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The Daughter of Auschwitz: A Memoir
A powerful memoir by one of the youngest ever survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
Tova Friedman was only four years old when she was sent to a Nazi labor camp at the start of World War II. While friends and family were murdered in front of her eyes, the only weapon that Tova and her parents possessed was the primal instinct to survive at all costs. Fate intervened when, at the age of six, Tova was sent to a gas chamber, but walked out alive, saved by German bureaucracy. Not long afterwards, she cuddled a warm corpse to hide from Nazis rounding up prisoners for the Death March to Germany.
In this heartrending, lyrical account of a young girl's survival during the Holocaust, Tova Friedman, together with Malcolm Brabant, chronicles the atrocities she witnessed while at Auschwitz, a family secret that sheds light on the unpalatable choices Jews were forced to make to survive, and ultimately, the sources of hope and courage she and her family found to persist against all odds.
Tova Friedman was only four years old when she was sent to a Nazi labor camp at the start of World War II. While friends and family were murdered in front of her eyes, the only weapon that Tova and her parents possessed was the primal instinct to survive at all costs. Fate intervened when, at the age of six, Tova was sent to a gas chamber, but walked out alive, saved by German bureaucracy. Not long afterwards, she cuddled a warm corpse to hide from Nazis rounding up prisoners for the Death March to Germany.
In this heartrending, lyrical account of a young girl's survival during the Holocaust, Tova Friedman, together with Malcolm Brabant, chronicles the atrocities she witnessed while at Auschwitz, a family secret that sheds light on the unpalatable choices Jews were forced to make to survive, and ultimately, the sources of hope and courage she and her family found to persist against all odds.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2022
1023 people are currently reading
11300 people want to read
About the author
Tova Friedman
7 books98 followersTova Friedman is eighty-four years old and lives in New Jersey, USA. She is one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz and uses her vivid memories to write and speak against anti-Semitism and prejudice. She was the director of a nonprofit social service agency for twenty-five years and continues to work as a therapist.
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November 9, 2022
The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope
Tova Friedman (Author), Malcolm Brabant (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)
If you are able to listen to the audio version of this story, I suggest that you do so. The story is told with a lack of emotion and that is how Saskia Maarleveld narrates it. I don't mean that this story isn't filled with all that matters in telling of the horrors of the time, what comes before and what comes after, but that it's as if the story is told in such a way that you know that the mind and body is bombarded with so much that is unimaginable, unsurvivable, and unforgettable that this is the way the story must be told.
A tiny girl is born into a world where she knows that children like her aren't supposed to survive, that everyone she knows will die. She knows she is never to make a noise, never to cry, never to show emotion. At the age of four, she is sorting clothes of dead people, many of them blood soaked. She's seen relatives and strangers die. People go away and never come back. She is one of the few children that survived a Jewish Ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz. This is a true story and my mind couldn't even take it all in without feeling numb. I can't even imagine the numbers mentioned, all the losses, all the cruelty.
I'll let her tell her story and the story of those around her. This is one of the most disturbing stories I've read because it isn't muted through the gauze of being "historical fiction". This is a real person who lived through horrible events. Sadly, this kind of thing isn't over and I'm not sure it will ever be over. The story is beautiful though, hearing Tova Friedman's success in living a full life despite all that happened to her and those around her.
Pub September 6, 2022 by Harlequin Audio
Tova Friedman (Author), Malcolm Brabant (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)
If you are able to listen to the audio version of this story, I suggest that you do so. The story is told with a lack of emotion and that is how Saskia Maarleveld narrates it. I don't mean that this story isn't filled with all that matters in telling of the horrors of the time, what comes before and what comes after, but that it's as if the story is told in such a way that you know that the mind and body is bombarded with so much that is unimaginable, unsurvivable, and unforgettable that this is the way the story must be told.
A tiny girl is born into a world where she knows that children like her aren't supposed to survive, that everyone she knows will die. She knows she is never to make a noise, never to cry, never to show emotion. At the age of four, she is sorting clothes of dead people, many of them blood soaked. She's seen relatives and strangers die. People go away and never come back. She is one of the few children that survived a Jewish Ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz. This is a true story and my mind couldn't even take it all in without feeling numb. I can't even imagine the numbers mentioned, all the losses, all the cruelty.
I'll let her tell her story and the story of those around her. This is one of the most disturbing stories I've read because it isn't muted through the gauze of being "historical fiction". This is a real person who lived through horrible events. Sadly, this kind of thing isn't over and I'm not sure it will ever be over. The story is beautiful though, hearing Tova Friedman's success in living a full life despite all that happened to her and those around her.
Pub September 6, 2022 by Harlequin Audio
January 21, 2023
Imagine being 4 years old and having to hide in the ceiling all day by yourself while your parents are laboring in the Nazi ghetto they are now forced to reside in. Imagine then being sent to Auschwitz at the age of 5 and miraculously you are not sent directly to a gas chamber, but now you have to fight to survive the brutal conditions there at such an incredibly young age. By all accounts Tova Friendman had a terrifying childhood, that is made only more exceptional by the fact that she survived it when so many others did not. She is one of the "lucky" ones. I strongly encourage you to read this memoir, as her life story is one of resilience and perseverance that is as inspiring as it is heartbreaking.
September 19, 2022
Our author was born Tola Grossman in Gdynia, Poland in 1938 and within a year the second world war began. Tola was just over two when her parents took her to the ghetto of Tomaszow Mazowiecki where life was brutal, hunger was rife and the terrifying image of soldiers with guns surrounded her. Encompassed by the love of her parents, and the determination of her mother to keep Tola safe, she was taught from a young age to be silent and always listen to what her mama said. The horrific experiences in the ghetto as the Nazis continued eliminating Jewish people, stayed with Tola always.
The small family's arrival at the Starachowice labour camp occurred when Tola was five years old and while her parents worked from dawn to darkness, Tola was alone. Her mother had drilled the rules into Tola on how she was to behave around the Germans so she would continue to survive - they were rules Tola remembered all her life. Then at almost six years old, they were taken in cattle cars, jammed together so no one could move. It was the first time Tola had been separated from her father, as the men went in a different car. Their arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau made the previous years under occupation seem easy. So many would die in the extermination camps...
The Daughter of Auschwitz is a remarkable, illuminating book written by Tova (changed from Tola in America) Friedman with the assistance of Malcolm Brabant, as she recalls her memories of those dark days of the Holocaust, and how it formed her adult life. She wants no one to forget the Holocaust, the genocide and crimes against humanity. Tova is an inspirational woman who has continued her Jewish line with children and grandchildren, much against the desires of Hitler. There are photos in the centre of the book as well, showing Tova as she grew from a small child to adulthood. This insightful, excellent memoir is one I recommend highly.
