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Ich habe den Todesengel überlebt: Ein Mengele-Opfer erzählt
Berührend und authentisch – eine der letzten Zeitzeuginnen erzählt
Eva Mozes Kor ist zehn Jahre alt als sie mit ihrer Familie nach Auschwitz verschleppt wird. Während die Eltern und zwei ältere Geschwister in den Gaskammern umkommen, geraten Eva und ihre Zwillingsschwester Miriam in die Hände des KZ-Arztes Mengele, der grausame »Experimente« an den Mädchen durchführt. Für Eva und ihre Schwester beginnt ein täglicher Überlebenskampf ...
Die wahre Geschichte einer Frau mit einem unbezwingbaren Überlebenswillen und dem Mut, die schlimmsten Taten zu vergeben.
Eva Mozes Kor ist zehn Jahre alt als sie mit ihrer Familie nach Auschwitz verschleppt wird. Während die Eltern und zwei ältere Geschwister in den Gaskammern umkommen, geraten Eva und ihre Zwillingsschwester Miriam in die Hände des KZ-Arztes Mengele, der grausame »Experimente« an den Mädchen durchführt. Für Eva und ihre Schwester beginnt ein täglicher Überlebenskampf ...
Die wahre Geschichte einer Frau mit einem unbezwingbaren Überlebenswillen und dem Mut, die schlimmsten Taten zu vergeben.
197 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Eva Mozes Kor
12 books138 followersEva Mozes Kor was a Romanian survivor of the Holocaust. Along with her twin sister Miriam, Kor was subjected to human experimentation at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. She lost both of her parents and two older sisters to the Holocaust; only she and Miriam survived. Kor founded the organization CANDLES (an acronym for "Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors") in 1984 and through this program located 122 other survivors. In 1984 Kor founded the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center to educate the public about eugenics, the Holocaust, and the power of forgiveness.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 930 reviews
September 5, 2022
A Jewish family was taken from their small village in Romania in 1944, and sent to Auschwitz. The family consisted of father, mother, and four daughters. The youngest daughters were ten year old identical twins, Eva and Miriam.
Upon arrival, the twins were separated from their family and along with many other sets of twins of various ages, put under the care of Dr. Josef Mengele (The Angel of Death)
This is the story of how they were experimented on and how they survived the camp and also their lives following the liberation in 1945.
Another very difficult read from this time in history.
Upon arrival, the twins were separated from their family and along with many other sets of twins of various ages, put under the care of Dr. Josef Mengele (The Angel of Death)
This is the story of how they were experimented on and how they survived the camp and also their lives following the liberation in 1945.
Another very difficult read from this time in history.
May 30, 2016
All or most World War II books are depressing, but this one especially so for it being 1) true and 2) about 10 year old twin girls in Auschwitz. It's a very short book but even so it took me over a week to finish it because I had to get myself in the mood for it between readings. Well, not that I'm ever in the mood for torture, death, and denizens of evil; but I am absolutely hooked on these books about the Nazis for reasons beyond my control and when it's time for the occasional fix, it's time.
Josef Mengele took the prize figuratively for experimenting on living humans simply to satisfy some sick curiosity he had about this or that. Can we turn boys into girls via blood transfusions? Ooooh, let me try it. Can we change someone's eye color? Well, give them this injection and let's see. If I make a twin die from beri beri, wouldn't it be cool to kill the healthy twin too and perform side by side autopsies? Just a vile, sick pig he was.
The Romanian twins Eva and Miriam Kor end up in Mengele's Auschwitz, normally a sure death sentence, but are able to defy the odds. It is heartbreaking to read about how close the girls were, and how broken Miriam became when Eva was separated from her. We know there is hope, however, since Eva obviously lives to write this book. And there is forgiveness in her heart, which she would like the world to heed. Very important message in these times.
"Forgiveness is a seed for peace. It is the ultimate act of self healing."
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.
Josef Mengele took the prize figuratively for experimenting on living humans simply to satisfy some sick curiosity he had about this or that. Can we turn boys into girls via blood transfusions? Ooooh, let me try it. Can we change someone's eye color? Well, give them this injection and let's see. If I make a twin die from beri beri, wouldn't it be cool to kill the healthy twin too and perform side by side autopsies? Just a vile, sick pig he was.
The Romanian twins Eva and Miriam Kor end up in Mengele's Auschwitz, normally a sure death sentence, but are able to defy the odds. It is heartbreaking to read about how close the girls were, and how broken Miriam became when Eva was separated from her. We know there is hope, however, since Eva obviously lives to write this book. And there is forgiveness in her heart, which she would like the world to heed. Very important message in these times.
"Forgiveness is a seed for peace. It is the ultimate act of self healing."
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.
December 21, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
Surviving the Angel of Death is the true story of Eva Mozes and her twin sister Miriam and the place where they were raised . . .
"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a fulltime job. We gave them our blood, our bodies, our pride, our dignity, and in turn, they let us live one more day."
Eva and Miriam began their life as normal as you or I . . .
They were born to a middle-income family in Romania and were doted on by all for not only being adorable, but for being a matched set as well. When war broke out, many of Eva's relatives fled to Palestine in order to escape the rumored persecution of the Jews they kept hearing about, but Eva's mother held her ground and refused to move. By refusing to flee she signed the death certificate for nearly their entire family. Portions of Romania were eventually turned over to Hungarian rule and the family was relocated first to one of the many ghettos and eventually onto a train which would transport them to Auschwitz.
It is there the girls were put under the care of Dr. Josef Mengele.
The remainder of the book is Eva and Miriam's remarkable tale of survival. Ms. Kor tells of how she and her sister had to endure illness, starvation and experimentation at the hand of the Nazis. And amazingly, at the end of it all she talks about forgiveness . . .
"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 killing, no more Auschwitzes."
This story is such an important one and I applaud Ms. Kor's decision to write it in a style appropriate for children. There are no gory details or any added "shock and awe" factors other than the horrifying reality of life in a concentration camp told. The effect is still chilling.
3.5 Stars
Surviving the Angel of Death is the true story of Eva Mozes and her twin sister Miriam and the place where they were raised . . .
"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a fulltime job. We gave them our blood, our bodies, our pride, our dignity, and in turn, they let us live one more day."
Eva and Miriam began their life as normal as you or I . . .
They were born to a middle-income family in Romania and were doted on by all for not only being adorable, but for being a matched set as well. When war broke out, many of Eva's relatives fled to Palestine in order to escape the rumored persecution of the Jews they kept hearing about, but Eva's mother held her ground and refused to move. By refusing to flee she signed the death certificate for nearly their entire family. Portions of Romania were eventually turned over to Hungarian rule and the family was relocated first to one of the many ghettos and eventually onto a train which would transport them to Auschwitz.
It is there the girls were put under the care of Dr. Josef Mengele.
The remainder of the book is Eva and Miriam's remarkable tale of survival. Ms. Kor tells of how she and her sister had to endure illness, starvation and experimentation at the hand of the Nazis. And amazingly, at the end of it all she talks about forgiveness . . .
"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 killing, no more Auschwitzes."
This story is such an important one and I applaud Ms. Kor's decision to write it in a style appropriate for children. There are no gory details or any added "shock and awe" factors other than the horrifying reality of life in a concentration camp told. The effect is still chilling.
December 12, 2010
I read the first 84 pages in one sitting, then stopped, gasping, to remind myself to breathe. The horrors of Auschwitz weren't the part of this book that most affected me. Instead it was the beginning, in which the Christian villagers slowly turned against Ms. Kor's family, and even her best friend, Luci, joined with the anti-Semites.
