Cover Image: The Twins of Auschwitz

The Twins of Auschwitz

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Member Reviews

I’m very grateful to both NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for granting me a digital copy of this amazing book to review, it’s a real life account about trauma, courage and forgiveness during The Holocaust and beyond. Whilst these recollections of war are always harrowing to read, readers are often drawn to them, myself included. It’s a great book. I’m glad Eva told her story.

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The Twins of Auschwitz is a historical fiction about twins who are experimented on by Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. This was a good one and people who enjoy WWII books will probably love this one. I have read a few too many books in this niche and while I did enjoy this one, it wasn't a standout for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

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This book is brilliant and enlightening. It gave a heartbreaking insight in life as a Jew in World War 2
This book is heartbreaking. And shows just how bad Mengele was

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Thank you NetGalley for a review copy.

Such a poignant read of which contains the vilest of details but yet a hopeful thread running through. Very well written. Stays with you long after you finish.

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4 stars. I don't think stories like this should ever be forgotten, and should be mandatory reading in schools world-wide.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to review in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own and not influenced by anyone. Ever.

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An amazing insight in Auschwitz, from a group of people who up until now I didn't know an awful lot about. It was informative but gripping enough that I wanted to find out what happens next. It's also important that it is something we are kept aware of especially as many of the survivors are no longer with us. The future generations now have an important role on keeping these experiences alive and ensure that we keep on striving to improve and ensure this never happens again. I truly thoroughly enjoyed the book and the information it imparts.

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A heartbreaking story of the atrocities of the Holocaust and young twins trying to survive. The book was heavy with emotion but stories like this need to be told. Told beautifully.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

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I really enjoyed this book. It's so important that we continue to read accounts of this harrowing period of history.

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I always struggle with reviewing books about Auschwitz. It is wrong to say that I "enjoyed" this book due to the nature of the books, but this book was a good read and informative.

I did feel that the book was aimed to a younger audience, as there seemed to be simple explanations throughout the books which I felt were unnecessary.

However, this may be because it is written from a ten year old point of view.

The book was informative and explored the harrowing subject of Auschwitz and what people endured there. No matter how many books I read on this topic, I will never begin to imagine what the people went through and I have such admiration of each and everyone of them for their courage.

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Eva, you are such an inspiration and an amazing woman and I loved to read your insight into the terrible things that you and many others went through. Rest in peace.

I couldn’t put this book down, I enjoy reading and learning about World War Two, and I have watched many interviews with Eva. This book is heartbreaking but a must read.

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This book was tough, emotional and hard to read! I had to keep stopping to make sure I was in the right frame of mind to continue with it

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The Twins of Auschwitz // by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri

I generally like to mix up my genres to avoid getting burned out and so that I don’t read a lot of serious books one after the other. I just finished a fantastic fantasy book (see my review here) so I thought this would be a good time to read another serious book. Well, it does not get much more serious than this and I sobered up rather quickly. It starts like so many books about the survivors of the Holocaust do: with a cattle cart headed for Auschwitz.

As a German myself, I have often been on the receiving end of both questions about our education on the Holocaust as well as Nazi jokes to the point of practicing my English so much that I have lost my accent enough to not sound German anymore. While I’m glad to say that we receive much more education about the horrors of the time of our country than the US does about their atrocities, there are still so many things that I have not heard of. The evils of the Nazi regime knew no bounds and this book is another testament to that. As the remaining survivors continue to leave this earth, we are receiving less and less first-hand details about this time in history. It is important to never forget what happened, which is why I continue to pick up these books despite the pain they bring of knowing that my own country has been so cruel.

While I knew about the propaganda in Germany against Jews and how, step-by-step, Hitler and his government managed to spread hate for Jews and other minorities, I did not know the extent to which that was shown to young children in school in other countries as well, using math problems and short films about how to kill Jews. I also have often heard about the denial of many Germans that did not believe that things were as bad as people made it out to be but I did not realize that there were also Jews that felt the same way, believing things just could not be that bad until it was too late for them and they arrived in the ghettos or even the concentration camps. Every time you think that something has to be the worst thing you learned about, something else comes along to shatter that illusion, such as finding out about the experiments that Mengele performed on twins and other groups of people. When I read that after the death of one twin due to a purposely caused disease, the other (healthy) twin would be killed so they could compare their organs to each other, I had to put down the book and walk away to work through all the emotions.

