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Facing the Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe
Simone Arnold is an ordinary French schoolgirl: spirited and stubborn. Then the Nazis march in, demanding complete conformity. Friends become enemies, teachers spout Nazi propaganda, and school officials recruit for the Hitler Youth. Simone's family refuses to hail Hitler as Germany's savior. They are Jehovah's Witnesses, and they reject Nazi racism and violence. The Nazi Lion makes them pay the price.
418 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2000
274 people are currently reading
1845 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
October 4, 2011
I loved this book so much. To see a person that young with such faith is amzing.
I look up to her, and reading about her and her strength to stand up for what she believes in is AWSOME!!!!!!!! Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses I understand what it's like to go through persecution, granted it's not that extreme, but when you read about something like this, you as a person really appriciate and look up to those who have been one for along time and have that faith until the day they die. The way Simone puts everything is so wonderful,it let's people see how hard those times were, and that Jews weren't the only ones who faced percecutions.
I look up to her, and reading about her and her strength to stand up for what she believes in is AWSOME!!!!!!!! Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses I understand what it's like to go through persecution, granted it's not that extreme, but when you read about something like this, you as a person really appriciate and look up to those who have been one for along time and have that faith until the day they die. The way Simone puts everything is so wonderful,it let's people see how hard those times were, and that Jews weren't the only ones who faced percecutions.
March 24, 2010
This book told the story of a young girl who was a Jehovah Witness. It tells you that the Jewish people weren't the only ones who suffered during WWII. After having her childhood taken from her Simone(Maria) was sent to live in a home for "dilinquent" children. Simone(Maria) wasn't a diliquent though, she just stood strong and wouldn't betray her values. Even after four years of gruesome hard labor and back breaking tasks she wouldn't bend. This book taught me that if stand strong for what you believe in nothing can tear you down and you'll make it to that "finish line". This book was one of the very best books I have ever read and I recommend that you should read this book.
November 3, 2008
Facing The Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe is an autobiography written in the voice of a young girl, Simone Arnold. Growing up in Alsace (a location on the French/German border), Simone is an astute and happy child surrounded by a close-knit and loving family. In time, her parents become Jehovah’s Witnesses and Simone too makes the personal decision to embrace the faith with a fiery zeal and enduring fervor beyond her years, that would make any parent swell with pride. However, WWII is just around the corner, and trouble strikes when the Nazis annex the bordering French territory of Alsace, the home of the Arnold family. The Bibelforscher (Jehovah’s Witnesses or “Bible Students” as they were known then) in all of Nazi Europe are quickly put under ban.
Being conscientious objectors in line with the scriptures’ admonition “You must not murder”, the steadfast Bible Students did not support the war effort in any way whatsoever. They refused to “Heil Hitler”. As a result of their bible-based beliefs and their neutral standing, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to concentration camps to suffer cruelly at the hands of the Nazi regime. Even though the Bibelforscher were given the opportunity to be released if they “simply” renounced their faith by signing a legal document, these ones remained steadfast and unmovable. Because of their unbreakable allegiance to God alone, and not the state, they became targets of the Nazis’ rage and even their fellow citizens. However, their beliefs and firm reliance on Jehovah God helped these students of the Bible endure the oppression of the camps, some even to the point of death.
As unwavering Bibelforscher, the Arnold family was not immune to such horrors of the war machine. Soon after the war’s outset, Simone’s father is arrested and is taken away to the Dachau concentration camp and thereafter the infamous Mauthausen. Shortly after Simone is extradited to a strict Nazi reform school, her mother and aunt are also deported to the Schirmeck and Gaggenau camps.
Facing The Lion is full of heart-rending experiences as Simone recounts physical and mental abuse at the reform school by those who outwardly and secretly conspired to break her spirit. Yet, Simone maintains her strong faith amidst such persecution, and throughout maintains her spiritual and moral conviction. Excerpts from personal letters, documents, photographs of family and detailed drawings by the author herself serve to personalize the events, making for a poignant vicarious experience.
Inspiring, encouraging…this moving life story of a courageous and steadfast young girl has added to my respect and admiration of my rich spiritual heritage; and to all those, including Simone and her family, who struggled courageously to endure man’s inhumanity to man.
Visit the Facing The Lion website
Being conscientious objectors in line with the scriptures’ admonition “You must not murder”, the steadfast Bible Students did not support the war effort in any way whatsoever. They refused to “Heil Hitler”. As a result of their bible-based beliefs and their neutral standing, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to concentration camps to suffer cruelly at the hands of the Nazi regime. Even though the Bibelforscher were given the opportunity to be released if they “simply” renounced their faith by signing a legal document, these ones remained steadfast and unmovable. Because of their unbreakable allegiance to God alone, and not the state, they became targets of the Nazis’ rage and even their fellow citizens. However, their beliefs and firm reliance on Jehovah God helped these students of the Bible endure the oppression of the camps, some even to the point of death.