But the true genius of this book is the powerful epilogue. My words can't do it justice, so here are a few of Ms. Kor's, "Anger and hate are seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace." After despairing for the human race for 133 pages, Ms. Kor found just the words to give me hope again.
This slim volume deserves a place on your shelf alongside Night and The Diary of a Young Girl.
But the true genius of this book is the powerful epilogue. My words can't do it justice, so here are a few of Ms. Kor's, "Anger and hate are seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace." After despairing for the human race for 133 pages, Ms. Kor found just the words to give me hope again.
This slim volume deserves a place on your shelf alongside Night and The Diary of a Young Girl.
August 22, 2016
I recieved this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This review is extremely hard to write, just as this book was exceptionally hard to read.
I've read dozens of book about holocaust and saw dozens of movies on this topic, but this book had a huge impact on me. Right after first few chapters, I had to put it down just to compose myself.
I knew what I was getting myself into, and I've read about Mengele experiments before, but this was very graphic.
Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor in every sense of the word. She is a survivor of the Holocaust who, with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to human experimentation under Josef Mengele at Auschwitz.
She was literally turned into a "human guinea pig".
Her whole family was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, and she never saw them again. Eva and her identical twin, Miriam, survived the deadly genetic experiments conducted by The Angel of Death, Josef Mengele and they lived to tell.
Today, she is a lecturer, forgiveness advocate, public speaker, activist, and a founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana.
As human beings must never forget more than 6 million Jews that perished, but also the ones who survived. This book should be a part of a school curriculum, to show young people what holocaust is, but also to open everyone's eyes to the fact that it still happens today.
This review is extremely hard to write, just as this book was exceptionally hard to read.
I've read dozens of book about holocaust and saw dozens of movies on this topic, but this book had a huge impact on me. Right after first few chapters, I had to put it down just to compose myself.
I knew what I was getting myself into, and I've read about Mengele experiments before, but this was very graphic.
Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor in every sense of the word. She is a survivor of the Holocaust who, with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to human experimentation under Josef Mengele at Auschwitz.
She was literally turned into a "human guinea pig".
Her whole family was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, and she never saw them again. Eva and her identical twin, Miriam, survived the deadly genetic experiments conducted by The Angel of Death, Josef Mengele and they lived to tell.
Today, she is a lecturer, forgiveness advocate, public speaker, activist, and a founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana.
As human beings must never forget more than 6 million Jews that perished, but also the ones who survived. This book should be a part of a school curriculum, to show young people what holocaust is, but also to open everyone's eyes to the fact that it still happens today.
November 24, 2020
Wow. Just...wow. Never ceases to amaze me how the Nazis came up with so many ways to torture people. In this book, it was “experiments” performed on twins. If there are different levels of Hell, “Uncle” Joseph Mengele must certainly be in the one created for the most atrocious and evil.
I was surprised that this book is not classified as Y.A. non-fiction. It would be appropriate to use in classes for older students, but too disturbing for younger ones to read.
Even more astonishing-that Eva was able to find it in her heart to forgive her torturers...
I was surprised that this book is not classified as Y.A. non-fiction. It would be appropriate to use in classes for older students, but too disturbing for younger ones to read.
Even more astonishing-that Eva was able to find it in her heart to forgive her torturers...
July 6, 2023
At Auschwitz dying was so easy.
Surviving was a full time job.
Great book from an amazing woman!
Eva and Miriam are the youngest of the family, and they’re also the favourites. Growing up Jewish in Romania at the break of WWII is not easy – they get increasingly bullied, and their family is persecuted. When they all get deported to Auschwitz, the twins will keep their status in the eyes of a dark figure – some call him uncle, some Josef Mengele, but Todesengel (Angel of Death) is his most apt name. From then on is a battle not only for survival, but to stay united.
Despite how tough this book is to read, I liked it. And I most of all liked to get to know Eva, the narrator of the story.
Eva is a tough child, having to grow fast at the beginning of WWII. She’s only ten years old when she gets deported with her family to Auschwitz. She will lose her family, get a sinister “protector”, and wait one year before she will be able to slowly taste freedom again. In that year she’ll get to know the darkest side of the human heart, and she will have to be the pillar that keeps his sister and herself united, until the liberation by the hand of the Allies.
The author covers the years before, during, and after her imprisonment in the concentration camp. She explains how she managed to survive, how the camp worked, and what she had to endure being what she calls a “Mengele twin”, something that was really precious to the deprived doctor of the camp. Having the Aryan ideal in mind, he wanted to discover the secret of twins and eugenics.
Although the book is targeted to children and young adults, Eva uncovers some of the horrors she faced in the camp, even having the “priviliged” status of twins. Having to endure torture and experiments is not a privilege, and it is what ultimately killed her sister years after leaving the camp.
The new edition of this books comes with a sad epilogue – the passing of the author. The last part of the book is dedicated to Eva – the person she was, and the legacy she left.
The controversial topic of Eva forgiving the Nazi is also touched, explaining once and for all how it was her personal choice: she did not forgive them on behalf of all the victims, and this act benefits the victim, not the oppressor – that’s how you start leaving grief and anger behind, and live on your own terms. That’s how victims take control back over their lives.
I would recommend this book to anybody, regardless of their age and background.
More at Inky Lighthouse.
**Thanks to NetGalley, Eva Mozes Kor, and Tanglewood Publishing for an ARC of this book.**
February 1, 2014
I was a little worried when I picked up this book. Nazi experiments...children...just no. But something about it made me want to listen. Its a part of the camps we don't hear much about. And in this case, being a twin and therefore a "wanted prisoner" ultimately saved her life. Saved her, while so nearly killing her as well. Let's just say it bought her time. Time in which to fight for survival. And fight she did.
So how does one write a book about Nazi atrocities and make it suitable for YA? Somehow, Eva manages it. We as the reader feel the horror of the situation and yet we are spared the complete nightmare. So well done!
It's a short book (only 175 pages) but packs a wallop.
A few tidbits that really spoke to me...
As the political situation was heating up in the country, life was becoming more hostile in school. For one thing, the school started teaching Nazi propaganda. One day, Eva is given a math worksheet. On the paper is the word problem: "If you have five Jews and you kill three, how many Jews are left?" can you imagine the horror, being the only two Jews in your class while everyone is working out problems like this?
Another telling statement was when they were released from the camp. Eva and her twin sister were temporarily set up in someone's house where they were put in a room with toys. The toys made her angry and she had no idea what to do with them. She was 11 years old and no longer knew how to play...
And finally, on reaching their old home now dilapidated and deserted. She is met by her mother's old red dachshund, Lily. After all that time the dog was still there! She made this observation, "apparently only Jewish people were sent to concentration camps, not Jewish dogs."
This is an extremely heartfelt memoir that everyone should read. Its not always pleasant, but if they lived it, we can read it. Its the least we can do. And make sure this never happens again.
CONTENT:
SEX: None
PROFANITY: Jews are called 'Swine ' and 'smelly, dirty Jews '
VIOLENCE: Some disturbing imagery
MY RATING: PG
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free ecopy to read and review.
So how does one write a book about Nazi atrocities and make it suitable for YA? Somehow, Eva manages it. We as the reader feel the horror of the situation and yet we are spared the complete nightmare. So well done!
It's a short book (only 175 pages) but packs a wallop.
A few tidbits that really spoke to me...
