Book picks similar to
Recipes from Auschwitz: The Survival Stories of Two Hungarian Jews with Historical Insight by Alex Sternberg
book-wish-list
coming-soon
holocaust
biographies-and-memoirs
Under the SS Shadow
Traugott Vogel - 1977
He sees his father shot down by guerrillas, rebuilds his life from the ruins, leaves Hitler's SS emblem for another symbol. Excerpts from UNDER THE SS SHADOW: * "In an official declaration, my father stated that he and his family had left the state church. We were Gottglaubig. The SS symbol became the point of reference for our family." * "We of the Hitler Youth were going forward with Hitler, we were sure. Several years later, as I huddled in a foxhole, I wondered where we were going or where we could go." *"I feel like a man sitting in a car that's going down a hill," my father said, "but it's too late to get out." * "May 7, 1945, Germany officially surrendered to the Western Allies. On May 9, Russian troops marched into Berlin. I could not even guess what the future held for me." * "Augsburg is about fifty miles from Dachau, location of the infamous concentration camp. Only after the war did we discover what had happened at our doorstep." 27 photos available in printed version.
BUNKER 1945 - The Last Ten Days of ADOLF HITLER
Christian Shakespeare - 2019
Twenty-two years later, he did. April 1945 – Berlin. The world had been at war for more than five-and-a-half years – approximately seventy million people were dead across the globe. The epicentre of the twelve-year-old Third Reich was now surrounded, enveloped by bitter Soviet forces hardened by Nazi barbarity in the east over the last four years. As the buildings were blasted into rubble, pounded by Russian guns and bombs, before their troops and tanks, Hitler was hunkered down in his last headquarters – the dark and damp bunker under the Reich Chancellery. As the Third Reich began to crumble as fast as the city’s buildings, what was the state of mind of the tyrant? Only his closest and fanatical allies saw the collapse, none more so than Hitler’s servants, Otto Gunsche and Heinz Linge – two individuals which witnessed the final act of their regime. An act tinged over the last ten days in late April with selfish betrayal, increasingly forlorn hope, pleas, desperation and eventually suicide. As the Soviets closed in with impending vigour, in the concrete tomb below ground and under the thunderous booms of the petrifying battle for Berlin, the mind of the dictator disintegrated into drugs, delusion and a determination to die. Not by the enemy bullet but one of his own. This is the story of the people who held a unique place in world history – the ones who were there when the nightmare of Nazism and the horrors which accompanied it was finally banished as a dark chapter in the story of the human race.
Fall Out: A Memoir of Friends Made and Friends Unmade
Janet Street-Porter - 2006
Everyone needs them. Especially when relations between you and your family are less than perfect. And for the talented and ambitious Janet Street-Porter, her friends became her family. is the story of these vibrant characters – some famous, some infamous, all extraordinary – and their often volatile relationships with her. Above all, it is a portrait of an exciting and creative era, by someone who lived it to the full.
Bringing Cheyenne Home
Rachel Jensby - 2015
Cheyenne was an abused toddler, victimized first by her biological father, and then again by the family court system that knowingly refused to protect her from further abuse. Her family took her into hiding to help her escape a fate of a childhood filled with chronic sexual abuse. Bringing Cheyenne Home details the experiences of this family upon coming out of hiding, from their first day back in court through the tumultuous years afterward, including a peek into Cheyenne's life today.
Why don't you just leave him?: A true story of living through Domestic Violence.
Stacey Jameson - 2019
Coercive control drove her to the depths of despair. Stacey Jameson had a lack of self-esteem derived from her early childhood. Growing up and dealing with her parents’ divorce, she felt nothing more than an inconvenience to her depressive mother. With severe feelings of inadequacy, she was desperate to be loved and feel that she belonged. When she was a teenager, she met Leon, and fell in love. She had never felt so happy. They had one common denominator; they were both brought up in volatile homes. This was the foundation for a turbulent and destructive relationship. Stacey was welcomed with open arms into the bosom of Leon’s twisted family; naive and impressionable, she finally felt secure and loved. Stacey’s childhood had made her timid and compliant. Leon’s childhood had made him controlling and narcissistic. Gradually Stacey found herself in an unhappy relationship where her partner thrived on being abusive, yet she still loved him. She was coercively controlled into doing things that just were not part of her character. She was so manipulated; she believed she did not deserve any better. So often people look on with judgement at others who are in an abusive relationship and say, “Why don’t they just leave?”. Stacey’s story, just one of millions, describes her journey and why it’s just not so simple to do for people who find themselves caught up in a destructive relationship that they just cannot escape from.
