Jewish Experiences of the Holocaust

This book tells the story of the Holocaust in the words of Holocausters themselves, Jews who were alive in Europe during the period 1933-1945 and were directly touched by the Holocaust. There are no quotes from contemporary scholars or from any non-Jews living at the time of the Holocaust. There is no attempt to probe the Nazi worldview, unless the topic is raised by a Holocauster. There is also no commentary by the on what the Holocausters have to say. The author fills in blanks so as to help the reader follow the story, but his goal is to allow the Holocausters to tell the reader what it was like to be caught up in the attempt to exterminate the Jews, and the author does not try to tell the reader how to react to what the Holocauster writes. This is not a book that you turn to for in depth analysis of the Holocaust; rather, it is a book that will give you emotional impact as Jewish children tell you what it is like to walk away from your parents forever and Jewish parents describe the agony of watching their children being torn from them; as Jews struggle to survive and maintain their human dignity in hiding, in concentration camps, in miserable ghettos, constantly fighting starvation and disease, and often dodging bullets and bombs. The story is not a pleasant one to read, for it is filled with humiliation, suffering, death, and unbelievable loss. But mixed in with those painful experiences, the reader also encounters a will to survive, stories of love and rescue, examples of enormous sacrifice, enduring faith, defiance and resistance, and simple goodness.