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For the Ones You Love: A True Story of Sisterhood and Survival During the Holocaust
The extraordinary true story of the sisters who saved each other.
Friedel and Gina, twins and best friends, live happy enough lives. Their world is cycling trips, visits to their father’s shops, and first-day-of school excitement.
But this is a world that is about to fall apart.
It is the 1930s, and the Nazis are on the rise across Germany. They hate anyone who is different – anyone who is Jewish.
Friedel and Gina and their family are Jewish, and before long they are forced to journey to Poland, where terrible hardships await in a prison-like ghetto. Soon separated from loved ones, as the Second World War rages around them Friedel and Gina are eventually taken to a Nazi prison camp – a place of danger and fear, where they must do everything they can to survive.
From daring recues to incredible acts of kindness, this is the story of the sisters’ love for each other, and of friendships found in the darkest of places.
Friedel and Gina, twins and best friends, live happy enough lives. Their world is cycling trips, visits to their father’s shops, and first-day-of school excitement.
But this is a world that is about to fall apart.
It is the 1930s, and the Nazis are on the rise across Germany. They hate anyone who is different – anyone who is Jewish.
Friedel and Gina and their family are Jewish, and before long they are forced to journey to Poland, where terrible hardships await in a prison-like ghetto. Soon separated from loved ones, as the Second World War rages around them Friedel and Gina are eventually taken to a Nazi prison camp – a place of danger and fear, where they must do everything they can to survive.
From daring recues to incredible acts of kindness, this is the story of the sisters’ love for each other, and of friendships found in the darkest of places.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 4, 2026
This was a harrowing, heartbreaking story that completely captivated me. Being a kids book it was very accessible yet still captured the devastation of the ww2 and the holocaust whilst being manageable for younger readers. This was an important story to tell and one that should be read by everyone.
August 25, 2026
Some children's books are written so well and this is one of them. Absolutely fantastic recount of 2 sisters lives through World War 2. So well written with explanation given when appropriate. Well worth a read by adults and children alike.
September 3, 2026
When I first started reading this book, i
wasn't really sure about, I thought it might be a bit boring. I COMPLETELY changed my mind after the first chapter. In fact, it was so mesmerising, I refused to put it down and DEVOURED the whole thing in about 2 hours.
This is a book about twins Friedel and Gina, and their experiences during the Holocaust, starting with their first day of school at 6 years old, and ending with them in the early twenties.
Honestly, I've read a few books about the Holocaust before, but I've never felt the same way I did after reading this book.
The author describes things in such a simple way, like, he doesn't have to include fancy and language or metaphors : I could SEE everything he was telling me about.
It's a true story as well, and that made me angry when I read about the way Gina and Friedel were treated at the camps and the hardships they went through. Hitler STOLE most of their childhood, all of their teen years and their first adult years too, and all for what because when he died everything fell apart and no one cared anymore. As you can probably tell, seeing the Holocaust through this point if view made me FURIOUS.
It was a sad book, you can't say it wasn't. Freidel and Gina's brother Hans disappeared, their parents both died and their whole family fell apart, spending so much of their lives separated, Bernard and Martha in England, Hans gone, Max in the army and Friedel, Gina and their parents transported over and over again from different parts Germany to Poland.
I honestly thought the twins relationship was beautiful. Friedel was willing to give up her life to safe Gina from getting shot when she was ill, they nursed each other through injury, travelled the lenth of Poland and got through horrible concentration camps TOGETHER! What's more, the book didn't end at the end of the war, like most books about the Holocaust. You actually got to find out what happened to them, which I'm not going to spoil. By the end of the book, I sort if felt responsible for the twins, I felt like I knew them and I didn't want them to go through anything else.
I want to remind anyone reading this again that this is a true story that actually happened. Just really think about it, and let that sink in. There really were twins named Friedel and Gina who lost their parents, lost everything they ever had, and went through terrifying experiences, almost died, almost starved. It really happend.
I dont think enough people have read this book. Its written for older children/ teens like me, but adults should read it too.
Anyway, this was incredibly moving story that really changed the way I think about things, and one I will treasure in my heart forever.
wasn't really sure about, I thought it might be a bit boring. I COMPLETELY changed my mind after the first chapter. In fact, it was so mesmerising, I refused to put it down and DEVOURED the whole thing in about 2 hours.
This is a book about twins Friedel and Gina, and their experiences during the Holocaust, starting with their first day of school at 6 years old, and ending with them in the early twenties.
Honestly, I've read a few books about the Holocaust before, but I've never felt the same way I did after reading this book.
The author describes things in such a simple way, like, he doesn't have to include fancy and language or metaphors : I could SEE everything he was telling me about.
It's a true story as well, and that made me angry when I read about the way Gina and Friedel were treated at the camps and the hardships they went through. Hitler STOLE most of their childhood, all of their teen years and their first adult years too, and all for what because when he died everything fell apart and no one cared anymore. As you can probably tell, seeing the Holocaust through this point if view made me FURIOUS.
It was a sad book, you can't say it wasn't. Freidel and Gina's brother Hans disappeared, their parents both died and their whole family fell apart, spending so much of their lives separated, Bernard and Martha in England, Hans gone, Max in the army and Friedel, Gina and their parents transported over and over again from different parts Germany to Poland.
I honestly thought the twins relationship was beautiful. Friedel was willing to give up her life to safe Gina from getting shot when she was ill, they nursed each other through injury, travelled the lenth of Poland and got through horrible concentration camps TOGETHER! What's more, the book didn't end at the end of the war, like most books about the Holocaust. You actually got to find out what happened to them, which I'm not going to spoil. By the end of the book, I sort if felt responsible for the twins, I felt like I knew them and I didn't want them to go through anything else.
I want to remind anyone reading this again that this is a true story that actually happened. Just really think about it, and let that sink in. There really were twins named Friedel and Gina who lost their parents, lost everything they ever had, and went through terrifying experiences, almost died, almost starved. It really happend.
I dont think enough people have read this book. Its written for older children/ teens like me, but adults should read it too.
Anyway, this was incredibly moving story that really changed the way I think about things, and one I will treasure in my heart forever.
January 18, 2026
Recording stories like this is so vital, but the writing style let this down. The surfeit of footnotes and the definitions of words within a sentence (e.g. "Mum rouged (reddened) her cheeks") broke up the narrative flow and made it feel more like a history lesson rather than a story about real, relatable people. Facts were directly addressed to the reader, for instance explaining that: "The bar mitzvah is a very serious step for Jewish boys. They study the Jewish religion in preparation for a solemn ceremony in which they are seen as becoming grown-ups in the eyes of God." instead of saying Max had spent hours studying for his bar mitzvah etc. It was weirdly stilted and impersonal, which made it difficult to engage with the story or the characters.
The events in the book span 15 years, so a lot of it was condensed. Although there were details that brought the characters to life and really resonated, there were also a lot of dropped plot threads. Maybe the author didn't have that information and wanted to stick to the facts, but as a reader, the lack of resolution was unsatisfying.
The events in the book span 15 years, so a lot of it was condensed. Although there were details that brought the characters to life and really resonated, there were also a lot of dropped plot threads. Maybe the author didn't have that information and wanted to stick to the facts, but as a reader, the lack of resolution was unsatisfying.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews