thinner during the past few weeks. As she looked round at the group of little figures, some of them not more than ten or eleven years old, a protective feeling gripped her. She was one of the oldest and strongest in that room and several months ago had been appointed their group leader. If the instructor was out of the room, she was responsible for order and work.
"There were eighteen of them altogether, eighteen individuals, each with a story to tell. Judith looked about her, wondering who was the next one to go. Some of them coughed badly, death looking out of their huge, deeply-set eyes. Four children had already died since the winter set in. One day they were at work; the next day they were dead. New children took their places and life went on as before.
"One teacher had died last week after having been ill for a fortnight. Another was in hospital with meningitis.
"Tuberculosis in the ghetto did not take long to kill the victim, sometimes several months, usually a few weeks, and very often a few days. It was caused more by conditions than by infection."
"The fate of the little children who were under her care in the factory had taken a prominent part in her mind. She was able to forget them once she left the factory and became engrossed in her own everyday struggles, but she could not escape their wretchedness, their sad eyes and their tattered clothes, while she was at work. Her heart softened towards these small people who were alone in the world, forsaken by all kindness, love and humanity. She might have let things go another few days had not Mendel, Joseph’s brother, collapsed at work and later been sent home."
............
"The following few months were filled with hope, suffering, happiness, struggle and suspense. The struggle was never-ending, but the political situation and the springtime gave rise to a new, optimistic outlook on the affairs of the ghetto. Nobody knew where the news came from, but rumours spread rapidly, were often enlarged upon until they grew to gigantic proportions, but everyone was aware that just a small part of them could be taken seriously. Although people hoped, they had trained themselves not to anticipate anything. They would rather let themselves be pleasantly surprised than suffer terrible disappointment. On the other hand they believed that in every piece of news, however fantastic, there was at least a fraction of truth.
"Many people in the ghetto, fed on these hopes, would not admit it even to themselves.
"The Russians were fighting their way slowly towards the west – towards them. Berlin and other German towns were suffering from heavy bombardments. In March for the first time, Germany had been bombed by U.S. planes. The Allies were slowly gaining a foothold in Italy. Something was moving, something great and important was happening in the world beyond the wires. There was the burning question, of course, would the Germans let the prisoners live to see their great moment, or would they destroy them in the last minute. The latter course seemed more likely, though the eternal strife and the desire for survival buried deep in their hearts overcame such pessimistic speculation. In any case there was nothing much they could do except stand up to the desperate internal situation with a stronger will, and wait patiently for the future."
............
"Then one day a miracle happened – a parcel from Prague arrived. It was a new legal arrangement and Michael was among the first to receive one from a friend. ... "
There were more parcels, and although they could not eat as much as they would have liked, the effect on Judith’s body was remarkable. She gained strength rapidly and with the sunshine giving important vitamins, her temperature returned to normal. By the end of April she was back at work. Michael’s health also showed a vast improvement. Life and energy returned to him and he was able to concentrate much better on whatever he did."
"They were still hungry, but now it was just a normal hunger, not one that made them see black in front of their eyes, gave a cramp to their stomachs and caused them to feel that they were floating on air.
"By then the Russians had captured Odessa and Yalta."
"The month of May was sunny and everything looked better. Some vegetables and potatoes reached the ghetto. Then came June – the sixth day of June, and with it the invasion of Normandy by Allied troops from the West. It was hardly believable.
"Events began to move quickly. The Allied troops captured Rome. The Russians opened a summer offensive with an attack against the German line. They captured Vitebsk and later, at the beginning of July, Minsk and Vilna. They were advancing into Poland towards Warsaw, only eighty kilometres away from Lodz.
"The news must have penetrated into the ghetto through several sources for everyone knew about the great happenings. The atmosphere was charged with apprehension. Those who had an old battered map handy, looked up the routes by which the troops would be advancing on all sides. Great Germany was shrinking. The most exciting news was the forceful approach of the Eastern armies.
"Bialystok, Lublin and WARSAW!
