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Dank meiner Mutter.
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After struggling to survive in Nazi-occupied Lithuania, a young Jewish girl and her mother endure much suffering in Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Tauentzien concentration camps and on an eleven-day death march before being liberated by the Russian army.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
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July 31, 2019
Susie Weksler was only eight years old when the Nazis invaded her city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
The family would be forced to endure starvation and fear, and she describes the experience of hiding with other Jewish families and children in the Malina (the underground tunnels and sewers of Vilnius), where she describes the death of a baby who was smothered when his father tried to keep him quiet.
Worse was to come.
With the help of her mother who saved her by disguising her as being 16 years old when she was only ten, and filled her with a strong spirit of survival, Susie survived three concentration camps, and a "death march".
The book describes heart wrenching and disturbing scenes of the horrors imposed upon the victims of the Nazi inferno, scenes you will never forget.
The death camp where Susie and her mother were interned was liberated in January 1945, only three of her family had survived.
The book included the English translations of the poems Susie wrote in the ghetto and the camps.
They are powerful and inspiring and show a gem of a spirit:
The Time is Not Far
There will come a time
and the time is not far
when from east and west,
from every side
light will arrive
and a warm wind
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly
Oh, believe me my friend,
the time is not far.
This is one of the richest, most descriptive and engaging accounts by survivors of the Holocaust and I would strongly recommend it as a high school set work book.
Susie immigrated to Israel in 1950, where she did her military service and married and still lives today.
Her mother died in 1974.
Most Holocaust survivors and most descendants of Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.
The family would be forced to endure starvation and fear, and she describes the experience of hiding with other Jewish families and children in the Malina (the underground tunnels and sewers of Vilnius), where she describes the death of a baby who was smothered when his father tried to keep him quiet.
Worse was to come.
With the help of her mother who saved her by disguising her as being 16 years old when she was only ten, and filled her with a strong spirit of survival, Susie survived three concentration camps, and a "death march".
The book describes heart wrenching and disturbing scenes of the horrors imposed upon the victims of the Nazi inferno, scenes you will never forget.
The death camp where Susie and her mother were interned was liberated in January 1945, only three of her family had survived.
The book included the English translations of the poems Susie wrote in the ghetto and the camps.
They are powerful and inspiring and show a gem of a spirit:
The Time is Not Far
There will come a time
and the time is not far
when from east and west,
from every side
light will arrive
and a warm wind
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly
Oh, believe me my friend,
the time is not far.
This is one of the richest, most descriptive and engaging accounts by survivors of the Holocaust and I would strongly recommend it as a high school set work book.
Susie immigrated to Israel in 1950, where she did her military service and married and still lives today.
Her mother died in 1974.
Most Holocaust survivors and most descendants of Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.
March 31, 2011
NO SPOILERS!!!
Having now finished this book my head cannot drop the following question: Do you rate a book by the seriousness of the topic or simply by asking yourself honestly, how much did you like the book?! If you go by the first criteria all holocaust books will get five stars. Thenhow does a reader choose which to pick? I have followed my emotional response to this book. I liked the book, so three stars. Please, please remember this does not mean people should not read the book. In fact I think this book shuld be read by everyone. I am still giving it three stars. I hope those of you reading this reviews understand my line of reasoning.
I think it is very important to read books about the holocaust, books that depict the lives of particular survivors and what they lived through. The language in this book is matter-of-fact. You will understand exactly the horrors that this author experienced. I have below given you excerpts so I believe you understand how the author expresses herself. The writing is wiped free of emotion. It is the events that suck you into turning page after page.. The author's lack of emotion is perhaps a result of who she is having endured these experiences. Nevertheless, the author's inability to express her emotions made this book difficult for me to read.
The author draws pictures of people, facial characteristics, such as the shape and size of the nose, how the eyes are placed, how an individual holds his body, the color and shape of the eyes. This may seem excessive, but think about it. Those who have been in concentration camp must look at the human body with different eyes! How do we look with our hair shorn off, emaciated, deathly ill, covered with sores? Do you see? Wouldn't you be attuned to the length of the leg, the shape of the head? So as a result, I have come to perhaps understand why such descriptions are necessary.
