This was a book I wanted to read after having read The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was in a similar vein to this story and I wasn't disappointed. The story I was hooked into from the start and was able to feel Eva's character. It was also interesting to read of what happened to her and Miriam after their release from Auschwitz. I was half expecting that they would have gone straight to Palestine but their lives with there aunt was traumatic, even away from the atrocities of their past. A good read with many life lessons that I feel would be well suited to the high school curriculum in England. Although I would maybe use extracts with older primary children when looking at WWII in school.
Eva shared so much of her life to tell her story and had a lot of life-lessons to pass on from her experiences. Her choice to forgive the Nazis and purposefully choosing to reference the soldiers as 'Nazi Soldiers' and not German I felt teaches us a great amount including not to judge people by their ancestors actions.
A thought provoking read.

Eva and Miriam Morez were only ten years old when their family was sent to Auschwitz from Romania. Their parents and two older sisters, Edit and Aliz, did not survive the selection line. Eva and Miriam, identical twins, were immediately selected for experimentation by Josef Mengele.

“I concentrated all my being on one thing: how to survive one more day in this horrible place.”

Although this was not planned, four of the last six books I’ve read were written by or about Holocaust survivors. While the first three either taught me so much that I didn’t already know or touched me so deeply that I know I will carry them in my heart going forward, I felt a disconnect with this book that surprised me.

Throughout the book it seemed like it had been written with a younger audience in mind. It was written quite simply, with explanations given for some words I expect most adults wouldn’t need. It was only at the very end of the book that I learned Eva wanted her book to be used in schools to teach about the Holocaust. What I read makes much more sense to me if I view it as an introduction to the Holocaust.

I also felt like I was a couple of steps removed from the story of Eva’s life. I understood the basics but the level of detail I’ve found in other books written by Holocaust survivors was missing, as was the depth of emotion I have read about and felt in other books. Although this was Eva’s story and she was interviewed extensively, I got the impression that she may not have actually participated in the writing.

Accompanying Eva’s story are photos and maps, which provide context.

This book was originally published in 2009 by Tanglewood Publishing as ‘Surviving the Angel of Death: The True Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz’.

Content warnings include anti-Semitism, bullying and medical experimentation.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Monoray, an imprint of Octopus Publishing, for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

N.B. I do not allocate star ratings for memoirs or stories about people’s lives based on anything they have experienced; it’s not my place to rate a person’s life. My rating is based solely on my connection to the material presented.

This was very short, simple and powerful book. But within its pages is a message that even evil can be forgiven. Eva Mozes Kor landed in Auschwitz and immediately lost her family. She and her twin sister were the only survivors of her family. They were saved because they were twins.
From May 1943 until January 1945, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele worked at Auschwitz, conducting pseudo-scientific medical experiments. Many of his cruel experiments were conducted on young twins.
If you take anything from this book it is the power of forgiveness and the fortitude of the human spirit. It is a book I would urge you to read.

It’s books like this that we need to keep as a record of history. Of how brutal the human race can be. So that we can educate those so things like this never happens again.
Eva Moses Kor only survived Auschwitz with her sister Miriam because they were twin. But that does not mean they had an easy ride. They were selected for Mengeles vile experiments. Only surviving by will and chance. To be fair. The book doesn’t go into graphic details about her time as a guinea pig. But them who would want to relive the true horrors that went off. What that is described is harrowing enough.
How I would loved to have met Eva. She seemed to be an inspirational woman. I thank her for bringing her story to life.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review.

Never forget

"At Auschwitz, dying was so easy. Surviving was a full-time job."

Eva and her twin sister were just ten years old when they were deported to Auschwitz with their family. Within 30 minutes within their arrival, they were separated. They never saw their family again. Being twins, they got "special treatment" in Auschwitz. Dr. Josef Mengele, also known as "the Angel of death", conducted his infamous twin experiments on them and thousands of others. They were injected with diseases still unknown to them and sometimes went days or weeks without any food. With lots of willpower and an equal amount of luck, they survived and lived to tell their story.

