The Daughter of Auschwitz: The Girl Who Lived to Tell Her Story

Gr 4 Up–Polish born Tola (Tova) Friedman has penned a memoir about how she survived the Auschwitz concentration camp as a child. Readers will take comfort in that the book opens with a scene in 1950 New York City where Tola is celebrating her birthday with both of her parents. However, this scene is one of the only comforts in this heartrending account. The bulk of the story is of Tola and her parents living in Poland when the Nazis invade and banish the Jews to live in a ghetto where 15,000 people were forced into 250 apartments with little food or comfort. As Nazi rule becomes stronger, the Jews are slowly parsed out to Dachau, where her father is sent, or to Auschwitz where Tola and her mother go. Witnessing death from starvation, shootings, the gas chambers, or beatings became a regular sight for Tola and the children she lived with at Auschwitz. Each chapter details a different event, such as their long journey in a cattle car, head shaving, tattooing, hunger, loneliness, the gas chamber, and occasional sightings of her mother. As the Soviets and Americans begin to win the war, liberation looms ever closer and death becomes even more likely as the Nazis attempt to cover up all the atrocities. Hiding and making oneself invisible were just a few strategies Tola learned to stay alive. As difficult as this account is to read, it is also one of great will and grit. “I have always felt that my life is a gift that I cannot waste. So is yours.”