The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz

Sarah Leibovitz courageously shares her vivid memories of surviving the holocaust against all odds. At only 15 years old, she was ripped from her home, forced into a ghetto, and later sent to Auschwitz. As the only surviving member of her family in the death camp, she was determined to live, no matter what the Nazis put her through. She cheated death many times, with her faith in God intact, to see liberation, move forward with her life, and fulfill her father’s dream of living in Israel. Sara believes the best revenge she can have is to testify to what she witnessed and raise her family as proof that the Nazis did not win. She endured the worst humanity can offer, yet still she remains full of optimism and hope that ultimately good triumphs over evil. Once you start reading, it is impossible to stop until the very end.
A unique addition to this book is occasional chapters by Sara’s youngest daughter Eti Elboim. Eti discusses being raised by holocaust survivors and the effect of their suffering on the descendants. She has dedicated her life to keeping her mother’s story alive so that current and future generations will not forget and this dark history will never be repeated. I appreciated her reminisces of her childhood and showing a side of trauma that is often overlooked.
The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz is very engaging and thought provoking. The author remembers many details, even after more than 70 years. I appreciate the opportunity to review this book and thank the authors for being open and honest about themselves and their family. It is a must read.
*I received a complimentary copy of this e-book from NetGalley and Harper 360. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Nonfiction books about WWII, especially the books written by survivors of Auschwitz, are always so harrowing to read.
I like how the authors added short chapters of the daughters experience of growing up and learning her mother's story.

Thank you Net Galley and Harper 360 for a copy of The Girl who Survived Auschwitz for an honest review.

This is a nonfiction memoir Abita the author Sara Leibovits. It has dual timelines. Sara is a 16 year old Jewish girl who survives Auschwitz, but like many, lost her family. The current Timeline shows her life now and how her experience shaped her life.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper 360 via NetGalley.

In the midst of the chaos and horror of Auschwitz, 16-year-old Jewish girl Sara Leibovits and her family face a devastating fate. Separated from her loved ones, Sara experiences unimaginable pain and hardships during her time in the Death Camp. Despite the atrocities, she holds onto her family's values of courage, faith, and kindness. This poignant true story also intertwines with the narrative of Sara's daughter, Eti, seventy years later, who gives voice to the second generation and completes the narrative of Holocaust survivors. The story highlights the enduring strength and resilience of those affected by one of history's darkest chapters.

Leibovits skillfully captures the profound sadness of this historical period, and I was deeply moved by Sara's incredible strength and resilience as depicted in the book. Despite the immense challenges she faced, Sara's determination and courage shone through, inspiring admiration and awe.

Once you start reading, you will not want to put the book down. Imagine being 16 and your whole life as you knew it vanishes. Sara like so many children and
adult Jews. Experienced horrific unfair treatment at the hands of one mans evilness. The survivors I can only imagine what trails and tribulations they went through. I can only imagine what it would feel like to be the only survivor of your family. Having to start over because you have nothing.

Non-fiction memoir of a 16-year-old girl, Sara, and her family and their experience in Auschwitz.

This was hard to read most of the time, seeing what Sara went through being separated from her family and everything about Auschwitz/this time period in general.

Sara's daughter, Eti, takes over telling the story from the perspective of a second-generation Holocaust survivor.

It's amazing to see the strength, faith and determination displayed throughout the life of Sara and also Eti using recollections of the past and from a current view. I liked the dual perspectives and timeline of then & now.

A moving, must read book!

This isn’t a book I would typically go for, but wow it gave me the chills. I’m so glad I requested an ARC of this. It’s heartbreaking, but true and it’s a reminder of how brutal life can be. I can’t rate this anything but 5 stars

An amazing read,written by a second generation, Holocaust survivor,about her mother's life in Auschwitz.
The book is a true story,but written with more of a novel flair,which makes for easier reading.
Her mother was sent there at the age of fifteen,a survivor of untold horrors & was finally liberated by the Russians.
She went on to meet a wonderful man,raised a beautiful family & had many grandchildren.
They are living out there remaining lives in Israel.

A heart-wrenching, powerful read of survival. This one will stay with me for awhile. I’m so glad she fulfilled her father’s dream for her. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early read.

I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I always have a hard time rating and reviewing memoirs. I mean these are someone's personal words... their experiences..... their trauma. How do you put a number or rating on that? Especially with such a topic as this.

This is the story of Sara Leibovitz. She was a 16 year old at the time of the Holocaust. This is her experience in the horrid camps and all that she lost and felt. Sara was the only one of her family to survive. I can't even imagine how heartwrenching and devastating that was for her.

Sara's story is intertwined with her daughter's Eti's 70 years later.

Everything in this book was raw, emotional, powerful, and heartbreaking. Please read this.

At 15-years old, Sara Leibovitz was removed from her home and moved to the Jewish ghetto. At sixteen-year-olds Sara rode the train with her family. After being pushed off the cattle car at Auschwitz, her mother and baby brothers were sent to their deaths. Her father was forced to work in the Sonderkommando and later executed. Sara survived through liberation. Sara is the only person from her family to survive the death camp.