The Light We Left Behind
Tessa Harris - 2021
Bugged with listening devices in every room, it’s up to Maddie to gain the Nazis’ trust and coax them into giving up information. When Max Weitzler, a Jewish refugee, also arrives at Trent Park with the same mission, Maddie finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of chess.The two met in Germany before the war, and Maddie’s heart was his from the moment they locked eyes.But Maddie has finally gained the trust of the Nazi officers at the house, and her love for Max must remain a secret. When the walls have ears, who can you trust?Based on the true events that took place at Trent Park during WWII, this is an emotionally gripping, and heart-breaking novel about love, sacrifice, and betrayal, perfect for fans of The Rose Code and The Lost Girls of Paris.
Can You Keep a Secret?
Katie Collins - 2012
Katie’s sexual odyssey began before she was even sixteen. She started out stripping on webcam for an audience of strangers and soon she was meeting and having increasingly adventurous sex with numerous men each week, determined to expand her sexual horizons and explore her submissive nature. When Katie discovered the secretive swingers’ scene, her behaviour escalated as she found the perfect outlet for her voracious sexual appetite. After her first nervous encounters with experienced swingers, she threw herself into the anything-goes lifestyle and became the most popular girl on the scene, proudly taking centre stage at fifty-strong sex parties. Katie’s uncontrollable sexual urge eventually led her to experiment with women, explore S&M fetishes and have sex with up to ten men in one night. Katie sought out ever more extreme sexual experiences and she eventually began to wonder if her behaviour was really an expression of her sexual freedom, or if it had grown out of something darker.Can You Keep a Secret? is the brutally honest and sometimes unsettling account of a young girl’s journey into the sexual underworld.Available via Amazon.com and iBooks.
If I Could Say Goodbye
Emma Cooper - 2020
So when her sister dies in a tragic accident, nothing seems to make sense any more.Despite the support of her husband, Ed, and their wonderful children, Jen can't comprehend why she is still here, while bright, spirited Kerry is not.When Jen starts to lose herself in her memories of Kerry, she doesn't realise that the closer she feels to Kerry, the further she gets from her family. Jen was never able to say goodbye to her sister. But what if she could?Would you risk everything if you had the chance to say goodbye?
A Promise at Sobibor: A Jewish Boy's Story of Revolt and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland
Philip Bialowitz - 2008
Between April 1942 and October 1943, about 250,000 Jews from European countries and the Soviet Union were sent to the Nazi death camp at Sobibór in occupied Poland. Sobibór was not a transit camp or work camp: its sole purpose was efficient mass murder. On October 14, 1943, approximately half of the 650 or so prisoners still alive at Sobibór undertook a daring and precisely planned revolt, killing SS officers and fleeing through minefields and machine-gun fire into the surrounding forests, farms, and towns. Only about forty-two of them, including Fiszel, are known to have survived to the end of the war. Philip (Fiszel) Bialowitz, now an American citizen, tells his eyewitness story here in the real-time perspective of his own boyhood, from his childhood before the war and his internment in the brutal Izbica ghetto to his harrowing six months at Sobibór—including his involvement in the revolt and desperate mass escape—and his rescue by courageous Polish farmers. He also recounts the challenges of life following the war as a teenaged displaced person, and his eventual efforts as a witness to the truth of the Holocaust. In 1943 the heroic leaders of the revolt at Sobibór, Sasha Perchersky and Leon Feldhendler, implored fellow prisoners to promise that anyone who survived would tell the story of Sobibór: not just of the horrific atrocities committed there, but of the courage and humanity of those who fought back. Bialowitz has kept that promise.
Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association for School Libraries
Best Books for High Schools, selected by the American Association for School Libraries
Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
King of the Gypsies: Memoirs of the Undefeated Bareknuckle Champion of Great Britain and Ireland
Bartley Gorman - 2003
Bartley Gorman was a legend in the brutal world of illegal prize-fighting, and this long-awaited auto-biography, with many unique photographs, lifts the lid on a secret sub-culture.