I am so thankful that Eva Mozes Kor did the difficult work of remembering her experiences in detail to pass along the story of what happened to her and her family. I am in awe of the work she did throughout her life as well to spread awareness about what happened during the Holocaust in an effort to never let the world forget about it. While I have some mixed feelings about certain choices in her later life, especially after reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, there is no doubt that she did what she felt was right to honor the memory of her family and the many lives that were lost. As someone that often skips over acknowledgements, afterwords, etc., I highly recommend you continue reading through everything after her Epilogue. There is a lot of interesting information there and I appreciate that we get to hear even the criticism that she received as well. It helps paint a complete picture of who she was and what her goals were.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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# Twins of Auschwits # Netgalley

I often wonder why I read books like this I know full well they are going to upset me before I read them.. I don’t know if it’s because my father after having landed in Berlin with his regent. Then went along as one of the first parties of men to liberate the prisoners of the death camps or what. He never really spoke much about his ear journey. All we know he ran away and joined up into the black watch he said he liked the mane. His step mum reported him under his adoptive name so he ran off again using his birth name and he wanted thr black watch back to we’re he had made friends when they were forming the parachute regiment my dad was in.I did get him talking once about the libations he said it was the most horrendous and pitiful site he had ever seen, all the soldiers were given bread and water to take. All he said was it just wasn’t enough and he had tears in his eyes that is all he ever says he made it sound like he had a ball, which I know ne nor many others would take the site he saw with them for live. My dad did mention mengla and from then on I read stories like this and although there’s other books been written, I still can not get my head around his he treated twins petrol in the eyes of one to see what it did against so much torture. These are humans lived he wax’s experimenting on. How why can they do this to another human being . These are the stories that never should be gotten Eva Mozes Kor; was looking for her twin sister after they had been libatsted.... this book is so haunting although you know it’s true there’s part of you just don’t want it to be. It’s just unbearable to think of someone and a nation of people who could actually do what they i an glad they survived l. But no one can ever say their ordeal is over with the best thing tells the power for survival. God bless them I have to Say I do not but this crap of we were following orders not at all they are and will remain Judy dick and twisted bastards

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Stories like this need to be told.
Beautifully written account of twin girls survival in the Auschwitz camp who were regularly used for Mengele's experiments.
Definitely recommend this book, it is an eye opener.

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Highly recommended. The story of twin girls who survive persecution, experiments, Auschwitz. Written in the first person, for a younger audience, it educates the reader in what happened in the camps, and then afterwards. It is 'easy' to read, because of its intended audience, but being autobiographical it is immediate, shocking, and does what Eva Mozes Kor intended - she wanted people to learn, think, respond, and the reader certainly does. Her story deserves to be read by everyone - please read it.

With thanks to NetGalley and Monoray for an advance copy.

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This is another terrifying testimony of the Holocaust that we should never forget. In this case, the autothor tells her experiences as a twin under the wing of abominable Dr Mengele, that experimented with her and her sister as he did with many othr pairs of twins and other people. She, luckily survided, but many others didn't. Her valuable testimony tells another side of the horror lived in Auchswitz as well as other camps runned by the Nazis. A book that everyone should read. Let's remember the history so we don't repeat it

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have been reading a lot of books from people that lived through Auschwitz and find them really harrowing. This was a good, emotional read, good characters and basically all about survival.

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Many thanks to Netgalley and Octopus Publishing for my copy. As you would expect from the title, this book is not an easy read; it is a very harrowing, often distressing but ultimately uplifting and inspiring book. That Eva survived the atrocities of Auschwitz is a miracle; that she forgave the Nazis is beyond belief, but she did both these things and deserves our respect and admiration for doing so. This is such an important book, I learned a great deal from it and would not hesitate to recommend it.

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I have read quite a few books recently based on true stories of the atrocities of the Holocaust, from the Librarian to the Tattooist, and whilst they are both incredibly moving accounts and stories there was something more pure and innocent about The Twins and it is written exactly how I would imagine a 10 year old terrified little girl and her twin sister would feel.

Eva and Miriam are 10 year old identical twins from a jewish family in Romania when the Nazi’s took them to Auschwitz. Separated from their parents and older siblings, the twins are sent to Dr Mengele to be subjected to several horrific and unimaginable medical experiments.

Eva’s young voice whilst narrating her story has such strength that it’s incredulous to the reader where she gets her courage and determination from. Her desire to live and survive is so inspiring and when you finish the book and then read the epilogue following Eva’s journey you soon realise that Eva was an incredibly selfless, strong and brave human being and I hope that the younger generation listen and follow her wise words.

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Having previous watched an interview with Eva, when I saw that there was a book with more information about her time with her twin in Auschwitz I just knew I had to read it. What a harrowing tale, a compelling story and a definite must read. My only complaint (and it's not even a real complaint!) is that it was a bit on the short side, and I would have loved more to read.

If you are a fan of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and books of similar content, I guarantee you will also enjoy this.

Thanks, to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of the book in return for my honest review.

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