There is a very important reason why this book should be read, even given all the holocaust literature from which one can choose. Look at the title. "Thanks to My Mother". I am not going to give spoilers, but you should read this book to find out what the author's mother did to save her child. The author was only 10-11 years old and she survived. I am sure you have read other holocaust literature. You know how the weak, the young and the old were those killed first. You should read this book to find out about this amazing woman, the mother of the author! But why is it important to know about her? It is important b/c, against all odds, she suceeded. She didn't give up. She saved her daughter. And what more does this say? It says loud and clear that what one individual does is important. One person can make a huge difference. One may never think that ones's own choices are insignificant. And that she suceeded proves that when you think all is hopeless, there is still a chance of happiness and hope at the end of a long dark tunnel. You can never let yourself give up. Sometimes this has to be banged into your head.
Through page 100: My preious criticisms are unjust. From page 63 you simply cannot put the book down. There is no distance whatsoever between the reader and the author and her mother. Wait until you have the chance to mee Raja, tha author's mother. On first appearnaces you will see a beutiful woman, but there is much beneath the surface. Beauty is only skin deep. Wait until you know what she is capable of doing. What strngth and determination. I am going to add a quote from the lips of this woman:
I lay in my mother's arms.....My mother comforted me and talked quietly with me. I asked how those mothers could have thrown away their infants, there on the heaps of bundles. My mother tried to explain it to me. She said, "Susinka, they are young; it is important they survive. Together with their children, they had no chance to save themselves. The war will pas; the horror will end; and these girls and young women will have new children. It will be good; they will be free and happy. And never forget, you cannot judge them. No one may condem them that hasn't been in their situation."
Then in that car, on a journey into the unknown, I learned that people in extreme situations can behave completely differently from the way they usually do. No one can know how he would himself behave. Many who give the impression of being strong might allow themselves to become discouraged, and weak ones might become heroes.
I think the last line spoken by the mother is something all should remember. The last paragraph is also noteworthy. Time after time, I have run into this observation, particularly when reading holocaust literature. You do not know how you will react in an extreme situation. You may think you are strong, but you could easily be one of those who crumbles. This is another reason why one should not judge others.
Through page 73: I have read eleven more pages, and I must add that my heart is pounding b/c what she is experiencing is heart-wrenching. Ughh, one mustn't have claustrophobia! Me, I am happy to be able to breathe fresh air. It doesn't even have to be fresh, as long as there is plenty of it. I wrote "no spoilers", so I cannot say more.
Through 62 pages of 246: There is certainly nothing wrong with this book, except that the prose style has no magic....... All the facts about the times and family members are very clearly presented. It is just that the families are huge and every single member is described meticulously from the inside out, from their toes to their hair tips. I had to start over and write down who was who, there are so darn many family members. Something is wrong b/c as yet my heart is not really drawn to any of them. They are described rather than felt. The book is concerned with the author's Jewish families, both her father's and her mothers. Her parents were divorced, and this is where the narrative begins, what happened the day she found out that her parents were henceforth divorced. She loved both. The families of both remained a central part of her life. Both families lived in Vilnius, Lithuania, which had been Polish, but Russian troops marched in on September 1939. Thereafter, on June 22, 1941, the Russians fled and the Germans took control. This book is about the author's life and her families' lives in Vilnius while history played itself out over their heads. It is about life in the Jewish ghetto. Well, that is where I am now.
There are poems throughout the narrative, and these poems were written by the author when she was a child living in the ghetto. They have not been altered. They are beautifuly expressive. There are photos of the family members. There are number of those killed on this day and that day and the following week. They are just numbers until one of those became a family member. The author, even as a child, is aware of her retinence. She lies on her bed, face to the wall, to escape the world around her. Maybe this is why the reader feels a distance between themselves and the people in the book. Maybe this is why she expresses herself as she does?! I will quote a bit to give you a sense of how the author expresses herself. The following is from pages 46-47:
I often saw an old man sitting on the steps of our house. His clothes were dirty and torn; he had a wild gray beard and he clutched a broken tin plate beneath his padded coat. I heard the adults talking about him; they were discussing what they should do about him.
I was sorry for him, and one day I gave him my shawl. I was very surprised that my mother wasn't angry at me for having done that. I asked her who the man living in our stairwell was. I learned that he was an uncle of my mother's - an older brother of my dead grandmother - Great-Uncle Miron......