"I hope to teach young people the life lessons I have learned through all my pain and everything I have been through and survived: 1. Never ever give up on yourself or your dreams, for everything good in life is possible. 2. Judge people on their actions and the content of their character. 3. Forgive your worst enemy and forgive everyone who has hurt you - it will heal your soul and set you free."

In simple words, Eva Mozes Kor tells her life story: the horrific Mengele twin experiments, barely surviving Auschwitz, finally returning back home and realizing the rest of her family won't come back, and finally making a new life for herself in Israel and later in the United States. Finally, she mentions how she was able to forgive her perpetrators, an act I still cannot fathom. The book is not an easy read, and I truly commend Eva for sharing her life story. An important book by an extremely strong and smart woman.

Heartbreakingly beautiful. A true story, an account from a twin girl who survived the horrific treatments and experiments of twins in auschwitz.

There are so many books and so many memoirs about nazi Germany but it’s rare to get an insight of twins. So it was an interesting read. I’m so thankful to be able to have an insight into their life and the horrors they endured.

I highly recommend everyone read this book, it’s important that we remember their story.

Thank you octopus publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

Thank you to Octopus Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this biographical book.

The Twins Of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri.

This is a true story of Eva and her twin sister Miriam, was one of the many twins that Dr. Joseph Mengele used for experimentation purposes in Auschwitz. They were exposed to horrible experiments, and through outright determination, survived. This memoir gives a heartbreaking view of two Jewish children's lives during the Holocaust and it's well written and so interesting, I just don't have words for it.
This is a powerful story. It will inspire you to rise above, to celebrate life's blessings.
A truly beautiful and life-changing read. Eva Kor's story is one that should never be forgotten.

Oh my, what a powerful and heartbreaking book. Eva and Miriam, just young Jewish girls in Romania, face endless torment from their fellow students at school and neighbours as the Nazi persecution of Jews gains ground. And I think I found that the most shocking thing - that ordinary people in their home town, and later in America, should treat lovely girls so badly purely because of their race - they knew this family!

Deported to Auschwitz, the family are separated and the girls, because they are twins, become part of Josef Mengele's evil experiments in his pseudo studies on twins. Only their incredible strength of spirit enables them to survive.

The book then goes on to follow what happens after liberation - equally shocking as their family has gone, their home ransacked, even their one surviving aunt is hardly welcoming and loving to these poor girls.

And then Eva's work to explain and witness the Holocaust, and her controversial decision to publicly forgive the Nazis for what they did to her and her sister. Incredible.

The book is a great testimony to an exceptional woman. Long may her story be told.

Thank you to NetGalley, Octopus Publishing and Monoray for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Twins of Auschwitz is such a harrowing read. I find it hard to review books such as these, because they're actually part of someone's life. But I will say that I couldn't put the book down. When I got approved for this book, I was very wary about not being able to put my review into words.
This book was a unputdownable read, and I honestly cannot recommend this book more.

Thank you to Octopus Publishing for the arc of The Twins Of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri.

Thank you To Eva for her inspiration and courage of her survival of Auschwitz with her sister Miriam! You are such an inspiration and I loved having your own insight on what terribly happened which shouldnt of done all them years ago it was so emotional what you miriam and your family had to go through so terrible and saddening in which shouldnt of happened but it did.. it is so heart wrenching and emotional knowing what you went through the experiments you both took part in for Dr Mengele for being twins, being bullied judged and hurt for being jewish.. that was so wrong i wish Auschwitz didnt happen but unfortunately it did but im glad i read this book as it made me have insight into what it was really like to be in the Auschwitz camps and being experimented on and what a horrible man Mengele and the Nazi really were im so sorry you and all the people who had to experience and survive this and to all the saddening deaths of the people who horrifically and was disrespectfully killed for being sick, children , jews etc! Thanks so much for this i now know what it was really like!

5 stars
definitely recommend!

Some books, such as this, are not meant to be reviewed or rated I believe. This was a harrowing true account of what someone suffered during the war and left me in tears by the end of it. Eva's story was heartbreaking and moving and I am glad that I read it.