BORN SURVIVORS

Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope was written by Wendy Holden. This is a fascinating story of three young women and their travel through the years of the Holocaust and their undeniable courage in staying pregnant through their horrors of Auschwitz, Frieberg, and Mathausen. That they were able to keep their pregnancy hidden from Dr. Mengele and others and after giving birth in horrific circumstances to keep their babies alive in unbelievable. Their stories are told in alternate chapters of their life before the war, life and birth during the war, and life after the war. This is followed by how their children learned of each other and came together to write this amazing story of their mothers. It is simply an amazing book. However, it is very difficult to read. I had to stop after every two or three chapters and then come back to it. Wendy Holden does such an amazing job of telling their stories that you seem to be there with them. Tissues are a must for this book. Having met the Baby of Dachau, a child just hours old when liberated, I still never thought of the presence of babies in other liberated camps. It is heartening to know that out of the midst of this horror, new life began and flourished. These babies are the symbol of hope for all of us. Words cannot portray the emotions I felt while reading this book and afterwards.

I had to wait a few days to compose my review for this book, as I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to put into words what I felt when I read it. I've read a lot of WWII non-fiction and historical fiction lately; it is an era that both fascinates and repulses me. Out of all the books I have read in this genre so far, this one shocked me the most. This book covers a topic that most people probably do not think about when it comes to the concentration camps in and around Germany - women who were pregnant, or even more mind-boggling, BECAME pregnant while in the camps. This book is the story of three of those women, and it is both heartbreaking and mind-blowing. Holden does a really good job of showing the mindset of many Jews during the early years of the war, when for some life was just becoming inconvenient, perhaps a little strange, but never dreaming of the atrocities the next few years would bring. The background for each woman's own portion of the book gives a wonderful insight into the lives of Jewish families at the beginning of the war, and this really connects the reader to each of them, knowing what is at stake for each character. It highlights the unexpected hope that these women had, for themselves and their futures, as all three of them actively chose to bring a child into a very tumultuous world. The story stems from that hope, and traverses a journey to keep that hope alive, along with the children growing inside their mother's increasingly ravaged bodies. Graphic in detail, I squirmed through several parts, mostly the descriptions of the literally inhumane conditions that these women lived through. The detail of the housing and survival conditions that these women and others around them managed to live through is staggering. In fact, the only thing that made me continue reading the book at some points was the knowledge that the babies they each carried survived (this is not a spoiler, for this is how the book came to be). It is unimaginable the strength that these women had, to carry a child into a hellscape such as these children were born into. It is not a book for everyone, if you are squeamish or find it hard to read accounts of torture or violent mistreatment, this will be a hard one to get through. But, it is also important to acknowledge that it happened, and if we suffer as readers far removed from the actual events, maybe we would have the smallest inkling of what it was really like to experience the Holocaust. During a time of political and ethnic unrest, the least we can do is read their story. The most we can do is tell others, so that we can try to assure our children that history will not repeat itself.

I guess I expected it to be a more story-like about the Holocaust experiences of 3 women who became mothers during their time in the horrid concentration camps. It was a lot more than that. It grabs you right off with the personal experiences each woman experienced and photos of them and their husbands, followed by camp photos, train railways and boxcars, and later the children they birthed. Then come the actual live-account descriptions of their life during that time. It's very graphic and very descriptive. So it becomes more real-life historical. The author conferred with all 3 families and really did her homework on research, so you have no doubt it was real. These 3 women represented what fortitude and unknown strength mother-to-be/mothers possess when they know they MUST survive for the children and the hope that their husbands actually made it through the Holocaust, as well. The dream of something and someone (be it their husbands and/or families) to go home to. BE PREPARED - rough read!

Duro pero muy buen libro. Sin duda uno de los mejores libros que he leído. Basado en hechos reales. Un 10.

A heart rending account of the atrocities the Jews had to face in concentration camps, this book has three pregnant women, who miraculously carry their pregnancies full term and what is more their babies survive. The book gives details of the horrid conditions in the camps. The book kept me on tenterhooks. These were real people, not fictional characters, and I was hoping they would succeed against the inhumanity of the Nazis. And they did! It is one of the most detailed accounts of conditions in concentration camps, particularly Auschwitz- Birkenau

妊娠中にアウシュビッツに送られ、メンゲレ医師による「ガス室送りへの選別」を生き延びた後、大きくなるお腹を隠しながら過酷な強制労働や移送を経て、悪名高きマウトハウゼン収容所で開放直前に出産。無事に母子ともに生き延びた3人の女性と「ボーン・サバイバー」つまり「生まれながらに生還者」である赤ちゃん達の驚くべき物語。 作者はイギリス在住のジャーナリストで、2013年の取材開始時には当事者である母親達はすべて他界。しかし、関係者への丹念な聞き取り調査、そして膨大な資料の読み込みで、見事にこの「奇跡の物語」を再現しています。作者の筆力のお陰でとにかく引き込まれます。最後の力を振り絞る気力が欲しい時にぜひ読んでみてください。

Stunning book. I read Auschwitz when I was a teenager and it stuck with me, this however, has got inside my head and heart. A truly remarkable read. Wendy's reseach and presentation of the real account of Priska, Rachel and Anka's stories is moving beyond words. I could not put it down and it has affected me and stayed with me so much since I finished it over two weeks ago that I have been unable to start another book. Every potato I peel makes me think of how much sustenance the peelings would have given to the prisoners, every time I walk in the cold I remember that this is nothing compared to what they and millions of other endured. EVERYONE should read this book, we must never forget. I am truly in awe of how these three women got through the holocaust and feel the same with regard to those who survived and weep for every single person affected. I am not particularly religous but I said a prayer and raised a toast to Priska, Rachel and AnKa for the courage, determination and sheer will.

Beautifully researched with great sensitivity. One of the most moving books I've read on the Holocaust Should be as cool text along with Ellie weisel's "night"