Auschwitz Escape: The Klara Wizel Story

by Danny Naten, R.J. Gifford

At sixteen years old, Klara Wizel is full of life with a loving family. But her spirit quails when she and her family are swept up with fifteen thousand other Hungarian Jews and forcibly transported to one of the world's most infamous concentration Auschwitz-Birkenau. There Klara comes face to face with one of history’s most infamous Nazi doctors, nicknamed The Great Selector and the Murderer in White, Josef Mengele. Klara watches in horror as Mengele sends her parents, her younger brother, and her older sister to the gas chamber, leaving Klara and her two remaining sisters to be housed like animals in the women's barracks. They live in constant fear of Mengele choosing them for one of his cruel scientific experiments.

As the Russian allies close in, Mengele steps up his selection process and sentences Klara to the gas chamber. But in a miraculous turn of events, Klara escapes both the chamber and Auschwitz itself and makes her way across war-torn Europe back home to Sighet.

The only survivor of record to escape Mengele's notorious death selection process, Klara's is an extraordinary and inspirational story of survival and resilience in the face of deep loss and extreme cruelty.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, Biography, World War II, Historical, Memoir

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 28, 2013

Reviews

[Darya Silman · Rating 4 out of 5]

When starting a book on the Holocaust and seeing a happy family of twelve, you know there will be deprivations, sorrow, grief, and shattered dreams. Klara Wizel was one of ten children in a wealthy family in Sighet, Transylvania. Without the war, she would have married a local man, had a big family, and lived surrounded by her brothers-sisters and their children. She did have a happy marriage - in Canada - but her parents and almost all of her siblings perished during the Holocaust.

AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE: THE KLARA WIZEL STORY was initially a project that resulted in the 2009 documentary awarded the Audience Choice Award. Producer Danny Naten wanted Klara's story to be heard, but it took him some time to persuade Klara to tell about her miraculous escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Josef Mengele personally sent her to a gas chamber during one of the selection processes. Klara accepted her fate because she had no willpower to fight anymore. While other condemned women wailed and pleaded in a small brick building designated as a waiting room, she was calm. She couldn't even say a word to her sisters who came to say the last goodbye. It must have been God or Fate starting with capital F, or some other higher power that advised her how to escape.

Told from Klara's perspective, the book is permeated with the fascination of escape, as if Klara hasn't truly believed she survived. Apart from a few instances, Klara doesn't analyze the events but goes with the flow of thought. For example, she remarks how Hollywood-handsome Josef Mengele was or that, though they heard about the treatment of Jews in concentration camps, they couldn't believe the same would happen to them. Really, how can one even allow the thought that his/her whole family would be dead in a day or two? When their family is right here, distressed but alive, taking care of each other.

The distinction between Klara's and the author's words in the book is the only thing that confuses me. The book contains historical snippets. Do they come from Klara or they are the editor's commentary?

[Teresa “Teri” · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find it difficult to give anything other than 5 Stars ⭐️ to Holocaust memoirs. The very fact that they are not only a Survivor of such a catastrophic ordeal, but they are able to tell others about it, is worth 10 Stars!

Klara’s story was told just as she experienced it. No extra memories of brutal atrocities being committed around her. This book is how she remembers she felt during that period of her life.

The miracle of her escape from the Gas and Crematorium in which she sat in the building awaiting her groups turn, is miraculous. Especially, because she was hand-picked by Dr. Joseph Mengele to be exterminated. This was not the usual first inspection off the trains in Auschwitz, which she passed at the beginning.
Ironically, this was later after she began to give up hope and started mentally and physically breaking down awhile later.

I looked for the documentary of the same name as this book. It won awards in 2009 when it came out, but I haven’t found it yet.

I highly recommend this book, as well as all Holocaust Survivors Memoirs.

[cindi reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

It is truly heartbreaking that the Jewish people were persecuted, tortured and killed with such hatred. Klara's story of the rise of anti-Semitism, Hitler's rise to power, the lies and deceit of the Nazi party are horrendous. God help us all, if we ever forget.

[Noella Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story!

[Susann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Lucky Story

Well, the ending was anyway. Klara's path was anything but. A product of a happy, joyous home in Romania, her family didn't go to Auschwitz until towards the end of WWII. She somehow survived all the horrors of the concentration camp while losing much of her family only to be picked by Dr. Mengele for the gas chambers because of her extreme weight loss. I won't give away the miraculous series of events after that but obviously Fate or whatever decides these things had other ideas. Simply and modestly told, it is quite the story relayed without undue emotion, blame or pathos.

[Irene Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving

Moving. Inspiring. Informative. This is an amazing book. I would to hear more. No wonder she went to Israel when she could. I had no idea of the post-war restrictions after all the rest.

[Jeannee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please remember.....

[Sue Storino · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual with this genre book, it is gut-wrenching, but I'm drawn to read about the courage and will to live that so many have. Human beings have not changed despite our vile history, but there are always people with courage, goodness, and love of God on the other side. After reading books like this, I am always angry that so many Americans casually complain about everything the United States had given us.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The very beginning sends a shock through one.

"In 1933, former General Erich Ludendorff sent a telegram to President Hindenburg regarding the appointment of his new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.

""By appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action."

"Although Hans Frank, who served as Reichsminister and general governor of Poland during the Nazi era, claimed to have read it, an original copy of the telegram has never been found. Hans Frank wrote about the document in his memoirs just before his execution as a war criminal. Another source, which was considered to be more reliable, was Captain Wilhelm Breuker, a close associate of Ludendorff. When Breuker wrote his memoirs in 1953, like Hans Frank, he also attested to the existence of the telegram."

It probably hasn't been publicised not just because the original text is missing, but because it would be highly inconvenient to acknowledge the possibility that the account is true, and that not only the leader wasnt elected by the people, but there were those that could see truth far ahead. And they weren't across the channel or the pond, either, not necessarily, not every one of them.
............

From introduction:-

"Known as the Angel of Death, Mengele conducted business at Auschwitz like a wolf in sheep’s clothing as he personally met and sent more than four hundred thousand people to their deaths."
............

The author paints an amazingly beautiful, gentle happy life of Klara and her family, in her words, in the small town of Sighet in Northern Romania at the point where borders of Hungary, Ukraine and Poland meet - or did, in her time; Ukraine has since been given the land that belonged then to Poland.