As the political situation was heating up in the country, life was becoming more hostile in school. For one thing, the school started teaching Nazi propaganda. One day, Eva is given a math worksheet. On the paper is the word problem: "If you have five Jews and you kill three, how many Jews are left?" can you imagine the horror, being the only two Jews in your class while everyone is working out problems like this?
Another telling statement was when they were released from the camp. Eva and her twin sister were temporarily set up in someone's house where they were put in a room with toys. The toys made her angry and she had no idea what to do with them. She was 11 years old and no longer knew how to play...
And finally, on reaching their old home now dilapidated and deserted. She is met by her mother's old red dachshund, Lily. After all that time the dog was still there! She made this observation, "apparently only Jewish people were sent to concentration camps, not Jewish dogs."
This is an extremely heartfelt memoir that everyone should read. Its not always pleasant, but if they lived it, we can read it. Its the least we can do. And make sure this never happens again.
CONTENT:
SEX: None
PROFANITY: Jews are called 'Swine ' and 'smelly, dirty Jews '
VIOLENCE: Some disturbing imagery
MY RATING: PG
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free ecopy to read and review.
January 28, 2019
“Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz” was a very good but upsetting book, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning about survivors of the holocaust. 5 stars.
“Never ever give up on yourself or your dreams, for everything good in life is possible.
Judge people on their actions and the content of their character.
Forgive your worst enemy and forgive everyone who has hurt you—it will heal your soul and set you free.
*Never ever give up. You can survive and make your dreams come true.” -Eva Mozes Kor
“Never ever give up on yourself or your dreams, for everything good in life is possible.
Judge people on their actions and the content of their character.
Forgive your worst enemy and forgive everyone who has hurt you—it will heal your soul and set you free.
*Never ever give up. You can survive and make your dreams come true.” -Eva Mozes Kor
October 16, 2017
“If you had five Jews, and you killed three Jews, how many Jews would be left?”
This was what the author found in her math class workbook in her early schooldays living under Nazi régime. The early sweetness, living in harmony before the conquest of Nazis and the Condition of them getting worse and the evolving of the anti-Semitism in the village was pretty depressing. Sure I've had read camp experiences of people more than once but not from a perspective of 10 year old twins'. And i was totally oblivious of the part of experiments done by Dr. Josef Mengele on the children inside concentration camp at Auschwitz.
In some places, it felt a bit overdone verbally to get some optimistic feel for the end but still that makes it a less realistic personally. The Journey is unbelievable and overwhelming regardless of the seldom verbosity issues. Made me break many times during the go.
I thank Netgalley and friends for randomly selecting to receive the Kindle edition in exchange for this review of mine.
This was what the author found in her math class workbook in her early schooldays living under Nazi régime. The early sweetness, living in harmony before the conquest of Nazis and the Condition of them getting worse and the evolving of the anti-Semitism in the village was pretty depressing. Sure I've had read camp experiences of people more than once but not from a perspective of 10 year old twins'. And i was totally oblivious of the part of experiments done by Dr. Josef Mengele on the children inside concentration camp at Auschwitz.
In some places, it felt a bit overdone verbally to get some optimistic feel for the end but still that makes it a less realistic personally. The Journey is unbelievable and overwhelming regardless of the seldom verbosity issues. Made me break many times during the go.
I thank Netgalley and friends for randomly selecting to receive the Kindle edition in exchange for this review of mine.
March 25, 2012
I've read a lot of memoirs in the last 10 years written by survivors of the holocaust. Shocking, haunting and enough to make your blood boil, these are unimaginable stories of loss, pain and heartbreak but also inspiring and motivating.
Surviving the Angel of Death is one of the few Holocaust books that I've read aimed primarily at a younger audience, but that doesn't make it any less shocking than accounts that are more adult-focused. In fact, being lived through the eyes of 10-year-old Eva is in some ways even more heartbreaking.
The writing is honest and straightforward with no feeling of events being romanticized or dumbed-down in order not to shock the reader. As Eva fights for both her own life and the life of her sister, my admiration grew stronger by the line for this tough, spirited child who used her own experiences to help others become inspired and to understand exactly how much forgiveness can achieve.
Enjoyed is not the right word for a book about the Holocaust - enthralled, enraged, saddened and admiration are more apt descriptions, that completely sum up my feelings after I turned the last page.
Read more of my reviews at The Aussie Zombie
Surviving the Angel of Death is one of the few Holocaust books that I've read aimed primarily at a younger audience, but that doesn't make it any less shocking than accounts that are more adult-focused. In fact, being lived through the eyes of 10-year-old Eva is in some ways even more heartbreaking.
The writing is honest and straightforward with no feeling of events being romanticized or dumbed-down in order not to shock the reader. As Eva fights for both her own life and the life of her sister, my admiration grew stronger by the line for this tough, spirited child who used her own experiences to help others become inspired and to understand exactly how much forgiveness can achieve.
Enjoyed is not the right word for a book about the Holocaust - enthralled, enraged, saddened and admiration are more apt descriptions, that completely sum up my feelings after I turned the last page.
Read more of my reviews at The Aussie Zombie
July 2, 2020
Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri is the incredible true story of Eva's time at Auschwitz where she, along with her sister Miriam, was subjected to the torturous experiments of Dr Josef Mengele. As stated in the afterword, it is extremely rare to hear an account of a child who survived the camps, let alone one who survived as one of Mengele's twins, and this deeply personal story will serve as a tool not only towards education, but as a lesson in the power of forgiveness. Eva was clearly a remarkable woman, and it is gratifying to know that she found such purpose in her life following unimaginably horrific circumstances. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishing for the opportunity to read Eva's story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishing for the opportunity to read Eva's story.
May 3, 2020
O marturie simpla, onesta, plina de invataminte si scrisa cu suflet, facuta de Eva Mozes, supravietuitoare a lagarului de concentrare de la Auschwitz. Aceasta ne impartaseste, prin ochii copilei de atunci, aspecte ale copilariei ei inainte de razboi, in timpul persecutiilor evreilor din cel de-al Doilea Razboi Mondial si al vietii la Auschwitz, precum si greutatile si bucuriile care au urmat eliberarii. O carte pe care orice om ar fi frumos sa o citeasca, indiferent de varsta. O carte care are invataminte pentru noi toti. Astfel, participam si noi la istorie prin a intelege, a invata, a nu uita si a transmite mai departe povestea acestor oameni.
October 15, 2016
This is the short recitation of the narrator's journey through Auschwitz to forgiveness. I swear I have read a book about her organization, CANDLES, but I cannot locate it on my list. She was only 10 when she and her twin were put through Mengele's experiments. She has little to no memory of what she experienced, what was injected or scanned, but she has a vivid recollection of camp life. This may sound insensitive, but I wish the book has been longer and more detailed.
November 21, 2019
Thanks to Netgalley and respective publisher for sending me copy for honest review.
Comprehensive ! Splendid !
It was exceptional piece of narration regarding this theme.
As many writers have described thoroughly in Historical fiction and Historical events.
Although, it's quite innovative and true story as the author foreseen and arranged herself.
It was precisely expressed the events and hardship of author and her family.
Comprehensive ! Splendid !
It was exceptional piece of narration regarding this theme.
As many writers have described thoroughly in Historical fiction and Historical events.
Although, it's quite innovative and true story as the author foreseen and arranged herself.
It was precisely expressed the events and hardship of author and her family.