"August 1944.
"Boom! Crash! Boom! Everyone’s ear in the ghetto was tuned to the most wonderful music and guessing its distance. Suddenly all the grim faces brightened up with happy expectation. The air shook with explosions which were only eighty kilometres away.
"Those who, until now, had taken all the news with a sceptical shrug of their shoulders, had no doubt left in their hearts. The fight for Warsaw was on! The ground trembled as in an earthquake. Two more days and everything might be over! At last all the hopes and dreams were within reach!
"The last fear that the Germans might evacuate the Jewish quarters had gone. If the Russians advanced at the same speed as they had done until now, they should be in Lodz in two or three days’ time. It was practically impossible to remove eighty thousand people in such a short time, unless they destroyed them by bombs, and they had to keep the bombs for more vital issues.
"The place was humming with victory. People’s backs straightened, the gloomy, heavy atmosphere that had oppressed them for so long, had melted, and one of joyous suspense took its place.
"Except for the guards at the bridge, no German was to be seen. The everyday routine and discipline were gone. Everyone took liberty and there was no one in authority to do anything about it. People gathered in the streets, formed little groups and discussed the situation. Suddenly friendly smiles appeared on their faces. They sang quietly. All were united to welcome their liberators. The ghetto, now basking in scorching sunshine, was a different place."
"The battle for Warsaw was taking a little longer than they had hoped, but then, what did a few days matter after years of waiting? The sounds that were bringing freedom with them were always there, and as long as they could hear them, optimism glinted in their eyes. Political jokes raced through the ghetto, the poor Germans being the victims of their humour.
"One week passed and people began to get used to the idea of approaching liberty. Whereas at first it had all seemed like an incredible dream, it became more real now. The air never ceased to vibrate with the thunder of guns and within the ghetto everyone was his own master. “Perhaps tomorrow …” was the usual phrase, accompanied by a distant gaze. “Perhaps tomorrow …”
"The atmosphere built up to a climax."
"Then suddenly, as if a bomb had fallen into ....
"When Edith Hofmann sat down to write this book, she was a 19-year-old coming to terms with the fact of her own survival. It is a story which describes a struggle; the struggle to come to terms with a haunting past, the struggle to survive, and the struggle to unburden a broken heart. It also embodies a struggle to form, in language, that which at times all but defies linguistic form. When Hofmann started writing this book she had only been speaking English for two years, and yet she wanted to convey her experiences, in English, to those with whom she had made her home.
"The cruel reality was that no one really wanted to hear. She poured out her soul, only to be told that ‘no one was interested in the war any more’. This was 1950. ... Her story is a novel, but it certainly is not a fiction. Scared for her own safety, Hofmann chose to write in the third person rather than pen a memoir. Every page is bound up with the intricate details of her life, those whom she loved, and those whom she lost; the echoes of those terrible years, and the memory they imposed. ..."
............
This work, while written in form of a novel, is autobiographical, and differs from many other accounts in one major aspect. Most other holocaust memoirs are necessarily about either concentration camps and life therein, or hiding, even hiding in plain sight. This one is about life in a small town Polish ghetto where the protagonist and her people have been transported from Prague where they had a middle class life. As such, there is alienation and loneliness even within the Jewish ghetto, what with change of country and language, and the difference of a cosmopolitan capital vs a backwoods small town.
Moreover, while over halfway through when allies are already on Italian peninsula and Russian forces are proceeding West and American planes are bombing Germany - which meant daylight raids, accompanied by the British nightly ones - the protagonist and her people, those not yet dead or carted away, are still in the small town ghetto.
The small town is Lodz, not too far from various concentration camps including Auschwitz. They don't know about them, but a moderately well informed reader does, filling one with an anxiety, anticipation of dread as one reads.
And then it arrives, the incredible moment when the ghetto is emptied and people taken to Auschwitz, even as allied forces are closing in from East, West and South- because the Nazi regime and their leader cared more about finishing genocide than about Germany or German people or their lives or future.