It was serene and gentle and beautiful, despite the rumblings in West they were all aware of.

"I am still asked today how we were unaware that people were being murdered or how could we have been so naïve. Sometimes, that question almost feels more accusatory rather than a real need-to-know of the facts. The truth isn’t that simple. .... I ask myself if it was us, if we were we the ones who needed to wake up. The inhumanity and crimes that were being committed, along with the massive complicity that was running out of control across Europe, could have all been stopped instantly with one act of courage from any one of the ruling political powers. But waking up wasn’t something we needed to do. The decision to support Hitler in whatever capacity would be something that millions would later realize and for most, I must say, disgracefully regret."

How very true.

Antisemitism still prevails, now in multiple faces. One denies holocaust, another assumes thst if nazis did so they had good reason to do so, and still others turn and ask why Jews didn't react, as if the victims are to be blamed for the murders!
............

"Although we felt safe in Sighet, we were well aware of the Jewish stores in Germany that were picketed, and shop owners of these stores were beaten and harassed. It was not something that was often discussed openly in our community. Although, being Jewish, we felt the intimidation all the way from Germany but kept quiet and went about our daily lives.

"Hitler, however fanatical, did have opposition. In March of 1933, in New York City, ten thousand Jewish former soldiers marched to city hall to hold protest demonstrations against the treatment of Jews in Germany. Comparable protests were held at Madison Square Garden, where fifty-five thousand people attended. In Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, and many other locations in the United States, consumers boycotted the sale of German goods. The protests were broadcast worldwide. Concurrently, the headline “Judea Declares War on Germany, Jews of All the World Unite” appeared on the front page of London’s Daily Express.

"As some feared, the Nazis threatened to retaliate if these protests continued. Jews were trapped in Germany, unarmed and unable to fight back against Hitler’s club-wielding Brown Shirt police. Their stores were picketed by thugs. Shoppers at these stores were intimidated and harassed with no recourse. Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s notorious propaganda minister, and Hermann Göring, head of the German state police, held a one-day boycott of Jewish business. Goebbels claimed the German boycott would destroy Germany’s economy.

"In addition, Goebbels would claim the Nazis’ stance. He let everybody know, “If worldwide Jewish attacks on the Nazi regime continue, the boycott will be resumed until German Jewry has been annihilated.”"

"All Jews were now considered subversive enemy agents by the Nazi regime. The leaders of the Jewish protest took a vote and called off any further demonstration. They feared the rallying would cause much more serious treatment of the Jews of Germany; little did they know it was too late. It would pale in comparison with what was about to come, and the Nazis’ enormous atrocities aimed at the Jews in Europe would not be exposed for twelve long years."

"Conspiring to step up the emigration of the Jews in 1938, the Nazis created Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” a government persecution of Jews in Germany, Austria, and Sudeten, a region of Czechoslovakia. ... During Kristallnacht, more than 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed, and four hundred synagogues were burned. Ninety-one Jews were killed. Hitler had already established camps for political prisoners. Now, and for the first time, an estimated twenty thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps. Kristallnacht was the catalyst that caused Jews throughout all of Europe to want to flee and escape the Nazi suppression and go anywhere that was considered safe. After Kristallnacht, between 1935 and 1939, approximately half the Jewish population of Germany fled the country."

"Kristallnacht was a big turning point for our town and for all of the Jews in Europe. Although we lived in Transylvania, people fled from the Nazis through Czechoslovakia and came to our town, Sighet, for help. Men, women, and children were crying. People were very upset because they had lost their homes and possessions. Our family helped with food, shelter, and clothing; everybody pitched in and gave something. I was so young, but we realized very quickly that Hitler’s plan, his conspiracy, was creeping our way. His objective was to make it so uncomfortable for the Jews in Germany that the people would leave their homes and migrate elsewhere. Of course, little did we know that it was his plan for us and the rest of Europe, and that plan was only what you could see on the surface. Underneath was something waiting for us that no human being could ever imagine. We just never thought it would arrive in Romania. You just don’t think that way. We should have, but we just didn’t. In 1939, when I was thirteen years old, Hitler’s master plan for the world would be unwrapped for everyone to see. From that point on, the world as we knew it would be changed forever."
............

"On Sunday, August 27, 1939, Poland played Hungary in an international soccer match at Wojska Polskiego Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. Considered one of the best teams in the world, Hungary was expected to easily win and had beaten Poland nine times; the Poles had never won against Hungary before. The largest Polish national newspaper sports headline read, “Without Chance but Ready to Fight.”

"The game started out with Hungary pulling ahead 2–0 in the first thirty minutes. Shortly after, Poland’s best player, a forward named Ernest Wilimowski, scored the team’s first goal. In the second half, Poland attacked with focus and fierceness and scored its second goal, which sent the crowd into an uproar. From that point on, it seemed that the whole game shifted in Poland’s favor. When the game ended, Poland had beaten the heavily favored Hungary 4–2.

"Polish Colonel Kazimierz Glabisz mentioned during the after-game banquet that this may be the last game before another war.

"Little did he know how prophetic his statement would be. Four days before the game, Germany and the Soviet Union had finalized a plan and secretly put into motion an organized invasion into Poland. Five days later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Union attacked Eastern Poland. Stalin and Hitler decided to divide up Poland between the two countries."
............

"In November, the first Jewish ghetto was established in Piotrków, Poland. In 1942, the infamous Wannsee Conference was held and set in motion the Final Solution. The Wannsee Conference was a highly secure meeting that was attended by fourteen high-ranking German officers. There, the fate of the European Jew would be decided.

"The Jewish ghettos came first and were proudly referred to as “kill boxes” by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The Jewish ghetto was an extremely sophisticated plot, developed and implemented by Hitler’s top SS leaders. Jewish ghettos were created and designed to expand across Europe, and over a period of time, they were perfected. The operation was an ongoing roundup and detention of Jews across Europe. By law, Jews were forced to leave their homes and all their possessions and were forced to live in isolated areas away from the main population, restricted by high walls and wire fences. Ghettos emerged all over Poland, and Jews were forced at gunpoint to live in crowded, unsanitary conditions. They were not allowed to leave except in special situations. Any Jew caught outside the ghetto without permission could be executed on sight.

