Day After Night by Anita Diamant
Description on Amazon:
"Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Hebrew Bible in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters—young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe—in this intensely dramatic novel. Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for “illegal” immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp who survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to hope, the four of them find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.
Diamant’s triumphant novel is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption that remains a singular moment in history with stunning eloquence."
Showing posts with label holocaust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holocaust. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
The Diary of a Young Girl
“The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank in an enduring memoir of life during the holocaust. I was introduced to this book in high school, and recently picked it up for another read.
Anne Frank puts a human face on the atrocities committed during this time in history. The honest words of a young girl put the reader, for a brief moment, in her shoes. Through this diary Anne Frank lives on, teaching so many others the effects of hatred and abuse of power on others.
Anne was denied the chance to develop into a woman. She was denied everything that comes with a long, happy life. And to add insult, she died amid hatred and inhumane conditions. I'm sure she could not understand how her fellow humans turned their backs on her, why she was hunted. And I cannot understand the why, can anyone?
I felt hopeless and sad thinking of Anne. She was introduced to the dregs of humanity. And they surround us, still today, these people filled with hatred. The persecution of others is still happening.
Anne Frank puts a human face on the atrocities committed during this time in history. The honest words of a young girl put the reader, for a brief moment, in her shoes. Through this diary Anne Frank lives on, teaching so many others the effects of hatred and abuse of power on others.
Anne was denied the chance to develop into a woman. She was denied everything that comes with a long, happy life. And to add insult, she died amid hatred and inhumane conditions. I'm sure she could not understand how her fellow humans turned their backs on her, why she was hunted. And I cannot understand the why, can anyone?
I felt hopeless and sad thinking of Anne. She was introduced to the dregs of humanity. And they surround us, still today, these people filled with hatred. The persecution of others is still happening.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Food for Soul
The atrocities of the Holocaust are endless. I have read many memoirs by Holocaust survivors and their stories fascinate me. How does one live through such an unimaginable nightmare, and how does it change who they are?
One man who pens incredible narratives regarding his time in Auschwitz, is Primo Levi. I read “If This is a Man” and “If Not Now, When?” Both of these books touched me in many ways.
“If This is a Man” tells of his incarceration in a concentration camp for nearly a year. Levi was a chemist and became a writer following his ordeal. The views he expresses on the substance of man and of religion are complex. The way he tells his story is heart-wrenching. It is unbelievable that humans are capable of treating other humans in such a manner. As a survivor, Levi took on an enormous responsibility in bearing witness to the horrors of the Nazi regime's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.
His story kept me awake, reflecting on the horror that people went through during this time in history. I put myself in the place of the mothers, waiting to go into the gas chambers, holding their crying, hungry children. I dreamed of feeling that powerless and persecuted. I also reflected on my own religious beliefs and they only grew stronger.
Ignoring the atrocities committed is wrong, and allows history to repeat itself. Levi was not afraid to tell his story and to be graphic in its telling. Everyone should be aware of just what happened to millions of people due to the beliefs of a few people in power. This is something that could very well happen again. Something that happens in parts of the world on varying scales.
One man who pens incredible narratives regarding his time in Auschwitz, is Primo Levi. I read “If This is a Man” and “If Not Now, When?” Both of these books touched me in many ways.
“If This is a Man” tells of his incarceration in a concentration camp for nearly a year. Levi was a chemist and became a writer following his ordeal. The views he expresses on the substance of man and of religion are complex. The way he tells his story is heart-wrenching. It is unbelievable that humans are capable of treating other humans in such a manner. As a survivor, Levi took on an enormous responsibility in bearing witness to the horrors of the Nazi regime's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.
His story kept me awake, reflecting on the horror that people went through during this time in history. I put myself in the place of the mothers, waiting to go into the gas chambers, holding their crying, hungry children. I dreamed of feeling that powerless and persecuted. I also reflected on my own religious beliefs and they only grew stronger.
Ignoring the atrocities committed is wrong, and allows history to repeat itself. Levi was not afraid to tell his story and to be graphic in its telling. Everyone should be aware of just what happened to millions of people due to the beliefs of a few people in power. This is something that could very well happen again. Something that happens in parts of the world on varying scales.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)