Survivors
"This is, very simply, one of the most powerful books that I have ever read. By now, I have read a good many books about the Holocaust, just as you have, and so my first reaction when I pick up a new one on the subject is: What is there left to say that has not been said by now? But this book is different. It really is. Aliza Auerbach is a well known and a sensitive photographer who lives in Israel. She has already done a book about the pioneers and one about the immigrants, and so this is the third in a trilogy that tells the story of how Israel came to be. Read this book, and you will see the pictures and you will learn the life stories of people who have not only survived, but, more than that, who have prevailed! I have seldom read a book about the Holocaust that is as affirmative and as inspiring as this book is. It is a celebration of human resiliency, of the power of human beings to begin, and then to begin over again, in spite of everything. The pictures in this book are unforgettable, and the stories in it are testimonies to the courage and the capacity of human beings to live good lives, no matter what. This is a book to be treasured and to open again and again for what it teaches us about the power of willpower." --Rabbi Jack Riemer, December 2012Compiling stories of survival alongside multi-generational family portraits and photos of war relics, Auerbach (Mothers on Earth) offers a deeply personal account of the Jewish fight against annihilation during and after World War II. From France to Poland, the 29 tales cover the expanse of continental Europe. With a focus on Zionist survivors, the volume presents a constellation of international voices all striving toward a shared goal: to make aliyah into Israel. Each entry presents a survivor s story alongside their portrait in black-and-white. Most of the accounts are autobiographical, others were written by relatives. Pictures of toys, religious artifacts, and family heirlooms bring a domestic, quiet quality to the harrowing text. It is amazing what power is concealed within an object, the multitude of memories that emerge from it and how terrible are the pictures folded up inside one small, innocent-looking little object. Auerbach uses railway lines as a motif throughout the book, heightening the reflective mood. The book is a moving snapshot of life growing over the ravages of war. As one survivor writes: I married Leah and started a family, two sons... and six grandchildren... I felt that was my revenge against them. --Publishers Weekly