"The Warsaw ghetto was the largest in Poland, with a population of 380,000 people. The highly classified, cryptic complexities developed at the Wannsee Conference would grow and advance, taking on new life with an almost supernatural momentum. This Jewish ghetto would inevitably cross an invisible line of no return and plunge Jews, the German people, and the world into an abyss so dark that when it was all over, the world would be forced to live with this mortal wound for generations to come. In May 1940, the Auschwitz concentration camp was established near the Polish city of Oświęcim."
............

"In 1940, the Hungarian king signed a treaty that gave the Nazis the right to make and enforce their own authority within Hungarian borders. The northern half of Transylvania was annexed to Hungary during the Second World War. Sighet would now be occupied and controlled by the Nazis. We looked at it the way a rail views an oncoming train. There was a trembling at the thought of what was to come, a certain shiver of fear, but there was nothing to be done about it. You could only wish that the train would stay far away, because when it came closer, it would be at full force."

"Their presence was menacing enough; they were the powerful German army—the occupiers. They commanded the anti-Semitic Hungarian army and police to carry out their orders. The Hungarians were happy to do it. The SS, the ones dressed in black, were a different story. I observed a few of them walking around, but more would follow. I rarely saw them.

"Fortunately, this time, the officer who came to live with us was a captain in the German army. My family came to enjoy his company. My mother spoke very good German, and the officer was impressed. He spent time with us, and upon hearing that he was leaving, my father invited him to our family dinner. This was a great honor. He sat beside my father as a welcomed guest. He kissed my mother’s hand. It was the last civilized gesture I would see from a man in uniform for quite some time."
............

Their valuables were taken away.

"This brings me to one of those strange moments in the middle of chaos. It was especially absurd. The Hungarian police made my father open the store on the Sabbath. They said there was no reason for keeping the store closed, and since our customs and practices meant nothing anymore, this would be an example to the community that their course of action would prevail. Our store would be open even if it were at gunpoint. My father followed command, but nobody came. Our store was usually a very busy place, but on the Sabbath, it was completely empty. Non-Jews wouldn’t come into a Jewish neighborhood and enter a Jewish store. And the Jews stayed home. I think, even though my father was a very religious man, the fact that nobody showed up on those days made him smile."

The store was taken away too.

"At the end of 1942, the Hungarian government had made a law to deport to Poland all Jews who could not prove Hungarian citizenship. Any foreigners who were not from Sighet were taken from their homes to the train station, where they were loaded into boxcars for the trip. Some families had been living in Sighet for generations. It was very heartbreaking for us to watch people forced into leaving their homes. People we had known for years were crying as they were escorted to the trains. It was a sad and terribly difficult time. We were powerless to help or to intercede at any level; there was nothing you could do. People were confused. Even after the deportation and with all the acts of anti-Semitism that were accruing in Sighet, we were still refusing to believe that it could become any worse than this."

"I’ll give an example of how the truth was a casualty of war in Sighet. Elie Wiesel writes about it in his book Night. Elie Wiesel and I were friends and neighbors when we were young, and his sister Beatrice and I became lifelong friends. This is an event that had extreme significance for him, and all of us who were there, and is worthy of taking a moment to repeat.

"Another widely known resident, the caretaker of a synagogue, Moshe, who is the heart of this story, was taken away along with other Jews. I remember, two months after the people were taken, Moshe returned and created a ripple in our lives. He meant to sound an alarm, one that might wake us up and put us on a different road, but we did not listen. We did not recognize the truth when it hammered at our door.

"Moshe spoke to the Jewish Council. He talked to his neighbors. He ran from one Jewish household to the next shouting, “Jews, listen to me! It’s all I ask of you. No money, no pity, just listen to me!”

"His story was impossible. It couldn’t be true. The townspeople thought he was crazed or looking for sympathy, and we thought, What an imagination he has! Or sometimes, they pitied him and said, “Poor fellow, he’s gone mad.”

"And as for Moshe, he wept. He knew the truth, and this was his warning to them: When the group of refugees crossed the border into Poland, the Gestapo, the German secret police, took charge of all of the Jews ....

[Fergie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the true story of Klara Iutkovits Wizel, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was raised in the same town as renowned Holocaust survivor and writer, Elie Wiesel. Klara was a teenager at the time she and her family were transported to Auschwitz. Along with her two surviving sisters, Klara attempts to survive within the inhumane conditions of the camp. Marked for death by infamous Nazi doctor, Joseph Mengele, Klara escapes from the clutch's of death to survive the war. This book tells of Klara's beginnings right through to her emigration to America following the war.

AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE - THE KLARA WIZEL STORY is simply written but with a powerful message of love and survival in a time of utter horror and despair.

[DONNA CORUM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auschwitz Escape: The Klara Wizel Story is by Danny Naten and R.J. Gifford.
Danny Naten had the honor of meeting Klara Wizel and talking to her. On the way home from that event, he was telling his wife about this meeting and the impression her story had on him. Klara had never told her story publicly and he felt it needed to be told. He convinced Klara to tell him her story and he and a friend would write her story to share it with the world and encourage them not to forget this happened. Unfortunately, Danny was unable to finish the book due to his death, so his wife helped R.J. Gifford get the book published.
Klara was from Sighet, Transylvania in 1927. She lived there with her parents, five brothers, and four sisters. The family of twelve was very close and worked hard for what they had. Her Father was a holy man, a scholar who loved to study the Torah. He taught them the value of being generous to others. Though he had five girls to find dowries for, he paid the dowry for a young girl he met through the Rabbi. He was paying it in payments that ended only when they were placed on the trains headed to Poland. Klara had a fun and joyful childhood with many friends and activities. She and her best friend loved going to the theater, especially to see Gone With the Wind. She also knew Elie Wiesel and his sister Beatrice.
When the family was placed on a transport, the family included her parents, her brothers Mendal and Mortho, Klara and her three sisters, Hedy, Rose, and Ancy. Klara’s brothers. Haskell and Joseph, were forced to join the Hungarian Army and her brother Lazar had left for Russia to try his luck there. Her sister Ety and her husband who were on a later transport. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Mendal was sent with the men while Mortho and her Father were sent to the gas chambers. Her Mother and her sister Ancy were also sent to the gas chambers while the three other girls were sent into the camp and were able to stay together.
Klara tells the story of her stay in the camp with her sisters and how the three of them kept each other going and as safe as possible. Klara, however, eventually stopped eating and was selected to be sent to the gas chamber. Her escape is miraculous. However, she was separated from Hedy and Rose.
After the war, she went back to Sighet to find out about the rest of her family. She lived with Elie Wiesel’s sister Beatrice in her home until she could get back on her feet. She and Beatrice left and went to Prague where they heard many people were being reunited with loved ones. Beatrice already knew that her sister and Elie were in Paris and were OK. While in Prague, Klara received a letter from her sisters saying they were in Sighet so she went back only to find they had left for Cluj to be with relatives. She was reunited with them there. They finally a of Joseph’s death and Haskell’s being sent to Auschwitz; but they never found out what happened to Mendal and Haskell but assumed them dead. Their sister Ety was killed in Mauthausen. It wasn’t until twenty years later when the three girls and their families were in Canada and California that they learned that Lazar was alive in Russia. He joined them in Canada.
This is one of the best memoirs I have read lately about a Holocaust survivor. It is very well-written and although you learn the horrors of Auschwitz, it is not very graphic. Her interactions with Mengele are very vivid and you can feel the evil he portrays as he stands in his immaculate uniform with the whitest white gloves directing people to life or death. It is chilling. You do have to read this book in sections when it gets to be too emotional.