As unwavering Bibelforscher, the Arnold family was not immune to such horrors of the war machine. Soon after the war’s outset, Simone’s father is arrested and is taken away to the Dachau concentration camp and thereafter the infamous Mauthausen. Shortly after Simone is extradited to a strict Nazi reform school, her mother and aunt are also deported to the Schirmeck and Gaggenau camps.
Facing The Lion is full of heart-rending experiences as Simone recounts physical and mental abuse at the reform school by those who outwardly and secretly conspired to break her spirit. Yet, Simone maintains her strong faith amidst such persecution, and throughout maintains her spiritual and moral conviction. Excerpts from personal letters, documents, photographs of family and detailed drawings by the author herself serve to personalize the events, making for a poignant vicarious experience.
Inspiring, encouraging…this moving life story of a courageous and steadfast young girl has added to my respect and admiration of my rich spiritual heritage; and to all those, including Simone and her family, who struggled courageously to endure man’s inhumanity to man.
Visit the Facing The Lion website
October 16, 2016
When I first picked up this book, during my very first semester of university, I had not yet made contact with Jehovah's Witnesses and adopted the beliefs as my own. No rather I read this is as a sheltered globally illiterate American high school graduate, who did not know that others besides Jews suffered during the Holocaust. I was enthralled from the beginning to the end by the vivid descriptions of life in pre-war Alsace-Lorrain, a region in the crossroads of both France and Germany, her parents religious conversion,and their suffering for the simple "crime" of standing up for their beliefs, persecuted not only by government but also shunned by family and friends alike. A well behaved child with good law abiding Christian parents kicked out of public school and sent to a youth detention center, because she refused to bow down and worship a grown man with an obvious inferiority complex, who ever heard of such a thing? I was in awe at how nothing more than Ms. Simone Arnold's unwavering religious faith kept her going throughout her entire ordeal. This book is truly amazing.
April 9, 2014
"I remembered that is was a privilege to stand as a Witness of Jehovah."
Like many people that have read this book - that one sentence blew me away.
As one of Jehovah's Witnesses I started reading this book at first as nothing more than an interest in our history. However, it wasn't long before I realised that no matter what (if any) faith you are of, this girls courage and faith is nothing short of inspiring. To be such a young age and to survive being ripped from the love of your family, be told time and again that your God is pointless and that everything you ever believed in is a lie, would be inspiring enough. But Simone proved time and again (to herself and then to others) that what she believed was right and that the God she had such strong faith in was indeed a mighty tower for her to find strength in. And while I was reading about her faith I thought about the amazing job that her parents had done in raising her in the faith. How many parents can say that if they were to face the same test they know that their children would stand firm?
At many times I teared up iver what this child must have been feeling, and yet there are times when I also cheered at her strength of character.
This may be the story of a Witness of Jehovah, yet it is a story for all walks of faith and life.
I rank this above the Anne Frank diary - that's how awesome it is!
Like many people that have read this book - that one sentence blew me away.
As one of Jehovah's Witnesses I started reading this book at first as nothing more than an interest in our history. However, it wasn't long before I realised that no matter what (if any) faith you are of, this girls courage and faith is nothing short of inspiring. To be such a young age and to survive being ripped from the love of your family, be told time and again that your God is pointless and that everything you ever believed in is a lie, would be inspiring enough. But Simone proved time and again (to herself and then to others) that what she believed was right and that the God she had such strong faith in was indeed a mighty tower for her to find strength in. And while I was reading about her faith I thought about the amazing job that her parents had done in raising her in the faith. How many parents can say that if they were to face the same test they know that their children would stand firm?
At many times I teared up iver what this child must have been feeling, and yet there are times when I also cheered at her strength of character.
This may be the story of a Witness of Jehovah, yet it is a story for all walks of faith and life.
I rank this above the Anne Frank diary - that's how awesome it is!
February 28, 2021
4.51 stars.
I've been wavering between 4 & 5*. The cover is not very good... but after thinking hard, this book is amazing enough to warrant a 5.
Why? Unlike many Jehovah witnesses who praise the religious part of this book, I'm an atheist, or at least an agnostic. But still, Facing the lion can bring tremendous values to an 'outsider'. Unlike some people who rate it 2*, I don't find Simone trying to sell the faith. She just expresses her firm belief in her savior. It takes much more for me to convert.
