Review of Eva's Story by Eva Schloss
No matter how many holocaust survivor stories I read they all tell a different story that is moving in their own way towards the struggle to stay alive. Eva's Story is no different on that front.
Eva, born in Vienna in 1929 lives as a middle-class Jewish family, her father, Erich, is a successful Austrian businessman, a shoemaker by trade. As times change and being Jewish becomes more hazards the family flees to Amsterdam. The housing complex they rent a small apartment from also houses the Frank family. So Eva can look out her window across the way and wave to Anne Frank. As time goes on the family is forced to separate, Pappy and Heinz, her brother go into hiding in one location and Eva and Fritzi, her mother, in a different location. As Hitler's regime raises the bounty on the heads of Jewish people in hiding even the underground resistance that promised to protect Jewish families is having a harder time with people not turning over their charges for money. Times are not easy as supplies are rationed for all people.
The family starts to worry that the protector for Pappy and Heinz is going to turn soon. On one of the few visits that Eva and her mother would risk to see them the landlady told Fritzi - 'Your fur coat is smart. It's quite wasted on you since you only go out one or twice a month. I have to do all the shopping for your husband and son so I suggest you give it to me.'
On the morning of Eva's fifteenth birthday she and her mother are captured from their safehouse. Their protector did not turn on them, but the new protector of Pappy and Heinz. Here is where the story takes a turn as we follow Eva and Fritzi into the inner workings of their life at Auschwitz in the woman's camp, Birkenau. Can you imagine being welcomed in by someone yelling 'Can you smell the camp crematorium?' 'That's where your dear relatives have been gassed in what they thought were shower rooms. They're burning now. You'll never see them again!' I can't imagine the feelings that must wash over you as you hear this.
Skipping the details and jumping ahead to when Auschwitz is liberated, I found the last portion of this novel to be interesting as so many of the memoirs I have read in the past don't cover much of the what next aspect. I have read some that will have a short synopsis after liberation but this had a detailed account of what it took for Eva and Fritzi to make their way back home. This is just as much part of the story as the part leading up to the liberation. Eva has also written After Auschwitz: A Story of Heartbreak and Survival by the Stepsister of Anne Frank which I would like to read. This describes the struggles she endured after the war and making a new life for herself.
[spoiler alert]
I am a little torn on what I feel is the over-selling of step-sister of Anne Frank part of her titles. While her mother does marry Otto Frank, after the war, this is because Anne and the rest of his family have been killed as well as Heinz and Pappy. So I almost feel that it was a way to help sell her books with a hook, not standing alone by name as others have done. She became Anne's step-sister as a result of her death, so they spent no time as sisters. They don't need the step-sister of Anne Frank for me to have wanted to read the story. I know Eva has worked to ensure the Anne Frank legacy continues, so in that respect I can understand. In any case, thank you for sharing your story, as it is different from what story we do obtain from Anne's diary of her time in hiding.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-10 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: 2014, History, Memoir
No matter how many holocaust survivor stories I read they all tell a different story that is moving in their own way towards the struggle to stay alive. Eva's Story is no different on that front.
Eva, born in Vienna in 1929 lives as a middle-class Jewish family, her father, Erich, is a successful Austrian businessman, a shoemaker by trade. As times change and being Jewish becomes more hazards the family flees to Amsterdam. The housing complex they rent a small apartment from also houses the Frank family. So Eva can look out her window across the way and wave to Anne Frank. As time goes on the family is forced to separate, Pappy and Heinz, her brother go into hiding in one location and Eva and Fritzi, her mother, in a different location. As Hitler's regime raises the bounty on the heads of Jewish people in hiding even the underground resistance that promised to protect Jewish families is having a harder time with people not turning over their charges for money. Times are not easy as supplies are rationed for all people.
The family starts to worry that the protector for Pappy and Heinz is going to turn soon. On one of the few visits that Eva and her mother would risk to see them the landlady told Fritzi - 'Your fur coat is smart. It's quite wasted on you since you only go out one or twice a month. I have to do all the shopping for your husband and son so I suggest you give it to me.'
On the morning of Eva's fifteenth birthday she and her mother are captured from their safehouse. Their protector did not turn on them, but the new protector of Pappy and Heinz. Here is where the story takes a turn as we follow Eva and Fritzi into the inner workings of their life at Auschwitz in the woman's camp, Birkenau. Can you imagine being welcomed in by someone yelling 'Can you smell the camp crematorium?' 'That's where your dear relatives have been gassed in what they thought were shower rooms. They're burning now. You'll never see them again!' I can't imagine the feelings that must wash over you as you hear this.
Skipping the details and jumping ahead to when Auschwitz is liberated, I found the last portion of this novel to be interesting as so many of the memoirs I have read in the past don't cover much of the what next aspect. I have read some that will have a short synopsis after liberation but this had a detailed account of what it took for Eva and Fritzi to make their way back home. This is just as much part of the story as the part leading up to the liberation. Eva has also written After Auschwitz: A Story of Heartbreak and Survival by the Stepsister of Anne Frank which I would like to read. This describes the struggles she endured after the war and making a new life for herself.
[spoiler alert]
I am a little torn on what I feel is the over-selling of step-sister of Anne Frank part of her titles. While her mother does marry Otto Frank, after the war, this is because Anne and the rest of his family have been killed as well as Heinz and Pappy. So I almost feel that it was a way to help sell her books with a hook, not standing alone by name as others have done. She became Anne's step-sister as a result of her death, so they spent no time as sisters. They don't need the step-sister of Anne Frank for me to have wanted to read the story. I know Eva has worked to ensure the Anne Frank legacy continues, so in that respect I can understand. In any case, thank you for sharing your story, as it is different from what story we do obtain from Anne's diary of her time in hiding.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-10 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: 2014, History, Memoir