We're Alive and Life Goes On: A Theresienstadt Diary

by Eva Roubickova, Zaia Alexander (Translator), Virginia Euwer Wolff (Foreword)

"It's a terrible feeling to see the fate of thousands of people dependent on a single person. . . . It seems like a mass judgment to life or death."

On December 17, 1941, twenty-year-old Eva Mándlová arrived at the Nazi's "model" concentration camp, Theresienstadt. From that day until she was freed three and a half years later, she kept a diary. At times sweet and personal, at times agonized and profound, Eva is a human voice amidst inhuman evil.

Through Eva's eyes, the camp sometimes "even resembles normal life," as she makes friends and talks with Benny, or Egon, or Otto. But at any moment, anyone may be "selected" for a transport to "Poland." No one ever returns from "Poland."

Never before published, Eva's diary is a true-life Sophie's Choice in which each day brings impossible decisions. As a Gentile man inexplicably helps her, Eva must decide who should share her bounty. As close friends and loved ones are sent away, she has to decide, over and over again, whether to ask to join them on their final journey.

Genres: Nonfiction, Holocaust, History, Memoir, Czech Literature

190 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 1998

Reviews

[Adelaa123555a · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jakože moje první kniha s takovou tématikou a fakt to bylo dobrý, jako solidne dobře popsaný. Celkem depresivní ale to jsme cekali zejo

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good, quite detailed. It covers events from the time Eva got her deportation notice until Theresienstadt was liberated. Eva was fortunate compared to most of the residents of Theresienstadt. She had a good job in the garden (which made her exempt from deportation, for the most part) and this Aryan guy kept giving her food -- enough for herself and seven other people to live on.

Unfortunately for the reader, Eva stopped writing her diary for the four-month period during which time her boyfriend and her parents were deported to Poland. I would have liked to have read her emotional reaction during this time and how she coped, but she said she was too distraught to keep up her diary. She resumed it in January 1945, but the later entries were very short and dry.

A worthy contribution to the Holocaust diaries collection. It includes several photos of Eva and her family.

[Ivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unikátny denník Evy Mändelovej, neskôr Roubíčkovej, ktorý si písala takmer počas celého pobytu v Terezíne, kde bola od jesene 1941 až do konca vojny. Eva mala šťastie a prežila a svojím jednoduchým ale úprimným štýlom prináša pohľad na život v Terezíne so strasťami i drobnými radosťami mladej ženy. Ženy, ktorá nestrácala vieru a energiu zbytočným horekovaním, ale pracovala a robila čo mohla, aby zachránila seba i svojich blízkych. Bez nejakých zbytočných okolkov, jednoducho deň po dni - presne tak, ako písala aj svoj denník.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a first-person testimony of life in a nazi camp and gives a glipse of how awful people were treated. It is a quick and very emotional read.

[Dixie]

Brenda's friend, Eva who passed away in 2013 wrote this book about her time in Terezin concentration camp.