October 8, 2020
Surviving the Angel of Death // by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri
I generally like to mix up my genres to avoid getting burned out and so that I don’t read a lot of serious books one after the other. I just finished a fantastic fantasy book (see my review here) so I thought this would be a good time to read another serious book. Well, it does not get much more serious than this and I sobered up rather quickly. It starts like so many books about the survivors of the Holocaust do: with a cattle cart headed for Auschwitz.
As a German myself, I have often been on the receiving end of both questions about our education on the Holocaust as well as Nazi jokes to the point of practicing my English so much that I have lost my accent enough to not sound German anymore. While I’m glad to say that we receive much more education about the horrors of the time of our country than the US does about their atrocities, there are still so many things that I have not heard of. The evils of the Nazi regime knew no bounds and this book is another testament to that. As the remaining survivors continue to leave this earth, we are receiving less and less first-hand details about this time in history. It is important to never forget what happened, which is why I continue to pick up these books despite the pain they bring of knowing that my own country has been so cruel.
While I knew about the propaganda in Germany against Jews and how, step-by-step, Hitler and his government managed to spread hate for Jews and other minorities, I did not know the extent to which that was shown to young children in school in other countries as well, using math problems and short films about how to kill Jews. I also have often heard about the denial of many Germans that did not believe that things were as bad as people made it out to be but I did not realize that there were also Jews that felt the same way, believing things just could not be that bad until it was too late for them and they arrived in the ghettos or even the concentration camps. Every time you think that something has to be the worst thing you learned about, something else comes along to shatter that illusion, such as finding out about the experiments that Mengele performed on twins and other groups of people. When I read that after the death of one twin due to a purposely caused disease, the other (healthy) twin would be killed so they could compare their organs to each other, I had to put down the book and walk away to work through all the emotions.
I am so thankful that Eva Mozes Kor did the difficult work of remembering her experiences in detail to pass along the story of what happened to her and her family. I am in awe of the work she did throughout her life as well to spread awareness about what happened during the Holocaust in an effort to never let the world forget about it. While I have some mixed feelings about certain choices in her later life, especially after reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, there is no doubt that she did what she felt was right to honor the memory of her family and the many lives that were lost. As someone that often skips over acknowledgements, afterwords, etc., I highly recommend you continue reading through everything after her Epilogue. There is a lot of interesting information there and I appreciate that we get to hear even the criticism that she received as well. It helps paint a complete picture of who she was and what her goals were.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I generally like to mix up my genres to avoid getting burned out and so that I don’t read a lot of serious books one after the other. I just finished a fantastic fantasy book (see my review here) so I thought this would be a good time to read another serious book. Well, it does not get much more serious than this and I sobered up rather quickly. It starts like so many books about the survivors of the Holocaust do: with a cattle cart headed for Auschwitz.
As a German myself, I have often been on the receiving end of both questions about our education on the Holocaust as well as Nazi jokes to the point of practicing my English so much that I have lost my accent enough to not sound German anymore. While I’m glad to say that we receive much more education about the horrors of the time of our country than the US does about their atrocities, there are still so many things that I have not heard of. The evils of the Nazi regime knew no bounds and this book is another testament to that. As the remaining survivors continue to leave this earth, we are receiving less and less first-hand details about this time in history. It is important to never forget what happened, which is why I continue to pick up these books despite the pain they bring of knowing that my own country has been so cruel.
While I knew about the propaganda in Germany against Jews and how, step-by-step, Hitler and his government managed to spread hate for Jews and other minorities, I did not know the extent to which that was shown to young children in school in other countries as well, using math problems and short films about how to kill Jews. I also have often heard about the denial of many Germans that did not believe that things were as bad as people made it out to be but I did not realize that there were also Jews that felt the same way, believing things just could not be that bad until it was too late for them and they arrived in the ghettos or even the concentration camps. Every time you think that something has to be the worst thing you learned about, something else comes along to shatter that illusion, such as finding out about the experiments that Mengele performed on twins and other groups of people. When I read that after the death of one twin due to a purposely caused disease, the other (healthy) twin would be killed so they could compare their organs to each other, I had to put down the book and walk away to work through all the emotions.
I am so thankful that Eva Mozes Kor did the difficult work of remembering her experiences in detail to pass along the story of what happened to her and her family. I am in awe of the work she did throughout her life as well to spread awareness about what happened during the Holocaust in an effort to never let the world forget about it. While I have some mixed feelings about certain choices in her later life, especially after reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, there is no doubt that she did what she felt was right to honor the memory of her family and the many lives that were lost. As someone that often skips over acknowledgements, afterwords, etc., I highly recommend you continue reading through everything after her Epilogue. There is a lot of interesting information there and I appreciate that we get to hear even the criticism that she received as well. It helps paint a complete picture of who she was and what her goals were.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 6, 2020
Despre gemenii care au nimerit în lagărele de concentrare am citit foarte puțin, doar ceea ce a fost povestit de Miklos Nyiszli în “Am fost medic la Auschwitz”. De aceea povestea Evei și a lui Miriam, două surori evreice dintr-un mic sătuc din Transilvania care la 10 ani au devenit “gemenele lui Mengele”, mi s-a părut sfâșietoare.
August 31, 2022
SURVIVING THE ANGEL OF DEATH: THE TRUE STORY OF A MENGELE TWIN IN AUSCHWITZ
BY: EVA MOZES KOR
This was an honor to read about a twin who for many years suffered from anger towards her parents and the Nazis. It only takes roughly two hours to read and its purpose is to help other Holocaust survivors and educate young adults the power of forgiveness. This remarkable and harrowing story is told in the first person by a twin named Eva, who survived Auschwitz. She lost her two older sisters and her parents immediately when they were murdered upon arrival to this death camp. Eva and Miriam Mozes were only children and were subjected to Mengele's cruel and inhumane experiments on identical twins. Forced to starve and injected with unknown substances by Mengele, Eva's strength and her iron will to not perish in Auschwitz helped her to live through deplorable conditions. She says that she was always the stronger twin and knowing that she had to protect her twin sister Miriam helped keep her alive. She says that other victims of Auschwitz who didn't have anybody they knew and cared about were more likely to die. She told herself that she would survive the inhumane treatment and live to be free. By having to help Miriam survive that empowered her determination to be a survivor along with her identical twin Miriam.
The second half of this book is a true testament of a remarkable woman's story of educating young adults and children and other Holocaust survivors. She also had a mission to educate other United States citizens that the Holocaust was a true and real event that took place. She and her sister Miriam were all that they had after their liberation from the Soviet Union soldiers. They tried going home, but found there was nothing left for them other than a few crumbled pictures taken of their family before they were deported from their home. They were the only Jewish family in their small village. While they were torn from their home which had an abundance of fruit orchards and animals they returned home to their house and land that produced food that was taken by the village people.
Eva Mozes and Miriam Mozes went to Palestine to escape the Soviet Union who turned their country into communism. They lived with their Aunt for a while, but didn't like living in a policed state that controlled every aspect of their lives. In Palestine they were greeted by an Uncle and they were finally treated with dignity. Eva and Miriam's father made them promise to move to Palestine if they survived their ordeal. Prior to the family being deported to Auschwitz their father wanted to move their family to Palestine. Their mother resisted moving and that was the kiss of death for everyone in their family except the twins. Eva met her husband in Palestine and they moved to Indiana in the United States.
Eva was continuously teased by the citizens in her town in Indiana. At one point her son asked why Eva couldn't be like the other American mothers. For many years Eva was angry at her parents for not protecting them being mere children who were exposed to Auschwitz and the daily horrors that they were subjected to. She was also angry at the Nazis who were responsible for the nightmare Eva and Miriam lived through.