My mother liked him very much and took the trouble to make sure he got one warm meal a day; that was all she could do for him. All that spring our uncle stayed in that stairwell. When the "old people's action" took place, he disappeared, and we never saw him again.
An action was the term used to depict elimination of a certain group of people from the ghetto..... in oother words death. Strange, look how people shy away from saying outright what is going on!
At the start of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, over sixty thousand Jews had lived in Vilnius. One year after we had been sent to the ghetto, after all the "actions" we had survived, we still numbered about eighteen thousand Jews. (page 50)
Having now finished this book my head cannot drop the following question: Do you rate a book by the seriousness of the topic or simply by asking yourself honestly, how much did you like the book?! If you go by the first criteria all holocaust books will get five stars. Thenhow does a reader choose which to pick? I have followed my emotional response to this book. I liked the book, so three stars. Please, please remember this does not mean people should not read the book. In fact I think this book shuld be read by everyone. I am still giving it three stars. I hope those of you reading this reviews understand my line of reasoning.
I think it is very important to read books about the holocaust, books that depict the lives of particular survivors and what they lived through. The language in this book is matter-of-fact. You will understand exactly the horrors that this author experienced. I have below given you excerpts so I believe you understand how the author expresses herself. The writing is wiped free of emotion. It is the events that suck you into turning page after page.. The author's lack of emotion is perhaps a result of who she is having endured these experiences. Nevertheless, the author's inability to express her emotions made this book difficult for me to read.
The author draws pictures of people, facial characteristics, such as the shape and size of the nose, how the eyes are placed, how an individual holds his body, the color and shape of the eyes. This may seem excessive, but think about it. Those who have been in concentration camp must look at the human body with different eyes! How do we look with our hair shorn off, emaciated, deathly ill, covered with sores? Do you see? Wouldn't you be attuned to the length of the leg, the shape of the head? So as a result, I have come to perhaps understand why such descriptions are necessary.
There is a very important reason why this book should be read, even given all the holocaust literature from which one can choose. Look at the title. "Thanks to My Mother". I am not going to give spoilers, but you should read this book to find out what the author's mother did to save her child. The author was only 10-11 years old and she survived. I am sure you have read other holocaust literature. You know how the weak, the young and the old were those killed first. You should read this book to find out about this amazing woman, the mother of the author! But why is it important to know about her? It is important b/c, against all odds, she suceeded. She didn't give up. She saved her daughter. And what more does this say? It says loud and clear that what one individual does is important. One person can make a huge difference. One may never think that ones's own choices are insignificant. And that she suceeded proves that when you think all is hopeless, there is still a chance of happiness and hope at the end of a long dark tunnel. You can never let yourself give up. Sometimes this has to be banged into your head.
Through page 100: My preious criticisms are unjust. From page 63 you simply cannot put the book down. There is no distance whatsoever between the reader and the author and her mother. Wait until you have the chance to mee Raja, tha author's mother. On first appearnaces you will see a beutiful woman, but there is much beneath the surface. Beauty is only skin deep. Wait until you know what she is capable of doing. What strngth and determination. I am going to add a quote from the lips of this woman:
I lay in my mother's arms.....My mother comforted me and talked quietly with me. I asked how those mothers could have thrown away their infants, there on the heaps of bundles. My mother tried to explain it to me. She said, "Susinka, they are young; it is important they survive. Together with their children, they had no chance to save themselves. The war will pas; the horror will end; and these girls and young women will have new children. It will be good; they will be free and happy. And never forget, you cannot judge them. No one may condem them that hasn't been in their situation."
Then in that car, on a journey into the unknown, I learned that people in extreme situations can behave completely differently from the way they usually do. No one can know how he would himself behave. Many who give the impression of being strong might allow themselves to become discouraged, and weak ones might become heroes.
I think the last line spoken by the mother is something all should remember. The last paragraph is also noteworthy. Time after time, I have run into this observation, particularly when reading holocaust literature. You do not know how you will react in an extreme situation. You may think you are strong, but you could easily be one of those who crumbles. This is another reason why one should not judge others.