As such, it's not so much a memoir as much as a first hand account of the times written by a young survivor, of not just Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen but also a work camp in forests of Silesia, and a death march from Silesia to Bavaria before transport to the death camp at Bergen-Belsen, written up while it was all still fresh - in fact some of it was written while some of the last parts were happening - unlike other memoirs written by survivors a half century later when they could safely face it all, having had a life post holocaust.
............
"The place was Prague. The time was five o’clock in the morning on a misty October day in the year of 1941. The streets were quiet, the city still asleep. The capital’s picturesque buildings and its hundred spires rearing up proudly towards the sky, were surrounded by peace and darkness, unaware of the thousand souls for whom this hour meant the beginning of a journey into the unknown. Even the Germans who have changed the gay and prosperous city into a place of fear and hatred, were still tucked under their heavy feather beds, dreaming of a greater Reich.
"The winter had come in exceptionally early and the north wind that had been blowing all through the night was bringing with it gusts of sleet and snow. A bird rising to great height could have perceived a thousand little specks weighed down by heavy loads, struggling against the weather and darkness, making their way from all corners of the city to a strange meeting place."
"The bitter crying of children pierced the air. They were uncomfortable and cold and scared of the German officers who were marching stiffly up and down the line, securing order by waving their whips in front of people’s eyes, and bellowing in their faces every time anything occurred that did not fall in with their pattern of discipline."
"Most of the older boys and girls were imbued with an adventurous spirit, and an eager gleam, mixed with curiosity, shone forth from their eyes. They were going to see the world! Their excitement, innocence and good humour brought tears to the eyes of many mothers whose hearts were charged with foreboding.
"Step by step the thousand people moved slowly down the gentle slope towards the big gate – towards a future which all of them were to share. It was the third transport from Prague – the so-called ‘intelligentsia transport’, because most family men had academic backgrounds. The transport before them, in whose footsteps they were following, now bore the reputation of being the ‘millionaires’, just as the first transport that had left Prague a fortnight earlier, comprised one thousand of the poorer Jews who had settled in the young nation’s capital."
"“From now on you can forget your names and call yourselves 118, 119, and 120. Remember that! Your places and your luggage will be marked likewise. Is that clear?”"
"The three days before their departure passed fairly peacefully. They had three meals a day; breakfast that consisted of coffee and rolls, a main meal and a snack in the evening."
"Surprisingly, people slept well during the nights, and the silence was broken only by snores, some of them very violent, and here and there by a crying child."
"A special train stood waiting for them. The thousand people were divided into groups of fifty and then, with a guard in the lead, were marched off to their appointed places. Fifty to a waggon, and every place was marked by the prisoner’s number. On each seat lay a little parcel containing a bun, a piece of cheese and dried prunes. The seats were wooden, the windows were bordered by black-out curtains.
"After a quarter of an hour’s commotion the locks of the doors clicked from outside, and then everything was still. For a whole hour the train stood waiting in the station."
............
They were taken to Katowiece to a ghetto, where they could see their future in faces of the residents who'd been starving and had only rags. Things got worse. Judith lost her parents one after another, chiefly due to starvation, and was depressed for a long time, until Michael Alexander brought her out of it with kindness and hope. She discovered his activity añd shared it, writing letters describing their realities, to be sent to people outside.
............
She'd found work in a children's factory.
"The factory was brightly lit and in every room a fire was burning in a cylindrical stove. The bell had not yet gone and the children were standing around it, warming their numb limbs. The heat did not spread much through the room. However, the temperature was a bearable 48° and in five hours’ time they were going to get hot soup.
"Some of the children were miserably dressed. Their bones stuck out and there was a pitiful expression on their faces. Judith herself had got much thinner during the past few weeks. As she looked round at the group of little figures, some of them not more than ten or eleven years old, a protective feeling gripped her. She was one of the oldest and strongest in that room and several months ago had been appointed their group leader. If the instructor was out of the room, she was responsible for order and work.
