Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz

This is a must read, She's wrote such a vivid experience during such an extraordinary and horrific time, also showing strength in forgiveness...

Eva and Miriam Mozes were just 10 years old when their family was sent to Auschwitz. When their parents and older sisters were sent to the gas chambers, their lives were spared and because they were twins, they became subjects of Dr. Josef Mengele's experiments. In Surviving the Angel of Death, Eva recounts the harrowing ordeals she and Miriam faced. She provides plenty of detail, though there are gaps she cannot fill in - for example, she was deliberately infected with a disease Mengele expected to be fatal so that he could kill Miriam when Eva died and compare the healthy body to the diseased one. She survived, though she still does not know what illness he gave her. Even after the camp was liberated, Eva and Miriam did not have an easy time. They eventually went to Israel, and then to America. Eva describes her difficult early years in Indiana and the anti-Semitism she faced. In 1984, Eva and Miriam founded a support group for people who had been victims of Mengele's sadistic experiments, and in 1995 Eva opened a Holocaust museum in Terre Haute, Indiana. (She is also known as the subject of a recent controversial documentary entitled "Forgiving Dr. Mengele" which highlights her ideas about justice, revenge and the possibility of healing through forgiveness.) Kor and Buccieri include maps to help readers place the events and photos to help make the people seem more real. Though painful to read, Surviving the Angel of Death provides an informative first-hand account of the harrowing experiences of one set of twins at Auschwitz. For ages 14 and up. Marci Bloch

A true story of a holocoaust survivor as told to the author, who is a friend of mine. It's her best work.

SURVIVING THE ANGEL OF DEATH has been nominated for the 2010 Rodda Book Award sponsored by the Church and Synagogue Library Association (CSLA), an international organization serving congregational libraries of all faiths. CSLA's Rodda Book Award is named for Dorothy Rodda Sargent, a lifetime member and one of the founders of the organization. This award recognizes a book which exhibits excellence in writing and has contributed significantly to congregational libraries through promotion of spiritual growth. The award is given to books for adults, young adults, and children on a three-year-rotational basis. The 2010 Rodda Book Award focuses on books for teen/young adult readers and this year's winner will be announced at the CSLA annual conference to be held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Houston, Texas, July 25-27. To learn more about CSLA and the Rodda Book Award go to www.cslainfo.org.

In World War II, there is only one man who could be argued to be more evil than Adolph Hitler -- a Nazi medical doctor who exploiting concentration camp victims in hideous medical experimentation. "Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz" is a memoir reflecting on Eva Mozes Kor and how she and her sister had to struggle for their very lives under the sadistic experiments of Josef Mengele, a man who gained the not-so-flattering title of Angel of Death. A testament to the resilience of a child, "Surviving the Angel of Death" is a fine addition to any Holocaust collection.

This is a book that could easily win a Newbery Medal. The difficult subject matter was presented with sensitivity and grace. The temptation in writing a book about children in the Holocaust would be to give in to righteous indignation and melodrama. Instead, the authors focus on the remarkable character of Eva, a twin who was determined to keep herself and her sister alive, even while undergoing severe physical abuse. The reader learns what it felt like to be a Jewish girl in a deadly environment, but is not overwhelmed by despair. We admire Eva as she finds numerous ways to survive, relying on unusual strength, determination, and luck. Although it would be understandable, there is never a hint of the overriding bitterness one might expect to hear from a survivor. Instead, the reader comes away with the feeling that even in the midst of the unspeakable, people can survive and go on to live satisfying lives. I think Rojany-Buccieri did an outstanding job of taking Kor's memories and translating them into a story that will fascinate junior readers. Bravo!