Speak You Also: A Survivor's Reckoning
Paul Steinberg - 1997
A chemistry student, Steinberg was assigned to work in the camp's laboratory alongside Primo Levi, who would later immortalize his fellow inmate as "Henri," the ultimate survivor, the paradigm of the prisoner who clung to life at the cost of his own humanity. "One seems to glimpse a human soul," Levi wrote in If This Is a Man, "but then Henri's sad smile freezes in a cold grimace, and here he is again, intent on his hunt and his struggle; hard and distant, enclosed in armor, the enemy of all."Now, after fifty years, Steinberg speaks for himself. In an unsparing act of self-scrutiny, he traces his passage from artless adolescent to ruthless creature determined to do anything to live. He describes his strategies of survival: the boxing matches he staged for the camp commanders, the English POWs he exploited, the maneuvers and tactics he applied with cold competence. Ultimately, he confirms Levi's judgment: "No doubt he saw straight. I probably was that creature, prepared to use whatever means I had available." But, he asks, "Is it so wrong to survive?"Brave and rare, Speak You Also is a profound and necessary addition to the body of Holocaust writing: a survivor's reckoning with culpability and survival.
Under the Hidden Sun
MW Kennard - 2012
Under the Hidden Sun will keep you turning the pages late at night until the very end.(from Amazon.com)
A FATEFUL CHOICE: My Survival Story
Abraham Rozenzveig - 2015
A decision is made that changes the course of his and his family’s lives, sealing their fates forever. Hiding deep in the foul swamps and murky forests of Belarus, Avramele endures abandonment and terrible loneliness. But with incredible courage for such a young child, with the help of a remarkable family and a little bit of luck, a strong willed and resilient boy emerges from his dark and painful past. Trekking across war-torn Europe, through refugee camps and an Alpine orphanage, crossing stormy seas and suffering imprisonment in Cyprus, Avramele (Abraham) reclaims his life on the shores of Israel.
Leah Remini: Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
SummaRead Books - 2015
Remini is widely known for her work in the comedy TV series The King of Queens.In this memoir, Remini goes into great details about all aspects of her life, including, but not limited to, how she was introduced to the church, how she coped with raising a family, how she handled her acting career as well as her interactions with other celebrities who were also involved in the Church of Scientology.SummaReads Features:* Chapter Summaries: Clear, concise and easy to understand descriptions, key concepts and important details.* Chapter Key Takeaways and Points: The most important concepts of each chapter containing at least four specific bullet points.Advantages of SummaReads:* Spend less time reading and more time enjoying and understanding your favorite books.* Discover important detailed analysis you may have missed the first time.* Learn key concepts in simple and efficient manner.* Use as a "cheat sheet" and reference to quickly access important information.* Focus on critical information and eliminate unnecessary details.* Can be used as an effective study aid.
Farewell Bergerac: A World War II Thriller (World War II Adventure Series)
Fredrik Nath - 2012
Fredrik Nath is one of those few."- The Masked PersonaFrom the author of wartime adventure novel 'The Cyclist', the Historical Novels Society editor's choice February 2011.A reluctant hero in war-torn France...A teacher in St Cyprien, a small town in Aquitaine, France, descends into an alcoholic daze, after his son dies in the Spanish Civil War. His life seems meaningless and he moves to Bergerac where he survives by poaching and fishing. Isolating himself from the world, he ruminates over his hatred of the Fascists who killed his son. He is dragged back to reality when, after the occupation of France by the Nazis, he witnesses Security Police beating a young Jewish girl. He reacts by killing the Germans and hides Rachelle, the young teenager. She breathes life into the world in which he has hidden himself and gives him a reason to go on.Dufy begins a path of revenge on the occupying Germans. A sniper in the Great War, he uses his skills to devastating effect, always posing as the town drunk.Then the British drop supplies and a beautiful SOE agent whom Dufy falls in love with. But as the invaders hunt down the partisans in the deep, crisp woodland, nothing works out as Dufy had hoped.Farewell Bergerac is an unforgettable wartime tale of fragile love, loss and redemption.