Mark it with a Stone

by Joseph Horn

He stayed alive while his family perished, working as a slave laborer,and surviving torture at Auchwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

Genres: Holocaust

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to read but harder to put down. Joseph’s story conveys the truths, horrors and what it took to survive the concentration camps. He acknowledged every kindness he experienced that helped sustain his will to survive so he could bear witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust. A very real moving story of his life.

[Gabriel Valjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that you wish didn’t exist, but are grateful that it does. Other reviewers have covered the premise of the book: a young man’s horrific first-hand account of surviving the Holocaust. Any words that attempt to describe the magnitude of systematic genocide will simply fail. Mr. Horn, while telling his story, doesn’t fall into the self-pity of victimhood or crushing pathos. There is nothing sentimental here. He tells you what got him through it all: small acts of kindness, a shared joke, a friend, even if for a brief moment, and a small hardened piece of bread. The simple things matter: a pair of shoes, a warm place to sleep, and sunshine. The heartbreak is seeing each small joy crushed under the jackboot. The beauty of the story is the simple, direct language. The horror of the story is the simple, direct language.

Mr. Horn had tried his hand at writing his story in 1948. He did a lot of stop and go because the memories were so overwhelming and painful. He wrote about things that he hadn’t conveyed to his own children. I know this from working with Mr. Horn’s editor, Dave King. Their partnership was always Old World, formal and always polite. The working through the story was cathartic and emotional.

A word here about the title: the origin for the tradition of marking a grave with a stone in Judaism is unclear. Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, Rabbinic director of the New York Jewish Healing Center offered another traditional interpretation online: “The Hebrew word for ‘pebble’ is tz’ror – and it happens that this Hebrew word also means ‘bond’… By placing the stone, we show that we have been there, and that the individual’s memory continues to live on in and through us.” In other words, the stone is another way of saying, “I remember you. I have not forgotten you.”

Mr. Horn is no longer with us. He died in 1999 at the age of 72. His daughter, Sandy Rubenstein, continues to honor his memory with both this book and by giving talks about that unfortunate period of history. She has some videos on youtube. Children of Holocaust survivors do not always know the full extent of the horrors visited on their family members. Watch the documentary episode of Who Do You Think You Are in which Jerry Springer on youtube and you will weep and yet admire the bravery of ordinary people. Mr. Horn never claimed to be anything but ordinary, but that he survived is extraordinary.

Mark It With Stone may not be a book that you want to read, but it is a story that you should know for the sake of being a better human being.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way the book was written was simple and truthful. There weren't many fancy flares that marks fiction, but a more honest and straightforward writing. It was compelling and horrifying and touching. The author was mindful of the audience and leaves us with, what I believe is, a feeling of hope for the future and a wish for such inhumane tragedies to never happen again.

I would recommend this book in even less than less of a heartbeat.

[Gabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be one of the most interesting Holocaust novels I have ever read. The emotional and intense experience the author undergoes shows the true meaning of what it meant and what it was like to go the Holocaust. Horn does not hold back on his experiences making the novel extremely emotional, gruesome, unbelievable, but very interesting. If you are interested in learning the ways Jews coped and what they underwent during the Holocaust, this is a great book to read.

[Alyssa Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge WWII history buff, this book was one of my favorites. It is AMAZING! It just makes you FEEL. It evokes emotions that you don't feel on a day-to-day basis. The whole circumstances surrounding the holocaust are so sad, but so inspiring by the people that suffered through it. Very well written and again... one of my all-time favorite WWII books!

[Ben Gerst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark it with a Stone was an amazing book! I loved all the action and excitement it had. After I put it down I wanted to pick up again! It's hard to understand if you're not Jewish but it was still a great book. I've never read about such an epic holocaust story. It was a great action packed book.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me by a co-worker. His Father in law wrote the book. I could not put it down, and was continually amazed by the endurance of the human spirit.

[William H]

"Mark it with a stone" is a history book about the Holocaust. I would rate this book a 3/5 because I like a lot of action. This book started off with a twelve-year-old boy named Horn in the year 1939. Instead of making it on his first day of high school he was forced to go to what we call "Hell on Earth" Auschwitz. Horn also was moved to Bergen-Belsen another horrible camp. Horn made this book very emotional and disturbing with the encountered he had to go through. This is a good book if you like the hardships that Jews in WW2 had to go through. To some people, I would recommend.