Title: In our hearts we were giants
First published: 2004
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.
Subjects: Auschwitz (Concentration camp), Jews, Birkenau (Concentration camp), Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), Human experimentation in medicine, Biography, Dwarfs, Holocaust survivors, Holocaust, jewish (1939-1945), personal narratives, Dwarfs (Persons)
Places: Oświęcim, Poland, Romania, Transylvania
People: Josef Mengele (1911-1979), Ovitz family, Perla Ovitz