I was born in Israel, a third generation to holocaust survivors and seventh generation to farmers from the Galilee, living with my family in Brooklyn, NY. I was raised by a concentration camp survivor grandfather, whose miraculous story I recorded and documented since early childhood. My painful family heritage made me passionate about 1930s and 1940s Europe, social and political processes that allowed fascism and nationalism to prevail over the frail democracies, and how ordinary people found their world shattered overnight, and had to find ways to stay alive. The books on my list represent small stories, about the human condition under inhumane conditions, told by talented storytellers.
I wrote...
The Apprentice of Buchenwald: The True Story of the Teenage Boy Who Sabotaged Hitler's War Machine
Alexander Rosenberg was a smart and curious teenager who lived a pampered life with his affluent parents. The rise of fascism causes his protected existence to collapse, alongside the illusion of secular Jewish assimilation in 1930s Europe.
Using their last reserves of wealth to escape extermination, the Rosenbergs go underground to avoid the Gestapo. Eventually exposed, captured, and taken to Buchenwald, the largest concentration camp in Germany, it is up to industrious Alexander to create leverage and use wartime machinations and raw talent to save his father's and his own lives. This universal, true story of inner strength, resourcefulness, and optimism was documented and written by Alexander's grandson, Oren Schneider. It is dedicated to brave people everywhere who choose not to give up.
I loved Ken Price's book because it’s such an intimate recounting of Abe and Sonia's remarkable journey through marriage, separation, reunion, and a new life in America.
I appreciated his extensive research that puts places each step of the journey into full historical context. I strongly identified with the characters, celebrated their successes, and cried along with their sadness.
Before World War II, Abe and Sonia Huberman were two soulmates happily married and in love, living a peaceful life with their family in Warsaw, Poland. But while Abe was away, on a short business trip to America, World War II broke out and the Nazis invaded. Abe was stranded far from home, while Sonia was left alone with their two young children to face the Nazis. This is the story of her bravery, of Sonia’s survival of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and Nazi death camps, including the notorious Auschwitz. What was supposed to be a separation of seven weeks…
With every page, I could feel the love and dedication of a grandson to his grandfather, a love that is reflected throughout the book.
I can only say that I'm sorry I didn't get to spend time with Zaidy himself. The writer is doing a great job seamlessly combining the strengths of memoir, historical writing, and narrative non-fiction.
Benzion Malik was on a path of discovery. He was keen to learn about everything in life through the teachings of his faith and only something cataclysmic could throw him off this course. In 1939, the 21-year-old Benzion was called up to the Romanian Army. Little did he know that he would not be a free man until 1945.
During six long years, Benzion served in three further armies. He was forced into hard labor and was constantly abused because of his Jewishness by the Hungarian army. He was then made to serve the German army which simply needed disposable…
I enjoyed how the author, a musician herself, masterfully depicts the entire spectrum of human experience: joy, passion, cruelty, love, longing, endless guilt, and a sense of peace, all accompanied by thoughtful insights. Her passion for music is only matched by her longing for homemade Hungarian cuisine… a painful story told in a sensitive and aesthetic manner.
In a world in which antisemitism is on the rise, Horvath’s story—equal parts disturbing and inspiring—is necessary and timely reading. A poetic, nuanced tribute to the power of music and family. — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Ms Horvath's ability of unrestrained self-reflection combined with her eloquent writing style, her way of summarizing complex events into comprehensible paragraphs will not let you put the book down. — Jewish Book World
Janet Horvath tells [her parents'] gripping story with honesty and humour in an engaging style as if talking to a friend. —THE STRAD music magazine
I appreciated how the author, a fellow Brooklynite, interlaces chronological vignettes of the good times, and happy days in a Romanian town, alongside the hellish experiences at Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
The contrasts are heartbreaking and help put the story into historical context. Her style is very touching, and her sensitivity allows the reader to absorb the very difficult details.
Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil with the man of her dreams by her side. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is forced out of her home and sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz.
Upon arrival, Rosie’s head is shaved and along with the loss of her beautiful hair, she loses the life she once cherished. Among the chaos and surrounded by hopelessness, Rosie realizes the only thing the Nazis cannot take…
I appreciated the author’s meticulously researched account of her parents' remarkable survival in Poland.
Her writing is very emotional yet beautiful and fact-based. The details capture the complexity of survival during these dark days. Moreover, she is able to convey the randomness of individual outcomes, and the unfathomable resilience of the ones who managed to stay alive and tell their tale.
"This is a moving remembrance, as historically edifying as it is dramatically affecting; it’s also a marvelous amalgam of scholarly objectivity and poignant psychological reflection. A gripping work of familial history. " – Kirkus Reviews
When the Germans march into their little Polish shtetl at the start of the Second World War, the Jews of Włodawa see their lives abruptly torn apart. For Hil and Alexandra it marks the beginning of a struggle to survive during which they will experience ghettos, roundups, will need to use hiding places and false identities – a struggle where the line between life and…
The Hunt for the Peggy C is best described as Casablanca meets Das Boot. It is about an American smuggler who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by a brutal Nazi U-boat captain bent on revenge.
During the nerve-wracking 3,000-mile escape, Rogers falls in love with the family’s eldest daughter, Miriam, a sweet medical student with a militant streak. Everything seems hopeless when Jake is badly wounded, and Miriam must prove she’s as tough as her rhetoric to put down a mutiny by some of Jake’s fed-up crew–just as the U-boat closes in for the kill.
The Hunt for the Peggy C: A World War II Maritime Thriller
John Winn Miller's THE HUNT FOR THE PEGGY C, a semifinalist in the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, captures the breathless suspense of early World War II in the North Atlantic. Captain Jake Rogers, experienced in running his tramp steamer through U-boat-infested waters to transport vital supplies and contraband to the highest bidder, takes on his most dangerous cargo yet after witnessing the oppression of Jews in Amsterdam: a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution.
The normally aloof Rogers finds himself drawn in by the family's warmth and faith, but he can't afford to let his guard down when Oberleutnant Viktor…
