Blog Archives
City of Thieves
Author: David Benioff
Germany invaded Russia in 1941 on which was called Operation Barbarossa, and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was on siege for 872 days, one of the longest sieges in history. There was no food, water, electricity – people were freezing, starving, and it’s reported that even cannibalism took place for a while, after all animals had been eaten.
The Siege of Leningrad is the background for City of Thieves. Lev Beniov, a 17 year old Jew who is arrested for looting a dead German pilot, and Kolya Vlasov, a 20 year old soldier arrested for allegedly deserting his unit, are offered the chance to get their freedom if they bring a NKVD colonel a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding.
But how on Earth are they going to find eggs if there’s hardly any food left anywhere?
Rena’s Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
Author: Rena Kornreich Gelissen & Heather Dune Macadam
4am
Raus! Raus!
No matter how much we’ve heard or read or seen, it’s always shocking and extremely sad to know what was done to the people in the concentration camps during WWII. But as horrific as it was, it’s amazing – and I would call it a miracle due to the circumstances – that some survived and were able to tell their stories (I, for sure, don’t believe I would have survived 1 day).
Rena’s Promise is the story of Rena Kornreich Gelissen, a Polish woman who, at 21 years old, arrived in Auschwitz on the 1st train and stayed in Nazi concentration camps for more than 3 years before being released. She tells us about her life pre-war in a small town called Tylicz, in Poland; then in Slovakia, where she had to get refuge; and finally all the horrors she experienced in Auschwitz, where she was able to find her younger sister, Danka (who arrived on the 2nd train) and keep both alive – thankfully escaping Dr. Mengele’s experiments.
The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Set in Germany during World War II, this could be another book amongst millions that explore the war period with a dramatic story on top. Huge mistake. The Book Thief is simply a masterpiece and should be in the bookshelves of every person in the world. So what makes it so special?
