Hope is the Last to Die

by Halina Birenbaum

Life and death during the years of the occupation and the martyrdom of Polish Jews in concentration camps and ghettos are the main subjects of Halina Birenbaum's prose and poetry.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, World War II

Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2021

Reviews

[Daniel Macleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a powerful and extremely personal account of the horrors humanity can descend into if allowed. On the contrary this read displays the heroic and marvelling companionship, love and affection people can show for one another in the most dire circumstances.

This book is a must read, a pillar for the vitality of remembering past horrors to prevent awful crimes against humanity happening again.

[Karolina Mikalauskienė · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is very impressive in a very sad way. One of the best books from the survivals of the camps. Best wishes to the author - you are the heroic person.

Despite that I must to mention that the english translation is just horrible. It looks like google translated the book :(

[Katinka Janssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply moving oral account of Halina Birenbaum’s experiences surviving multiple extermination camps as a Polish Jewish girl in WW2, exposing the horrors of inhumanity and how she still found humanity in the midst of this all.
The book deserves a better English translation.

[Desi A]

It took my a while to track down this book. Last year I found and bought and re-read Stolen Years by Sara Zyskind and when I realized that everything I remembered wasn't in *that* book, I realized that there must have been *another* Holocaust memoir that I read in the same time period (7th/8th grade), which is not surprising.

Anyway, remembering the person's first name and that she was in Warsaw, not Lodz, helped me track it down and this in fact was the one.

[Taylor Blosser · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has always felt drawn to the history of WWII, this book easily captured my attention upon visiting Aushwitz. I had never read a survivors book on the Holocaust and this was by far one of the most heartbreaking reads. From abuse, horrendous living situations, awful punishments, and loss, the whole story made me sick to my stomach. On top of all of it, Halina almost HAD to be emotionally closed off in so many of these heartbreaking situations to continue surviving. The hope she finds lies in the beautiful people within the camp and the friends she makes. It truly shows the power of love and companionship. Overall, it is absolutely a tale of hope and perseverance but one that is not for the faint of heart.

[Grace Akkad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to meet the author in Auschwitz and was apalled by her story so much that I bought this book in the Auschwitz/Birkenau book shop.
Halina’s close relationship with her mom and her family is so pure and its a light in dark times.
The amount of camps Halina was in is proof of her resilience of horrors.

[Meredith J · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When my first son was born, I thought, with how much suffering does a man buy his entry into the world; and with how much ease did the barbarians kill millions of people.”

Halina’s mom was a true OG. As is Halina. Truly speechless.

[Andrea Wilms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ganz am Ende schreibt es Halina Birenbaum: wenn sie ihre Geschichte erzählt hat, hat niemand Fragen. Weil alle sprachlos sind. Weil es keine Fragen gibt. Es kann ja auch keine Antworten geben. Auf das WARUM?

[Vreni graveline · Rating 5 out of 5]

How interesting that I finished the book on January 17, the same day the author was liberated.

[Chelsey Kristen]

Couldn’t get into it sadly

[Peter S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A personal recollection of what it was like for a teenage Jewish girl to live through the Warsaw Ghetto and the concentration camps and what it took to survive.