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69th out of 228 books
—
172 voters
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War
Judged only as a World War Two survivor’s chronicle, Millie Werber’s story would be remarkable enough. Born in central Poland in the town of Radom, she found herself trapped in the ghetto at the age of fourteen, a slave laborer in an armaments factory in the summer of 1942, transported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944, before being marched to a second armaments factory....more
Hardcover, 234 pages
Published
March 27th 2012
by PublicAffairs
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When reviewing Holocaust memoirs, I automatically tend to rate them highly for a number of reasons. For one, I admire the amount of courage it takes for a victim to come forward with the truth, often after decades of painful silence, and secondly, for the valuable primary source material these stories provide. And although the reader understands from the outset that the protagonists of these memoirs will survive the Holocaust, I always find them difficult to put down, possibly because most of th...more
This heartfelt story takes you on the personal journey of a young and innocent Jewish girl, Millie Werber, as she steps from childhood to adult overnight in the midst and turmoil of World War II. Author Eve Keller gives readers a first hand perspective of what it was like to be a Jew under the German regime. From 12 hour days of factory work to Auschwitz, Millie shares with readers her own horrors of watching her friends and families torn apart, starved, beaten, and even murdered.
Even in all of
...more
I've read many Holocaust books, some incredible, some not so much. I didn't love this book. It's well written and the experiences of the author are horrifying as in every Holocaust event that has ever been recorded. What I found sad was that it seems the author seemed to remain bitter and angry and revengeful throughout her life.
Obviously I have nothing in my life to compare to the devastation of loosing everything, your family members, your home, your sense of security - everything your knew a...more
Obviously I have nothing in my life to compare to the devastation of loosing everything, your family members, your home, your sense of security - everything your knew a...more
I have always been interested in World War II, the holocaust in particular. I think it is an important part of history that everyone should be familiar with so we are sure not to let history repeat itself. That being said, this is my favorite source of information about the holocaust yet. I even liked it better than the holocaust museum! "Two Rings: A Story of Love and War" is a memoir about Millie Weber written by both Millie and her trusted companion Eve Keller. The intended audience is both i...more
To say that I enjoyed reading Two Rings would not be accurate. At times, I was brought to tears by the brutality of it. I was even disgusted and sickened by so many of the events. What I can say is that I honor this book. It is an honest, sincere memoir of Millie Werber a true survivor. Many people claim to be a survivor of something but truly Millie Werber and those like her are the real deal.
Millie has written this book with the help of Eve Keller. She has finally told the complete story of h...more
Millie has written this book with the help of Eve Keller. She has finally told the complete story of h...more
This book is like hearing your grandmother tell you a story, though this one is a difficult story to hear. Told in a conversational tone, this is the story of Millie Werber as told to Eve Keller, who wrote the book. Millie had kept to herself what happened to her and her husband Heniek, a Jewish policeman in a wartime ghetto in Poland, throughout the years, not even telling it to her two grown children. What happened to her, and the thousands of Jewish people like her, is something no one should...more
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A heartbreaking but inspiring story of a woman who, as a young girl and teenager, survived Auschwitz, and, up until now, had kept her first marriage a secret. I can't say I'm ever happy to read these Holocaust stories, but I do love to because I'm always amazed at these people, what they went through, lessons they learned, and how they accepted these experiences as part of themselves/their lives and tried to move forward afterwards. A testament to the amazing resilience of the human spirit! A fe...more
very fast read. Could read in a couple of days if had the time. Story starts in central Poland the city of Radom. One third of town was Jewish. A city of 30,000. By age 13 or 14 Millie Werber was forced to move with her family to a Ghetto. August 1942 brought deportations. Later 12 hour work days were mandatory and no bathroom breaks until after 6 hours. One shower a month. A move to the kitchen was better for Millie but still peeled 1 thousand potatoes a day. But could sneak a bite of small pee...more
Dec 20, 2011
Alison
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
WWII buffs, survival fans, love story
Shelves:
goodreads-giveaway-wins,
favorites
I have been interested in the history of WWII for some time, particularly by the Holocaust. I don't know where the interest began. It has nothing to do with my family. My dad was an infant & my mother not even born. As far as I know no one in my family fought it the war. I think more than anything it is the horror of the situation & that people were able to survive despite the atrocities they faced. Ones I can not even begin to imagine.
