4.5 Stars

CW: For horrific war crimes.

Well that was a harrowing story of one girls struggle to survive life in a concentration camp.

I listened to this in one sitting because it was short and gripping. It is probably one of the better holocaust survival stories I have read because the writing and characters drew me in. This was made all the more powerful by the fact that it is a true story. Elli's will to survive was remarkable and the strength she showed to bring herself and her mother through these horrendous times will stick with me for quite some time. Outstanding. ( )

It was in Seeshaupt on this very day fifty years ago that the American army had liberated me, along with my mother and thousands of other skeletal prisoners. Some leading citizens of Seepshaupt had decided to commemorate the event. They formed a committee and dispatched letters of invitation to possible survivors all over the world. One such letter reached me in my New York home, and here I was, making a detour, on a Tel Aviv - New York flight, to Seeshaupt.

The author, née Elli Friedmann, was born in what is now Slovakia, but at the time was part of Hungary. At the age of thirteen, she, her mother, and older brother were deported to Auschwitz. Her father had been taken to a Hungarian labor camp. She and her mother are taken to Camp C, a half-built pen with no water. Within a couple of weeks, they are transferred to Camp Plaszow to work flattening hills by hand. Back to Auschwitz, then forced labor in Germany, prison camp, cattle cars to nowhere. It's a horrifying story, told very matter-of-factly. Unusual in that Elli was so young and that she survived particularly harsh treatment.

This book was written for young adults; the author has also written an adult memoir called [Elli: Coming of Age in the Holocaust]. ( )

An excellent first-hand account of the horrors of the Holocaust told by one who survived against all odds, this is one of the most gripping autobiographies I've ever read. I had the opportunity to meet Livia at the Memorial Library New York and hear her speak. She's an amazing woman, and her story is one I think everyone should learn. I now have multiple copies of this in my classroom. ( )

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