Through page 73: I have read eleven more pages, and I must add that my heart is pounding b/c what she is experiencing is heart-wrenching. Ughh, one mustn't have claustrophobia! Me, I am happy to be able to breathe fresh air. It doesn't even have to be fresh, as long as there is plenty of it. I wrote "no spoilers", so I cannot say more.
Through 62 pages of 246: There is certainly nothing wrong with this book, except that the prose style has no magic....... All the facts about the times and family members are very clearly presented. It is just that the families are huge and every single member is described meticulously from the inside out, from their toes to their hair tips. I had to start over and write down who was who, there are so darn many family members. Something is wrong b/c as yet my heart is not really drawn to any of them. They are described rather than felt. The book is concerned with the author's Jewish families, both her father's and her mothers. Her parents were divorced, and this is where the narrative begins, what happened the day she found out that her parents were henceforth divorced. She loved both. The families of both remained a central part of her life. Both families lived in Vilnius, Lithuania, which had been Polish, but Russian troops marched in on September 1939. Thereafter, on June 22, 1941, the Russians fled and the Germans took control. This book is about the author's life and her families' lives in Vilnius while history played itself out over their heads. It is about life in the Jewish ghetto. Well, that is where I am now.
There are poems throughout the narrative, and these poems were written by the author when she was a child living in the ghetto. They have not been altered. They are beautifuly expressive. There are photos of the family members. There are number of those killed on this day and that day and the following week. They are just numbers until one of those became a family member. The author, even as a child, is aware of her retinence. She lies on her bed, face to the wall, to escape the world around her. Maybe this is why the reader feels a distance between themselves and the people in the book. Maybe this is why she expresses herself as she does?! I will quote a bit to give you a sense of how the author expresses herself. The following is from pages 46-47:
I often saw an old man sitting on the steps of our house. His clothes were dirty and torn; he had a wild gray beard and he clutched a broken tin plate beneath his padded coat. I heard the adults talking about him; they were discussing what they should do about him.
I was sorry for him, and one day I gave him my shawl. I was very surprised that my mother wasn't angry at me for having done that. I asked her who the man living in our stairwell was. I learned that he was an uncle of my mother's - an older brother of my dead grandmother - Great-Uncle Miron......
My mother liked him very much and took the trouble to make sure he got one warm meal a day; that was all she could do for him. All that spring our uncle stayed in that stairwell. When the "old people's action" took place, he disappeared, and we never saw him again.
An action was the term used to depict elimination of a certain group of people from the ghetto..... in oother words death. Strange, look how people shy away from saying outright what is going on!
At the start of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, over sixty thousand Jews had lived in Vilnius. One year after we had been sent to the ghetto, after all the "actions" we had survived, we still numbered about eighteen thousand Jews. (page 50)
October 14, 2008
This book was written by Schoschana Rabinovici who lived through the holocaust. What a harrowing tale it was to read. While it is sad and heart wrenching to read it. I found myself thoroughly engulfed in her saga to stay alive in the worst of circumstances. I was amazed at her will to live and her Mother's ideas and protective nature. It also struck me that their were and are everyday hero's in the darkest of places. Meaning when life is terrible and in this case it was really terrible you still have a choice on how to act and behave. I highly recommend this book because I learned so much more about what life was like in concentration camps. I feel it was my duty to know and learn of their struggles so it would not be forgotten. I finished the book with such a big sense of appreciation and gratitude for my life and the simple freedoms I have everyday. To see life go from normal to that was totally shocking. It was a fast read (took only 3 days).
February 17, 2012
My mother read this to me as a child actually. Then, at about 8 or 9 years old, I didn't really understand it. Now at almost 17, it really is life-changing; what a mother wouldn't do to save her child. Depicting the true life events of one girls tale of survival, thanks to her mother. It's heartbreaking and hard to swallow when you actually understand it, but it's true. I love this book, and wish everyone could get a chance to read it. You won't be sorry.
April 2, 2021
I’m so glad I read this story . Incredible suffering and to think it wasn’t that long ago.
August 21, 2008
I came across this book because someone had me return it, and I was reading the back cover and decided to check it out only because it took place in Lithuania, and I am of Lithuanian decent...It turned out to be an intruiging adventure that gave great empathy towards the characters, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys holocaust stories.