Eva found that by forgiving the Nazis and her parents her suffering finally ceased. She founded the acronym CANDLES, which stands for CHILDREN OF AUSCHWITZ NAZI DEATH LAB EXPERIMENT SURVIVORS. It was a support group.
I think that this book should be required reading for High School students! Eva's message of forgiveness is so powerful and inspirational. She is a true icon and role model even after her death by the legacies she lived as an example. I am so grateful and again I say it was an honor to read this book. I will return to it over and over again.
Publication Date: October 13, 2020. Available Now!
My huge debt of gratitude for providing me this ARC goes to Net Galley, Eva Mozes Kor and Tanglewood Publishing. This Arc was generously provided in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not required to make my review so abundantly positive. That was my choice. All opinions are my own.
#SurvivingtheAngelofDeath #EvaMozesKor #TanglewoodPublishing #NetGalley
BY: EVA MOZES KOR
This was an honor to read about a twin who for many years suffered from anger towards her parents and the Nazis. It only takes roughly two hours to read and its purpose is to help other Holocaust survivors and educate young adults the power of forgiveness. This remarkable and harrowing story is told in the first person by a twin named Eva, who survived Auschwitz. She lost her two older sisters and her parents immediately when they were murdered upon arrival to this death camp. Eva and Miriam Mozes were only children and were subjected to Mengele's cruel and inhumane experiments on identical twins. Forced to starve and injected with unknown substances by Mengele, Eva's strength and her iron will to not perish in Auschwitz helped her to live through deplorable conditions. She says that she was always the stronger twin and knowing that she had to protect her twin sister Miriam helped keep her alive. She says that other victims of Auschwitz who didn't have anybody they knew and cared about were more likely to die. She told herself that she would survive the inhumane treatment and live to be free. By having to help Miriam survive that empowered her determination to be a survivor along with her identical twin Miriam.
The second half of this book is a true testament of a remarkable woman's story of educating young adults and children and other Holocaust survivors. She also had a mission to educate other United States citizens that the Holocaust was a true and real event that took place. She and her sister Miriam were all that they had after their liberation from the Soviet Union soldiers. They tried going home, but found there was nothing left for them other than a few crumbled pictures taken of their family before they were deported from their home. They were the only Jewish family in their small village. While they were torn from their home which had an abundance of fruit orchards and animals they returned home to their house and land that produced food that was taken by the village people.
Eva Mozes and Miriam Mozes went to Palestine to escape the Soviet Union who turned their country into communism. They lived with their Aunt for a while, but didn't like living in a policed state that controlled every aspect of their lives. In Palestine they were greeted by an Uncle and they were finally treated with dignity. Eva and Miriam's father made them promise to move to Palestine if they survived their ordeal. Prior to the family being deported to Auschwitz their father wanted to move their family to Palestine. Their mother resisted moving and that was the kiss of death for everyone in their family except the twins. Eva met her husband in Palestine and they moved to Indiana in the United States.
Eva was continuously teased by the citizens in her town in Indiana. At one point her son asked why Eva couldn't be like the other American mothers. For many years Eva was angry at her parents for not protecting them being mere children who were exposed to Auschwitz and the daily horrors that they were subjected to. She was also angry at the Nazis who were responsible for the nightmare Eva and Miriam lived through.
Eva found that by forgiving the Nazis and her parents her suffering finally ceased. She founded the acronym CANDLES, which stands for CHILDREN OF AUSCHWITZ NAZI DEATH LAB EXPERIMENT SURVIVORS. It was a support group.
I think that this book should be required reading for High School students! Eva's message of forgiveness is so powerful and inspirational. She is a true icon and role model even after her death by the legacies she lived as an example. I am so grateful and again I say it was an honor to read this book. I will return to it over and over again.
Publication Date: October 13, 2020. Available Now!
My huge debt of gratitude for providing me this ARC goes to Net Galley, Eva Mozes Kor and Tanglewood Publishing. This Arc was generously provided in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not required to make my review so abundantly positive. That was my choice. All opinions are my own.
#SurvivingtheAngelofDeath #EvaMozesKor #TanglewoodPublishing #NetGalley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2017
This book was a quick read, but it was a tough one. It's geared towards young readers, so it's not brutal, but you can read between the lines and what she says is still horrifying.
The entire time I was reading this, I was saying to myself, this is doomed to happen again. We are going to repeat this history.
So depressing book about the evil people can do to others, including to children. Highly recommended for all to read, and hopefully learn from, so it never happens again. Five stars.
The entire time I was reading this, I was saying to myself, this is doomed to happen again. We are going to repeat this history.
So depressing book about the evil people can do to others, including to children. Highly recommended for all to read, and hopefully learn from, so it never happens again. Five stars.
January 12, 2017
Doporučím asi spíš někomu, kdo ještě žádnou podobnou literaturu nečetl. Výpověď jednoho z Mengeleových dvojčat je sice děsivá, smutná i dojemná (jako asi všechny případy přežití koncentračního tábora), ale musím přiznat, že například Utekl jsem z Osvětimi mě oslovilo víc.
February 4, 2021
"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a full time job."
Everything that happened in Auschwitz was wrong, sickning, revolting. No one deserved a fate like that, especially people whose only reason to be there was their religion. It was hell on earth for everyone. But I think that somehow twins got a especially horrific part of that hell for no better reason but being twins.
To think of all those children used in experiments, to think that someone like Mengele would call himself a doctor makes me sick. But the most heartbreaking part about that is to think that all those twins that survived only had a chance to survive because they were twins, to think that had they not been twins, they would have been killed before even having a chance to survive. I can't put into words how horrified and sad for what humanity is capable that fact makes me feel. I don't think anyone can.
When I saw this book and learnt that Eva Mozes Kor was one of the twins who could survive Auschwitz I knew I had to read this book. It's stories like hers, heartbreaking and revolting that make sure the past is not forgotten, that the Holocaust is not forgotten, that increases the chance of not letting humanity repeat the same mistake once again. And for that, for her courage and willingness to tell her story to the world, to open her heart and remember such traumatic times I admire her. I admire her for doing that, for telling her story. I admire her and everyone like her that went to that hell on earth, survived and didn't lose fate in humanity, who kept being good people at heart and seeing the good in the world.
Most of all, I admire her for being capable of forgiveness. Of forgiving the people that hurt her, the people that were responsible for all the medical problems she had as an adult, that ended up taking her sister away from her. I admire her for going through hell and still being capable of finding it in herself to forgive who did that. I admire her mostly because I highly doubt I would have been capable of the same if it was me.
But even if I admire her so much, I can't say I liked the book. It didn't work for me. At all. As I said, the memories Eva Mozes Kor had to remember in order to write this book were traumatic. And I don't think there's any human in the world capable of letting those memories get complete freedom. She hid herself, she hid her heart. And no one can blame her for that. But as she did that, the narration became too cold, too distant, too analitical.
The descriptions are brief, almost non-existent, definitely not enough to let me imagine any of the things Eva Mozes Kor is talking about. And the narration is all about statements, it's factual. Even when she talks about that moment when she decided that she was going to fight the Nazis in the only way she could - surviving in a place meant to kill her -, she is making a statement. She tells us what she felt, but doesn't show us those emotions.
And all of that made it too hard, impossible even, for me to connect, for me to be drawn to the story. The distance she puts between herself and Auschwitz is a wall, a high, unbreakable stone wall that prevented the book from working for me.
