Memories of Survival

I saw the panels on which this book is based at the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore and wished at the time that there was a book. When it came out I made a special effort to get it. Esther Krinitz spent years creating these works of art to illustrate the story of her experience, and the combination of her drive to communicate with her obvious enjoyment of creating surely makes hers a uniquely life-affirming voice recounting the terrible tragedy faced by her family and beyond them, her people, her country, and all humankind. For young people, the details are both strange and familiar, commonplace and unthinkable. They will relate to the young woman's independent streak as well as her affection for her family and grief at losing almost all of them. I look forward to sharing it with the young people in my life.

In this outstanding book are displayed thirty-six embroidered pictures that the author began at the age of fifty, to illustrate the stories of her childhood in Poland and her survival during the Holocaust. When she died at the age of seventy-four, she wasn't finished, but she left this remarkable book. Her daughter Bernice used her mother's comments to write the text. It is amazing how much Esther remembered, which is evidenced in the intricate details and vibrant colors of the needlework. Each full-page picture is framed in a different color, with Esther's comments under it and the text on the opposite page. The deceptively simple pictures have the look of folk art in contrast to a grimly realistic story. At the end, there is a poignant page titled "To Germany," where Esther has joined the Polish Army in March 1945 and she shows us in it what she remembers so many years later: seeing Nazi officers hanging from every tree as they passed along the road of an earlier battle with the Russians on their way to Berlin. The last frame shows Esther landing at Ellis Island, viewing the Statue of Liberty. She was very excited, because she felt that this meant she would never again be persecuted for being Jewish. Her daughter Bernice calls this a memorial to her mother's family, because of them all, only Esther and a sister survived the war. Esther's daughters Bernice and her sister have founded a nonprofit educational organization called Art and Remembrance, which is dedicated to using the power of story and art to illuminate the effects of war, intolerance, and social injustice. This book is highly recommended for all collections, as Esther's story brings these terrible times alive in a way that adds a different dimension to children's understanding of the Holocaust. For ages 12 - adult. Reviewed by Andrea Davidson

I picked up this book at the school where I teach on the advice of our librarian and I am so very glad I did! The stories woven in the embroidered panels speak volumes about what Esther Nisenthal and her family endured during the horror of the Holocaust. Her use of color is astonishing, and the fact that she actually embroidered the words to her story onto the cloths just makes the whole experience seem so much more real and personal. This book is a moving tribute to all who perished and survived this evil time. This is an amazing book. Highly, highly recommended.

"Memories of Survival", helped me more fully grasp the Holocost through the untutored art of survivor Esther Nisenthal Krinitz. I saw "Memories" when it was on exhibit at the American Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore, Maryland in the spring of 2005. Mrs. Krinitz's beguiling needlework enabled me to absorb the impact of Nazism on a level hitherto unavailable to me. Her artful pictures and their simple text informed me on what I had been afraid to imagine. I've purchased 4 copies of Memories of Survival", 3 to give as gifts, and one to keep.

Memories of Survival reveals the truth in the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words and for the first time the history of the Holocaust makes the leap from memory to life in the hand stitched and embroidered tapestries of Holocaust survivor Esther Nisenthal Krinitz. Having also seen the original artwork that is presented in this beautiful book I can attest that the pictures and stories touch the reader, whether child or adult. The book lovingly enables you to feel that you are remembering the human realities that Esther Nisenthal Krinitz experienced as a child and that she later stitched to life to tell her story to her family, and now shares with the world. Memories of Survival has a place in every home.