May 23, 2008
Enjoyed would be the wrong adjective to describe how I felt about this book. I was appalled, as I usually am when reading about the Holcaust, and to say that I "enjoyed" a book detailing the horrificness coming out of the concentration camps seems to me to be a slap in the face of those who suffered.
With that being said, I was engrossed from the beginning of this memoir. Susanna was only 10 years old when the Nazi's invade Poland and shuttle everyone to the ghettos to live. Eventually, the family is split up and all the women are taken to labor camps. Those too impaired or young to work are sent to the left while those who will make good laborers are guided to the right. Susanna's mother does everything in her power to get Susanna over to the right, eventually hiding her in a backpack and carrying her across.
From then on, it's a constant struggle to keep Susanna alive. Occassionally, there'd be a guard who wasn't as mean as the others and would turn a blind eye to Susanna's youthfulness. Her mother sacrificed everything to keep her secret from being found out.
The book details the horrible conditions that Susanna, her mom, and so many other people had to endure during a nearly 3 year stint in various labor and concentration camps. It was almost too much to bear and I had a hard time finishing it. I'm glad I did though because the ending was spectacular.
With that being said, I was engrossed from the beginning of this memoir. Susanna was only 10 years old when the Nazi's invade Poland and shuttle everyone to the ghettos to live. Eventually, the family is split up and all the women are taken to labor camps. Those too impaired or young to work are sent to the left while those who will make good laborers are guided to the right. Susanna's mother does everything in her power to get Susanna over to the right, eventually hiding her in a backpack and carrying her across.
From then on, it's a constant struggle to keep Susanna alive. Occassionally, there'd be a guard who wasn't as mean as the others and would turn a blind eye to Susanna's youthfulness. Her mother sacrificed everything to keep her secret from being found out.
The book details the horrible conditions that Susanna, her mom, and so many other people had to endure during a nearly 3 year stint in various labor and concentration camps. It was almost too much to bear and I had a hard time finishing it. I'm glad I did though because the ending was spectacular.
Read
May 23, 2013Thanks to my mother is a great book written by Schoschana Rabinovici. I would personally recommend it if you like to cry. This book is about the Holocaust and the pain that people had to go through with the annexation of the jewish people in Germany. Whether it be going to a new house to hide from the Nazis or heading to a concentration camp, not knowledgeable of what is going to happen next, Susinka narrates the book quite calmly and builds suspense. This book contains a mystical plot line, being narrated by an young child about the age of eight. The child describes her moving process and the different obstacles she has to undergo or even witness with her family members and even random pedestrians out on the streets.
Repetition is used quite a bit when susinka witnessed the horrifying treatment of the Jewish people who were walking down the street. “That night the Germans stormed into each house, into all the attics and into each cellar, and dragged everyone out: women, men, and children. The streets were coated with blood, and corpses lay everywhere.”
“Thanks to My Mother [Paperback]." Thanks to My Mother: Schoschana Rabinovici, James Skofield: 9780141305967: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.
I wanted to read this book because I have a personal interest in being educated on the topic since I will be traveling to Germany in 26 days. I would recommend it if you like the holocaust topic as something to read about. It is an easy read and is slow in the beginning but gets more involved near the end when only three people are left standing.
Repetition is used quite a bit when susinka witnessed the horrifying treatment of the Jewish people who were walking down the street. “That night the Germans stormed into each house, into all the attics and into each cellar, and dragged everyone out: women, men, and children. The streets were coated with blood, and corpses lay everywhere.”
“Thanks to My Mother [Paperback]." Thanks to My Mother: Schoschana Rabinovici, James Skofield: 9780141305967: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.
I wanted to read this book because I have a personal interest in being educated on the topic since I will be traveling to Germany in 26 days. I would recommend it if you like the holocaust topic as something to read about. It is an easy read and is slow in the beginning but gets more involved near the end when only three people are left standing.