And, even if religion takes the better half of the book, from the remaining half one can harness precious things. The author didn't use coated words or emotional manipulation in any kinds. It's 1 of the most raw memoirs out there. We learn so much from the struggling of a child. How she can remember stuffs that vividly is such a wonder.
We get to know a magnificent mother. The way she treated her child and educated Simone amazes me. Her father doesn't get the same kind of spotlight treatment, but from some excerpts we can see that he's quite awesome too, having survived Dachau & such. And who could not be moved by her stories after stories? The way she grew up in a picturesque countryside, watching ants & beetles & flowers moving in the wind, or under a heavy storm. The way of life in de la Mer rouge. The way her grandma believed in Germany. The gentle way of her grandpa toward Simone & the she-goat. The way her aunt prayed at night. The way that child looked up at Hitler, literally. The way she was snatched out of her parents. The way she coped with the Fräuleins at the corrective house. The way she learnt to live this suppressed life as a delinquent. The way she defied unfair authority. The way the people she loves out-maneuver the Nazis. The way her friends taught her life lessons that opens my mind.
Oh my, who won't be sympathetic when he reads to the part when Simone got only 1 bathe & 1 hairwash in a whole year? When she faced the whole school with hands stretched out? When she used some coins to buy yeast because she was so hungry? I didn't shed a tear, because the author didn't try to force it with just raw words. But that's precisely the gem about it. The feeling will stay with me for a long time, longer than if she used manipulation, for sure.
Simone was an unbelievable child, with the luck of having such a loving family. Reading this book gives everyone the encouragement in things he faces in life, for whatever difficulty there is, it's likely that the people in this book have experienced something that surpassed it.
I am lucky to have known Facing the lion.
I've been wavering between 4 & 5*. The cover is not very good... but after thinking hard, this book is amazing enough to warrant a 5.
Why? Unlike many Jehovah witnesses who praise the religious part of this book, I'm an atheist, or at least an agnostic. But still, Facing the lion can bring tremendous values to an 'outsider'. Unlike some people who rate it 2*, I don't find Simone trying to sell the faith. She just expresses her firm belief in her savior. It takes much more for me to convert.
And, even if religion takes the better half of the book, from the remaining half one can harness precious things. The author didn't use coated words or emotional manipulation in any kinds. It's 1 of the most raw memoirs out there. We learn so much from the struggling of a child. How she can remember stuffs that vividly is such a wonder.
We get to know a magnificent mother. The way she treated her child and educated Simone amazes me. Her father doesn't get the same kind of spotlight treatment, but from some excerpts we can see that he's quite awesome too, having survived Dachau & such. And who could not be moved by her stories after stories? The way she grew up in a picturesque countryside, watching ants & beetles & flowers moving in the wind, or under a heavy storm. The way of life in de la Mer rouge. The way her grandma believed in Germany. The gentle way of her grandpa toward Simone & the she-goat. The way her aunt prayed at night. The way that child looked up at Hitler, literally. The way she was snatched out of her parents. The way she coped with the Fräuleins at the corrective house. The way she learnt to live this suppressed life as a delinquent. The way she defied unfair authority. The way the people she loves out-maneuver the Nazis. The way her friends taught her life lessons that opens my mind.
Oh my, who won't be sympathetic when he reads to the part when Simone got only 1 bathe & 1 hairwash in a whole year? When she faced the whole school with hands stretched out? When she used some coins to buy yeast because she was so hungry? I didn't shed a tear, because the author didn't try to force it with just raw words. But that's precisely the gem about it. The feeling will stay with me for a long time, longer than if she used manipulation, for sure.
Simone was an unbelievable child, with the luck of having such a loving family. Reading this book gives everyone the encouragement in things he faces in life, for whatever difficulty there is, it's likely that the people in this book have experienced something that surpassed it.
I am lucky to have known Facing the lion.
December 27, 2010
An often overlooked fact, Jehovah's Witnesses suffered great persecution at the hands of the Nazis due to their firm stand against Hitler. This book tells the poignant experiences of a young Jehovah's Witness who stayed true to her faith through many trials and hardships. I highly recommend it to persons of all faiths, but especially so to Jehovah's Witnesses as it is an encouraging and faith strengthening read.
January 19, 2013
We were able to Skype the author who is a Holoaust survivor, amazing story!
July 12, 2013
This book has inspired me ro strengthen my resolve to serve Jehovah more fully. If this young girl can do it amid the Nazi Lion, then I can do it.
November 8, 2011
The book Facing The Lion by Simone Arnold Liebster was one of my favorite books. I’ve read book about the holocaust but there most about Jews, but this one shows how it wasn’t just Jews that were targeted. It was a great auto- biography of who a girl stud up for what she believed in even thought it would of cost her own life.
