In our hearts we were giants
Subtitle: the remarkable story of the Lilliput Troupe : a dwarf family's survival of the Holocaust
By: Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev.
Contributors: Negev, Eilat.
Edition: 1st Carroll & Graf ed.
Publisher: Carroll & Graf; Da Capo Press; Brand: Carroll n Graf
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 305
Subjects: Ovitz family.; Mengele, Josef, -- 1911-1979; Ovitz, Perla.; Birkenau (Concentration camp); Auschwitz (Concentration camp); Human experimentation in medicine -- Poland -- Oświęcim.; Dwarfs -- Romania -- Transylvania -- Biography.; Jews -- Romania -- Transylvania -- Biography.; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Poland -- Oświęcim.
Genres: Biography.
Work titles: Im Herzen waren wir Riesen.
Description: "This account of the Ovitz family - seven of whose ten members were dwarfs - bears witness to the best and worst of humanity and to the terrible irony of the Ovitzes' fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them endure the Holocaust. Through research and interviews with Perla, the youngest Ovitz daughter and last surviving sibling, and other witnesses, Israeli authors Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev weave the tale of a beloved and successful family of performers who were popular entertainers in Central Europe until the Nazis deported them to Auschwitz in May 1944." "Descending into the hell of the concentration camp from the transport train, the Ovitz family - known widely as the Lilliput Troupe - was separated from other Jewish inmates. When Dr. Josef Mengele learned of their arrival, he assigned them to sequestered quarters. Already embarked on his horrific "research" on twins and other genetically unique individuals, Mengele developed special plans for the Ovitzes. The authors chronicle Mengele's loathsome experiments upon the family members, the disturbing fondness he developed for these small people, the songs he sang to them, and their determination to make it out of Auschwitz alive. Perla explains the irony of their survival this way: "If I ever wondered why I was born a dwarf, my answer would by that my handicap... was God's only way to keep me alive." Finally liberated by Russian troops, the family returned to their deserted village in Transylvania, and eventually found their way to a new home and renewed success as performers in Israel."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Translation of: Im Herzen waren wir Riesen.

Originally published in German, c2003 by Ullstein Heyne List GmbH. & Co., KG, Munich.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-295) and index.