RUNNING THROUGH FIRE: HOW I SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST

by Zosia Goldberg, Hilton Obenzinger, Paul Auster (Introduction)

Cultural Studies. Jewish studies. As told to Hilton Obenziger, with an introduction by Paul Auster. RUNNING THROUGH FIRE is the story of Zosia Goldberg and her incredible survival during the time of the Holocaust. Her story features resistance at every turn, narrow escapes, and help from the most unlikely sources. At times suffering bitter betrayals by fellow Jews, she also encountered unexpected sympathies from some Nazis themselves. Zosia's story is as much a chronicle of the Holocaust as it is everywoman's struggle against human folly and depravity. "RUNNING THROUGH FIRE is a book filled with unspeakable horrors--but it is told wihtout a shred of self-pity. Zosia Goldberg never complains, never bemoans her lot. She battles and endures, and in this raw, unvarnished tale of human suffering, she has given us a manual of hope"--Paul Auster.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it really amazing how much Zosia Goldberg could remember decades after the Holocaust -- relating to her nephew Hilton Obenzinger the story of how she escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and Nazi persecution in Germany. The level of detail is quite astonishing -- she remembered who helped her (both Poles, Germans and Jews) and who betrayed or threatened to betray her (the same combination). She was always in danger -- from beatings, from hunger, from being discovered as a Jew, from a pistol to her head -- and I felt that danger acutely. Her descriptions are remarkably vivid -- from the tears on the clothing from crawling through barbed war, drinking from polluted puddles, to the expression on someone's face who refuses her and her starving mother food on a wintry night.
This is not a polished story -- like The Escape Artist -- but it is a necessary one, and many thanks to both Zosia and her nephew for sharing it with us all.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilton Obenzinger, who transcribed the memories of his aunt, Zosia Goldberg as she related her life and survival of the Holocaust, was a classmate of my husband at Columbia, and a professor at Stanford when my son and his classmates were there.

The account related in this book is fascinating, if somewhat rough in the telling. Goldberg survived by "passing" as gentile. The memoir is stark, and is pretty much a transcript of an elderly woman's telling of her story separated by many years from the actual events. I have read other survival stories that may have benefited from better writers/storytellers at the helm, or transcribers who helped smooth out uneven telling. Zosia Goldberg may not be as polished as some, but she is a survivor, and her story is worth preserving.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because this book is a transcription of an interview, it feels very unedited and raw. I imagined Zosia stumbling through her memory to tell a story, and minor imperfections in her account are special because they are realistic. There are parts that are muddled and parts that are beautiful in their clarity. Her post-Holocaust perspective is valuable throughout, but it doesn't hinder the immediacy and intimacy of her recounting her story chronologically.

[Matty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every holocaust memoir has interesting info & this book felt a bit curt

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing story of how a polish jewish woman survived WWII through her exceptional language capabilities, and her quick wit. She escaped the Warsaw Ghetto with her mother and they passed themselves off as Polish peasants. She worked various jobs, including as a maid for some Nazi officials. She eventually got herself caught on purpose and sent as a polish slave into Germany, as she determined that they would be less likely to look for Jews there. God spared her life many times, even when it looked hopeless. She and her mother were the only survivors of her family, with the exceptions of her sister who had went to America.