This memoir tells the story of Millie Werber & h...more
This memoir tells the story of Millie Werber & h...more
This is an interesting memoir of Millie Weber's experiences during WWII. As a young Jewish girl Millie has whatever childhood left ripped from her as she is trapped in a ghetto built around her home, forced into slave labor, then somehow managed to survive Auschwitz only to provide slave labor again. It's also the story of her survival, endurance and triumph over these events which could have killed her at any moment. It's the story of the individuals who made a difference in her life and, in so...more
Dec 26, 2011
Jillyn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
history buffs, romantics, nonfiction readers
Shelves:
first-reads
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
Two Rings: A Story of Love and war is a vivid and haunting memoir of love and survival during the Holocaust. The story follows that of Millie Werber, as she starts off in a small ghetto before being ushered to work in a factory. It is there where she meets her first love, Heniek. Unfortunately, it is also there where her love is taken away, ripped apart as Jews are forced into concentration camps. Mrs. Werber tells the tale of how she time and a...more
Two Rings: A Story of Love and war is a vivid and haunting memoir of love and survival during the Holocaust. The story follows that of Millie Werber, as she starts off in a small ghetto before being ushered to work in a factory. It is there where she meets her first love, Heniek. Unfortunately, it is also there where her love is taken away, ripped apart as Jews are forced into concentration camps. Mrs. Werber tells the tale of how she time and a...more
Millie Werber spent her teenaged years surviving slave labor camps and Auschwitz. She endured its brutality and witnessed more, but in the midst of it all, she fell in love. Her memoir is all the more poignant because she kept her first love and marriage a secret for most of her life, fearing that her own children would not understand how a fifteen year old girl could experience love while surrounded by such horror.
In sharing her story, Mrs. Werber shows us beautifully how that can be. Even livi...more
In sharing her story, Mrs. Werber shows us beautifully how that can be. Even livi...more
Absolutely wonderful book. Mille tells her story so eloquently. She adds small side stories to the bigger picture being presented and some of those are quite eye opening and heart wrenching; ie: the wagons on the long walk and the wooden shoes. Both of these for some reason stick with me. It is also interesting to hear how "family" treated her after the war. Just another point of humiliation where there should have been love and understanding. The story of Heneik seems to be at the heart of the...more
I received the book, Two Rings: A Story of Love and War as part of Goodreads First Reads. The first night I picked it up, I read for about 3 hours and had a hard time putting it down. The book is written in a simple manner as if I was sitting with Millie Werber, listening to her tell me about her life and it brought me right into the tale she telling. It's a hard subject, as it is about the life of a Polish Jewish teenage girl in WWII and what happened to her and her family starting with being i...more
Fascinating. I have read a few memoirs of the holocaust and I found this one to be very honest. Millie remembers fondly those that helped her survive and were kind to her under unimaginable circumstances, but she has very little pity for those who were selfish or who used their power to hurt others. Many survivors end their stories with forgiveness for all and some even renewed faith. Not Millie. Nor is she fully recovered from her ordeal, still occasionally having nightmares about her time in A...more
Wow. In spite of the storyline being a bit disjointed (due to time past / past events being difficult for Millie Werber to remember and put into a completely smooth timeline, rather than to any lack of writing ability on Eve Keller's part), I found this book extremely compelling. As with every memoir of a holocaust survivor I've ever read, I ended it feeling in awe of the survivors. The idea of being able to live through the cold, heat, physical and emotional abuse, hunger, brutality, and daily...more
This book read very slowly - not because of the writing, but because of the content. I needed time between readings, so I could process the many horrific details that I did not know about the holocaust. It is the true story of a young, Jewish (15 year old) girl in Poland during World War II. She is sent from camp to camp. Somehow she has the will to live through unspeakable terror. She speaks of the power of love that sustains her throughout her ordeal and the named, and unnamed people who helpe...more
I adored this book! First let me say that I'm obsessed with The Holocaust. Most of the books that I have read are about the war and what the writer went through. This book is about a girl who was in the war and how she found love during the war and after the war. While still fighting for her life day in and day out. I liked the fact that they added the love story with it. To know that you can still love, find love and be loved in a time like that is amazing. You get to see read the story of some...more
I loved this book. A fast, easy read... I especially loved it being read to me via audiobook in a soft, gentile voice and accent that could easily be the actual author's. It is an incredible true story about love and loss during the Holocaust, but this small, fragile woman feels so incredibly strong and defiant in many little ways. I was really touched by her passionate expressions of love for two different men, and the quiet individuals who helped her to survive along the way. The author demons...more
GR friend and author Kathryn Atwood recently read this and gave it 5 stars, and loved it.
I did enjoy the writing style and appreciate Millie's bravery in telling the world her story.
However, I'll have to be honest, it was good enough for me to give it 4 stars, but there were a few things I didn't like. Sometimes the book strays to another time period (like, when she's in Auschwitz the book randomly shifts to life in New York) which is sometimes hard to read. I didn't like the author's lack of se...more
I did enjoy the writing style and appreciate Millie's bravery in telling the world her story.
