Born Survivors
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
Among the millions of Holocaust victims sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in 1944, Priska, Rachel, and Anka each pass through its infamous gates with a secret. Strangers to one another, they are newly pregnant, and facing an uncertain fate without their husbands. Alone, scared, and with so many loved ones already lost to the Nazis, these young women are privately determined to hold on to all they have left: their lives and those of their unborn babies. That the gas chambers ran out of Zyklon B just after the babies were born, before they and their mothers could be exterminated, is just one of several miracles that allowed them all to survive and rebuild their lives after World War II. Born Survivors follows the mothers' incredible journey--first to Auschwitz, where they each came under the murderous scrutiny of Dr. Josef Mengele; then to a German slave-labor camp, where, half-starved and almost worked to death, they struggled to conceal their condition; and, finally, as the Allies closed in, their hellish seventeen-day train journey with thousands of other prisoners to the Mauthausen death camp in Austria. Biographer Wendy Holden details the courage and kindness of strangers, including guards and civilians, which helped save these women and their children. Sixty-five years later, the three "miracle babies" meet for the first time at Mauthausen for the anniversary of the American liberation. United by their remarkable experiences of survival against all odds, they come to consider each other "siblings of the heart." In Born Survivors, Holden brings all three stories together for the first time, to mark their seventieth birthdays and the seventieth anniversary of the ending of the war. A heart-stopping account of how three mothers and their newborns fought to survive the Holocaust, Born Survivors is also a life-affirming celebration of our capacity to care and love amid inconceivable cruelty.
Reviews with the most likes.
It goes without saying that I am reviewing the book and how it is presented, not the content material or the historical events of which the book speaks.
This is a harrowing tale of loss, humanity, and hope in a time of incredible pain and devastation during the Holocaust. That cannot be denied. That being said, this book presents the story of 3 individuals in an interesting way. I actually really enjoyed the asynchronous way in which Holden begins their tales–taking time to fully discuss the happenings before each woman was asked if she were pregnant before moving to the next woman and backtracking all the way to begin the tale again. It gave me a sense of how each of their lives were and how separated they were before going into the camps. I loved the direct quotes from the women, however, it seemed to lose those quotes and a certain sense of individual story as the book continued. I appreciated that Holden gave so much information on the Holocaust overall, but it seemed to really lose the focus that the book seemed geared towards. I wanted to know more about the women and the babies, but it gave me general information on the different aspects of the Holocaust and the war. I enjoyed the book, but I think it could have been a much tighter, better paced reading experience.