[Lisa Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

The true story of how Klara survived Auschwitz. Her determination to live during and after the concentration camps; her determination to be thankful for the opportunity to live free in Canada, then the United States is inspiring.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So brave, never giving up hope and full of love, this story recounts an unimaginable experience for a young woman.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The very beginning sends a shock through one.

"In 1933, former General Erich Ludendorff sent a telegram to President Hindenburg regarding the appointment of his new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.

""By appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action."

"Although Hans Frank, who served as Reichsminister and general governor of Poland during the Nazi era, claimed to have read it, an original copy of the telegram has never been found. Hans Frank wrote about the document in his memoirs just before his execution as a war criminal. Another source, which was considered to be more reliable, was Captain Wilhelm Breuker, a close associate of Ludendorff. When Breuker wrote his memoirs in 1953, like Hans Frank, he also attested to the existence of the telegram."

It probably hasn't been publicised not just because the original text is missing, but because it would be highly inconvenient to acknowledge the possibility that the account is true, and that not only the leader wasnt elected by the people, but there were those that could see truth far ahead. And they weren't across the channel or the pond, either, not necessarily, not every one of them.
............

From introduction:-

"Known as the Angel of Death, Mengele conducted business at Auschwitz like a wolf in sheep’s clothing as he personally met and sent more than four hundred thousand people to their deaths."
............

The author paints an amazingly beautiful, gentle happy life of Klara and her family, in her words, in the small town of Sighet in Northern Romania at the point where borders of Hungary, Ukraine and Poland meet - or did, in her time; Ukraine has since been given the land that belonged then to Poland.

It was serene and gentle and beautiful, despite the rumblings in West they were all aware of.

"I am still asked today how we were unaware that people were being murdered or how could we have been so naïve. Sometimes, that question almost feels more accusatory rather than a real need-to-know of the facts. The truth isn’t that simple. .... I ask myself if it was us, if we were we the ones who needed to wake up. The inhumanity and crimes that were being committed, along with the massive complicity that was running out of control across Europe, could have all been stopped instantly with one act of courage from any one of the ruling political powers. But waking up wasn’t something we needed to do. The decision to support Hitler in whatever capacity would be something that millions would later realize and for most, I must say, disgracefully regret."

How very true.

Antisemitism still prevails, now in multiple faces. One denies holocaust, another assumes thst if nazis did so they had good reason to do so, and still others turn and ask why Jews didn't react, as if the victims are to be blamed for the murders!
............

"Although we felt safe in Sighet, we were well aware of the Jewish stores in Germany that were picketed, and shop owners of these stores were beaten and harassed. It was not something that was often discussed openly in our community. Although, being Jewish, we felt the intimidation all the way from Germany but kept quiet and went about our daily lives.

"Hitler, however fanatical, did have opposition. In March of 1933, in New York City, ten thousand Jewish former soldiers marched to city hall to hold protest demonstrations against the treatment of Jews in Germany. Comparable protests were held at Madison Square Garden, where fifty-five thousand people attended. In Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, and many other locations in the United States, consumers boycotted the sale of German goods. The protests were broadcast worldwide. Concurrently, the headline “Judea Declares War on Germany, Jews of All the World Unite” appeared on the front page of London’s Daily Express.

"As some feared, the Nazis threatened to retaliate if these protests continued. Jews were trapped in Germany, unarmed and unable to fight back against Hitler’s club-wielding Brown Shirt police. Their stores were picketed by thugs. Shoppers at these stores were intimidated and harassed with no recourse. Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s notorious propaganda minister, and Hermann Göring, head of the German state police, held a one-day boycott of Jewish business. Goebbels claimed the German boycott would destroy Germany’s economy.

"In addition, Goebbels would claim the Nazis’ stance. He let everybody know, “If worldwide Jewish attacks on the Nazi regime continue, the boycott will be resumed until German Jewry has been annihilated.”"

"All Jews were now considered subversive enemy agents by the Nazi regime. The leaders of the Jewish protest took a vote and called off any further demonstration. They feared the rallying would cause much more serious treatment of the Jews of Germany; little did they know it was too late. It would pale in comparison with what was about to come, and the Nazis’ enormous atrocities aimed at the Jews in Europe would not be exposed for twelve long years."

"Conspiring to step up the emigration of the Jews in 1938, the Nazis created Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” a government persecution of Jews in Germany, Austria, and Sudeten, a region of Czechoslovakia. ... During Kristallnacht, more than 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed, and four hundred synagogues were burned. Ninety-one Jews were killed. Hitler had already established camps for political prisoners. Now, and for the first time, an estimated twenty thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps. Kristallnacht was the catalyst that caused Jews throughout all of Europe to want to flee and escape the Nazi suppression and go anywhere that was considered safe. After Kristallnacht, between 1935 and 1939, approximately half the Jewish population of Germany fled the country."