However, I'll have to be honest, it was good enough for me to give it 4 stars, but there were a few things I didn't like. Sometimes the book strays to another time period (like, when she's in Auschwitz the book randomly shifts to life in New York) which is sometimes hard to read. I didn't like the author's lack of se...more
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I finished this book on my birthday at the Tunnel Beach in Holland, MI. I am glad the sun was shining as there were some truly dark parts to this book. It is a true story of one Holoaust survivors experiences before, during and after being in the Nazi work camps of World War II. As with many stories from survivors, Millie shares the horrors that she witnessed and lived through but she does it with an authenticity that touched me deeply. She tells her story from her perspective and often question...more
I feel like an absolute heel rating a Holocaust book so low ... but the best I can say about this one was "it was ok." I did learn some things: it was told from a new-to-me perspective (Polish Jews forced to labor in factories for the German war machine -- though later Millie was sent to Auschwitz, too). And I certainly appreciated the candid honesty with which Millie told her story. But I just felt so disheartened reading it. I felt so sorry for Millie's losses -- of her family and her dignity...more
What a GREAT book! I won this book as a First Reads; in fact, this was the first book I have won on goodreads and I was far from being disappointed! If I had to use only one word to describe this book, I would use the word "honesty". What an amazing women and what an amazing life and story. It's a memoir about a young girl named Millie while growing up during WWII. It's about her stuggle with great loss, the unbelievable bond of love and surviving. This book was written so wonderfully, that I co...more
I received this as a first read giveaway.
This is the story of a Holocaust survivor. She was separated from her family at 14 and worked in a factory while her family lived in a Jewish ghetto. She married a man and he was later killed. She spent time in a concentration camp and then in another factory as part of slave labor. She describes her experiences the best she can and I appreciate it when she simply writes that she can't remember what happened. She describes the utter brutality and deprava...more
This is the story of a Holocaust survivor. She was separated from her family at 14 and worked in a factory while her family lived in a Jewish ghetto. She married a man and he was later killed. She spent time in a concentration camp and then in another factory as part of slave labor. She describes her experiences the best she can and I appreciate it when she simply writes that she can't remember what happened. She describes the utter brutality and deprava...more
Two Rings is a memoir I will not soon forget. The story line and events within it are extremely compelling, horrific and, yet, inspiring at the same time.
Passion and love coexist within a framework of horror, of facing death, of abuse and all of the emotional and traumatic moments encompassed within that framework. The book is a metaphor for hope and survival.
I highly recommend this excellent and heartfelt memoir to everyone. It will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. ( )
Passion and love coexist within a framework of horror, of facing death, of abuse and all of the emotional and traumatic moments encompassed within that framework. The book is a metaphor for hope and survival.
I highly recommend this excellent and heartfelt memoir to everyone. It will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. ( )
A remarkable memoir by a Jewish survivor of WWII. Full of the expected heartache and betrayal, but also brief moments of good-heartedness that carried her through slave/labor munitions factories, and finally Auschwitz. Her story is poignant and honest; sharing her feelings before, during, and after the events of WWII. I am always grateful that people like Millie Werber, who have such important stories to share with the world, get them down on paper before it is too late.
The memoir of a survivor who lost her first love and most of her family in the Holocaust. I actually had to put down this book and walk away a couple of times because the events were so horrific. I highly recommend this book but was disappointed to read the author lost faith in God because of all she witnessed. Reading this book, I always saw God by her side in the form of everyday people acting as angels who helped her to survive.
The story that Millie Werber recounts of her days as a young girl/lady growing up and surviving during the most unimaginable horrors of the holocaust is unbelievable. Like many, I have heard stories told of things done but to "hear" it told in this way makes it even more real and tragic. With as priviledged as we are to be living in this time and in this country, I wonder if any of us would be able to survive the hardships that she endured.
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This was one of the best holocaust books I have ever read. I could not put it down. It was beautifully written, I did not want to skip one word. How brave of Millie to write this very honest story of her life- how important to have her family understand what she had endured in the early years. I have studied and read much about the holocaust but there was something different about this book.This was truly a special book and I hope many people get a chance to read it. And count our own blessings.
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In her 80's, Millie's Holocaust survivor story is finally told to her children, family and readers. Never before shared, Eve Keller pens Millie's two loves - one during the war at age 15 and one after. She has captured the despair and atrocities of the war yet with Millie's continuing question about her chances with death and gratitude for those responsible for her ultimate survival.
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Millie Werber is today the matriarch of a close and loving family. After moving to the United States in 1946, she and her husband, Jack, raised their two sons in Queens, NY, where together they built a real estate business. They lived happily together for sixty years until Jack’s death in 2006. Millie now lives on Long Island surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
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Funny because it was already on my to-read list.
PS I love Sophie Scholl's movie. It was sad, but inspiring. Sh...more
Oct 02, 2012 11:36am
Oct 02, 2012 11:36am