Surviving Auschwitz : Children of the Shoah

Title : Surviving Auschwitz : Children of the Shoah
Author : Milton J. Nieuwsma
Year of Publication : 2005
Publisher : First ibooks, Inc., New York

This book is non-fiction. It is based from interviews conducted with children survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi death camp. The historical torturing camp where more than one and a half million people were killed in gas chambers, killed by systematic starvation, forced labour, lack of disease control, individual executions, and cruel medical experiments. It was a cruelty of extermination of one human race by another. Cruel sterlising experiments were conducted on woman by injecting liquid acid into their uterus without anesthetics.

This book dictated the story of three main characters : Tova Friedman (TF), Frieda Tenenbaum (FT) and Rache Hyams (RH). TF entered camp 5 yrs 9 mths and was liberated 6 yrs 4 mths. Her parents were skilled tailors so they were send to the camp for making soldier uniforms. FT entered camp 10 yrs 2 mths and was liberated 10 yrs 8 mths. Finally RH entered camp 7 yrs and was liberated 7 yrs 7 mths. She was send to the munitions factory. Those that were too old to work or too young were all killed and the intellectual was also shot to death. The impact of the torture they received in Auschwitz was so great that it affected them till death. TF mom wanted to died so much after the war despite surviving it. FT got divorced despite having a good marriage because of the haunting memories of the war.

A really good narration, simple to read yet not too overwhelming detailed or factual for understanding.

War is cruel.... May we see, and may we never forget.

For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered one and a half million of men, women and children, mainly Jews, from various countries of Europe.