Surviving the Angel of Death is one of the few Holocaust books that I've read. Its a shocking account, and is made even more horrific being lived through the eyes of 10 year old.

The writing is honest and straightforward with no feeling of events being romanticized in order not to shock the reader. As Eva fights for both her own life and the life of her sister, my admiration grew stronger by the line for this tough, spirited child who used her own experiences to help others become inspired and to understand exactly how much forgiveness can achieve.

I was, enraged, saddened and had full admiration for Eva' history teaches us all sort of things and this book should be on the reading list of all schools.

"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."

There is something to be said about this book; I read it several years ago and it still remains in my mind. Mengele was a monster, truly. Even if his intentions had been to learn, there were humane ways to go about it. Sadly, he was a Nazi and his subjects didn't matter. They had no rights, they had no say. He tested upon them and did so carelessly.

"I was given five injections. That evening I developed an extremely high fever. I was trembling. My arms and my legs were swollen, huge size. Mengele and Dr. Konig and three other doctors came in the next morning. They looked at my fever chart, and Dr. Mengele said, laughingly, 'Too bad, she is so young. She has only two weeks to live ..'"

Sometimes a review is long and it doesn't need to be. This book is one everyone should read if possible. I cried, I was filled with joy and heartbreak..the Holocaust survivors who have written their stories or spoken them...I am thankful for their courage and endurance, in that they can reach inside of themselves and go back to that place in their lives and relive it so that no one forgets. And we shouldn't forget because it shouldn't happen again. (Yet, it does in other countries and will likely continue for all time.)

I don't want to reveal anything for this because, at 175 pages, you can finish it within the day if you wanted and have the time. Eva writes honestly and with a great deal of honesty and love. Her candor or us refreshing an there is nothing pretentious about her. You'll love her and feel for her.

And you will remember her because this is that sort of story.

Read, learn, share and remember.

★★★★☆½ rounded up because the novel went by quickly and was rather short but still managed to pack so much information!

This is a short book, but an amazing account of Eva’s drive to survive Auschwitz, and to look after her twin sister Miriam. Both were ripped from the rest of their family and forced to endure the experiments of Dr Mengele.

The book is written for a young adult audience, so is simple to follow, yet gives a detailed and harrowing account of the conditions and experiments the girls had to survive. We know from the start that they escape as it is Eva’s memoir, but there are still points in the book when the obstacles seemed insurmountable and death was imminent. However against the odds, Eva works to keep both girls alive and they are freed. The account of how they adjusted to life after the concentration camp is also sobering, as life continued to be a challenge. This book will keep me thinking for a long time.

This review is based on a free copy of the book that I received from NetGalley.

Surviving the Angel of Death The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri tells the point of view of ten year old Eva and her experience as a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz with her twin sister Miriam. Dr. Mengele himself selected them because they were twins and through his sadistic medical experiments, he wanted to know the reason how twins came to be. He wanted to crack the code and didn’t care who lived or died to get it. Eva struggled daily to keep herself and twin sister alive. They only had each other, the rest of their family never survived Auschwitz. They got free but it took years for their recovery. Even then, the medical experiments ruined their lives. Miriam’s kidneys never grew past being ten years old. This is an excellent book about a chapter in the Holocaust that I’ve never really knew about. It’s a heart breaking account, but it shows how Eva and Miriam survived and hoped with each other. Its necessary read for everyone.

I was hoping for more from this book but that's not to say it was bad. It just wasn't as good as some other Holocaust titles out there.

I read this book in one sitting. It is a harrowing and profound read. It is important that the atrocities that were committed are never forgotten so that humanity can hopefully learn from their mistakes.

I first heard about these twins and their story from my son who learned about them at school. I personally wanted to read their story and get a deeper insight into the horrors they suffered at the hands of a mad man. It's heartbreaking what they went through but it is inspiring to see they survived and went on to live life and share their story with the world.

This books is sad but truthful. Saying I enjoyed reading it feels wrong but I can redo say I did learn some new things about the Holocaust that I didn't know. I like that this book is told from the twins perspective. This version is ment to be for child to learn about the Holocaust and I think it did a good job of making it more suitable for kids but also still telling the horrible truth about that time in our history. I am very thankful yo have been given the opportunity to read this book from Netgalley.