June 12, 2010
As the title would have you suppose, the book is largely a tribute to the author's mother, Raja, who moved heaven and earth so Schoschana (then called Susie) could survive. The odds were stacked against them, particularly since Susie was a child, only eight years old when the war began. VERY few Jewish children survived the war, and most of those who did survived in hiding with gentile families or in institutions. Susie never went into hiding; although a kind former maid offered to take her, Raja couldn't stand to be separated from her. Somehow Raja pulled her through everything: smuggling Susie into camp in her backpack, giving up her own rations so Susie could eat, enlisting other camp inmates to crowd around her and hide her immature body in the bathhouses, etc. Susie somewhat repaid her mother's dedication by nursing her back to health after liberation, while Raja lay dying of typhus and a festering leg wound. Of the entire family, only Raja, Susie and one of Raja's brothers survived the war.
The narrative is matter-of-fact with no pretense at poetry or anything "literary" and direct without being graphic, and I think it would be good for middle school through adult readers. It's a pretty typical example of the Holocaust memoir genre, excepting that Susie and Raja were in some lesser-known camps, Kaiserwald in Latvia and Stutthof in Germany. Recommended.
The narrative is matter-of-fact with no pretense at poetry or anything "literary" and direct without being graphic, and I think it would be good for middle school through adult readers. It's a pretty typical example of the Holocaust memoir genre, excepting that Susie and Raja were in some lesser-known camps, Kaiserwald in Latvia and Stutthof in Germany. Recommended.
September 22, 2011
Ended up thoroughly enjoying this book (despite it's topic) just as I knew I would. Am shocked this was a YA as there's alot of detail. Would recommend to others whom are interested in holocaust memoirs.
July 29, 2024
I am so glad I came across this story. I found Thanks to My Mother, buried within stacks of cheap books at a church flea market. Hidden in a quiet room, I held this book among many others as I questioned whether or not I wanted to digest its story. I ultimately decided that to ‘never forget’ means to always be involved with the subject, no matter the difficult topic.
I have read several depictions of the Holocaust in literature and this one was by far the most heart wrenching for me to read. From subtle death thrown into every sentence to the loss of central characters, Thanks to my Mother struck a cord with me.
At first I wondered why this one felt so personal to me, then I realized it is because it is a woman’s story. I had never before read a survivor’s story from a woman’s perspective. Even that is a bit of a stretch since the protagonist is an eight year old girl. However, the author’s reflection on this youth as an adult is evident within the writing. And a child grows up fast in Nazi occupation. I was emotionally involved in every page and felt the pain of love being stretched and stripped of mothers, daughters, wives, and girls. The resiliency and depth of a girl and her mother fighting for their lives to stick together in a world that tears them apart.
We meet other mothers with children throughout the story, others are not as lucky as our narrator. Others leave their babies and infants to die to save their own life. Others accidentally kill their children in the fight for survival. Others are separated from their children in the lines designating who lives and who dies. Others are gassed with their children in fear and chaos. The most poignant line of the book came from a mother who chose to die with her son. This is what survival means - choosing when you leave this existence.
“It is worth sacrificing my whole life, so that my son can feel safe and at peace for half an hour."
I have read several depictions of the Holocaust in literature and this one was by far the most heart wrenching for me to read. From subtle death thrown into every sentence to the loss of central characters, Thanks to my Mother struck a cord with me.
At first I wondered why this one felt so personal to me, then I realized it is because it is a woman’s story. I had never before read a survivor’s story from a woman’s perspective. Even that is a bit of a stretch since the protagonist is an eight year old girl. However, the author’s reflection on this youth as an adult is evident within the writing. And a child grows up fast in Nazi occupation. I was emotionally involved in every page and felt the pain of love being stretched and stripped of mothers, daughters, wives, and girls. The resiliency and depth of a girl and her mother fighting for their lives to stick together in a world that tears them apart.
We meet other mothers with children throughout the story, others are not as lucky as our narrator. Others leave their babies and infants to die to save their own life. Others accidentally kill their children in the fight for survival. Others are separated from their children in the lines designating who lives and who dies. Others are gassed with their children in fear and chaos. The most poignant line of the book came from a mother who chose to die with her son. This is what survival means - choosing when you leave this existence.
“It is worth sacrificing my whole life, so that my son can feel safe and at peace for half an hour."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2019
Un libro que refleja los horrores de la guerra y la deshumanización que sufrieron los prisioneros, que en especial los judíos. Un libro conmovedor que da testimonio de la fuerza de la familia y que ayuda a entender el pasado. Si bien está catalogado para lectores jóvenes lo recomendaría para lectores de más de 15/16 ya que relata detalles bastante fuertes.