Based on Sara Leibovitz's story, read about the horrific events Sara experienced. Through it all, Sara showed perseverance, courage, and kindness. Her daughter, Eti, also shares her story, in which she shares the secondhand inherited trauma she experiences being the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

This was an amazing read, seeing Sara's strength, faith, and determination she displayed throughout her life. It was very thought-provoking.

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollins360 for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my personal opinion.

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #instabook #booksbooksbooks #currentlyreading #readerforlife #bookreview #bookwormproblems #2023bookreleases #historicalfiction #thegirlwhosurvivedauschwitz #girlwhosurvivedauschwitz #etielboim #saraleibovits #worldwariifiction #worldwarii

A digital copy of this book was provided to me by NetGalley, Harper 360 and One More Chapter. The opinions are my own and freely given.

This is the story of Sara (Suri) who was captured by the Nazis along with her family at the age of fifteen (and ten months) and sent to Auschwitz. This is also the story of her daughter, 70 years later, as a child of a survivor of the holocaust.

As all stories of the holocaust are, this is very sad and disturbing; however, it shows how this young woman rose to the many challenges, hardships and the daily fear to survive one of the most brutal places on earth. In between the chapters of the horror of Auschwitz, we hear from her daughter Eti, and how she too had to overcome the stigma of being Jewish and learning as a child what her mother went through.

This is the first book that I have read from a woman survivor. There were things from a woman's perspective that I have never really thought about, such as the cattle trains. I knew they were cramped and smelly, but i didn't realize that they were not ever cleaned from the cattle prior to the transfer of the prisoners. (I know that is minor in terms of everything else they went through, it was just a prospective I never really understood, as woman would focus more on the cleanliness than most men.) Also learning about the women's camp and quarantine after their arrivals to prevent any spread of disease. Eti's part starts at an early age, when children ask her why her mother has numbers written on her arm. Although she doesn't know why they are there or what they mean, she can sense that they bring a pain to her mother.

As disturbing as these books are, and bad as it sounds to say this, I love reading books about the Holocaust survivors and learning about this tragic time. They are a wonderful group of people that I look up to.

I would recommend this book, if you have never read a book by a holocaust survivor, or you have read a 100.

Thank you NetGalley, Harper 360 and One More Chapter for this book. Thank you especially to Sara and Eti for sharing their stories.

This is posted now on all links below and will be posted to instagram @kuhlreads on 9/25/23.

Sara and Eti wrote a captivating true story of Auschwitz and the Holocaust that reads like a novel. It was easy to read even though the subject matter was at times hard to fathom. The brutality of living in Auschwitz comes through, but so does the survival, love, and triumph of Sara making it through the harsh conditions. A must read! I was fortunate to get an Advanced Readers Copy of it and found it hard to put down!

This book is a memoir of events from WWII. Sara is a Jewish girl in wartime Poland. This book chronicles her and her family’s experiences, along with those of her friends and extended family. Her daughter gives her point of view as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. It’s an incredible, heartbreaking story.
The book was written in the style of a historical novel and was very easy to read. Well, the writing style was easy to read, the content not so much. But then Holocaust accounts are not meant to be easy to hear. I expected to get emotional, and I did. Sara seemed very honest with her account. And I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the experiences of a survivor’s children. It was ver interesting getting that perspective. My mother was a child in France during the war but really too young to recall much. And she was Catholic.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in hearing an account of the Holocaust.
I did receive this book free as an ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wonderful, heartbreaking, and full of hope. This memoir following the lives of an Auschwitz survivor and her daughter is such a moving, beautiful look into humanity and the love that ultimately holds us all together. If you enjoy learning more about WW2, the Holocaust and it’s affect on the people who survived I would highly recommend this.

4/5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter publishing for providing this ARC

An excellent read and important novel about the Holocaust. A book I'd recommend to high school teachers for their history students to read.

I grew up reading about the holocaust and this book was a good fictional book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.

This emotional and touching book follows a fifteen year old girl’s survival at Auschwitz. She finds out early in her imprisonment that she is the only survivor of her large family and must find the courage and strength to keep fighting for her life. As with all Holocaust memoirs, this is harrowing, tragic but immensely necessary. I receive a digital copy of this book from NetGalley.

I have read a ton of true stories and this one is very well written. Holocaust survivor stories are so very compelling and this one is the same. They are not easy to read but only because of the shock of what many went through and its inspiring to hear their stories and how they lived their lives after the war. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. It literally gave me chills.

As expected, this was a heartbreaking read. I've read many stories in this genre, but only a few from survivors. The horrors of the events clearly comes through, but so does the hope and resilience. It's a read that will likely stick with readers long after the final page, which it should, as this is a part of history that should not be overlooked or forgotten.

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

It's always hard to review memoirs, especially ones dealing with things like the Holocaust.

There's really not much to say except that I'm glad I read it.

I think a little editing to clarify some of the points would be nice, but it's not truly necessary.

This would be an excellent book (at least parts of it) for high school students to study.