"There were eighteen of them altogether, eighteen individuals, each with a story to tell. Judith looked about her, wondering who was the next one to go. Some of them coughed badly, death looking out of their huge, deeply-set eyes. Four children had already died since the winter set in. One day they were at work; the next day they were dead. New children took their places and life went on as before.
"One teacher had died last week after having been ill for a fortnight. Another was in hospital with meningitis.
"Tuberculosis in the ghetto did not take long to kill the victim, sometimes several months, usually a few weeks, and very often a few days. It was caused more by conditions than by infection."
"The fate of the little children who were under her care in the factory had taken a prominent part in her mind. She was able to forget them once she left the factory and became engrossed in her own everyday struggles, but she could not escape their wretchedness, their sad eyes and their tattered clothes, while she was at work. Her heart softened towards these small people who were alone in the world, forsaken by all kindness, love and humanity. She might have let things go another few days had not Mendel, Joseph’s brother, collapsed at work and later been sent home."
............
"The following few months were filled with hope, suffering, happiness, struggle and suspense. The struggle was never-ending, but the political situation and the springtime gave rise to a new, optimistic outlook on the affairs of the ghetto. Nobody knew where the news came from, but rumours spread rapidly, were often enlarged upon until they grew to gigantic proportions, but everyone was aware that just a small part of them could be taken seriously. Although people hoped, they had trained themselves not to anticipate anything. They would rather let themselves be pleasantly surprised than suffer terrible disappointment. On the other hand they believed that in every piece of news, however fantastic, there was at least a fraction of truth.
"Many people in the ghetto, fed on these hopes, would not admit it even to themselves.
"The Russians were fighting their way slowly towards the west – towards them. Berlin and other German towns were suffering from heavy bombardments. In March for the first time, Germany had been bombed by U.S. planes. The Allies were slowly gaining a foothold in Italy. Something was moving, something great and important was happening in the world beyond the wires. There was the burning question, of course, would the Germans let the prisoners live to see their great moment, or would they destroy them in the last minute. The latter course seemed more likely, though the eternal strife and the desire for survival buried deep in their hearts overcame such pessimistic speculation. In any case there was nothing much they could do except stand up to the desperate internal situation with a stronger will, and wait patiently for the future."
............
"Then one day a miracle happened – a parcel from Prague arrived. It was a new legal arrangement and Michael was among the first to receive one from a friend. ... "
There were more parcels, and although they could not eat as much as they would have liked, the effect on Judith’s body was remarkable. She gained strength rapidly and with the sunshine giving important vitamins, her temperature returned to normal. By the end of April she was back at work. Michael’s health also showed a vast improvement. Life and energy returned to him and he was able to concentrate much better on whatever he did."
"They were still hungry, but now it was just a normal hunger, not one that made them see black in front of their eyes, gave a cramp to their stomachs and caused them to feel that they were floating on air.
"By then the Russians had captured Odessa and Yalta."
"The month of May was sunny and everything looked better. Some vegetables and potatoes reached the ghetto. Then came June – the sixth day of June, and with it the invasion of Normandy by Allied troops from the West. It was hardly believable.
"Events began to move quickly. The Allied troops captured Rome. The Russians opened a summer offensive with an attack against the German line. They captured Vitebsk and later, at the beginning of July, Minsk and Vilna. They were advancing into Poland towards Warsaw, only eighty kilometres away from Lodz.
"The news must have penetrated into the ghetto through several sources for everyone knew about the great happenings. The atmosphere was charged with apprehension. Those who had an old battered map handy, looked up the routes by which the troops would be advancing on all sides. Great Germany was shrinking. The most exciting news was the forceful approach of the Eastern armies.
"Bialystok, Lublin and WARSAW!
"August 1944.
"Boom! Crash! Boom! Everyone’s ear in the ghetto was tuned to the most wonderful music and guessing its distance. Suddenly all the grim faces brightened up with happy expectation. The air shook with explosions which were only eighty kilometres away.