With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
The small family's arrival at the Starachowice labour camp occurred when Tola was five years old and while her parents worked from dawn to darkness, Tola was alone. Her mother had drilled the rules into Tola on how she was to behave around the Germans so she would continue to survive - they were rules Tola remembered all her life. Then at almost six years old, they were taken in cattle cars, jammed together so no one could move. It was the first time Tola had been separated from her father, as the men went in a different car. Their arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau made the previous years under occupation seem easy. So many would die in the extermination camps...
The Daughter of Auschwitz is a remarkable, illuminating book written by Tova (changed from Tola in America) Friedman with the assistance of Malcolm Brabant, as she recalls her memories of those dark days of the Holocaust, and how it formed her adult life. She wants no one to forget the Holocaust, the genocide and crimes against humanity. Tova is an inspirational woman who has continued her Jewish line with children and grandchildren, much against the desires of Hitler. There are photos in the centre of the book as well, showing Tova as she grew from a small child to adulthood. This insightful, excellent memoir is one I recommend highly.
With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
February 18, 2024
Over the past decade, I’ve watched hundreds of Holocaust survivor testimonies on the USC Shoah Foundation’s YouTube Channel. Every single testimony has had an enormous impact on my life. But some of those testimonies really strike a chord with me. One of those testimonies was from a woman—a child survivor of Auschwitz—named Tova Friedman. When I discovered that Friedman wrote a book, “The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope” with Malcolm Brabant, I was determined to read it.
Verbal testimonies are jarring, but written testimonies can be even more so. To really understand each person’s story, I think that it’s important to be exposed to both the verbal and written testaments.
In twenty-two chapters, Friedman reveals what life was like as a child in Poland: prior to WWII, during her interment in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki ghetto, and later in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. What I really love about this book is that Friedman and Brabant chose to arrange this story over the course of Friedman’s life, including her very early childhood. They were able to do this not just through the use of Friedman’s memories, but also through the Yizkor book written by her father, and historical facts gleaned years later after the atrocities were committed. In this book, while readers get the chance to learn facts about what happened, we also get to see how everything affected the minds of young children.
The first chapter begins when Friedman is only six years old, but right afterwards begins at the two to three year age. The following chapters follows Friedman throughout her life in Poland, first in her home town, then in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki ghetto, the Starachowice labor camp, and then on to Auschwitz-Birkenau. However, the story doesn’t end with her liberation, but shows how she and her mother returned to their hometown of Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
What really upset me was when Friedman told the story of her Aunt Helen, who miraculously survived a concentration camp. Helen later moved to a nearby city not long afterwards where she was murdered by antisemites. I’ve always known that many Jews were killed in Poland even after the war, but the entire time that I read it, it just broke my heart—to have survived the Holocaust only to be murdered. Friedman included a lot of photographs at the end of the book, and one of the pictures is of Helen; one inset image is a facial photograph of Helen, while the other is a photograph of Helen laying on the street after she’d been murdered. It’s just so heartbreaking to see such a wanton loss of life.
I encourage everyone to read this book. Besides just her earlier years, the book progresses and reveals her life in both the United States and in Israel through the age of thirty-nine. This book reveals not just Friedman’s earlier years, but intimately shows how Friedman turned the Holocaust into a source of strength for herself, for her family, and for everyone around her. Even though Nazi’s killed over 150 of her family members, Friedman’s tenacity and love for life—including her four children and eight grandchildren—show how one can overcome the hate entrenched in humans that are hell bent on destruction.
Verbal testimonies are jarring, but written testimonies can be even more so. To really understand each person’s story, I think that it’s important to be exposed to both the verbal and written testaments.
In twenty-two chapters, Friedman reveals what life was like as a child in Poland: prior to WWII, during her interment in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki ghetto, and later in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. What I really love about this book is that Friedman and Brabant chose to arrange this story over the course of Friedman’s life, including her very early childhood. They were able to do this not just through the use of Friedman’s memories, but also through the Yizkor book written by her father, and historical facts gleaned years later after the atrocities were committed. In this book, while readers get the chance to learn facts about what happened, we also get to see how everything affected the minds of young children.
The first chapter begins when Friedman is only six years old, but right afterwards begins at the two to three year age. The following chapters follows Friedman throughout her life in Poland, first in her home town, then in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki ghetto, the Starachowice labor camp, and then on to Auschwitz-Birkenau. However, the story doesn’t end with her liberation, but shows how she and her mother returned to their hometown of Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
What really upset me was when Friedman told the story of her Aunt Helen, who miraculously survived a concentration camp. Helen later moved to a nearby city not long afterwards where she was murdered by antisemites. I’ve always known that many Jews were killed in Poland even after the war, but the entire time that I read it, it just broke my heart—to have survived the Holocaust only to be murdered. Friedman included a lot of photographs at the end of the book, and one of the pictures is of Helen; one inset image is a facial photograph of Helen, while the other is a photograph of Helen laying on the street after she’d been murdered. It’s just so heartbreaking to see such a wanton loss of life.
I encourage everyone to read this book. Besides just her earlier years, the book progresses and reveals her life in both the United States and in Israel through the age of thirty-nine. This book reveals not just Friedman’s earlier years, but intimately shows how Friedman turned the Holocaust into a source of strength for herself, for her family, and for everyone around her. Even though Nazi’s killed over 150 of her family members, Friedman’s tenacity and love for life—including her four children and eight grandchildren—show how one can overcome the hate entrenched in humans that are hell bent on destruction.
November 4, 2022
This is a well-written, informative, riveting, Holocaust survivor's memoir. It describes the horrors and deprivation experienced by a young girl, and her bravery, courage, hope and resilience. Many thanks to Mrs. Tova Friedman for reliving the suffering that she experienced to share her story with us, so that we will never forget.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and the narrator, Ms. Saskia Maarleveld, has a captivating voice and does an outstanding job.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and the narrator, Ms. Saskia Maarleveld, has a captivating voice and does an outstanding job.
September 16, 2022
Firstly I would like to thank netgalley, Querous books and the author Malcolm Brabant and Tova Friedman for an early copy of this book to read.
This is a memoir of a child telling there story of the holocaust, Tova Friedman surviving Auschwitz a story that should never be forgotten,I found this book all over the place and wasnt engaging as other books I've read.
This is a memoir of a child telling there story of the holocaust, Tova Friedman surviving Auschwitz a story that should never be forgotten,I found this book all over the place and wasnt engaging as other books I've read.
March 24, 2023
Genau solche Geschichten müssen erzählt werden.....Genau jetzt!!!
Tova überlebt den Holocaust....Als sechsjährige wird sie mit ihrer Mutter aus dem Konzentrationslager Auschwitz befreit.
Ihre Lebensgeschichte ist so authentisch und berührend erzählt....die Schrecken des dritten Reichs so direkt geschildert....ein wahrhaftig und gewichtiges Zeitzeugnis!
Wir dürfen NIEMALS vergessen!
UMBEDINGT LESENSWERT!!!
Tova überlebt den Holocaust....Als sechsjährige wird sie mit ihrer Mutter aus dem Konzentrationslager Auschwitz befreit.
Ihre Lebensgeschichte ist so authentisch und berührend erzählt....die Schrecken des dritten Reichs so direkt geschildert....ein wahrhaftig und gewichtiges Zeitzeugnis!
Wir dürfen NIEMALS vergessen!
UMBEDINGT LESENSWERT!!!
November 7, 2022
There aren't enough stars to give this amazing and moving book. Having read so many books about the Holocaust and the camps you think you have heard everything, then a book comes along and blows you away, and tells you things you have never heard before.
The book is the story of Tova, born as Tola, who was born in Poland. She spent her early life in a ghetto, and was sent to a Nazi labour camp at the age of 4. How she survived was a complete miracle as she would have been deemed to young to be 'useful'. Meanwhile so many friends and family were killed around her. In fact at the age of 6 she was taken to a gas chamber but had a miraculous reprieve. Due to her mother's quick wittedness, and her own strength of character she survived the war, and was finally liberated from Auschwitz but her story doesn't stop there. It is the continuing story of post war antisemitism by the Poles and the Ukrainians, where Tova and her family were forced to travel back to Germany and then to America. Tova lived the rest of her life between the brand new state of Israel and America helping others in so many ways.
Tova is an amazing lady. From all her many harrowing experiences she could have been bitter and turned against the world, but she has used her unique experiences to help others. A truly outstanding example, and why everyone should read this book and NEVER FORGET.
The book is the story of Tova, born as Tola, who was born in Poland. She spent her early life in a ghetto, and was sent to a Nazi labour camp at the age of 4. How she survived was a complete miracle as she would have been deemed to young to be 'useful'. Meanwhile so many friends and family were killed around her. In fact at the age of 6 she was taken to a gas chamber but had a miraculous reprieve. Due to her mother's quick wittedness, and her own strength of character she survived the war, and was finally liberated from Auschwitz but her story doesn't stop there. It is the continuing story of post war antisemitism by the Poles and the Ukrainians, where Tova and her family were forced to travel back to Germany and then to America. Tova lived the rest of her life between the brand new state of Israel and America helping others in so many ways.
Tova is an amazing lady. From all her many harrowing experiences she could have been bitter and turned against the world, but she has used her unique experiences to help others. A truly outstanding example, and why everyone should read this book and NEVER FORGET.
September 29, 2022
Friedman is one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. Her childhood was unimaginably horrific. What scares me most are the statistics she quotes from a survey of young Americans compiled during 2020. The results revealed their staggering ignorance regarding the Holocaust. Banned Books Week has just concluded for this year amid increasingly high numbers of books challenged throughout the U.S. Never forget the Holocaust and remember that fascism and dictatorial regimes begin by taking away books.
July 11, 2022
This is the true story of Tova Friedman one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. She was only 4 years old when she was sent to the first camp with her parents after the Jewish ghetto they lived in in Poland was liquidated. She was almost 6 when her and her mother were separated from her father and sent to the extermination camp Auschwitz II or Birkenau as we know it, her father was sent to Dachau.
Tova vividly describes the horrors she witnessed during her stay in the camp. Horrors no young child should ever see. She was left on her own to roam the camp with other children while their mothers worked long hours slaving for the Nazis. When the end of the war came and the Nazis were clearing the camp, preparing to flee before the Russian troops arrived Tova's mother hid her amongst the dead, saving both of their lives by avoiding going on the Nazis' final death march.
It is horrifying reading Tova's story, to read how casually the young Tova viewed death, not afraid of hiding snuggled up tight with a corpse because as she said, why be afraid of the dead woman, the dead wouldn't hurt her. No, not like the alive Nazis would. These experiences are so beyond what I can comprehend, reading her story, her words as she describes what life was like for her. One of her first memories being in the ghetto and her always hidden underneath a table with a tablecloth, this is where she spent most of her young days. The train ride in the cattle cars, just everything, it is like reading a horror story. I cried and cried for the young Tova and the loss of innocence. I feel as she did, that these stories need to continue to be told, that we need to be reminded of these horrific events, we need to be vigilant and aware so that this history is never again repeated. This book should be on everyone's required reading list.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press and Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.
Tova vividly describes the horrors she witnessed during her stay in the camp. Horrors no young child should ever see. She was left on her own to roam the camp with other children while their mothers worked long hours slaving for the Nazis. When the end of the war came and the Nazis were clearing the camp, preparing to flee before the Russian troops arrived Tova's mother hid her amongst the dead, saving both of their lives by avoiding going on the Nazis' final death march.
It is horrifying reading Tova's story, to read how casually the young Tova viewed death, not afraid of hiding snuggled up tight with a corpse because as she said, why be afraid of the dead woman, the dead wouldn't hurt her. No, not like the alive Nazis would. These experiences are so beyond what I can comprehend, reading her story, her words as she describes what life was like for her. One of her first memories being in the ghetto and her always hidden underneath a table with a tablecloth, this is where she spent most of her young days. The train ride in the cattle cars, just everything, it is like reading a horror story. I cried and cried for the young Tova and the loss of innocence. I feel as she did, that these stories need to continue to be told, that we need to be reminded of these horrific events, we need to be vigilant and aware so that this history is never again repeated. This book should be on everyone's required reading list.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press and Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.
September 26, 2022
This was a very difficult memoir to read. I had seen the author's interview on PBS Newshour and ordered the book immediately because it seemed such an important and worthwhile topic, and it is. However, about 20% of the way through the book I was so depressed after page after page of dire, horrendous deprivation, starvation and persecution that I thought seriously of not finishing the book. But then I thought of the enormity of what the author had endured, and what it took for her to survive and distill all those memories into a book, and I decided that reading a 300-page book was a small commitment to make on my part.
Tova survives through unimaginable deprivation, and has amazing recall of some of the incidents in the ghetto and concentration camp, considering how young she was at the time. She was actually in the gas chamber near the end of the war, when the Nazis decided there was some mixup and they weren't supposed to gas this particular group of women and girls.
She went on to emigrate to the U.S., marry, raise 4 children, and have many grandchildren. She earned her degree in therapy and has taught and spoken for years about the Holocaust. She has fulfilled her responsibility to bear witness to the unspeakable.
Tova survives through unimaginable deprivation, and has amazing recall of some of the incidents in the ghetto and concentration camp, considering how young she was at the time. She was actually in the gas chamber near the end of the war, when the Nazis decided there was some mixup and they weren't supposed to gas this particular group of women and girls.
She went on to emigrate to the U.S., marry, raise 4 children, and have many grandchildren. She earned her degree in therapy and has taught and spoken for years about the Holocaust. She has fulfilled her responsibility to bear witness to the unspeakable.
October 21, 2022
This is an amazing and powerful story of Tova. I enjoyed reading the stories of what she and her family endured at such a young age. Great memoir!
September 13, 2022
This was a true story vs. a historical fiction. The author wants to make sure that no one ever forgets what happened during the holocaust, and as human beings, we never should!
As a memoir it reads somewhat like a history book, not as bad as some, but still a history book, so I didn't love that.
I feel the pain of the author, and 80 years later she is still holding on to that hate, at the end she does not admit to forgiving, even though her religion would say she should. What pushed it from a 3 (which for me is a decent book) to a 2 (you can skip it), is that early on she puts all German's in the boat of "I don't accept that they were only following orders", yet she discussed atrocities that her father did to save her and her mother. She discuss how many Jews "cooperated" to stay alive. I personally want to believe that many German's "cooperated" because they wanted to save their families, as told in the historical fiction novel The German's Wife by Kelly Rimmer. (I have no personal connections to the atrocities of WWII, so please feel free to discount my opinion).
I accept that the atrocities happened. I accept that unfortunately it could happen again, against Russia, the Jews, African Americans, Taliban, etc. I do not accept that the majority of people think this way. I think none of us know how we would react when faced with a "Sophie's Choice", which is really what all of the stories told about WWII show us. Are their awful, psychopaths among us? Yes, but I still believe they are the minority and I would never group an entire race into the same category, that is no better than what the German's did to the Jews, or American's did to the Natives and African Americans.
Sorry about the rant.
As a memoir it reads somewhat like a history book, not as bad as some, but still a history book, so I didn't love that.
I feel the pain of the author, and 80 years later she is still holding on to that hate, at the end she does not admit to forgiving, even though her religion would say she should. What pushed it from a 3 (which for me is a decent book) to a 2 (you can skip it), is that early on she puts all German's in the boat of "I don't accept that they were only following orders", yet she discussed atrocities that her father did to save her and her mother. She discuss how many Jews "cooperated" to stay alive. I personally want to believe that many German's "cooperated" because they wanted to save their families, as told in the historical fiction novel The German's Wife by Kelly Rimmer. (I have no personal connections to the atrocities of WWII, so please feel free to discount my opinion).
I accept that the atrocities happened. I accept that unfortunately it could happen again, against Russia, the Jews, African Americans, Taliban, etc. I do not accept that the majority of people think this way. I think none of us know how we would react when faced with a "Sophie's Choice", which is really what all of the stories told about WWII show us. Are their awful, psychopaths among us? Yes, but I still believe they are the minority and I would never group an entire race into the same category, that is no better than what the German's did to the Jews, or American's did to the Natives and African Americans.
Sorry about the rant.
October 14, 2023
Cu siguranță aceasta este una dintre cărțile care te prind în povestea lor.
Pe cât de înfiorătoare este pe atât de puternică.
Te ține cu sufletul la gură, te face să plângi, să te înfiori, să te bucuri și să speri.
Dar cel mai important, amintește fiecăruia că Holocaustul a fost o realitate cruntă și puțini au supraviețuit ca să își spună povestea.
Chapeau!
Pe cât de înfiorătoare este pe atât de puternică.
Te ține cu sufletul la gură, te face să plângi, să te înfiori, să te bucuri și să speri.
Dar cel mai important, amintește fiecăruia că Holocaustul a fost o realitate cruntă și puțini au supraviețuit ca să își spună povestea.
Chapeau!
Read
September 19, 2022(I choose not to rate the literary value of a Holocaust memoir)
“Auschwitz imprinted itself in my DNA. Almost everything I have done in my post-war life, every decision I have made, has been shaped by my experiences during the Holocaust.” Such is the response of Tova Friedman in this compelling and confronting memoir, co-written with Malcolm Brabant, British journalist. As one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, liberated at the age of six, Tova recorded the horrors she survived with astounding clarity. Saved countless times by the strength and resourcefulness of her beloved mother, Tova chronicled not only the atrocities she witnessed in the ghetto and in the camps to which she and her mother were sent, but also her “survivor growth” as she honoured the 6 million Jews who were murdered by “build[ing] a meaningful life”.
Her personal memories were accompanied by references to her father’s written contributions to the Yiskor {remembrance} book, written post-war, which portrayed the ghetto in which they were imprisoned, its destruction, and the slaughter of the Jews within its walls. The father was separated from Tova and her mother, but reunited after liberation. The impact of their Holocaust experiences lay heavily on each of them in the years that followed.
There is no question that Tova’s survival was due to the resilience and presence of mind of her mother, who saved her life by hiding her in the camps on so many occasions of the Nazi guards’ inspections and selections. I will not forget the details of Tova being hidden amongst a pile of dead bodies, told by her mother not to move as she clung to the body of the dead woman she nestled against. Incredibly, Tova and her mother were taken to the gas chamber at Auschwitz and waited inside its “shower room”, but then, surprisingly, released with the others crowded with them. This was apparently the last attempted gassing before Himmler had ordered a halt to the gassing, perhaps because it provided mounting evidence of the Nazi atrocities as the war was being lost to the Allies.
I found the memoir unputdownable. It is a testament to Tova’s “survival growth”, her strength of character and devotion to honour the 6 million who were annihilated by the Nazis.
“Auschwitz imprinted itself in my DNA. Almost everything I have done in my post-war life, every decision I have made, has been shaped by my experiences during the Holocaust.” Such is the response of Tova Friedman in this compelling and confronting memoir, co-written with Malcolm Brabant, British journalist. As one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, liberated at the age of six, Tova recorded the horrors she survived with astounding clarity. Saved countless times by the strength and resourcefulness of her beloved mother, Tova chronicled not only the atrocities she witnessed in the ghetto and in the camps to which she and her mother were sent, but also her “survivor growth” as she honoured the 6 million Jews who were murdered by “build[ing] a meaningful life”.
Her personal memories were accompanied by references to her father’s written contributions to the Yiskor {remembrance} book, written post-war, which portrayed the ghetto in which they were imprisoned, its destruction, and the slaughter of the Jews within its walls. The father was separated from Tova and her mother, but reunited after liberation. The impact of their Holocaust experiences lay heavily on each of them in the years that followed.
There is no question that Tova’s survival was due to the resilience and presence of mind of her mother, who saved her life by hiding her in the camps on so many occasions of the Nazi guards’ inspections and selections. I will not forget the details of Tova being hidden amongst a pile of dead bodies, told by her mother not to move as she clung to the body of the dead woman she nestled against. Incredibly, Tova and her mother were taken to the gas chamber at Auschwitz and waited inside its “shower room”, but then, surprisingly, released with the others crowded with them. This was apparently the last attempted gassing before Himmler had ordered a halt to the gassing, perhaps because it provided mounting evidence of the Nazi atrocities as the war was being lost to the Allies.
I found the memoir unputdownable. It is a testament to Tova’s “survival growth”, her strength of character and devotion to honour the 6 million who were annihilated by the Nazis.
February 25, 2023
A heartbreaking yet informative memoir about a Polish Jewish woman being in Auschwitz as a child. As a survivor of the Holocaust, Tova recounts her experience of being rounded up and living in the Jewish ghetto, being sent to a work camp with her parents and ultimately being a prisoner at Auschwitz. She shares what happened to her when the extermination camp was liberated by the Russians and her harrowing journey afterwards. It is truly a miracle that Tova survived and was able to write this book. It is crucial to remember to avoid this ever happening again. This memoir was eloquently written and well executed. Eventhough I'm well versed in what happened during the Holocaust and have even been to Auschwitz to learn and remember those who didn't survive, I was riveted by this book. Absolutely recommend to others.
January 31, 2023
Incredibly powerful book. I think it hit me more because I listened to it rather than read it.
Absolute miracle that she survived as young as she was when she entered the camps. Lots of lucky breaks and being TOUGH and her mother and father doing their utmost to help keep her alive. Her love story was really sweet too.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I read/listen to Holocaust books for the light of the candle that the darkness won't extinguish, not for the darkness.
Be that candle and light the other candles around you.
Completely different topic, she ended up in New Jersey, WOOT.
5, definitely recommend this book, the audio narrator was incredible, stars.
Absolute miracle that she survived as young as she was when she entered the camps. Lots of lucky breaks and being TOUGH and her mother and father doing their utmost to help keep her alive. Her love story was really sweet too.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I read/listen to Holocaust books for the light of the candle that the darkness won't extinguish, not for the darkness.
Be that candle and light the other candles around you.
Completely different topic, she ended up in New Jersey, WOOT.
5, definitely recommend this book, the audio narrator was incredible, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2022
A few years ago I had the privilege and honour to spend time with someone, who had escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia as a child in 1939, while recording a documentary for the BBC. I’ve never forgotten that time or the stories she shared of Sir Nicholas Winton and The Kinder Transport and the evil of the Nazi regime – I hope I never will, it had a profound effect on me.
As I sat down to read The Daughter of Auschwitz I more or less knew what I’d be getting. A harrowing account of a child’s survival against all odds during a time of inexplicable torture, hatred and hopelessness. This book gave me so much more and thanks to her heart wrenching account of her days trying to live, simply see the next day, Tola gave me a book I’m unlikely to forget – just like that time was with Vera Gissing when she opened up her home to me.
There was one sentence that stayed with me throughout the book, a fantastic line that summed up how hopeless and helpless their situation was:
We, as people, could do nothing to stop these murders, nor the next. There was no retribution. No eye for an eye. They were killing us with impunity.
The word impunity really struck a chord with me and while I continued to read the book I couldn’t get it out of my head.
This is no soft book, it truly relays the desperation Tola faced, her mother faced, trying to see where the next piece of bread would come from and to protect her child from almost certain death. I mean this is a book that simply begs to be read, it’s vital to keep these horrific stories alive for generations to come. There are people to this day who do not believe that these events happened, it’s all make believe. We owe it to the people who survived and to the people that perished at the hands of these evil monsters to keep shining a light on the injustice.
I do hope you take the time to read this book and if you do, I hope you too are moved by Tola’s words as I was.
As I sat down to read The Daughter of Auschwitz I more or less knew what I’d be getting. A harrowing account of a child’s survival against all odds during a time of inexplicable torture, hatred and hopelessness. This book gave me so much more and thanks to her heart wrenching account of her days trying to live, simply see the next day, Tola gave me a book I’m unlikely to forget – just like that time was with Vera Gissing when she opened up her home to me.
There was one sentence that stayed with me throughout the book, a fantastic line that summed up how hopeless and helpless their situation was:
We, as people, could do nothing to stop these murders, nor the next. There was no retribution. No eye for an eye. They were killing us with impunity.
The word impunity really struck a chord with me and while I continued to read the book I couldn’t get it out of my head.
This is no soft book, it truly relays the desperation Tola faced, her mother faced, trying to see where the next piece of bread would come from and to protect her child from almost certain death. I mean this is a book that simply begs to be read, it’s vital to keep these horrific stories alive for generations to come. There are people to this day who do not believe that these events happened, it’s all make believe. We owe it to the people who survived and to the people that perished at the hands of these evil monsters to keep shining a light on the injustice.
I do hope you take the time to read this book and if you do, I hope you too are moved by Tola’s words as I was.
November 11, 2023
Credeam ca am citit deja totul despre Holocaust, ca stiu atatea amanunte despre tot ce s-a petrecut la Auschwitz. Si totusi...sunt șocată de fiecare data. Am un gol in suflet dupa fiecare marturie a unui supraviețuitor si ma intreb incontinuu pe tot parcursul lecturii, cum a fost posibil? Cum s-a putut ajunge atat de departe? Pentru lumea noastra din ziua de azi acele orori sunt pur si simplu de neinchipuit. Nu exista cuvinte care sa descrie cu adevarat toata suferinta acelor oameni. Nu avem voie sa uitam...
December 8, 2023
I feel extremely conflicted with this book. While Tova is able to depict the horrors she experienced first hand during the Holocaust in a poignant and powerful way, her extreme zionism undercurrents the memoir.
She speaks of the dehumanisation her and her family suffered during the war, only to then go on a disregard and dehumanise the people of Palestine.
I made myself persevere through the book even after I was alarmed and disgusted by the zionist views being presented in the hopes that it may broaden my perspective and help me understand the other side to the current conflict, but it didn’t.