October 7, 2008
Although you will find this book in the children's section of a bookstore, it is also appropriate for adults. I am amazed at what this author's mother did, how clever and insightful she was and hope that I, too, could help my child and myself live through a life-threatening experience. These stories of suffering during the Holocaust make me shudder to think of "man's inhumanity to man" and yet in that same moment make me shake my head in amazement at what people can endure and the hope that people can have in the face of seemingly hopeless situations. Here is a poem written by the author at about 11 years old while living in the Jewish "ghetto" titled The Time is Not Far:
There will come a time,
and the time is not far,
when from east and from west,
from every side,
light will arrive,
and a warm wind,
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly.
Oh, believe me, my friend,
the time is not far!
There will come a time,
and the time is not far,
when from east and from west,
from every side,
light will arrive,
and a warm wind,
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly.
Oh, believe me, my friend,
the time is not far!
October 19, 2008
This is an incredible story about a young girl and her mother who overcame all odds and survived the holocaust. I couldn't put this bbok down as I read about some of the most horrifying situations this poor girl went through during Hitlers rampage. These women survived many concentration camps in the worst conditions you could ever imagine possible. I was astounded by the hero roll that this young girls mother took on to get them both through it. I really believe they saved eachother. This book proves to me what mothers will go through ANYTHING to protect they're children. I learned a lot about the Holocaust when I was younger but never had the opportunity to read a survivor story. I reccomend reading this story so this horrible reality of what really happend is not forgotten.
October 25, 2021
A new year to start with this amazing written book. This is the first holocaust of 2021; this author is also a child survivor. She was only 8 years old at the time when Nazis invade her city of Vilnius, Lithuania. I’ve enjoyed her writing style and the wording is so simple where it shows how much a strong bond between a mother and daughter, where the mother had struggled the hardships from the ghetto, and almost giving away where the daughter refuse to be separate from her mother and deported to concentration camps, where her mother had to lie to protect her age away from gas chambers. I couldn’t put it down and read within a day, an hour.
July 25, 2008
This is a heart wrenching tale of optimism and hope during an immensely dark period in our World's History. The bare truth of the happenings from the persecution to the ghettos and finally the deportation and mass murdering of the Jews through the eyes of a survivor only ten years old, hidden by her mother in the work camps disguised as a young adult. The imagery of what this child saw is haunting, and her tale of how she overcame this torture is inspiring.
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January 21, 2023This is truly a unique and inspiring Holocaust book seen through the eyes of a young child who survived the war thanks to her dedicated, clever and protective mother. This story is unforgettable and caused me to look at the world through new eyes.
July 11, 2008
You'll never forget this story once you've read it. I loved this book and I think about the real life characters in this book often.
September 16, 2008
touching story.
October 21, 2008
A very good book. Hard to read at times because of sensitive issues back then, but definately worth it.
December 17, 2016
This book shows a strong bond between a mother and daughter during the hardest time, the holocaust.
May 8, 2012
good book had fun reading it
January 10, 2020
I tried so hard to finish this book, but the lack of emotion and stilted writing finally got the better of me. I made it half way through which I think is far enough to be able to give a fair rating. I have read a lot of children's Holocaust books. They take place in different countries, but the narrative is mostly the same. The Gestapo storms into your home and orders you to the Ghetto where conditions are crowded and food is scarce. Hundreds are shot daily but when the liquidation order comes, everyone would rather choose the Ghetto than the trains. Conditions in the camps are worse than anyone ever imagined. Every day could be your last. The truth is horrifying, but some authors struggle to bring it to paper. This is one of those books. I recommend
The Boy on the Wooden Box
Somewhere There is Still a Sun
Survivors Club
I Have Lived a Thousand Years
Surviving Hitler
Hana's Suitcase
The Boy on the Wooden Box
Somewhere There is Still a Sun
Survivors Club
I Have Lived a Thousand Years
Surviving Hitler
Hana's Suitcase
August 13, 2024
eins der bewegendsten bücher die ich je gelesen hab. zum ersten mal mit so 14 und dann sogar ein zweites mal mit 17 gelesen und durchgearbeitet um freiwillig ein referat (ICH!! -hatte vor referaten immer panikattacken) darüber zu halten weil in meiner oberstufen klasse so viele uneducated und unsensible menschen waren und ich die hoffnung hatte dass es hilft- hat es!! und meine geschichte lehrkraft hat es in die lektüre aufgenommen!