"Kristallnacht was a big turning point for our town and for all of the Jews in Europe. Although we lived in Transylvania, people fled from the Nazis through Czechoslovakia and came to our town, Sighet, for help. Men, women, and children were crying. People were very upset because they had lost their homes and possessions. Our family helped with food, shelter, and clothing; everybody pitched in and gave something. I was so young, but we realized very quickly that Hitler’s plan, his conspiracy, was creeping our way. His objective was to make it so uncomfortable for the Jews in Germany that the people would leave their homes and migrate elsewhere. Of course, little did we know that it was his plan for us and the rest of Europe, and that plan was only what you could see on the surface. Underneath was something waiting for us that no human being could ever imagine. We just never thought it would arrive in Romania. You just don’t think that way. We should have, but we just didn’t. In 1939, when I was thirteen years old, Hitler’s master plan for the world would be unwrapped for everyone to see. From that point on, the world as we knew it would be changed forever."
............

"On Sunday, August 27, 1939, Poland played Hungary in an international soccer match at Wojska Polskiego Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. Considered one of the best teams in the world, Hungary was expected to easily win and had beaten Poland nine times; the Poles had never won against Hungary before. The largest Polish national newspaper sports headline read, “Without Chance but Ready to Fight.”

"The game started out with Hungary pulling ahead 2–0 in the first thirty minutes. Shortly after, Poland’s best player, a forward named Ernest Wilimowski, scored the team’s first goal. In the second half, Poland attacked with focus and fierceness and scored its second goal, which sent the crowd into an uproar. From that point on, it seemed that the whole game shifted in Poland’s favor. When the game ended, Poland had beaten the heavily favored Hungary 4–2.

"Polish Colonel Kazimierz Glabisz mentioned during the after-game banquet that this may be the last game before another war.

"Little did he know how prophetic his statement would be. Four days before the game, Germany and the Soviet Union had finalized a plan and secretly put into motion an organized invasion into Poland. Five days later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Union attacked Eastern Poland. Stalin and Hitler decided to divide up Poland between the two countries."
............

"In November, the first Jewish ghetto was established in Piotrków, Poland. In 1942, the infamous Wannsee Conference was held and set in motion the Final Solution. The Wannsee Conference was a highly secure meeting that was attended by fourteen high-ranking German officers. There, the fate of the European Jew would be decided.

"The Jewish ghettos came first and were proudly referred to as “kill boxes” by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The Jewish ghetto was an extremely sophisticated plot, developed and implemented by Hitler’s top SS leaders. Jewish ghettos were created and designed to expand across Europe, and over a period of time, they were perfected. The operation was an ongoing roundup and detention of Jews across Europe. By law, Jews were forced to leave their homes and all their possessions and were forced to live in isolated areas away from the main population, restricted by high walls and wire fences. Ghettos emerged all over Poland, and Jews were forced at gunpoint to live in crowded, unsanitary conditions. They were not allowed to leave except in special situations. Any Jew caught outside the ghetto without permission could be executed on sight.

"The Warsaw ghetto was the largest in Poland, with a population of 380,000 people. The highly classified, cryptic complexities developed at the Wannsee Conference would grow and advance, taking on new life with an almost supernatural momentum. This Jewish ghetto would inevitably cross an invisible line of no return and plunge Jews, the German people, and the world into an abyss so dark that when it was all over, the world would be forced to live with this mortal wound for generations to come. In May 1940, the Auschwitz concentration camp was established near the Polish city of Oświęcim."
............

"In 1940, the Hungarian king signed a treaty that gave the Nazis the right to make and enforce their own authority within Hungarian borders. The northern half of Transylvania was annexed to Hungary during the Second World War. Sighet would now be occupied and controlled by the Nazis. We looked at it the way a rail views an oncoming train. There was a trembling at the thought of what was to come, a certain shiver of fear, but there was nothing to be done about it. You could only wish that the train would stay far away, because when it came closer, it would be at full force."

"Their presence was menacing enough; they were the powerful German army—the occupiers. They commanded the anti-Semitic Hungarian army and police to carry out their orders. The Hungarians were happy to do it. The SS, the ones dressed in black, were a different story. I observed a few of them walking around, but more would follow. I rarely saw them.

"Fortunately, this time, the officer who came to live with us was a captain in the German army. My family came to enjoy his company. My mother spoke very good German, and the officer was impressed. He spent time with us, and upon hearing that he was leaving, my father invited him to our family dinner. This was a great honor. He sat beside my father as a welcomed guest. He kissed my mother’s hand. It was the last civilized gesture I would see from a man in uniform for quite some time."
............

Their valuables were taken away.

"This brings me to one of those strange moments in the middle of chaos. It was especially absurd. The Hungarian police made my father open the store on the Sabbath. They said there was no reason for keeping the store closed, and since our customs and practices meant nothing anymore, this would be an example to the community that their course of action would prevail. Our store would be open even if it were at gunpoint. My father followed command, but nobody came. Our store was usually a very busy place, but on the Sabbath, it was completely empty. Non-Jews wouldn’t come into a Jewish neighborhood and enter a Jewish store. And the Jews stayed home. I think, even though my father was a very religious man, the fact that nobody showed up on those days made him smile."

The store was taken away too.

"At the end of 1942, the Hungarian government had made a law to deport to Poland all Jews who could not prove Hungarian citizenship. Any foreigners who were not from Sighet were taken from their homes to the train station, where they were loaded into boxcars for the trip. Some families had been living in Sighet for generations. It was very heartbreaking for us to watch people forced into leaving their homes. People we had known for years were crying as they were escorted to the trains. It was a sad and terribly difficult time. We were powerless to help or to intercede at any level; there was nothing you could do. People were confused. Even after the deportation and with all the acts of anti-Semitism that were accruing in Sighet, we were still refusing to believe that it could become any worse than this."

"I’ll give an example of how the truth was a casualty of war in Sighet. Elie Wiesel writes about it in his book Night. Elie Wiesel and I were friends and neighbors when we were young, and his sister Beatrice and I became lifelong friends. This is an event that had extreme significance for him, and all of us who were there, and is worthy of taking a moment to repeat.

"Another widely known resident, the caretaker of a synagogue, Moshe, who is the heart of this story, was taken away along with other Jews. I remember, two months after the people were taken, Moshe returned and created a ripple in our lives. He meant to sound an alarm, one that might wake us up and put us on a different road, but we did not listen. We did not recognize the truth when it hammered at our door.

