Forgotten Voices of The Holocaust: A New History in the Words of the Men and Women Who Survived

by Lyn Smith

Hardcover, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

940.53

Publication

Ebury Press (2005), Edition: First Edition, 368 pages

Description

Contains a selection of transcripts taken from the sound archives of Britain's Imperial War Museum and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Interviews of Holocaust survivors, refugees, families of the murdered and of survivors, aid workers and troops who liberated the camps are included.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jbeast
Wow! Just finished this walking down the road on the way to work.

I think it's the most complete work I've read on the subject. Includes sections on pre-war experience, ghettos, resistance, camps, death marches, liberation, aftermath.

Excellently compiled and gives views of those who were there:
Show More
Jews and non-Jews, as well as civilians, liberators, soldiers, etc.

To me the case study-like approach paints a very thorough picture. At the beginning of each section is a brief historical introduction, though this doesn't labour the point.

The words of those involved seem to drip feed the historical context into you, so at the end you feel very well-informed about the events that occurred.

Personally I was particularly inspired by the small section right at the end entitled forgiving and forgetting. That so many thousands/millions could have endured this and emerge with their spirit intact, and go on to build normal and largely happy lives, is a great example of the strength of the human psyche.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Kathleen_E
At first I found this book a little hard to read, because rather than present a complete case study it broke them all up into sections so the snippet of case study related to the chapter topic (such as the ghetto or the camps) but soon I found as I read I picked up familiar threads of people’s
Show More
stories. Once I finished it, I saw how powerful this was of structuring it was and wouldn’t have it any other way.
The structure and the voices of the survivors took me through an emotional journey. There was raw emotion in the words, and I don’t mean from flowery language. The most moving entry I found was one line long and very blunt. I could hear it being said in my head, flat and without feeling, yet those twelve words brought me to tears.
It was still a hard book to read, not for the reason I first mentioned but because of the emotion that poured out of the pages. That said, I think this is a book everybody NEEDS to read and I am very glad I have read it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member elahrairah
Utterly heartbreaking and well arranged so that we are taken on a journey into the hell of nazism and see all around us death and yet somehow, inconceivably, we survive. This books highlights the sheer unlikeliness, the luck of survival. This is counter to how most of us think about ourselves and
Show More
history. This book is also an important testimony. Within a couple of years from now there will be no-one left who can say This Happened I Saw It and it will become easier to say that it didn't happen. Even today, lies are told about the Holocaust, by deniers who pretend it didn't happen, and by people who say for various reasons that it didn't happen the way it did. These can only be countered by facts, testimonies, and historical study. A fine book.
Show Less

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2005

Physical description

368 p.; 9.3 inches

ISBN

0091898250 / 9780091898250

Barcode

4487
Page: 0.3515 seconds