The Daughter of Auschwitz

I got The Daughter of Auschwitz by Tova Friedman on audiobook after hearing it recommended somewhere. The book description reads, "Tova Friedman was one of the youngest people to emerge from Auschwitz. After surviving the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a toddler, Tova was four when she and her parents were sent to a Nazi labour camp, and almost six when she and her mother were forced into a packed cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz II, also known as the Birkenau extermination camp, while her father was transported to Dachau. During six months of incarceration in Birkenau, Tova witnessed atrocities that she could never forget, and experienced numerous escapes from death. She is one of a handful of Jews to have entered a gas chamber and lived to tell the tale. As Nazi killing squads roamed Birkenau before abandoning the camp in January 1945, Tova and her mother hid among corpses. After being liberated by the Russians they made their way back to their hometown in Poland. Eventually Tova's father tracked them down and the family was reunited. In The Daughter of Auschwitz, Tova immortalizes what she saw, to keep the story of the Holocaust alive, at a time when it's in danger of fading from memory."

I'm super glad I read this book. I think Holocaust stories--especially memoirs--are so important to read to just help us never forget all that happened. The phrase that kept coming to mind as I read this book was impossible choices. Honestly, Tova's parents were put in situations where they had to make choices that were so difficult. Who knows what you're supposed to do at times like that? It's unbelievable all Tova went through as a young child (facing horrific death in front of her eyes starting at age 4) and so inspiring that she was able to survive and raise a family and have grandchildren and continue to tell her story. Tova really went through the unthinkable as a young child, and I'm glad she was able to tell her story so it is available to future generations. It's a heavy story but a meaningful message.

* * (2/3 = Liked it)