However, when she started narrating the after Auschwitz, that wall started to break a bit. It was like seeing ice unfreezing, the coldness leaving the narration, the distance being shortened, the analitical tone vanishing a bit. Not enough to disclose every emotion, but enough to drawn me to the story a little bit more.
There were sparks of emotions, moments when I could feel the story, when my eyes watered and I had goosebumps. Some of those moments weren't even anything that important, but they were so full of emotion and so well-written I don't think I'll ever be able to look at the book and don't remember them. The reference to that little child who survived because her mother hid her under her dress when they arrived at Auschwitz. The reference of the moment when after the war, Eva and her sister found their first real home. The pain when Eva told us about her twin's death. The avalanche of emotions I was not prepared for when Eva realized she had the power to forgive and that no one could take it away from her.
Those parts I can't forget. Just to write about them gets me goosebumps. And had the rest of the book been filled with all this emotion, it would have been perfect. A heartbreaking avalanche of emotions that would have made this book totally unforgetable.
Overall, Eva Mozes Kor and everyone else that survived and found that in themselves to keep seeing the good in the world are real life heroes. The Holocaust was one of the darkest times of our History and we all must do everything we can to do not let anything like that happen again. And even if the book didn't work for me, the message it passes, that message of courage and forgiveness can not be forgotten.
"Anger and hate are the seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace. It is the ultimate act of self-healing."
SCORE: 2.50 out of 5.00 stars
You can also find this review on my blog
Everything that happened in Auschwitz was wrong, sickning, revolting. No one deserved a fate like that, especially people whose only reason to be there was their religion. It was hell on earth for everyone. But I think that somehow twins got a especially horrific part of that hell for no better reason but being twins.
To think of all those children used in experiments, to think that someone like Mengele would call himself a doctor makes me sick. But the most heartbreaking part about that is to think that all those twins that survived only had a chance to survive because they were twins, to think that had they not been twins, they would have been killed before even having a chance to survive. I can't put into words how horrified and sad for what humanity is capable that fact makes me feel. I don't think anyone can.
When I saw this book and learnt that Eva Mozes Kor was one of the twins who could survive Auschwitz I knew I had to read this book. It's stories like hers, heartbreaking and revolting that make sure the past is not forgotten, that the Holocaust is not forgotten, that increases the chance of not letting humanity repeat the same mistake once again. And for that, for her courage and willingness to tell her story to the world, to open her heart and remember such traumatic times I admire her. I admire her for doing that, for telling her story. I admire her and everyone like her that went to that hell on earth, survived and didn't lose fate in humanity, who kept being good people at heart and seeing the good in the world.
Most of all, I admire her for being capable of forgiveness. Of forgiving the people that hurt her, the people that were responsible for all the medical problems she had as an adult, that ended up taking her sister away from her. I admire her for going through hell and still being capable of finding it in herself to forgive who did that. I admire her mostly because I highly doubt I would have been capable of the same if it was me.
But even if I admire her so much, I can't say I liked the book. It didn't work for me. At all. As I said, the memories Eva Mozes Kor had to remember in order to write this book were traumatic. And I don't think there's any human in the world capable of letting those memories get complete freedom. She hid herself, she hid her heart. And no one can blame her for that. But as she did that, the narration became too cold, too distant, too analitical.
The descriptions are brief, almost non-existent, definitely not enough to let me imagine any of the things Eva Mozes Kor is talking about. And the narration is all about statements, it's factual. Even when she talks about that moment when she decided that she was going to fight the Nazis in the only way she could - surviving in a place meant to kill her -, she is making a statement. She tells us what she felt, but doesn't show us those emotions.
And all of that made it too hard, impossible even, for me to connect, for me to be drawn to the story. The distance she puts between herself and Auschwitz is a wall, a high, unbreakable stone wall that prevented the book from working for me.
However, when she started narrating the after Auschwitz, that wall started to break a bit. It was like seeing ice unfreezing, the coldness leaving the narration, the distance being shortened, the analitical tone vanishing a bit. Not enough to disclose every emotion, but enough to drawn me to the story a little bit more.
There were sparks of emotions, moments when I could feel the story, when my eyes watered and I had goosebumps. Some of those moments weren't even anything that important, but they were so full of emotion and so well-written I don't think I'll ever be able to look at the book and don't remember them. The reference to that little child who survived because her mother hid her under her dress when they arrived at Auschwitz. The reference of the moment when after the war, Eva and her sister found their first real home. The pain when Eva told us about her twin's death. The avalanche of emotions I was not prepared for when Eva realized she had the power to forgive and that no one could take it away from her.
Those parts I can't forget. Just to write about them gets me goosebumps. And had the rest of the book been filled with all this emotion, it would have been perfect. A heartbreaking avalanche of emotions that would have made this book totally unforgetable.
Overall, Eva Mozes Kor and everyone else that survived and found that in themselves to keep seeing the good in the world are real life heroes. The Holocaust was one of the darkest times of our History and we all must do everything we can to do not let anything like that happen again. And even if the book didn't work for me, the message it passes, that message of courage and forgiveness can not be forgotten.
"Anger and hate are the seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace. It is the ultimate act of self-healing."
SCORE: 2.50 out of 5.00 stars
You can also find this review on my blog
February 7, 2020
Surviving the Angel of Death is the story of two 10-year-old twin girls that decided to survive Auschwitz.
Throughout the book, the author describes some of the medical experiments that were conducted on them and other twins by Dr. Mengele, and the everyday battle they went through to live another day.
The book also contains details about returning to post-war Romania and the treatment they received after arriving home, where antisemitism was still present, and the Communist party was taking the lead.
In the end, it is presented Ms. Kor's impact on documenting the experiments from the concentration camp and her powerful lesson about forgiveness.
Throughout the book, the author describes some of the medical experiments that were conducted on them and other twins by Dr. Mengele, and the everyday battle they went through to live another day.
The book also contains details about returning to post-war Romania and the treatment they received after arriving home, where antisemitism was still present, and the Communist party was taking the lead.
In the end, it is presented Ms. Kor's impact on documenting the experiments from the concentration camp and her powerful lesson about forgiveness.
June 11, 2020
A short but fascinating account of the Holocaust. I watched many documentaries with Eva Mozes Kor and have always admired her for her strength and the ability to forgive her tormentors. It was her biggest hope that “Surviving the Angel of Death” would be taught in schools so that the future generations would learn of the Nazi atrocities and hopefully prevent a new Holocaust from happening. It’s definitely a must-read for everyone, not just people interested in history.
January 26, 2024
even though the book is for kids, makes you think and feel about the atrocities in the concentrations camps and human perseverance when people have a purpose and love for family and friends
February 1, 2017
This is a story I am satisfied was told. There is by no means anything satisfying about a diabolically, immoral mad doctor performing deadly experiments on Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust, but it is satisfying that a survivor has stepped forward to tell her story as to what happened. I read Elie Wiesel's "Night" a few months ago and realized that there was a very similar structure: the Jewish people lost respect from others and their rights bit by bit, taken from their homes to secluded communities and from secluded communities to camps. I also learned from both books that Jewish prisoners were placed in charge of many of the tasks that had to do with keeping direct order. The difference lies in the fact that "Night" follows a man just entering adulthood, while "Surviving the Angel of Death" follows two young twin girls, thus their journey does not continue into Buchenwald, but instead into Dr. Josef Mengele's disgusting experiments right at Auschwitz.