Simone made you feel what she was feeling and kind of feel what she was going through. We may never go through such things but she makes you feel all the pain she went through.
It’s about a girl who lived in France in the time that Adolph Hitler took over. Her family were bible students (Jehovah’s Witnesses), they had so much love for the bible. They never lied because there believes, so imagine how hard it was keeping away from the soldiers that would go to there house looking to take all there watchtowers, and bibles.
Simone wouldn’t participate in school when the would hale Hitler . She wouldn’t also solute the flag. Her father was arrested because they caught him with a bible , he was prisoner . Even though they never gave up on there believes . Which makes this book so inspirational for everyone.
Later on Simone was separated from her mother also, and she had no one else left. She was later put in an all girls school , It was kind of like prison too. Simone faced really hard times, and per pressure but she always kept her faith strong.
I actually meet a women who knew Simone and we had a video chat with her. It was hard to understand her cause she mostly spoke all English we had a translator but she was so aspiring. I would definitely recommend every to read this book. It’s long but you wont regret it one bit.
Simone made you feel what she was feeling and kind of feel what she was going through. We may never go through such things but she makes you feel all the pain she went through.
It’s about a girl who lived in France in the time that Adolph Hitler took over. Her family were bible students (Jehovah’s Witnesses), they had so much love for the bible. They never lied because there believes, so imagine how hard it was keeping away from the soldiers that would go to there house looking to take all there watchtowers, and bibles.
Simone wouldn’t participate in school when the would hale Hitler . She wouldn’t also solute the flag. Her father was arrested because they caught him with a bible , he was prisoner . Even though they never gave up on there believes . Which makes this book so inspirational for everyone.
Later on Simone was separated from her mother also, and she had no one else left. She was later put in an all girls school , It was kind of like prison too. Simone faced really hard times, and per pressure but she always kept her faith strong.
I actually meet a women who knew Simone and we had a video chat with her. It was hard to understand her cause she mostly spoke all English we had a translator but she was so aspiring. I would definitely recommend every to read this book. It’s long but you wont regret it one bit.
Read
January 1, 2014Autobiography of a sister... so far it's a great read and really encouraging!
June 8, 2020
What a beautiful book by a beautiful author! The best part of this experience is that I got to meet Simone! What a gem! I will never forget this beautiful experience. Her story, even though she says it's not her story, but a story of God's protection, is amazing. It made me reflect a lot on myself and my own personal relationship with God.
January 30, 2012
I agree, every JW should read. Such courage. An example to follow!
May 28, 2022
This was truly a faith strengthening read. To know that Simone, at such an early age, was strong in her faith and convictions is something to be admired. I tried to put myself in her shoes and the situations she faced…I only hope to have half of the courage she did. But ultimately that comes from Jehovah. The cross references in the appendix added to the history, and gives the reader to fact check. Simone’s life story gives me courage to face the Lion when my time comes.
January 28, 2026
This book was incredibly touching and deeply encouraging. The faith this little girl had and the values instilled in her by her parents were truly inspiring. I loved her constant ability to make her own decisions, even in the most difficult circumstances. The story highlights just how cruel the world can be and shows the very real persecution Jehovah’s Witnesses faced during the Holocaust. The kindness her mother showed, always choosing not to return evil for evil, was remarkable. This book will stay with me, and I know I’ll continue to reflect on its message for a long time.
October 11, 2021
This was very encouraging but also so heartbreaking to read, especially the letters in the epilogue 😭
October 14, 2024
Her unshakable faith & courage at such a young age -wow! I hope to be as strong as she was
January 12, 2024
“Dad reminded me: “Never give up! Even when you are at your lowest, Jehovah sees you, and he knows what you are going through. He will impart to you the needed strength to overcome the situation and stay faithful. His hand is not short.” I knew that he spoke from his own experience.”
January 8, 2015
After recently reading about the people in Concentration Camps with the "pink triangle" labels I was curious about other minority groups persucuted and sent to Concentration camps under the Nazi regime. This book is about the 'purple triangle' people..Jehovah's Witnesses. Specifically, this is the autobiography of Simone who is 11 and taken away from her parents and put into a 'reform' school where she is severly abused. She could have avoided going there in the first place if she had said 'heil Hitler' at her school but she refused. Both her parents were both put into concentration camps and she had little likeley hood of ever seeing them alive again. I especially liked the honesty and the way she expressed her feelings, even after meeting her parents again who were shells of themselves. Especially her father who was beaten so severly in auschwitz that he became deaf. He was depressed and filled with anxiety and told of the horrible things the nazi's did to him in addition to being beaten up. They asked him to simply say he wouldn't be a Jehovah's witness again and they would let him out of the concentration camp but he refused. So the Nazi's locked him in a room for 6 months with his arms in cases of Mosquitos all day trying to infect him with maleria. Although Simone never was in a camp, her 'reform school' was extremely abusive and I was able to learn a lot about what her parents and relatives went through, Simone ended up marrying a Jewish man who had survived a concentration camp.