Her portrayal so purposefully excludes any accountability for the horrors and actions inflicted on Palestinians and has no self awareness to the similarities between the suffering she faced for being Jewish and the suffering she is inflicting through her support for zionism.
She speaks of the dehumanisation her and her family suffered during the war, only to then go on a disregard and dehumanise the people of Palestine.
I made myself persevere through the book even after I was alarmed and disgusted by the zionist views being presented in the hopes that it may broaden my perspective and help me understand the other side to the current conflict, but it didn’t.
Her portrayal so purposefully excludes any accountability for the horrors and actions inflicted on Palestinians and has no self awareness to the similarities between the suffering she faced for being Jewish and the suffering she is inflicting through her support for zionism.
October 29, 2022
I hate to rate a book like this so low but the content was very important and tragic but the writing style just didn't pull me in.
October 4, 2023
A very moving first-hand account of survival of the holocaust.
January 8, 2023
The Daughter of Auschwitz provides a very unique perspective of which we are sadly deprived due to the tragically few children who survived the camps: a child's point-of-view of the Holocaust. This alone makes it worth reading.
Tova describes many universal experiences that many older survivors would also later recall: the pains of hunger, the numbness of witnessing death, the sorrow of losing beloved family members. But she also recalls events that many adults would never have noticed: the bizarre "Nazis and Jews" game she would play with the other children at the camp, the way she tried to fight an SS who took her favorite fur coat, or the time she choked back tears after her mother wouldn't let her take a doll that was left behind by a child who was gassed. While Tova's innocence did not protect her from witnessing horrors, it is an all the more beautiful yet painful reminder that children are still children, no matter where they are or how terribly they suffer. This is also just one of many potent reminders throughout the story that, despite the Nazis vehement insitance that Jews were "vermin", all of those persecuted were, in fact, human.
This revelation is not lost on the grown-up Tova telling this story, who thoughtfully uses her degrees and experience in psychology to provide valuable insights and explanations for certain behaviors and thought processes throughout the tale. For example, little Tova is most afraid only when she is separated from her parents, especially her mother, which is expected for a child that age. However, anytime she is near death, she states it in a very matter-of-fact manner without fear. This is likely because children that age have not reached a point in their development where they can actually comprehend their own mortality. By explaining these psychological factors with her advanced knowledge as an adult, Tova is able to provide us with both the simplicity of a child's perspective and the complexity of the psychology behind it.
Tova continues to expertly maintain that dichotomy through discussions of moral and ethical dilemmas as well. Many survivors of (and even witnesses to) the Holocaust have in the years since struggled similarly, but once again, Tova's telling is imbued with that rosier hue of childhood. While she never had to make these hard decisions, she witnessed others struggle with this time and time again, such as when her father was asked to join the Jewish police in their ghetto. If he had refused this role, he would have been murdered, meaning he could no longer protect his family, but by saying yes, he would be assisting the Nazis in their crime, even being paid to do so. Of course, no one can now fault him for this, but adult Tova appreciates what a struggle it must have been for him. More importantly, little Tova comes to the same conclusion that any child would: My father is a good man, and he protects me.
Striking that balance between the innocence of childhood and the complexity of the real world and weaving a story between that dichotomy elevates the literary quality of the book to something most memiors, and even many novels, fail to achieve.
However, the humanity that careful complexity adds to the book suddenly dissipates in the final chapters, which are rushed summary of her adulthood. Oddly enough, the matter-of-fact retelling of these later events of her adulthood, which presented in black-and-white terms, lack the same scrutiny of the events in her childhood. As an adult, she expresses how her strong belief in the Jewish state gave her the strength to resist the Palestinians attacking their home in Israel, but she never reflects on how the lands and homes of the new Israeli state were taken from the Palestinians who lived there. Nor she does draw any connection to how as a child, the Polish had taken her family's own home and business. That is not to say that she is wrong for wanting a Jewish state after what she experienced, or that she never considered the Palestinians who lived there before her, but unlike in previous chapters, she did not take the time to unpack these decisions, their ambiguity, the beliefs guiding them. This goes on again and again for every tale she tells in her adulthood, and it is a real tragedy. Her later years, from what little she tells, sound extraordinary, and greater detail there would certainly be a greater enrichment to the book.
Nonetheless, I flew through this book, which cannot be described in one or two polysyllabic adjectives like a back cover review. From the first page, Tova makes it clear that what you are about to read is a great mystery, a gripping tale about how on earth a child survived Auschwitz, but then she winds you through the tragedy, the few moments of joy, and innumerable demonstrations of love to understand something far greater than what is taught in school.
Tova describes many universal experiences that many older survivors would also later recall: the pains of hunger, the numbness of witnessing death, the sorrow of losing beloved family members. But she also recalls events that many adults would never have noticed: the bizarre "Nazis and Jews" game she would play with the other children at the camp, the way she tried to fight an SS who took her favorite fur coat, or the time she choked back tears after her mother wouldn't let her take a doll that was left behind by a child who was gassed. While Tova's innocence did not protect her from witnessing horrors, it is an all the more beautiful yet painful reminder that children are still children, no matter where they are or how terribly they suffer. This is also just one of many potent reminders throughout the story that, despite the Nazis vehement insitance that Jews were "vermin", all of those persecuted were, in fact, human.
This revelation is not lost on the grown-up Tova telling this story, who thoughtfully uses her degrees and experience in psychology to provide valuable insights and explanations for certain behaviors and thought processes throughout the tale. For example, little Tova is most afraid only when she is separated from her parents, especially her mother, which is expected for a child that age. However, anytime she is near death, she states it in a very matter-of-fact manner without fear. This is likely because children that age have not reached a point in their development where they can actually comprehend their own mortality. By explaining these psychological factors with her advanced knowledge as an adult, Tova is able to provide us with both the simplicity of a child's perspective and the complexity of the psychology behind it.
Tova continues to expertly maintain that dichotomy through discussions of moral and ethical dilemmas as well. Many survivors of (and even witnesses to) the Holocaust have in the years since struggled similarly, but once again, Tova's telling is imbued with that rosier hue of childhood. While she never had to make these hard decisions, she witnessed others struggle with this time and time again, such as when her father was asked to join the Jewish police in their ghetto. If he had refused this role, he would have been murdered, meaning he could no longer protect his family, but by saying yes, he would be assisting the Nazis in their crime, even being paid to do so. Of course, no one can now fault him for this, but adult Tova appreciates what a struggle it must have been for him. More importantly, little Tova comes to the same conclusion that any child would: My father is a good man, and he protects me.
Striking that balance between the innocence of childhood and the complexity of the real world and weaving a story between that dichotomy elevates the literary quality of the book to something most memiors, and even many novels, fail to achieve.