"Those who, until now, had taken all the news with a sceptical shrug of their shoulders, had no doubt left in their hearts. The fight for Warsaw was on! The ground trembled as in an earthquake. Two more days and everything might be over! At last all the hopes and dreams were within reach!
"The last fear that the Germans might evacuate the Jewish quarters had gone. If the Russians advanced at the same speed as they had done until now, they should be in Lodz in two or three days’ time. It was practically impossible to remove eighty thousand people in such a short time, unless they destroyed them by bombs, and they had to keep the bombs for more vital issues.
"The place was humming with victory. People’s backs straightened, the gloomy, heavy atmosphere that had oppressed them for so long, had melted, and one of joyous suspense took its place.
"Except for the guards at the bridge, no German was to be seen. The everyday routine and discipline were gone. Everyone took liberty and there was no one in authority to do anything about it. People gathered in the streets, formed little groups and discussed the situation. Suddenly friendly smiles appeared on their faces. They sang quietly. All were united to welcome their liberators. The ghetto, now basking in scorching sunshine, was a different place."
"The battle for Warsaw was taking a little longer than they had hoped, but then, what did a few days matter after years of waiting? The sounds that were bringing freedom with them were always there, and as long as they could hear them, optimism glinted in their eyes. Political jokes raced through the ghetto, the poor Germans being the victims of their humour.
"One week passed and people began to get used to the idea of approaching liberty. Whereas at first it had all seemed like an incredible dream, it became more real now. The air never ceased to vibrate with the thunder of guns and within the ghetto everyone was his own master. “Perhaps tomorrow …” was the usual phrase, accompanied by a distant gaze. “Perhaps tomorrow …”
"The atmosphere built up to a climax."
"Then suddenly, as if a bomb had fallen into ....
June 30, 2012
grabbed me and I don't really know why. Not particularly well written. Not a lot of characterisation, and I came away feeling that I didn't know the writer any better after reading it than I did at the start.
Certainly the mundane manner in which horrific sufferings and casual death were described mde it seem very real.
It's not an "Anne Frank", but as the publisher points out, straight from Ediths writings without benefit of being "polished".
I'd recommend it.
llp p
Certainly the mundane manner in which horrific sufferings and casual death were described mde it seem very real.
It's not an "Anne Frank", but as the publisher points out, straight from Ediths writings without benefit of being "polished".
I'd recommend it.
llp p
January 8, 2015
Out of all of the Holocaust memoirs I've read, despite being written based on the view a 13 year old girl, this is the most descriptive and the most powerful. She experienced nearly all of the torture that was apart of this disgusting event and endured all of it along with emotively recording all of these memories.
It's brilliant how you can be taken on such a journey through her experience.
It's brilliant how you can be taken on such a journey through her experience.
February 1, 2013
A memoir which was written as a novel by a Czechoslovakian Holocaust survivor. It was discovered 50 years after she had written it. Not the best in a literary sense, but a moving depiction of what it was like to live in the concentration camps and the determination to live for those in that situation.
April 20, 2013
Started off a bit poorly written, but maybe it was the simplicity that captured me. Glad I stayed with it. Turned out to be a most amazing account of life in the ghetto and then the journey onwards to survival in the concentration camp. All through the eyes of a young woman. A true story, and very profound. I highly recommend !
October 30, 2013
I've read countless Holocaust Memoirs, this one has an unusual mix of tragic history, a love story and would you believe, comedy. The exchanges between Edith and Hannah when they're roaming the German countryside after escaping the Death March were actually really comical. It was completely unexpected in a book on this topic but is testament to the quality of the writing.
February 22, 2015
This is one of my top three favorite holocaust books that I've read - and I've read A LOT of them! The story was gripping right from the beginning and held me until the last word. Judith (the author) is my new hero. Read it, it's a true story but reads like fiction, it's sad, heartbreaking, yet an amazing story. I lost many hours of sleep reading this book, but it was well worth it!
December 9, 2012
I really enjoyed reading it. I can't believe it sat in a drawer for 50 years waiting to be published. The ending was abrupt.
