Rescued Images: Memories of a Childhood in Hiding

I consider myself to be a student of the holocaust. As such, I have read many books and look at documentaries/movies and yet with every piece of media about the subject I learn new information, new sets of experiences about this horrible time in history. This book stands out among all the rest. I won't go into detail - it needs to be read the others have detailed the experiences of this girl, and her parents (to a lesser extent) but I came away from this book understanding huge conclusions....That you didn't need to be in a concentration camp during the war to have your life ruined, to have your family torn apart, and the most monstrous of all - that while there were 6 million Jews kills, 11 million overall, each of those people would have many stories to tell and, as this book clearly illustrates and raises the question as to how many who WERE NOT in concentration camps and survived are out there to tell their numerous stories? The possible numbers are mindboggling...so to be a student of the holocaust is to take on a life-long education process of which I'm at the very beginning. But as the author I'm sure would agree, we must not forget.....

People of my generation or younger, born after the mid nineteen-sixties, are caught in a strange place when it comes to learning about, and relating to, the events in World War II Europe. We come too late for direct experience, yet before the greater distance of the generation following us. In a sense, we will, if we are thinking people, shoulder the task of passing on the facts, impressions, and enormous lessons from this period, but without first-hand knowledge. "Rescued Images" is a remarkable book which should do much to provide us with a tool which is both entertaining (as extraordinary as that may seem) and profoundly moving. Jacobsens gentle, yet strong voice, is made even stronger by her montages, which are simultaneously beautiful as they are emotionally raw. When she is old enough I will sit with my daughter and we will read this book together, in honor of the triumph of the human spirit, and in memory of the worst of human failings. Parents and schools should add this volume to their shelves, it will remain timeless.