However, the humanity that careful complexity adds to the book suddenly dissipates in the final chapters, which are rushed summary of her adulthood. Oddly enough, the matter-of-fact retelling of these later events of her adulthood, which presented in black-and-white terms, lack the same scrutiny of the events in her childhood. As an adult, she expresses how her strong belief in the Jewish state gave her the strength to resist the Palestinians attacking their home in Israel, but she never reflects on how the lands and homes of the new Israeli state were taken from the Palestinians who lived there. Nor she does draw any connection to how as a child, the Polish had taken her family's own home and business. That is not to say that she is wrong for wanting a Jewish state after what she experienced, or that she never considered the Palestinians who lived there before her, but unlike in previous chapters, she did not take the time to unpack these decisions, their ambiguity, the beliefs guiding them. This goes on again and again for every tale she tells in her adulthood, and it is a real tragedy. Her later years, from what little she tells, sound extraordinary, and greater detail there would certainly be a greater enrichment to the book.
Nonetheless, I flew through this book, which cannot be described in one or two polysyllabic adjectives like a back cover review. From the first page, Tova makes it clear that what you are about to read is a great mystery, a gripping tale about how on earth a child survived Auschwitz, but then she winds you through the tragedy, the few moments of joy, and innumerable demonstrations of love to understand something far greater than what is taught in school.
November 2, 2022
Tova, ( she changed her name not just from Tola- a name she was born with, but also from the name Susan adoptive family gave her - perhaps out of what they perceived would protect her from being bullied in school -and guess what? From adults too!) Gives us a peek into a world that narrowed and became extremely more difficult each day to survive.
Can you, yes- you! Can you possibly imagine having your life constricted down to 2 rooms, sleeping under the dining table, going hungry, and an entire population being walled in to a 2block area? (say, Federal Way)With barbed wire? And constantly living in fear of being killed each and every day. Because of your religion? Because one person felt this need to annihilate an entire group of people, because of their religion, how they looked different, all because of unchecked hate!!
This is a story of just one young girl and her mother. Sadly, after all they've endured...after liberation and life getting close to some sort of normalcy, Mamma passes. Tola's father also survives...
I can't say too much simply because I'm prone to giving too much away. But just know, as a military brat and while we were stationed in Germany, my father took us all to these places because he wanted us to learn the history of the countries we were guests in. And he wanted us to study, research and understand our hosts. And my mother told me of her and her family's struggles during that time ( she was born and raised in Germany and all but one of her family survived) ....I visited Auschwitz and several others.
I've also corresponded with another author/survivor for a couple years before her passing.
I of course, did like this book. I could hear Tola's voice telling us her story..hoping we all would understand and pay attention. So nothing, nothing could ever happen like this again...And sadly, books are being banned, history isn't being told, --etc etc. And even some of the novels that are on the shelves, as long as they're well researched -and there are quite a few-- they are eye openers.. So, my feeling here is this is a good book, a good history lesson, a great lesson for survival , a good atlas for sharing one's life and have to worry about reprisals.-- P/
Can you, yes- you! Can you possibly imagine having your life constricted down to 2 rooms, sleeping under the dining table, going hungry, and an entire population being walled in to a 2block area? (say, Federal Way)With barbed wire? And constantly living in fear of being killed each and every day. Because of your religion? Because one person felt this need to annihilate an entire group of people, because of their religion, how they looked different, all because of unchecked hate!!
This is a story of just one young girl and her mother. Sadly, after all they've endured...after liberation and life getting close to some sort of normalcy, Mamma passes. Tola's father also survives...
I can't say too much simply because I'm prone to giving too much away. But just know, as a military brat and while we were stationed in Germany, my father took us all to these places because he wanted us to learn the history of the countries we were guests in. And he wanted us to study, research and understand our hosts. And my mother told me of her and her family's struggles during that time ( she was born and raised in Germany and all but one of her family survived) ....I visited Auschwitz and several others.
I've also corresponded with another author/survivor for a couple years before her passing.
I of course, did like this book. I could hear Tola's voice telling us her story..hoping we all would understand and pay attention. So nothing, nothing could ever happen like this again...And sadly, books are being banned, history isn't being told, --etc etc. And even some of the novels that are on the shelves, as long as they're well researched -and there are quite a few-- they are eye openers.. So, my feeling here is this is a good book, a good history lesson, a great lesson for survival , a good atlas for sharing one's life and have to worry about reprisals.-- P/
September 14, 2022
Just occasionally you read a book and you know the words will stay with you for the rest of your life. This is one of those rare books.
I challenge anyone to read it without being moved to tears. I cried more than I have for a long time. And yet in no way is this a morbid, self-pitying or depressing read but a real story of survival against all odds and a message of great hope.
Malcolm Brabant’s long experience as an award winning journalist shows. His no-nonsense prose brings Tova Friedman’s memories to life in a very readable and unsentimental way. There are no superfluous or wasted words here: every word counts - from the description of Tova’s very early childhood in the Polish ghetto, the amazing mother who hid nothing from her in order to teach her to survive under the toughest conditions, their imprisonment in Auschwitz, the horrific scenes of killing and torture that no child should ever have to witness, to the years as a refugee and her subsequent lifetime’s work keeping the awareness of the Holocaust alive.
The book does not ask questions of the reader directly but no-one could finish it without asking themselves how they would have survived, how they would have acted if they were on the German side and what they can and must do to stop it happening again. In an unstable world with the far right in the ascendance and totalitarian governments in so many places we must all address these questions before it is too late and the unthinkable becomes reality once again.
‘Daughter of Auschwitz’ should be an essential text for any History or Modern Studies course. It is a beautifully written and truly important book. If you read nothing else this year, read this!
I challenge anyone to read it without being moved to tears. I cried more than I have for a long time. And yet in no way is this a morbid, self-pitying or depressing read but a real story of survival against all odds and a message of great hope.
Malcolm Brabant’s long experience as an award winning journalist shows. His no-nonsense prose brings Tova Friedman’s memories to life in a very readable and unsentimental way. There are no superfluous or wasted words here: every word counts - from the description of Tova’s very early childhood in the Polish ghetto, the amazing mother who hid nothing from her in order to teach her to survive under the toughest conditions, their imprisonment in Auschwitz, the horrific scenes of killing and torture that no child should ever have to witness, to the years as a refugee and her subsequent lifetime’s work keeping the awareness of the Holocaust alive.
The book does not ask questions of the reader directly but no-one could finish it without asking themselves how they would have survived, how they would have acted if they were on the German side and what they can and must do to stop it happening again. In an unstable world with the far right in the ascendance and totalitarian governments in so many places we must all address these questions before it is too late and the unthinkable becomes reality once again.