May 23, 2020
This is my “F” book for the 2020 ABC Reading Challenge.
What a faith strengthening story. Simone Arnold Liebster is such an incredible example of standing up for what is right despite persecution. Although she was a child during Nazi occupation, she went through many terrible things and never compromised her faith. She made the decision for herself to refuse to Heil Hitler or support the war effort despite being so young and despite the fact that doing so would have made things easier. She would not compromise her beliefs or her conscience. It was definitely interesting to read a book about WW2 from the perspective of someone who went through it as a child, and I never realized that Nazis would often take children away from their parents and put them in a reform school if they didn’t comply with Nazi ideology. It’s a unique perspective among so many WW2 stories out there, and I’m glad I read it.
What a faith strengthening story. Simone Arnold Liebster is such an incredible example of standing up for what is right despite persecution. Although she was a child during Nazi occupation, she went through many terrible things and never compromised her faith. She made the decision for herself to refuse to Heil Hitler or support the war effort despite being so young and despite the fact that doing so would have made things easier. She would not compromise her beliefs or her conscience. It was definitely interesting to read a book about WW2 from the perspective of someone who went through it as a child, and I never realized that Nazis would often take children away from their parents and put them in a reform school if they didn’t comply with Nazi ideology. It’s a unique perspective among so many WW2 stories out there, and I’m glad I read it.
August 2, 2021
This book was a beautiful reminder of how resilient so many have been when faced with persecution! A beautiful example of zeal and faith!
June 2, 2020
As a memoir this was fairly interesting, so much so that as I read it I was tempted to give it a high rating. In the end, though, I am giving it a star for that bringing my rating up to two stars. The problem is that the whole point of the book is to push religion and I cannot stomach that. It is subtler than outright preaching, but throughout it conveys the message that a brave little girl standing up to persecution somehow validates her religion. For that I would like to give it negative stars.
July 29, 2017
Die Geschichte dieses Mädchens hat mich sehr beindruckt. Da ich in der Nähe von Konstanz lebte,
konnte ich die Schauplätze ihrer Geschichte besuchen.
Hut ab vor diesem Mädchen das den Widerstand im dritten Reich lebte und trotz aller Zwangsmassnahmen zu ihrem Glaubensbekenntnis stand.
konnte ich die Schauplätze ihrer Geschichte besuchen.
Hut ab vor diesem Mädchen das den Widerstand im dritten Reich lebte und trotz aller Zwangsmassnahmen zu ihrem Glaubensbekenntnis stand.
June 27, 2012
If you like WWII books, you should read this book that is from a different point of view.
January 29, 2016
I didn't like this as well as most memoirs of the Holocaust because of the religious content. Author seemed to be trying to convert others.
May 22, 2021
Such a faith strengthen Book!!! After reading this book, I felt motivated to keep giving my best in serving Jehovah!!!
BEST BOOK I HAVE READ!!
BEST BOOK I HAVE READ!!
December 20, 2023
Such a good book detailing the journey of a courageous young girl during nazi Germany.
January 5, 2024
Incredibly inspiring. Faith can move mountains.
November 25, 2024
“Hope is the greatest treasure!If a man has lost everything, he still possesses hope.” ✨
April 18, 2022
What an amazing read! I am absolutely astonished at the strong faith Simone had at such a young age. Her relationship with Jehovah was so real and her love so deep. It was a slow build, but not boring. However, It definitely picked up when the mother found the truth. Simone was able to perfectly paint the picture of her happy family life and care-free childhood, and show how quickly everything changed.
I spent many late nights saying “just one more page” trying to figure out what was going to happen next! And since this is a real account it’s not always the happy ending you want, but it’s real. With each test faced, I couldn’t help but ponder: what would I have done in these situations? At that age.. at THIS age?? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, this book will definitely encourage you to step your game up!
I spent many late nights saying “just one more page” trying to figure out what was going to happen next! And since this is a real account it’s not always the happy ending you want, but it’s real. With each test faced, I couldn’t help but ponder: what would I have done in these situations? At that age.. at THIS age?? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, this book will definitely encourage you to step your game up!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews