Cover Image: Surviving the Angel of Death

Surviving the Angel of Death

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Member Reviews

"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a fulltime job. We gave them our blood, our bodies, our pride, our dignity, and in turn, they let us live one more day." Such a hard subject of 10 year old twin girls in Auschwitz. Although the book is short, it is meaningful to remember the atrocities and never let them happen again.

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This is not a great book. The author relates a sequence of events but it's not very compelling. Most young readers will probably be bored. The coauthor could have really stepped up. The author mentioned she has several other books and articles, so I'm not sure if her writing just doesn't translate well to trying to write for a younger audience, or if they're all like this. Not recommended.

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I've always been curious about Mengele Twins, and this biography presents a unique opportunity to hear from a survivor of the horrific medical procedures. Well written, and heart wrenching, you'll be rooting for Eva and her twin as they struggle to survive Auschwitz. An excellent book for any library that has a popular Juvenile Nonfiction section.

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Absolutely moved me to the point of tears, a superbly written account of a harrowing point in time . Beautiful.

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"Anger and hate are seeds that germinate war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace. It is the ultimate act of self-healing."

This book is beyond a doubt fast paced, horrible, and chilling. The prologue already starts and one gets a chill down their spine that never goes away until the story is completely finished. With that being said do not be prepared to enter a romanticized story about WW2. Do not expect good dialogue or extensive metaphors. The book is cruel and direct as it should be. I wouldn't call it much of a story but a recounting of the horrible events that people like these twins went through during this period of time.

Sometime one forgets that people out there, people we could meet or simply breeze by on our way to our daily routinely lives, could have lived atrocities no one would ever see coming. The book is sad, really sad. The book is hard to digest and to read, yet it is told in such a simpler matter that it makes it a little easier to swallow through.

At the end of the day there was something really important in this memoir of sorts, and that was the talk about forgiveness. We sometimes go into fights and discussions with people we love or people we have a connection with and for some reason never seem to forget and forgive the horrible moments that person put us through. However, through forgiveness we free ourselves with burdens that we do not have to carry for the rest of our lives. My eyes almost started balling at the end when she was actually face to face with a Nazi doctor and in her most genuine and heartwarming moment found in her the strength to forgive him, forgive Dr. Mendel and his crimes, forgive her parents for not being strong enough and forgiving herself for not being able to love and forgive before.

This books makes you sit down and think about all you have around you, about all the petty little detail in our lives that we screw ourselves over. We have the world at our feet and we do not realize it.

I received this book from Netgalley and Tanglewood in exchange for an honest review.

-- 3 stars ---

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The bravery of the author and her family is awe inspiring. Learning from selective history books is an entirely different experience from gaining the knowledge from someone who went through it. Knowing that Mrs. Kor not only went through it but saw nightmares happen in real life through the eyes of an innocent child is absolutely heart breaking. Surviving the Angel of Death is not only an excellently written memoir, it is a testament to good triumphing over evil.

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Will review on goodreads.
Never as a novel played with my emotions so much, a gripping and emotional read would recommend this book to everyone,regardless of personal preference.

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Hoping to get to this one soon and post a review to my blog at http://thebookreviewcafe.com

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Heartbreaking and haunting memoir geared toward younger readers. Witten in a straightforward style, the author recounts her experience in a open and honest way, without being too graphic, yet doesn't diminish the cruelty she, her twin, and so many others endured.

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Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz is definitely a must read. It is horrifying what the author and her identical twin went through in Auschwitz. The book is short and easy to read (though the contents were hard to read at times).  
I highly highly recommend this book. 
100 stars

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I firmly believe that we should never forget what happened to innocent people including children during the Holocaust so whenever I see a book written by a survivor of the Holocaust, I always read it. It is sometimes very difficult to read about the suffering of people and their loved ones but I feel that I owe it to them to listen to their story.
Eva Mozes Kor, and her twin sister Miriam were only 10 years old when they were taken to Auschwitz with their family and quickly separated from them only to be subjected to sadistic experiments by "The Angel of Death", Josef Mengele while the rest of their family were taken to the gas chambers.
At first glance, the twins seemed to be "lucky" in that they were able to keep their own clothing and hair but the experiments they suffered made it very clear that they were not lucky at all.
I won't get into the horrific experiences these girls suffered but I will say that I cannot believe the strength of the girls spirits and their will to survive.
The story is written very well and I found myself reading it in one setting. I usually have to put these types of books down but not this one.
This is one of those books that I will not forget; not only because of the subject matter but also because of the sheer courage of two little girls and their unconditional love for one another. I want to thank the publishers (via Netgalley) for allowing me to read this. I also want to thank Eva Mozes Kor for having the strength and determination to talk and write about something that must be so painful. Definitely a must read.
I received a copy of this book from the publishers (via Netgalley) for free in exchange for my honest review.

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I had to take my time with Surviving the Angel of Death. This book written by Eva Moses Kor details the torture her and her twin sister Miriam were subjected to at Auschwitz by Josef Mengele. The heart wrenching descriptions of daily life at the camp left me with the kind of sadness that stays with a person for a long time, Eva and Miriam were just children, they were ten years old when the experimentation began. Eva's memories of what was done to her didn't stay with her as much as other aspects of Auschwitz, but it's just as well that it didn't. her sister and her are survivors in every sense of the word. Incredibly Eva is an advocate for forgiveness despite the brutality she endured. She spreads her message of peace and kindness to others in many different ways. She is a public speaker, and she is the founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum in Indiana.

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This book was a quick read, but it was a tough one. I like the way the book is written in the first person, through the eyes of Eva, as a ten year old. It's is one of those books that you read and feel so infinitely petty and humbled afterwards. It is very well written, horrifyingly that you can imagine the layout of the camp and how the prisoners of the camp looked. The lessons at the end on forgiveness were unexpected but also refreshing. It was reminiscent of Elie Wiesel's memoirs. A definite read for those that like to learn about this horrendous time in our history.

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What an incredible story. Its hard to imagine someone going through something like the holocaust and surviving, let alone having a sibling survive along side of them. I'm glad the author didn't go into too much detail about some of the terrible things that happened, but she still gave me enough detail to give me an insight into life as a Jew during WW2.I'm glad I was able to read this truly inspiring story.

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It's difficult to write a review that can actually do this story enough justice. It is easily the most powerful story of some of the experiences of Auschwitz that I have ever read. Eva Mozes, and her sister Miriam, managed to avoid the gas chambers because of a stroke of good fortune - being twins. But this privilege was not a gift, for they were chosen specifically to be experiments for Josef Mengele as he searched for the answers to being a twin, and endeavoured to make a breakthrough scientific discovery which might allow him to increase the Aryan population.

Eva very honestly recounts her memories of the moments leading up to her family being marched into Auschwitz, being separated into different lines they were unaware would determine their fate, and struggling to survive as Mengele injected her and her sister Miriam with various strains of diseases, concoctions intended to alter their hair or skin colour, which stunted the growth of their kidneys and very nearly killed them. Somehow, together they manage to survive with careful planning. But these harrowing tales are something I will never get out of my mind. She shares not only her own experiences of this time, but tells us some of what she saw or heard in the camps which adds another dimension to the story.

There's something about a story being a true memory of a persons that makes some of the scenes twice as disturbing to read about. Anyone reading a book about this time will find the details hard to swallow, and even though those are factual stories, knowing that this is an actual collection of personal, private memories made certain scenes really hit hard. For example, Eva shares a living quarters (basically a small stable) with other young girls. On her first night she stumbles into the bathroom to find three dead, naked children. It transpires that the other children were so upset by their dead friends that they would frequently leave the dead in the bathroom so they didn't have to look at them, and take their clothes for themselves in desperation. This sent my mind out of control imagining what these children witnessed and learned to cope with.

Many other moments like these were so powerful - including photographs of the "Mengele Twins", children utterly emaciated, filthy and sad. It's a heart-wrenching account, but we are fortunate as readers to have the luxury of reliving these events through the safety of these pages. I can't begin to imagine Eva's, and many others, terrifying lives. As they became numbers, lost their identities and their families. But I am so grateful she has shared her story so that I might try to understand better.

"From Now On, Always Hold My Hand. Never Let Go".

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You will find it difficult not to envy the relationship of the twins and to admire them for their bravery, and what Eva was able to go on to do when granted her freedom. An incredible journey.

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An emotional, true life account of surviving The Angel of Death in one of the Nazi's infamous death camps.

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Horrific and heartbreaking story of Eva Who was captured at the age of 10 during WWII and was taken to Auschwitz. Very distressing but necessary read, shows how even the most broken humans can come out fighting and survive everything possible. A haunting read

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