March 22, 2018
An Amazing Journey
This was such a touching tribute to all who went through the horrors of WWII. This young girls recollection of each new horror and finally freedom, will carry you with her and touch your soul. Praying to never hear of this cruelty ever again. I wish there had been a prologue of Judith's life as of the date this was published. I hope she had nothing but joy.
This was such a touching tribute to all who went through the horrors of WWII. This young girls recollection of each new horror and finally freedom, will carry you with her and touch your soul. Praying to never hear of this cruelty ever again. I wish there had been a prologue of Judith's life as of the date this was published. I hope she had nothing but joy.
September 9, 2020
Keeping in mind, the author wrote this book herself and some may find the writing style less than stellar, but I found this a very good read. Of course it is hard to read at times. The pain, suffering and horrifying conditions none of us can imagine unless we've lived it. Thank you to Ms. Hoffmann for writing this book.
June 10, 2021
A work of fiction but clearly written from experience, and a very moving story. It tells the experiences of a teenage girl in a Czech Jewish ghetto during WWII, then later at Auschwitz and Belsen. It was written shortly after there war when the author was just 19. Haunting and unforgettable.
January 7, 2018
Sad Story
A sad story - Could not imagine how she had gone through all. If I was her, I have had already died at the very beginning.
A sad story - Could not imagine how she had gone through all. If I was her, I have had already died at the very beginning.
September 6, 2018
Remarkable, a must read!
Dramatic and thought provoking. A truly remarkable account of horrors suffered during WW2 in the concentration camps. Insightful, highly recommended.
Dramatic and thought provoking. A truly remarkable account of horrors suffered during WW2 in the concentration camps. Insightful, highly recommended.
August 7, 2016
I've read an awful lot of Holocaust books and while they're all very powerful, this one stands out as even more so. It's not that well written, but when you consider it was written by a very young woman who had only just learnt the English language, it's understandable. The detail, the darkly-comical exchanges between 'Judith' and her friends, the descriptions of places and of the death march, and much more, are amazing. Sometimes I felt like I was a fly on the wall, watching this all unfold. The ending was quite abrupt and not at all what I had been expecting. I caught myself feeling slightly disappointed at the end and having to remind myself that although this book is written in the style of a novel, this was *real*, and the harsh reality is that many survivors came out of WW2 with absolutely no one left. The ending brings that deeply sad realisation, but I hope Edith has been able to go on to have a happy life. I'm just left with one question, and that's that I wonder if she ever found out what happened to Michael Alexander. Five stars for this book, because it was gripping and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2016
Beautiful and horrendous at the same time.
No matter how much one studies, it is almost impossible to believe the atrocities inflicted upon the victims of the Holocaust. Not that they aren't true, but that they are so inhumane and despicable. Judith's story was heartbreaking, but all the Holocaust stories are. I so wanted Michael to come walking towards her on the Charles Bridge, but then that would have been a fairy tale. I hope the rest of her life was filled with happiness and love.
No matter how much one studies, it is almost impossible to believe the atrocities inflicted upon the victims of the Holocaust. Not that they aren't true, but that they are so inhumane and despicable. Judith's story was heartbreaking, but all the Holocaust stories are. I so wanted Michael to come walking towards her on the Charles Bridge, but then that would have been a fairy tale. I hope the rest of her life was filled with happiness and love.
February 17, 2016
Punished Tears, touching and beartbreaking
I loved that Judith's life is written in third party. Her story is is sad and heartbreaking yet full of hope and promise. What a courageous young lady she was and her will to live through such horrible and gruesome acts. Good bless her.
I loved that Judith's life is written in third party. Her story is is sad and heartbreaking yet full of hope and promise. What a courageous young lady she was and her will to live through such horrible and gruesome acts. Good bless her.
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February 25, 2016kindle 302 (historic) true about holocaust
July 2, 2017
An incredible read.
January 27, 2016
What a GREAT read!
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