habe schoschana rabonovici damals bei einer zeitzeugen veranstaltung (~7 zeitzeug*innen haben über ihre erfahrungen erzählt) gesehen, und bin erst beim zweiten mal lesen darauf gekommen dass sie das war.
finde wenn man eine erzählung aus dem zweiten weltkrieg lesen sollte, dann diese, obwohl üblicherweise annes franks tagebuch die erste wahl ist.
habe schoschana rabonovici damals bei einer zeitzeugen veranstaltung (~7 zeitzeug*innen haben über ihre erfahrungen erzählt) gesehen, und bin erst beim zweiten mal lesen darauf gekommen dass sie das war.
finde wenn man eine erzählung aus dem zweiten weltkrieg lesen sollte, dann diese, obwohl üblicherweise annes franks tagebuch die erste wahl ist.
September 13, 2025
A very detailed memoir of the emotions and experiences of a child who endured the horrors of the Holocaust and who survived because of the actions of her mother whose assessment of each situation that presented itself, together with pure luck enabled them to survive the war.
Why do I read Holocaust literature? It's an attempt at connecting to the experience my Mother and her brother had as hidden children in France whose survival depended on a similar mixture of luck ( residents who were willing to take the risk of not betraying them to the Nazis) and the decisions made by relatives to attempt to keep them safe when their parents were deported to death camps. I hope someday Yad Vashem will recognize these residents as Righteous Gentiles.
# Never forget !
Why do I read Holocaust literature? It's an attempt at connecting to the experience my Mother and her brother had as hidden children in France whose survival depended on a similar mixture of luck ( residents who were willing to take the risk of not betraying them to the Nazis) and the decisions made by relatives to attempt to keep them safe when their parents were deported to death camps. I hope someday Yad Vashem will recognize these residents as Righteous Gentiles.
# Never forget !
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March 5, 2024I didn’t rate this book because this is about somebody’s life during a horrible time. Rating the book is like rating someone’s life, which really isn’t right so I’m not rating it. When you rate a book it is based on if it entertained you, if I rated this book a 5 it’s as if I’m saying this girls life was very entertaining, which also isn’t right.
This girls life was full of cruelty and strength. Her and her mother are the definition of perseverance. If you think about it if they kill themselves it’s just making it easier for the Nazis to win, so by helping themselves they really were helping everyone.
This girls life was full of cruelty and strength. Her and her mother are the definition of perseverance. If you think about it if they kill themselves it’s just making it easier for the Nazis to win, so by helping themselves they really were helping everyone.
August 15, 2018
Novice, First person account of victim of the Holocaust. Written From memories as a child and reads as such. Translated by another author. I found myself looking up maps and places (camps) for my own orientation. Entire book takes place in Lithuania & Poland. Incredible journey and amazing Mother who was able to have her child and herself survive by shear grit, determination and being proactive. By making opportunities for herself, they lived to be liberated in 1945 even as each new barrier was thrown at them.
Not for the faint hearted.
Not for the faint hearted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2018
Phenomenal,absolutely phenomenal. One of the very few books that I have wanted to stand up and applaud at. It is painstakingly real and beautifully written, it will make your heart swell. I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in survivor stories of the Holocaust. (Or even if they are not) It will keep you hanging on until the last minute, and even years after you have finished the book. Do yourself a favor and read it!
July 24, 2021
Powerfully written. Horrific as the Holocaust is, to hear about its atrocities from the viewpoint of a child makes it even more horrifying. Susie was 11 when her mother lied about her age to save her from certain death. As her mother, step sister and herself go through various camps you hear about what they endured and how her mother worked very hard to keep her from being one of the thousands of Jews killed. A definite must read
March 5, 2022
This one hit me close to the heart. Susie was 8 when the war broke out and spent years in concentration camps with her mother after that. Her mother hid her, dressed her to pretend she was an adult and ultimately was such an powerful example of motherhood (basically willing her child to survive). It was a heartbreaking read for sure but the power of love between mother and daughter was beautiful.
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