"Moshe spoke to the Jewish Council. He talked to his neighbors. He ran from one Jewish household to the next shouting, “Jews, listen to me! It’s all I ask of you. No money, no pity, just listen to me!”

"His story was impossible. It couldn’t be true. The townspeople thought he was crazed or looking for sympathy, and we thought, What an imagination he has! Or sometimes, they pitied him and said, “Poor fellow, he’s gone mad.”

"And as for Moshe, he wept. He knew the truth, and this was his warning to them: When the group of refugees crossed the border into Poland, the Gestapo, the German secret police, took charge of all of the Jews ....

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The very beginning sends a shock through one.

"In 1933, former General Erich Ludendorff sent a telegram to President Hindenburg regarding the appointment of his new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.

""By appointing Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you have handed over our sacred German fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action."

"Although Hans Frank, who served as Reichsminister and general governor of Poland during the Nazi era, claimed to have read it, an original copy of the telegram has never been found. Hans Frank wrote about the document in his memoirs just before his execution as a war criminal. Another source, which was considered to be more reliable, was Captain Wilhelm Breuker, a close associate of Ludendorff. When Breuker wrote his memoirs in 1953, like Hans Frank, he also attested to the existence of the telegram."

It probably hasn't been publicised not just because the original text is missing, but because it would be highly inconvenient to acknowledge the possibility that the account is true, and that not only the leader wasnt elected by the people, but there were those that could see truth far ahead. And they weren't across the channel or the pond, either, not necessarily, not every one of them.
............

From introduction:-

"Known as the Angel of Death, Mengele conducted business at Auschwitz like a wolf in sheep’s clothing as he personally met and sent more than four hundred thousand people to their deaths."
............

The author paints an amazingly beautiful, gentle happy life of Klara and her family, in her words, in the small town of Sighet in Northern Romania at the point where borders of Hungary, Ukraine and Poland meet - or did, in her time; Ukraine has since been given the land that belonged then to Poland.

It was serene and gentle and beautiful, despite the rumblings in West they were all aware of.

"I am still asked today how we were unaware that people were being murdered or how could we have been so naïve. Sometimes, that question almost feels more accusatory rather than a real need-to-know of the facts. The truth isn’t that simple. .... I ask myself if it was us, if we were we the ones who needed to wake up. The inhumanity and crimes that were being committed, along with the massive complicity that was running out of control across Europe, could have all been stopped instantly with one act of courage from any one of the ruling political powers. But waking up wasn’t something we needed to do. The decision to support Hitler in whatever capacity would be something that millions would later realize and for most, I must say, disgracefully regret."

How very true.

Antisemitism still prevails, now in multiple faces. One denies holocaust, another assumes thst if nazis did so they had good reason to do so, and still others turn and ask why Jews didn't react, as if the victims are to be blamed for the murders!
............

"Although we felt safe in Sighet, we were well aware of the Jewish stores in Germany that were picketed, and shop owners of these stores were beaten and harassed. It was not something that was often discussed openly in our community. Although, being Jewish, we felt the intimidation all the way from Germany but kept quiet and went about our daily lives.

"Hitler, however fanatical, did have opposition. In March of 1933, in New York City, ten thousand Jewish former soldiers marched to city hall to hold protest demonstrations against the treatment of Jews in Germany. Comparable protests were held at Madison Square Garden, where fifty-five thousand people attended. In Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, and many other locations in the United States, consumers boycotted the sale of German goods. The protests were broadcast worldwide. Concurrently, the headline “Judea Declares War on Germany, Jews of All the World Unite” appeared on the front page of London’s Daily Express.

"As some feared, the Nazis threatened to retaliate if these protests continued. Jews were trapped in Germany, unarmed and unable to fight back against Hitler’s club-wielding Brown Shirt police. Their stores were picketed by thugs. Shoppers at these stores were intimidated and harassed with no recourse. Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s notorious propaganda minister, and Hermann Göring, head of the German state police, held a one-day boycott of Jewish business. Goebbels claimed the German boycott would destroy Germany’s economy.

"In addition, Goebbels would claim the Nazis’ stance. He let everybody know, “If worldwide Jewish attacks on the Nazi regime continue, the boycott will be resumed until German Jewry has been annihilated.”"

"All Jews were now considered subversive enemy agents by the Nazi regime. The leaders of the Jewish protest took a vote and called off any further demonstration. They feared the rallying would cause much more serious treatment of the Jews of Germany; little did they know it was too late. It would pale in comparison with what was about to come, and the Nazis’ enormous atrocities aimed at the Jews in Europe would not be exposed for twelve long years."

"Conspiring to step up the emigration of the Jews in 1938, the Nazis created Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” a government persecution of Jews in Germany, Austria, and Sudeten, a region of Czechoslovakia. ... During Kristallnacht, more than 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed, and four hundred synagogues were burned. Ninety-one Jews were killed. Hitler had already established camps for political prisoners. Now, and for the first time, an estimated twenty thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps. Kristallnacht was the catalyst that caused Jews throughout all of Europe to want to flee and escape the Nazi suppression and go anywhere that was considered safe. After Kristallnacht, between 1935 and 1939, approximately half the Jewish population of Germany fled the country."

"Kristallnacht was a big turning point for our town and for all of the Jews in Europe. Although we lived in Transylvania, people fled from the Nazis through Czechoslovakia and came to our town, Sighet, for help. Men, women, and children were crying. People were very upset because they had lost their homes and possessions. Our family helped with food, shelter, and clothing; everybody pitched in and gave something. I was so young, but we realized very quickly that Hitler’s plan, his conspiracy, was creeping our way. His objective was to make it so uncomfortable for the Jews in Germany that the people would leave their homes and migrate elsewhere. Of course, little did we know that it was his plan for us and the rest of Europe, and that plan was only what you could see on the surface. Underneath was something waiting for us that no human being could ever imagine. We just never thought it would arrive in Romania. You just don’t think that way. We should have, but we just didn’t. In 1939, when I was thirteen years old, Hitler’s master plan for the world would be unwrapped for everyone to see. From that point on, the world as we knew it would be changed forever."
............

