caption |name birth_place imagesize birth_date residence image article_title occupation
'' : christian michelides the last witnesses '' , burgtheater 2015 foto schoschana rabinovici paris , france 250px november 14 , 1932 tel aviv , vienna suzanne-lucienne rabinovici 2999 michelides.jpg schoschana rabinovici
 author
schoschana rabinovici

schoschana rabinovici -lrb- née suzanne weksler -rrb- is of lithuanian-jewish heritage .
she is a holocaust survivor and the author of `` dank meiner mutter '' , which was published in the usa in 1998 under the title thanks to my mother .
described as `` particularly grim , even for a holocaust memoir '' , thanks to my mother was described by one reviewer as `` one of the most moving memoirs i have ever read of the holocaust '' .
the same reviewer writes that readers whose interest include holocaust testimonies and are `` mentally prepared for the harshness of rabinovici 's experiences , will come away with renewed appreciation of the extraordinary fortitude required to survive those dire times '' .
the book gives a rare , detailed view of jewish life in vilnius , lithuania during german occupation and contains gritty descriptions of life in the vilnius ghetto and the circumstances of those deported from the ghetto for slave labor in germany .
it is written from the viewpoint of a young girl from the age of about eight to twelve .
writes jweekly.com ... `` it is also the story of raja indursky-wexler 's profoundly transcendent love for her daughter ... the daughter 's memoir is at once riveting , blood-chilling , heartbreaking and , ultimately , awe-inspiring . ''
the book is designated as an american library association notable book and is the 1999 winner of the mildred l. batchelder award .
the award seeks to recognize translations of children 's books into the english language -lrb- in this case by james skofield from the original german -rrb- , with the intention of encouraging american publishers to translate high quality foreign language children 's books .