Eva Mozes Kor is an amazing woman. The world could learn so much from her. She survived Auschwitz and Dr. Josef Mengele. If you do not know who he is, a google search will break your heart.
This book is more geared towards the young adult/middle school group. I liked how it got the story across without being too graphic. It lets the reader research more if they want to and gives room for parents to read and assist with the learning.

I have read 'Mischling' by Affinity Konar which is in part inspired by Eva and her twin sister's story. I have read other non-fiction books where they are mentioned or where Mr. Mengele is discussed in scarier, heart breaking detail. I hesitate to even call him a Dr. for the abuses he brought upon so many people.

I would definitely recommend some Kleenex when reading this book and if you don't finish it thinking about what forgiveness can do I would have to wonder if you were a robot.

Following twins Eva & Miriam this young adult non-fiction details the child hood of the two children through Auschwitz and there encounters with 'The Angel of Death'.
I found the whole story to be utterly moving and completely inspirational.
It was so gripping and equally as horrifying.
It gives a great accounts of Auschwitz and the grotesque medical experiments the poor girls were forced to endure,
The overall message of the book had an incredible effect on me and although shockingly brutal and hideously unfair, I am glad I have read it.

Excellent heartbreaking account of Eva’s experiences in the death camps and the perfectly normal life she lived beforehand - which In itself was a shock.

This is one of the first books I ever asked for on Netgalley and it is still sitting there on my shelf, unread. The reason why, is that I didn't stop to think about if I really had the stamina to read an account of ultimate evil, and the answer is no, I don't. I have read so many 5 star reviews on this book and I still cant bring myself to open it, so I have to let it go and thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read it. Without having read it, I can still say I am happy that it is out there for the people with more guts than me. I give it 3 star middle ground as I don't have the option to not star it.

It was well written and definitely measures up with all the other Auschwitz true stories out there. I thought the photos were a nice touch.

this is an essential book for children (and some adults) to have an understanding of what went on during the Holocaust. It is written simply and effectively and although not easy reading it is not gruesome as it is intended for a child. I do like that it starts before to show that the twins had a normal life.

I saw a video online of Eva talking about this exact topic, so when I saw it on net galley, I just knew that I had to get my hands on it in one way or another. As someone who has just graduated this year with a History degree, I honestly just needed something to satisfy my hunger to learn and this really did that for me. Such an interesting but also heart wrenching and emotional read.

This is a short but powerful book. Written by one of the twins who survived Auschwitz’s Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, Eva and her sister Miriam were 10 years old when they landed at the concentration camp.

Although the story is horrible, I’m glad it was told. History that’s forgotten is history that can be repeated and the horrors of Nazi concentration camps should never be repeated.

I was so impressed that the author was able to forgive the people who harmed her in order to heal her soul. That must have been so very hard. I highly recommend this book.

This is such a powerful read. I'd read some stuff about world war two before, both fiction and non-fiction, but I hadn't ever come across anything about the Mengele Twins before, so when I saw this book I had to request it.
What I got was pretty much what I expected, a heart-breaking account of two sisters who went through awful things.
Read this one with tissues close by, but read it! It's thought-provoking, powerful and incredibly touching.

I would rate this book a solid 4 1/2 stars. I can't say I love this book. ... because how can you say you love something that was so evil. ... where hatred reached the lowest point and treated a race of people so despicable! I read the story because I felt that history should not be forgotten, that we hopefully would learn from past mistakes. Many survivors of the Holocaust are getting to an age where there will be no more to tell the story ...so yes, this powerful story need to be told! The content of this book alone deserves a 5 star rating! Being 10 years old and surviving Auschwitz alone was quite astounding. The daily struggle to survive proved to be anything but moving, and only to show the strength of character to later develop in both Eva and her twin sister, Miriam. Kudos to the author for writing a book perfectly suited for the young adult reader who, hopefully will learn and understand, what it would take to survive such evil

I would like to thank the author, the publicist and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair rating.

"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.