The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz: A remarkable memoir of love, loss and hope during World War II by Sara Leibovitz, Eti Elboim and translated by Esther Frumkin was powerful, tragic, and compelling. Sara Leibovitz was born Sara Hershkovits in 1928. She grew up in a small village in the Czech Republic which was eventually annexed to Hungary when the Nazis invaded. Today that same little village that Sara grew up in is located in Ukraine. Sara was the oldest daughter of six children. In 1944, Sara and her entire family were brought to Auschwitz in cattle cars. Her mother and her five younger brothers were sent to the gas chamber upon arrival. The last time Sara saw her mother and brothers was on the platform at Auschwitz. Of course she had no idea that she would never see them again after that day. Sara’s father was assigned to work in the Sonderkommando where he was required to remove the bodies of the gassed victims and burn them in the crematorium. Sara was fifteen years 10 months old when she arrived in Auschwitz. She became a number on that horrific day. Tattooed on her wrist were the numbers that would define her for all of the nine months she managed to survive in Auschwitz. Despite all the atrocities, backbreaking work, disease, starvation and loss, Sara never lost the will to survive. She tried hard not to ever loose her faith or courage and tried to be kind even when it was not easy. Sara was the only member of her family to survive.

Seventy years later, Sara Leibovitz, married to another Holocaust survivor and mother to three daughters was living in Israel. She had immigrated to Israel in 1947. Sara’s youngest daughter, Eti, experienced what it meant to be the child of a Holocaust survivor. Eti realized at a young age that there were things that were different about her mother but she did not understand or grasp those differences as a young child. The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz was written in alternating perspectives of both Sara and Eti on how the Holocaust affected their lives and shaped them as survivor and the child of a survivor. Sara recounted her harrowing existence in Auschwitz, her eventual liberation by the Russians, meeting her husband and immigrating to Israel. Eti grew up with many questions both from her own observations and those of her friends. She never quite understood why her mother had numbers on her wrist and why she didn’t have a big extended family with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins like most of her friends. When Eti was old enough to understand the concept of the Holocaust, she sought out information without her parent’s knowledge. Finally, Eti demanded to be told. She wanted to understand what her parents had gone through. Sara shared her story with her daughter and since then has accepted many speaking engagements to talk openly about her experiences and the atrocities that she witnessed. In Sara Leibovitz’s words, “I survived to tell.”

I found this particular Holocaust memoir quite powerful. It was compelling to hear the thoughts of a Holocaust survivor’s child in relation to her understanding her parent’s moods, secrecy and lack of extended family. Since there are so few Holocaust survivors left, it is so important that their stories be shared either through their children or through memoirs like this one. The cruelty, hatred, atrocities and antisemitism that was experienced during those terrible years, known as the Holocaust, must never be forgotten. We must do everything in our power so the Holocaust cannot and will not be repeated. Unfortunately, there are some who have not learned from the past. We must find ways to be strong, resilient and hopeful that one day there will be peace and harmony for all despite the color of anyone’s skin, ethnicity, religion or any other differences that define us. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Harper 360 and One More Chapter for allowing me to read the very moving memoir, The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz: A remarkable and compelling memoir of love, loss and hope during World War II by Sara Leibovitz, Eti Elboim and translated by Esther Frumkin through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is hard to review. Its content is horrible but beautifully written. My heat breaks for this mother and daughter but knowing they made it through that horrific time and came out as a happy family makes my heart happy for them. I gave this book 5 stars because that's what they deserve. I wanted to hear her story but I also did not want to know what she went through. I was so happy she survived and was able to live to tell her story. So many did not. To hear the side from a daughter of a survivor was interesting as well. You don't usually see or hear that side of things either. I flew through this book because I wanted to know what she went through and how she survived. I am heartbroken for them and happy for them. Honestly I don't know how to put into words a review but I do know they deserve the 5 stars.

This was a very heartbreaking read, I've read many books about WW2 and this is not just a story, it breaks your heart to read and learn more and more stories of the atrocities that happened in that place, the inhumane treatment and the sadism that only shown the lifeless hearts these evil people had.

This is the story of The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz the story of Eti Elboim and Sara Leibovitz, Sara was a very brave girl I admire the strength of this lady, she was able to survive after many atrocities and cold freezing nights, but at the same time she was trying to help as much as she could, I remember that part where she couldn't belive they were finally saved she just kept walking and walking on the cold without knowing where they were heading. many people around them were here in this story. but we also had so many capos who were treating them as if they were not even kids.

The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz is a remarkable story and rea, I cried so much and my heart broke many times for Sara, she was so strong no matter how many times the evilness around her tried to not let her conquer.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, One More Chapter, for the advanced copy of The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC! What a powerful story!! I highly enjoyed this one!!

I have read quite a few books about this horrific time period in our history, some better than others.
With "The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz", I found author, Sara Leibovits's writing to be eloquent, easy flowing, and I enjoyed the changing timelines for the different perspectives (1st and 2nd generations).

To read the tale from a survivor’s perspective and then how it affects the second generation was a perspective I had not read previously. I would recommend this read for anyone as it is an important part of our history.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper 360, and One More Chapter for providing me the opportunity to review "The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz". I am appreciative and leave my review voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.