April 18 is World Holocaust Remembrance Day. A siren sounds in Israel, and for two minutes the whole country stands in silence, remembering the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah in Hebrew) and reminding themselves and others - "Never again. Never again." When the siren subsides, the country returns to life, only with even greater gratitude for its present.
The memories of those who survived the nightmare of the 20th century help to keep the memory of the victims of Nazism and other totalitarian regimes. We invite you to read five books about the Holocaust written by former prisoners of concentration camps.
1. "The Choice. About the freedom and inner strength of man" Edit Eva Eger
One of the most powerful books about war and the inner strength of a person.
In 1944, sixteen-year-old ballerina Edith Eger was sent with her family to Auschwitz. Just hours after the death of her parents, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele forced Edith to dance for his own amusement and her survival. Edith and her sister survived all the horrors of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Gunskirchen - death camps. On May 4, 1945, Edith, barely alive, was taken out of a pile of corpses.
Torture, hunger and the constant threat of death did not break Edith, and her inner world helped to gain life-affirming strength and spiritual freedom. 35 years after the end of the war, having become a famous psychologist, Edith returned to Auschwitz to get rid of the memories of the past and the guilt of the survivor. Edith alternates the events of her personal journey with the touching stories of those whom she herself helped to heal.
This book is an unforgettable story of survival and healing, a story of liberation and the strength of the human spirit. It shows that we can always choose what life teaches us and how to relate to what is happening. This is a book that will change lives and give generations of readers support.
2. "Yes to life in spite of everything" Viktor Frankl
This amazing book made its author one of the greatest spiritual teachers of mankind in the 20th century. In it, the philosopher and psychologist Viktor Frankl, who went through the Nazi death camps, opened the way for millions of people around the world to comprehend the meaning of life. In the terrible, murderous conditions of concentration camps, he showed the extraordinary strength of the human spirit. The spirit is stubborn, despite the weakness of the body and the disorder of the soul. A person has something to live for!
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) - famous Austrian psychotherapist, psychologist and philosopher. During the Second World War, he had a terrible opportunity to test his own concept. After going through the Nazi death camps, he saw that the greatest chance to survive in inhumane conditions had not a strong body, but a strong spirit. Those who knew what they live for. Frankl himself had something to live for: he took the manuscript with him to the concentration camp, which was to become a large book.
For those who explore themselves and their inner world. Who knows the meaning and who lost it. For those who are doing well, and for those who are tired of life. This comprehensive book will teach you the ability to find meaning in any situation.
3. "Maus". Art Spiegelman
Maus by Art Spiegelman is the only graphic novel to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
The author succeeded in the seemingly impossible - to tell the story of the Holocaust in the form of a comic book.
Wladek Spiegelman, Art's father, tells his son how he got through the ghetto, Auschwitz and the "death march" to Dachau.
But "Maus" is also a deeply personal story of the author, his attempt to understand his difficult relationship with his family.
At the junction of these stories, a unique text is born, which, without simplification or pathos, tells about one of the most monstrous tragedies of the 20th century.
4. "The Book of Lost Names". Christine Harmel
1942, France. In German-occupied Paris, persecution of Jews begins. Not wanting to end up in the Drancy deportation camp, from where there is only one way - to Auschwitz, Eva Traube flees to the small town of Orignon, located in the free zone. She hopes to move to neutral Switzerland, but by chance she joins the resistance movement. Using her talent as an artist, Eva creates fake documents to help hundreds of Jewish children flee the country. Using a secret cipher, she writes down their real names in an old gospel, calling it the "Book of Lost Names".
2005, New York. Eva learns that the book she thought was missing for so many years is in the Berlin Library. Only Eve has the key to the cipher, only she can return real names to people who have lived under fictitious ones for more than half a century, and help reunite those separated by the war.
5. "Spark of Life" Erich Maria Remarque
Remarque is called a representative of the lost generation - the generation of those who went to war young, learned to kill, and when they returned, they could not find themselves in a peaceful life. The novel Spark of Life was published in 1952. This is a book about a war that affected everyone. It shows the life of a concentration camp - terrible, ruthless and truthful. During the reign of the Nazis, 42,000 concentration camps were built. More than a million people were killed in Auschwitz alone. The protagonist of the novel is not a person, instead of a name he has a number - 509. The author calls him "a skeleton at number 509." He and those around him were sentenced to death. Is it possible to go through fear, horror, hunger and torture, retaining the spark of life? Remarque is trying to find the answer to this question in his novel.
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