All About Anne by The Anne Frank House

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The last entry in The Diary of Anne Frank is on August 1, 1944; and there's a short afterword where there's a list of what happened to the occupants of the Secret Annex. Anne Frank House released the All About Anne is a collection of the precise details before, during and after the Nazi's domination.

This 79-page book begins with a photo of Anne with her friends on her tenth birthday in 1939 when they were still in Germany. It is divided into 6 chapters with prologue and epilogue and it is full of pictures and a lot of trivia about Hitler, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust. All About Anne is not only about Anne, but it also narrated what happened to her relatives, such as her uncles, grandmother, and cousins.

Reading the horrendous things happened to millions of people in World War II and the discrimination against the Jews inflicted on them is absolutely unfathomable, heartless and vile. Hateful propaganda such as that they are the misery of Germany is quite shocking and unacceptable; only those who are extremely despicable and lunatic can do and think such things. I've read several memoirs of Holocaust survivors before and it still appalls me everytime I read the dreadful things occurred then.

If you've read the Diary of Anne Frank before and fond of reading memoirs and accounts of Nazi's horrible governance, All About Anne is a great addition to your reading list because it would fulfill your desire for information.

The Photographer of Mauthausen by Salva Rubio

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another great World War II-related material that narrates about the crimes of the Nazi German. The story is about the Spanish photographer, Francisco Boix, who is a prisoner of war by the Germans in Mauthausen. He was first assigned in the quarry as a way to exterminate him just like the others. Luckily, he was later moved to the identification department of the camp.

Being a photographer for the German Army means developing photos of the soldiers and their families, which will be sent back home to their loved ones. Another task for them is to photograph and identify the prisoners when they arrived. Some photos also capture fake condition of the prisoners such as that they are healthy, well fed, and happy. These photos were used as a propaganda to deceive people that the camps were safe and that the prisoners lived well. The pictures were also used in the brochures to be sent to factories and quarries because the prisoners were offered as slave laborers.

When a prisoner died, a photo was taken and preserved in the Nazi Archives. As for illegal executions, another photo was taken in the art form to elevate death and that was what Francisco found out while being in the aforementioned department in the camp.

All the atrocities that the Nazi German's did such as throwing prisoners off the cliff; escape attempts when in reality they were pushed or forced themselves into the electrified fences; prisoners beaten to death, shot in the back of the head, hanging themselves; and experimentation by the doctors pushed Francisco that he wants the whole world to know what's is really happening.

After reading this graphic novel, I searched for Francisco Boix's photographs and looking at them are remarkably shocking and terrifying, most particularly the photo of the man that was hanged using a belt. Reading the cruel acts performed during the WWII was already horrifying, what more if people could see the photos that captured them.

The Photographer of Mauthausen is a must-read for those who are into reading anything about the WWII. The story of Francisco Boix and his perseverance and bravery is truly admirable and that should be set as an example to all.

The Promise by Pnina Bat Zvi

MY RATING: 5 of 5 stars

The Promise is a children’s storybook written by Pnina Bat Zvi and Margie Wolfe, and illustrated by Isabelle Cardinal. It is about the true story of two sisters, Toby and Rachel, who got imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. It is a given fact that the Holocaust period is one of the dreadful events in the history of mankind, and even young kids were the victim of this atrocity.

Toby and Rachel’s story, and their pledge to each other to always together be brilliantly narrated in this book. Regardless of what happened to them in the Auschwitz camp was tremendously horrible; their tale of how they survived to keep their promise is quite fascinating.

A highly commendable read and a great way to introduce kids, as young as ten and below, about what is the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and the concentration camps during the World War II. There are a lot of moral lessons that kids could pick up after reading this and parents or teachers must carefully explain and point out it to them.

When We Were Shadows by Janet Wees

When We Were Shadows by Janet Wees
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When We Were Shadows is middle grade and a young adult novel that is based on the real-life experience of Walter and his family during the Holocaust period. This book recounts what happened to them and the constant fear the Jews have to deal with while trying to stay alive. Walter’s Oma, the grandmother, was able to keep the letters he has written to her throughout the time they were hiding; these written messages were included in this book as they were clearly describing their suffering.

Walter and his family left their home in Zwickau, Germany in 1937 when he and her sister, Hannah, were only five and nine years old. His family rode the train to Den Haag; their peaceful life in the Netherlands was cut short after three years because the country has succumbed to the hands of the Nazis. His father entrusted their home and his business to a butcher who had a shop beside his father’s.

Their family left Den Haag and stayed in a summer home in Nunspeet; however, their lives were still not safe hence their parents had followed the Underground’s advice to hide his sister in a hospital because of her osteomyelitis. Her illness will be a hindrance once they need to flee their home immediately because of the constant raids by the Nazi soldiers in towns. His Oma was the first member of their family that the Underground has taken in 1940 when they arrived in Den Haag and was kept until the country was free again. Walter and his parents were the only left in their family that was not safe so they have to continue on the move into some new hidden shelter.