Eva Mozes Kor tells the story as if she is doing so to an audience of young adults, but she is able to catch the attention of an adult audience as well. She begins by talking about her background and how she was raised with her identical twin sister, Miriam, two older sisters, Edit and Aliz, and by her parents, Alexander and Jaffa. During the years leading up to the Holocaust, Jewish people feeling the wrath of Hitler's actions were moving to areas such as Palestine (now known as Israel) and the United States. Eva's parents, however, felt that it was best to stay put and did not feel that Hitler's desires for annihilation of the Jews was going to grow the way it did. Unfortunately, it placed them in the situation at hand, and upon arrival, Eva and Miriam were sent to take part in Mengele's experiments.
Twins in Auschwitz were given slightly better treatment, but "slightly" meant "minuscule" and it was still pretty crappy. They would frequently be experimented on by Dr. Mengele and his assistants (he was accompanied by at least eight at a time) in ways that made them human pincushions. His greatest desire was to discover the secret of twinning and apply it to Hitler's desire to create an Aryan race (blond hair and blue eyes). Among his worst experiments was how he would inject one twin with a disease that would eventually kill them and, upon their death, inject the other with chloroform, which would kill them as well. From here, Mengele would be able to contrast the healthy and sickened bodies next to one another.
This memoir explores beyond the horrific events at Auschwitz and how the Soviet soldiers would rescue them and others that survived. Like many other survivors, though, Eva possessed the heavy burden of telling not just her story, but also the story of those that never made it out of the camps alive. Eva's most powerful message has to do with forgiveness. Eva has taken the opportunity to not just forgive those that hurt her directly, but also those that put her in the position to become hurt in the first place. I bought this book a few years ago and while I was not aware of it at the time, a friend of mine, Faith, was planning to see her speak at the library. In exchange for my copy for her to take notes, she got me a signed copy. In addition to addressing it to me, she left a message: forgive & heal. If someone that was hurt the way she, her sister, her loved ones, and all others that even gave up their lives for someone's maniacal beliefs has the ability to forgive, it is a very simple step for all of us to do the same.
Eva Mozes Kor does an amazing job being straightforward about her experiences, but does it in a way that everyone can understand. She clarifies things she may feel the reader may not understand and uses great analogies to give the reader a sense of the situation at hand. The way this is written really painted a picture of the events that took place. I am not sure if Eva or her sister, Miriam, looked for official confirmation on the deaths of their loved ones, which I feel would be my only gripe with this memoir. In many cases, though, it was difficult to determine what exactly took place. In many cases, only numbers (as in the amount of deaths) were recorded. The aftermath of what happened to the bodies in some circumstances was just disgusting.
This is imperative reading for anyone that wants to know more about what Dr. Mengele did from the point of view of a victim that saw and endured a great deal of his actions. What Dr. Mengele did was immoral and should be a learning experience of the cruelty that has taken place in our world. However, as Eva Mozes Kor points out, one needs to forgive the individual in order to heal themselves and others from the pain they caused. I got a lot out of reading this.
Eva Mozes Kor tells the story as if she is doing so to an audience of young adults, but she is able to catch the attention of an adult audience as well. She begins by talking about her background and how she was raised with her identical twin sister, Miriam, two older sisters, Edit and Aliz, and by her parents, Alexander and Jaffa. During the years leading up to the Holocaust, Jewish people feeling the wrath of Hitler's actions were moving to areas such as Palestine (now known as Israel) and the United States. Eva's parents, however, felt that it was best to stay put and did not feel that Hitler's desires for annihilation of the Jews was going to grow the way it did. Unfortunately, it placed them in the situation at hand, and upon arrival, Eva and Miriam were sent to take part in Mengele's experiments.
Twins in Auschwitz were given slightly better treatment, but "slightly" meant "minuscule" and it was still pretty crappy. They would frequently be experimented on by Dr. Mengele and his assistants (he was accompanied by at least eight at a time) in ways that made them human pincushions. His greatest desire was to discover the secret of twinning and apply it to Hitler's desire to create an Aryan race (blond hair and blue eyes). Among his worst experiments was how he would inject one twin with a disease that would eventually kill them and, upon their death, inject the other with chloroform, which would kill them as well. From here, Mengele would be able to contrast the healthy and sickened bodies next to one another.
This memoir explores beyond the horrific events at Auschwitz and how the Soviet soldiers would rescue them and others that survived. Like many other survivors, though, Eva possessed the heavy burden of telling not just her story, but also the story of those that never made it out of the camps alive. Eva's most powerful message has to do with forgiveness. Eva has taken the opportunity to not just forgive those that hurt her directly, but also those that put her in the position to become hurt in the first place. I bought this book a few years ago and while I was not aware of it at the time, a friend of mine, Faith, was planning to see her speak at the library. In exchange for my copy for her to take notes, she got me a signed copy. In addition to addressing it to me, she left a message: forgive & heal. If someone that was hurt the way she, her sister, her loved ones, and all others that even gave up their lives for someone's maniacal beliefs has the ability to forgive, it is a very simple step for all of us to do the same.
Eva Mozes Kor does an amazing job being straightforward about her experiences, but does it in a way that everyone can understand. She clarifies things she may feel the reader may not understand and uses great analogies to give the reader a sense of the situation at hand. The way this is written really painted a picture of the events that took place. I am not sure if Eva or her sister, Miriam, looked for official confirmation on the deaths of their loved ones, which I feel would be my only gripe with this memoir. In many cases, though, it was difficult to determine what exactly took place. In many cases, only numbers (as in the amount of deaths) were recorded. The aftermath of what happened to the bodies in some circumstances was just disgusting.
This is imperative reading for anyone that wants to know more about what Dr. Mengele did from the point of view of a victim that saw and endured a great deal of his actions. What Dr. Mengele did was immoral and should be a learning experience of the cruelty that has taken place in our world. However, as Eva Mozes Kor points out, one needs to forgive the individual in order to heal themselves and others from the pain they caused. I got a lot out of reading this.
September 8, 2011
Almost from the moment 10 year old twins Eva and Miriam Mozes stepped out of the cattle car that brought them to Auschwitz, they were separated from their mother, father, and older sisters, never to see them again. Eva comments over and over on the constant smell that permeated Auschwitz from the gas chambers, but even as she instinctively knows that this is the fateful death that the rest of her family had immediately met, she continues to hope they could somehow survive.
The girls were put into a barracks with all the other twins chosen for the sadistic, inhuman medical experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death. Eva, the stronger of the twins, takes it upon herself to look after and care for her sister Miriam. Like all of Mengele’s twins, Eva and Miriam were allowed to keep the clothing they arrived in, as well as their hair, but they were forced to scrounge and “organize” for anything else that would help them survive, even as they were being experimented on.
The strength and resourcefulness of these two girls amazed me. Once day, for example, Eva was given a shot that Miriam was not also given. During the night, she began to run a high fever, within 48 hours her legs were swollen and covered with red patches. Despite the pain and chills these caused, Eva was determined to stand for roll call and not go to the infirmary, since the only way out of it was death and they knew that if one twin died, the other would be killed. She missed roll call thanks to an air raid, but was soon sent to the infirmary to die anyway. On a visit with other doctors, Mengele indicated she had only two weeks to live. But Eva was determined not to be sent to the gas chamber, even though she was not fed or given water. Desperately thirsty, each night, she would crawl on all fours to the end of the infirmary barracks to a water faucet, determined to live. After two weeks, Eva’s high fever broke. But she had to learn how to manipulate the thermometer to fool Mengele into thinking her temperature was normal. Unfortunately, when Eva returned to the barracks and Miriam, she discovered that, because the doctors believed that she would die, her sister had been subjected to injections that caused to her to quite listless and which ultimately stunted the growth of her kidneys.