"On Sunday, August 27, 1939, Poland played Hungary in an international soccer match at Wojska Polskiego Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. Considered one of the best teams in the world, Hungary was expected to easily win and had beaten Poland nine times; the Poles had never won against Hungary before. The largest Polish national newspaper sports headline read, “Without Chance but Ready to Fight.”

"The game started out with Hungary pulling ahead 2–0 in the first thirty minutes. Shortly after, Poland’s best player, a forward named Ernest Wilimowski, scored the team’s first goal. In the second half, Poland attacked with focus and fierceness and scored its second goal, which sent the crowd into an uproar. From that point on, it seemed that the whole game shifted in Poland’s favor. When the game ended, Poland had beaten the heavily favored Hungary 4–2.

"Polish Colonel Kazimierz Glabisz mentioned during the after-game banquet that this may be the last game before another war.

"Little did he know how prophetic his statement would be. Four days before the game, Germany and the Soviet Union had finalized a plan and secretly put into motion an organized invasion into Poland. Five days later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Union attacked Eastern Poland. Stalin and Hitler decided to divide up Poland between the two countries."
............

"In November, the first Jewish ghetto was established in Piotrków, Poland. In 1942, the infamous Wannsee Conference was held and set in motion the Final Solution. The Wannsee Conference was a highly secure meeting that was attended by fourteen high-ranking German officers. There, the fate of the European Jew would be decided.

"The Jewish ghettos came first and were proudly referred to as “kill boxes” by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The Jewish ghetto was an extremely sophisticated plot, developed and implemented by Hitler’s top SS leaders. Jewish ghettos were created and designed to expand across Europe, and over a period of time, they were perfected. The operation was an ongoing roundup and detention of Jews across Europe. By law, Jews were forced to leave their homes and all their possessions and were forced to live in isolated areas away from the main population, restricted by high walls and wire fences. Ghettos emerged all over Poland, and Jews were forced at gunpoint to live in crowded, unsanitary conditions. They were not allowed to leave except in special situations. Any Jew caught outside the ghetto without permission could be executed on sight.

"The Warsaw ghetto was the largest in Poland, with a population of 380,000 people. The highly classified, cryptic complexities developed at the Wannsee Conference would grow and advance, taking on new life with an almost supernatural momentum. This Jewish ghetto would inevitably cross an invisible line of no return and plunge Jews, the German people, and the world into an abyss so dark that when it was all over, the world would be forced to live with this mortal wound for generations to come. In May 1940, the Auschwitz concentration camp was established near the Polish city of Oświęcim."
............

"In 1940, the Hungarian king signed a treaty that gave the Nazis the right to make and enforce their own authority within Hungarian borders. The northern half of Transylvania was annexed to Hungary during the Second World War. Sighet would now be occupied and controlled by the Nazis. We looked at it the way a rail views an oncoming train. There was a trembling at the thought of what was to come, a certain shiver of fear, but there was nothing to be done about it. You could only wish that the train would stay far away, because when it came closer, it would be at full force."

"Their presence was menacing enough; they were the powerful German army—the occupiers. They commanded the anti-Semitic Hungarian army and police to carry out their orders. The Hungarians were happy to do it. The SS, the ones dressed in black, were a different story. I observed a few of them walking around, but more would follow. I rarely saw them.

"Fortunately, this time, the officer who came to live with us was a captain in the German army. My family came to enjoy his company. My mother spoke very good German, and the officer was impressed. He spent time with us, and upon hearing that he was leaving, my father invited him to our family dinner. This was a great honor. He sat beside my father as a welcomed guest. He kissed my mother’s hand. It was the last civilized gesture I would see from a man in uniform for quite some time."
............

Their valuables were taken away.

"This brings me to one of those strange moments in the middle of chaos. It was especially absurd. The Hungarian police made my father open the store on the Sabbath. They said there was no reason for keeping the store closed, and since our customs and practices meant nothing anymore, this would be an example to the community that their course of action would prevail. Our store would be open even if it were at gunpoint. My father followed command, but nobody came. Our store was usually a very busy place, but on the Sabbath, it was completely empty. Non-Jews wouldn’t come into a Jewish neighborhood and enter a Jewish store. And the Jews stayed home. I think, even though my father was a very religious man, the fact that nobody showed up on those days made him smile."

The store was taken away too.

"At the end of 1942, the Hungarian government had made a law to deport to Poland all Jews who could not prove Hungarian citizenship. Any foreigners who were not from Sighet were taken from their homes to the train station, where they were loaded into boxcars for the trip. Some families had been living in Sighet for generations. It was very heartbreaking for us to watch people forced into leaving their homes. People we had known for years were crying as they were escorted to the trains. It was a sad and terribly difficult time. We were powerless to help or to intercede at any level; there was nothing you could do. People were confused. Even after the deportation and with all the acts of anti-Semitism that were accruing in Sighet, we were still refusing to believe that it could become any worse than this."

"I’ll give an example of how the truth was a casualty of war in Sighet. Elie Wiesel writes about it in his book Night. Elie Wiesel and I were friends and neighbors when we were young, and his sister Beatrice and I became lifelong friends. This is an event that had extreme significance for him, and all of us who were there, and is worthy of taking a moment to repeat.

"Another widely known resident, the caretaker of a synagogue, Moshe, who is the heart of this story, was taken away along with other Jews. I remember, two months after the people were taken, Moshe returned and created a ripple in our lives. He meant to sound an alarm, one that might wake us up and put us on a different road, but we did not listen. We did not recognize the truth when it hammered at our door.

"Moshe spoke to the Jewish Council. He talked to his neighbors. He ran from one Jewish household to the next shouting, “Jews, listen to me! It’s all I ask of you. No money, no pity, just listen to me!”

"His story was impossible. It couldn’t be true. The townspeople thought he was crazed or looking for sympathy, and we thought, What an imagination he has! Or sometimes, they pitied him and said, “Poor fellow, he’s gone mad.”

"And as for Moshe, he wept. He knew the truth, and this was his warning to them: When the group of refugees crossed the border into Poland, the Gestapo, the German secret police, took charge of all of the Jews ....

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time I read a Holocaust book I think; these are very strong people...more so mentally than anything else. It is almost impossible to not put yourself in their shoes and say “could I have survived this” or “ how would I have handled this”. The Klara Wizel story is no exception. A young girl from a large loving family living her best life; thinking as all young people do....nothing bad can happen to me when suddenly (or not so suddenly) it does. Her story was memorable and I did enjoy it however I think I would have enjoyed the “not so condensed” version better. This was like cliff notes to a 350 page book. I am glad I read it but it just left me wanting more.

