false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170458538m/56469.jpg 56469 3 <center><P><b>"Do you know why I write so much? Because as long as you read, we are together."<P> -- Raizel Garncarz (Sala's sister),<P> April 24, 1941</b><P></center><P><P>Few family secrets have the power both to transform lives and to fill in crucial gaps in world history. But then, few families have a mother and a daughter quite like Sala and Ann Kirschner. For nearly fifty years, Sala kept a secret: She had survived five years as a slave in seven different Nazi work camps. Living in America after the war, she kept from her children any hint of her epic, inhuman odyssey. She held on to more than 350 letters, photographs, and a diary without ever mentioning them. Only in 1991, on the eve of heart surgery, did she suddenly present them to Ann and offer to answer any questions her daughter wished to ask. It was a life-changing moment for her scholar, writer, and entrepreneur daughter.<P><P>We know surprisingly little about the vast network of Nazi labor camps, where imprisoned Jews built railroads and highways, churned out munitions and materiel, and otherwise supported the limitless needs of the Nazi war machine. This book gives us an insider's account: Conditions were brutal. Death rates were high. As the war dragged on and the Nazis retreated, inmates were force-marched across hundreds of miles, or packed into cattle cars for grim journeys from one camp to another. When Sala first reported to a camp in Geppersdorf, Poland, at the age of sixteen, she thought it would be for six weeks. Five years later, she was still at a labor camp and only she and two of her sisters remained alive of an extended family of fifty. In the first years of the conflict, Sala was aided by her close friend Ala Gertner, who would later lead an uprising at Auschwitz and be executed just weeks before the liberation of that camp. Sala was also helped by other key friends. Yet above all, she survived thanks to the slender threads of support expressed in the letters of her friends and family. She kept them at great personal risk, and it is astonishing that she was able to receive as many as she did. With their heartwrenching expressions of longing, love, and hope, they offer a testament to the human spirit, an indomitable impulse even in the face of monstrosity.<P><P><I>Sala's Gift</i> is a rare book, a gift from Ann to her mother, and a great gift from both women to the world.<P><P> 55030 7 11 2006 Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story total:146|5:39|4:66|3:32|2:7|1:2| 146 571 284 31 4 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 08:35:16 -0800 2009 Fri Aug 07 15:47:50 -0700 2009 5 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Oct 23 10:44:40 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 10:44:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 16 10:48:43 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 14:34:00 -0700 2009 4 1 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 14:35:50 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 14:36:57 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Mon May 18 17:13:28 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 17:14:07 -0700 2009 4 1 false false Sat Feb 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Apr 17 18:48:24 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 18:49:36 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Tue Apr 07 16:26:21 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 16:29:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 14:28:15 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 14:28:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 05:35:38 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 05:46:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Feb 25 06:25:55 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 06:32:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jul 19 17:47:08 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 17:49:00 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 09:56:04 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 10:07:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 20:29:14 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 20:34:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Feb 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 12:20:09 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 12:24:16 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 01 13:33:21 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 11:47:13 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Wed Jul 02 04:53:58 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 02 04:56:37 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 01 09:25:49 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 09:27:59 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Tue Sep 09 13:45:40 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 13:52:07 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Wed Jun 18 12:43:31 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 13:16:23 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Mon Sep 17 07:55:39 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 07:56:13 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=56469