Both of these 10 year old sisters managed to stay alive in Auschwitz, despite Mengele’s horrendous genetic experiments. Their story is a testament to courage and determination, which will, hopefully, be especially interesting to young readers. And, although I am a firm believer in forgiveness, even I am amazed that Eva was able to eventually find it within herself to forgive Mengele. I’m not sure I could or would go that far. Mengele, after all, was the arbiter of life and death at Auschwitz.
Surviving the Angel of Death: the Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz is told in a straightforward manner, neither too graphic to scare readers nor so sketchy that it diminishes the level of cruel, heartless treatment Mengele’s twins were subjected to. The writing style is intimate and informal, as though Eva Mozes were telling her story to Lisa Rojany Bucceri and I was allowed to listen in. It never gets pedantic, and there is never a sense of self-pity. I suspect Eva is still the same strong feisty fighter now that she was at 10. The book also contains a number of personal family photos of the Mozes family, some from before the war, some from after, as well as pictures their life after the war. There are also general photographs of Auschwitz.
After the war, Eva lived in Israel for a while, and then moved to Terre Haute, Indiana with her husband, Michael Kor, another concentration camp survivor and with whom she had two children. She still lives in Terre Haute, where she founded the Candles Holocaust Museum in 1995.
This book is highly recommended for readers age 12 and up.
The book was a received as an E-ARC from Netgalley.com.
The girls were put into a barracks with all the other twins chosen for the sadistic, inhuman medical experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death. Eva, the stronger of the twins, takes it upon herself to look after and care for her sister Miriam. Like all of Mengele’s twins, Eva and Miriam were allowed to keep the clothing they arrived in, as well as their hair, but they were forced to scrounge and “organize” for anything else that would help them survive, even as they were being experimented on.
The strength and resourcefulness of these two girls amazed me. Once day, for example, Eva was given a shot that Miriam was not also given. During the night, she began to run a high fever, within 48 hours her legs were swollen and covered with red patches. Despite the pain and chills these caused, Eva was determined to stand for roll call and not go to the infirmary, since the only way out of it was death and they knew that if one twin died, the other would be killed. She missed roll call thanks to an air raid, but was soon sent to the infirmary to die anyway. On a visit with other doctors, Mengele indicated she had only two weeks to live. But Eva was determined not to be sent to the gas chamber, even though she was not fed or given water. Desperately thirsty, each night, she would crawl on all fours to the end of the infirmary barracks to a water faucet, determined to live. After two weeks, Eva’s high fever broke. But she had to learn how to manipulate the thermometer to fool Mengele into thinking her temperature was normal. Unfortunately, when Eva returned to the barracks and Miriam, she discovered that, because the doctors believed that she would die, her sister had been subjected to injections that caused to her to quite listless and which ultimately stunted the growth of her kidneys.
Both of these 10 year old sisters managed to stay alive in Auschwitz, despite Mengele’s horrendous genetic experiments. Their story is a testament to courage and determination, which will, hopefully, be especially interesting to young readers. And, although I am a firm believer in forgiveness, even I am amazed that Eva was able to eventually find it within herself to forgive Mengele. I’m not sure I could or would go that far. Mengele, after all, was the arbiter of life and death at Auschwitz.
Surviving the Angel of Death: the Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz is told in a straightforward manner, neither too graphic to scare readers nor so sketchy that it diminishes the level of cruel, heartless treatment Mengele’s twins were subjected to. The writing style is intimate and informal, as though Eva Mozes were telling her story to Lisa Rojany Bucceri and I was allowed to listen in. It never gets pedantic, and there is never a sense of self-pity. I suspect Eva is still the same strong feisty fighter now that she was at 10. The book also contains a number of personal family photos of the Mozes family, some from before the war, some from after, as well as pictures their life after the war. There are also general photographs of Auschwitz.
After the war, Eva lived in Israel for a while, and then moved to Terre Haute, Indiana with her husband, Michael Kor, another concentration camp survivor and with whom she had two children. She still lives in Terre Haute, where she founded the Candles Holocaust Museum in 1995.
This book is highly recommended for readers age 12 and up.
The book was a received as an E-ARC from Netgalley.com.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2015
I recieved this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is phenomenal.
I actually put off reading this book a couple of times, mainly because I wasn't really in the mood for depressing subjects. Which was a pretty big mistake because while this is a memoir of an Auschwitz survivor, it is one of the most uplifting and inspirational books I've read in quite a while.
Eva Moses Kor along with her twin sister, witnessed true evil, barely managing to make it out alive. They went through a hell most will never know, and at such a pivotal time in their young lives. The torture they went through was horrendous, yet it is delivered in such a poetic way, focusing rather on Eva's drive to survive. As the reader you still feel the sadness for the victims, and the anger towards Hitler, and those who believed his propaganda; we just get reminded that no other persons actions, regardless of the severity can define you.
The brilliant retelling of Eva's memories into a more youth-friendly read, is a huge part of the success of this book. For the general population (i.e., the non-history buffs) young and old alike, Surviving the Angel of Death shows the unimaginable dehumanisation that Hitler and his Nazis forced upon the Jewish population in a way that is more approachable than we are accustomed to.
This book is phenomenal.
I actually put off reading this book a couple of times, mainly because I wasn't really in the mood for depressing subjects. Which was a pretty big mistake because while this is a memoir of an Auschwitz survivor, it is one of the most uplifting and inspirational books I've read in quite a while.
Eva Moses Kor along with her twin sister, witnessed true evil, barely managing to make it out alive. They went through a hell most will never know, and at such a pivotal time in their young lives. The torture they went through was horrendous, yet it is delivered in such a poetic way, focusing rather on Eva's drive to survive. As the reader you still feel the sadness for the victims, and the anger towards Hitler, and those who believed his propaganda; we just get reminded that no other persons actions, regardless of the severity can define you.
The brilliant retelling of Eva's memories into a more youth-friendly read, is a huge part of the success of this book. For the general population (i.e., the non-history buffs) young and old alike, Surviving the Angel of Death shows the unimaginable dehumanisation that Hitler and his Nazis forced upon the Jewish population in a way that is more approachable than we are accustomed to.
April 27, 2012
As a ten year old child, Eva Mozes and her twin sister, Miriam, were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where they were subjected to medical experiments conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele. As one of the few remaining survivors of that terrible place, Eva has written an absorbing memoir about her experiences. It was humbling to read her account of the horrific incidents she witnessed. Even more amazing is her capacity to ultimately forgive the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Although this book was written for young adults, I would recommend it to adults as well.
February 20, 2025
It takes a special kind of stupid to believe the BS in this book. The author claims that Mengele attempted to create a Siamese twin by sewing two healthy twins together. Yeah right. Again, it takes a special kind of stupid to believe this. The author was only 11 years old in 1945. The book was originally written in 2009. 64 years AFTER WW2! Why did she wait so long to tell this story? The author is a fraud, and the book is filled with lies that only gullible idiots would believe.
January 26, 2020
When I requested this book from the library, I hadn't realized it was written for young adults. I'm glad I read it though. The Holocaust is an important part of history and this book is a must-read. Growing up Jewish, I don't recall much discussion of the Holocaust at home or at Temple. As an adult, I have learned much more and will never forget those who suffered.
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