[Jeffrey Falk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klara Wizel may be the only person to survive after being personally marked for death by Josef Mengele. This story of a remarkable woman's resilience in front of a world-historical backdrop is both tragedy and triumph. It has some philosophical insight as well.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the remarkable story of Klara Wizel, the youngest of ten children of Ignatiu and Freda Iutkovits who endres the terror and inhumanity of Auschwitz-Birkenau during the barbaric reign of Hitler. Both of Hannah’s parents and two of her siblings were killed in the gas chambers. But, Klara and her two remaining sisters battle to survive their harsh and unrelenting days in the women’s barracks. Then, one day, the monstrous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, selects Klara for death in the gas chamber. Miraculously, Klara manages to escape her certain demise. This is her amazing story.
I was struck with the similarity between the way the Nazi government implemented its rise to power over eastern Europe and the way the pro-Soviet government behaved as they moved in at the end of WWII to liberate the victims of Nazi oppression. The Russians began to quickly seal borders and made it difficult for those wishing to leave, to do so. To Klara and her surviving sisters, this scenario was all too familiar.

[Jack Drout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t find enough words to describe this book. Amazing, powerful, inspiring, unbelievable are all words that come to mind when describing this book. The story of Klara Wizel surviving a death sentence from Josef Mengele himself is so captivating in itself but the way that the book is written is really what makes this story great. Its like you are able to learn both about Klara’s personal survival story but alos get a mini history lesson about the Holocaust. The authors do a great job at letting us feel what Klara is feeling and it is almost like you can picture yourself there with her because they do such a great job at telling the story. Also you can tell how deep Klara’s love is for her sisters because she goes through so much effort postwar to find and to be with her sisters.

To sum it all up this was a truly powerful survival story fueled by Klara’s determination to live. I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to read a book about the Holocaust.

[Mrs Carole B Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking and moving

A very poignant and moving story that was well written and gives a unique and disturbing insight into the horrors of Auschwitz. But despite the focus on Mengele being horrific, the strength and personality of Klara seems to outshine the horrors and remind us of the human spirit and strength.

This is a book which will certainly appeal to people who are looking for a better understanding of the human impact of Auschwitz.

So a four star rating is justified. I thought the book itself about what took place in the camp was quite brief but equally the human story and the focus on family values and the love within the family, despite all the tragedy, is important in order to retain a positive perspective.

If I have time, I will try to watch the documentary.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned to die!! BUT..

An amazing true story of a woman's escape from Auschwitz! Klara had been selected to die by Joseph Mengle but ? a malfunction in the gas chamber that day, saw a small group of prisoners shifted to a holding cabin for the night and this very sick frail woman saw her opportunity to escape. Klara was a Romanian Jew and had already seen her parents and a brother side-lined off to the chambers. Her 2 older sisters remained in the camp but were finally relieved by the Russians. One other brother survived the war, out of a family of ten!!
This book gives fresh insight into a country we don't hear so much of and fresh thinking about hope and the human spirit.

[Julie Zimmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uplifting and vital read

Auschwitz Escape-the Klara Wizel Story, tells of an incredible and courageous young lady, Klara, who survived the horror of Auschwitz, of losing most of her family and of her bravery in escaping the gas chamber. I could not put this down. Klara overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to escape second before she would have perished, and after having looked the evil Mengele in the eye. Hers is a story to be read by all. And it seems especially important that today's young people read it, in light of the huge surge we are seeing in anti semitism. We cannot allow the horrors of the Holocaust to happen again.

[Almondkareaol.Com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Commentary of a courageous young Jewish woman

I enjoyed the book, the facts speak for themselves.
It would make a great movie, other than the documentary that it is. The reality of growing up as a Jew in prewar Europe , became a nightmare for Jews . Dr. Mengele, became their worst nightmare, and then Russian occupation also turned into a nightmare, both of which Klara escaoed. Kara played down her part it seems, and just wants the pain to be revealed.Perhaps it will deter others from allowing their freedoms to be stolen little by little, because yes, it can happen to any people group.

[Cindy Overstake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klara’s story is an amazing story. It is unbelievable that she managed to escape from being gassed, especially considering what terrible mental and physical shape she was in at the time. It is a testament to the human spirit that she survived the evil of the Holocaust. I thought the writing could have been better. The chapters were short. I think the authors could have gone into far greater detail, especially emotional detail. There is nothing simple about this story, but it was told in too simple of a way in my opinion.

[Joy Pouros · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredible account of one woman's experience in Auschwitz.

Because it's not fiction, it's a drier account than most historical fiction books. There is some contextual information about who people are, but most of the book is her account as she experienced it as a 17 year old.

I really appreciated the view of what it was like getting released -- the confusion, the lack of transportation, going "home" not knowing who (if anyone) would be there. That is usually not as covered in other books I've read.

[Cheryl Swenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow she found the strength not to hate

One of the things I like best about this story is that even though it's a story of genocide and inhumanity, Klara tells of the love and kindness that her parents taught them. It made me appreciate my family and my friends, and reminded me to take joy in each day. I'm so amazed that Klara was able to experience joy again after the nightmare of Auschwitz. An inspirational story!

[Koo Lanham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moats amazing story

The story of klara and her sisters making it through the Auschwitz camp and reuniting with her sisters hedy and rose was very touching. The escape that klara made was definitely from God our father. Nothing by chance, I believe divine guidance.she also got her brother back! Amazing true story of love and deliverance. The story was very well written, a must read for all .

[Lady Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense book

Having read this book leaves me with great sadness. Such a horrible ideal Klara Wizel went through. It is unimaginable to have lived through the horrors of having been forced to be in a Concentration Camp because she was Jewish
. My hope is that we as the human race will never let anything like these atrocities happen ever again. May I live to see humankind live with peace and respect for each other.

[Cheryl-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A touching story. I was highlighting and contemplating how much we NEED to learn/remember from this time in history about how the Nazi's took over, people turned against their friends and neighbors and the horrific events that took place because people turned a blind eye to the dehuminization of one group of people until it was too late. I recommend this over Night for youth who need to read a concentration camp story.