‘Daughter of Auschwitz’ should be an essential text for any History or Modern Studies course. It is a beautifully written and truly important book. If you read nothing else this year, read this!
September 13, 2022
Thank you Hachette for sending us a copy to read and review.
As the survivors of the Holocaust dwindle, the stories keep coming which keep the memories, honours and this mankind brutal act alive.
Keeping it alive offers hope that such hatred and vilification won’t manifest again.
Tova was born just before the war and didn’t know what peace and normality was. Raised till she was six in horrific conditions where death and skill of survival was paramount.
Somehow each selection saw her and her family survive.
A clever and protective mum instinctively ensured her survival.
Right up front the admission that some of her memories were passed down by her parents and her fathers written account.
The accounts were what we now know but as each survivor has a different story she offered snippets that I’ve not read before.
What I found interesting was the post war part of the anecdote.
How it shaped and affected the family.
A journey both mentally and physically a lot of the survivors went through.
The fact she is 83 now made me realise time will soon erase all those that experienced this first hand and it’s important to capture as much insight as we can before relying on second hand accounts.
To harm a child is such a woeful act and descriptions in this will make your heart ache.
As the survivors of the Holocaust dwindle, the stories keep coming which keep the memories, honours and this mankind brutal act alive.
Keeping it alive offers hope that such hatred and vilification won’t manifest again.
Tova was born just before the war and didn’t know what peace and normality was. Raised till she was six in horrific conditions where death and skill of survival was paramount.
Somehow each selection saw her and her family survive.
A clever and protective mum instinctively ensured her survival.
Right up front the admission that some of her memories were passed down by her parents and her fathers written account.
The accounts were what we now know but as each survivor has a different story she offered snippets that I’ve not read before.
What I found interesting was the post war part of the anecdote.
How it shaped and affected the family.
A journey both mentally and physically a lot of the survivors went through.
The fact she is 83 now made me realise time will soon erase all those that experienced this first hand and it’s important to capture as much insight as we can before relying on second hand accounts.
To harm a child is such a woeful act and descriptions in this will make your heart ache.
October 3, 2022
Tova Friedman is one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz.
She tells the story in her own words; describing her life after being forced to leave the ghettos for
Auschwitz.
She stayed close to her mother and did as she was told to be still and quiet. She and her mother were
separated from her father, but were united after the war when they were liberated.
They were able to come to America; seeing the Statue of Liberty was so meaning full for Tova.
She met Maier Friedman at school when she was eleven. They later married, had four children and eight grandchildren.
Tova went to College to study psychology, it led her to many opportunities to help those people who were hurting.
Before she wrote the book she spoke to school, churches and other events. Never shy showing her tattoo on the inside of her arm. It stands as a witness to what she saw as a child.
She tells the story in her own words; describing her life after being forced to leave the ghettos for
Auschwitz.
She stayed close to her mother and did as she was told to be still and quiet. She and her mother were
separated from her father, but were united after the war when they were liberated.
They were able to come to America; seeing the Statue of Liberty was so meaning full for Tova.
She met Maier Friedman at school when she was eleven. They later married, had four children and eight grandchildren.
Tova went to College to study psychology, it led her to many opportunities to help those people who were hurting.
Before she wrote the book she spoke to school, churches and other events. Never shy showing her tattoo on the inside of her arm. It stands as a witness to what she saw as a child.
November 22, 2023
I finished The Daughter of Auschwitz 2 months ago and have been putting off writing this review because I honestly don’t know what I could say to do this memoir justice. It is the miraculous, horrifying, incredibly disturbing story of a little girl who was born, just a year before WWII started, into a world of chaos and hate, brutality and evil, a world in which her immutable truth and experience was that being Jewish meant you were destined to die. Yet against all odds, despite all the deprivation and horror she experienced and witnessed, Tova survived.
As with all Holocaust survivor memoirs, The Daughter of Auschwitz was a hard book to read, but such an important and impactful one, particularly in light of the recent rhetoric of the former US President which is reminiscent of Hilter and the Nazi’s Final Solution.
I’m now eighty-three years old, and with this book, I am trying to immortalize what happened, to ensure that those who died are not forgotten. Nor the methods that were used to exterminate them.
Many people wonder whether the world we inhabit now is similar to Europe of the 1930s, when Nazism and Fascism were on the rise in the run-up to the Second World War. Back then, anti-Semitism was the official state policy of Adolf Hitler’s Germany. It’s true that no government in the world today has such a doctrine enshrined in law and supported by the population at large. Nevertheless, we all know countries where discrimination is prevalent and perhaps even tolerated.
Hatred is one of the fastest-growing phenomena today. Hate of every kind, especially toward minorities. Wherever you are in the world, I implore you, do not repeat the history to which I was subjected. - Tova Friedman, April 2022.
Lest we forget.
As with all Holocaust survivor memoirs, The Daughter of Auschwitz was a hard book to read, but such an important and impactful one, particularly in light of the recent rhetoric of the former US President which is reminiscent of Hilter and the Nazi’s Final Solution.
I’m now eighty-three years old, and with this book, I am trying to immortalize what happened, to ensure that those who died are not forgotten. Nor the methods that were used to exterminate them.
Many people wonder whether the world we inhabit now is similar to Europe of the 1930s, when Nazism and Fascism were on the rise in the run-up to the Second World War. Back then, anti-Semitism was the official state policy of Adolf Hitler’s Germany. It’s true that no government in the world today has such a doctrine enshrined in law and supported by the population at large. Nevertheless, we all know countries where discrimination is prevalent and perhaps even tolerated.
Hatred is one of the fastest-growing phenomena today. Hate of every kind, especially toward minorities. Wherever you are in the world, I implore you, do not repeat the history to which I was subjected. - Tova Friedman, April 2022.
Lest we forget.
April 11, 2024
Una historia escalofriante , de cómo una niña de muy corta edad, sobrevivió al holocausto. Después de vivir en un gueto judío, con sólo 4 años la llevaron a un campo de trabajo y con 6 a , donde vivió 6 meses hasta su liberación. Una historia que nos cuenta, el rechazo que tuvieron estos judíos supervivientes cuando quisieron regresar a su país, y los hizo ser nómadas buscando un sitio donde curarse de las heridas. Una historia que nos cuenta muchas cosas del judaísmo, que desconocía y me han parecido interesantes. UNA GRAN HISTORIA!!!
9.5/10
9.5/10
January 5, 2024
4.25 A powerful testament of Jewish strength and perseverance in the face of ultimate adversity.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
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