The Underground is a group of people who helped the Jews by hiding them; providing them with food, clothing, and information; they also transported them from one place to their new hideaway, and they also helped them build their huts in the hidden village in the forest on 1943. Even though these people put their lives on a stake, they tried to do everything that they can so they can save these Jews from the Nazis.

When We Were Shadows is another novel that will intensely illustrate how it was to live during the Shoah. The story of Walter and his family show us courage, the willingness to live and hope amidst their situation. Also, even though there were times that they were indistinctly persuaded to change their religion from being a Jew to be a Christian, they didn’t falter and keep to their faith.

Dancing on a Powder Keg: The Intimate Voice of a Young Mother and Author, Her Letters Composed in the Lengthening Shadow of the Third Reich; Her Poems from the Theresienstadt Ghetto by Ilse Weber

Dancing on a Powder Keg: The Intimate Voice of a Young Mother and Author, Her Letters Composed in the Lengthening Shadow of the Third Reich; Her Poems from the Theresienstadt Ghetto. by Ilse Weber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not the first time that I've read a book that is about the Holocaust; some of them were memoirs of the survivors and those victims who died in that unfortunate and horrifying event. The most notable Holocaust victim is Anne Frank, and I can't help compare what happened to her to to Ilse Weber. This book contains the correspondence of Ilse to her friend, Lilian; reading these letters will drawn readers to what she and her family experienced before and during the Holocaust era.

Moreover, there are poems/ode of Ilse that were both beautifully written and heart-rending. Ilse wrote these poems as a secret way to inform Lilian on what's really happening to her and her family in the ghetto. Through her words, I was able to imagine how hard it was to endure the suffering inflicted on them. This book provides another glimpse to that dark period of the world history — reading this reminds us not only to remember the victims and what happened to them, but also to prompt readers that we should try to prevent it from happening again.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Perfect 5 stars for the The Tattooist of Auschwitz! This book follows the true story of Slovakians Lale and Gita who experienced spending several years in the Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust period. Lale was a linguist; a Jew; prisoner 34902; and was a Tetovierer (tattooist in German) in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Birkenau, Poland.

I'm always fascinated on this darkest period of the history, hence I read books that contains the said theme whenever I have the chance. Reading another memoir of one of the survivors made me envisioned what happened to the prisoners of Nazi Germany. However, Lale and Gita were very lucky to survived and after the liberation, they had a better life when they migrated to the land down under.

If you are like me who are into reading memoir and anything about the Holocaust, you should try to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz because I'm certain that you will also like it.

A Prophet Without Honor: A Novel of Alternative History

AUTHOR: Joseph Wurtenbaugh
PUBLISHER: N/A
PUBLICATION DATE: October 10, 2017
PAGES: 604
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:
‘A Prophet Without Honor’ is that rare novel that provides a rich, entertaining and fully immersive reading experience, along with a resonant, thought-provoking subtext. Written in epistolary style and populated with interesting, fully-realized characters, the multi-general narrative is a seamless blend of authentic fact and sound speculation. The plot focuses on the one great, unrealized opportunity of the Twentieth Century.
In the first months of 1936, Adolf Hitler risked everything by ordering his untrained military to reoccupy the Rhineland. It was a bluff. The Germans would have been forced to retreat if the French or British had offered the slightest opposition. But the bluff succeeded. History changed decisively. Hitler quieted the opposition at home, and marched the world relentlessly on, to the edge of destruction and beyond.
The story examines that lost chance in detail. The result is a compelling story full of intrigue, danger, romance, and action, culminating in the reckoning that Hitler might have faced, had events taken a different course. It is a celebration of ordinary integrity and the enduring power of simple good will - even in times when honesty is the most dangerous virtue of all and the effects of good will seem lost in obscurity.

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MY RATING: The story of A Prophet Without Honor by Jospeh Wurtenbaugh almost fooled me that the Haydenreich family and their story is real. There are a lot of long correspondences between the family of Haydenreich to other people, and there were several letters of Dwight Eisenhower also especially to Karl's widow; thus, I nearly believe their existence. The first part of the book is one of the best portion of this book and also my favorite because the exchange of letters between Karl's father, Heinrich, and of her Jewish stepmom, Rosamunde, is immensely romantic. Aside from that, the life of Karl Haydenreich growing up, and the story of how his German grandfather and a fanatic of Hitler had almost corrupt his young mind, should not be missed . I had read several memoirs of the Holocaust survivors in the past; and this historical fiction from the account of German who's a Jewish sympathizer, is a fresh take because it shows a different perspective during the Nazi Germany. If you are just like me who love historical fiction, notably the WWII, I highly recommend this novel of Wurtenbaugh because I'm certain that you will have a pleasant time reading this.

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