Echoes From The Holocaust: A Memoir

by Mira Ryczke Kimmelman

Echoes from the Holocaust
A Memoir
Mira Ryczke Kimmelman

"During the most difficult times of World War II," Mira Kimmelman writes, "I wondered whether the world really knew what was happening to us. I lived in total isolation, not knowing what was taking place outside the ghetto gates, outside the barbed wires of concentration camps. After the war, would anyone ever believe my experiences?"
Kimmelman had no way of preserving her experiences on paper while they happened, but she trained herself to remember. And now, as a survivor of the Holocaust, she has preserved her recollections for posterity in this powerful and moving book—one woman's personal perspective on a terrible moment in human history.
The daughter of a Jewish seed exporter, the author was born Mira Ryczke in 1923 in a suburb of the Baltic seaport of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). Her childhood was happy, and she learned to cherish her faith and heritage. Through the 1930s, Mira's family remained in the Danzig area despite a changing political climate that was compelling many friends and neighbors to leave. With the Polish capitulation to Germany in the autumn of 1939, however, Mira and her family were forced from their home. In calm, straightforward prose—which makes her story all the more harrowing—Kimmelman recalls the horrors that befell her and those she loved. Sent to Auschwitz in 1944, she escaped the gas chambers by being selected for  slave labor. Finally, as the tide of war turned against Germany, Mira was among those transported to Bergen-Belsen, where tens of thousands were dying from starvation, disease, and exposure. In April 1945, British troops liberated the camp, and Mira was eventually reunited with her father. Most of the other members of her family had perished.
In the closing chapters, Kimmelman describes her marriage, her subsequent life in the United States, and her visits to Israel and to the places in Europe where the  events of her youth transpired. Even when confronted with the worst in humankind, she observes, she never lost hope or succumbed to despair. She concludes with an eloquent "If future generations fail to protect the truth, it vanishes. . . . Only by remembering the bitter lesson of Hitler’s legacy can we hope it will never be repeated. Teach it, tell it, read it."
The Mira Ryczke Kimmelman is a resident of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and lectures widely in schools about her experiences during the Holocaust.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, World War II, Autobiography

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forget where I got this but I'm glad I found it. This is great for people like me who love to learn about personal experiences during the Holocaust. It's different in that unique way each person experiences something and that affects me.
I absolutely adored the photos and I loved how they were included as well. Instead of having the usual photo insert Kimmelman put them in sporadically and that really gave a lot to the book IMO.
I'd definitely recommend to anyone looking for personal accounts - you can find many, some more well written than others and this isn't one of the best written and it's certainly not one of the worst. The fact that Kimmelman is obviously very intelligent makes the writing that much better.
What she had to endure to survive is horrendous. All of it is horrendous but reading a book like this - and being brought into the story, into the persons life - brings it so much closer to home.

[Trailhoundz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant, well-written memoir of a young woman who spent several years in concentration camps (including Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen). From her idyllic childhood, to a sudden and frightening imprisonment in the several Polish ghettos, and finally her deportation to camp- all written in cringing detail. Chapter after chapter, I wondered how such a young woman could survive such atrocity- yet she did. After the war, she describes her life with husband, children, and immigration to America. What incredible fortitude and courage. A great book.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echoes from the Holocaust
: Mira Ryckze Kimmelman

A true survivor, Mira shares her life experiences from before WWII and well beyond the liberation of the Death Camps. This woman had many things that helped her to live while many others did not. Every survivor's story is different, yet still the same because of strong will that carried them to the end. I like listening to this type book, not because of all the horror uncovered, but to remind me that it could happen again.




The narration was well done. There weren't many characters to portray, but Susan Marlowe brings the listener inside the story.



"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very moving book. I cannot begin to imagine the struggles of people who went through the Holocaust, especially as one of the targets of the Nazi regime. I also cannot imagine the post traumatic stress that the survivors undoubtedly had. The author says that she trained herself to remember her experiences, which we are reading here. Her brain tried to reduce her trauma and stress by blocking out certain things, which is terrifying to even consider. This is why it is so important that we take these accounts seriously and take them to heart to prevent other people from ever going through such things.

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a poignant and interesting personal account of surviving the Holocaust. Following her life prior to the Second World War, through the Holocaust and into her family and return to Danzig (albeit, just a holiday), it was amazing to hear the story of a personal account of the Holocaust. It really brings it home how awful the event was (despite the lack of gore and horror held within this audiobook) while cementing the strong will that somebody needed to survive.

[Dale Rosenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew Mira but she was a major figure in my current shul for a long time. I'm learning a lot about her and her experiences - both during and after the Holocaust - in the Holocaust Study Group at Oak Ridge Institute for Continuing Learning (ORICL). As part of that group, I've read her memoir and saw some videos of her and am feeling a little like I do know her.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very touched by this memoir. The author was a real person, and he experience touched me deeply. I was struck by her straight forward telling, with horror filled moments as well as moments of divine intuition.

[Sue D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book, I could picture Mira, whose memoirs this is, as a very elegant strong woman. The memoirs are elegantly written.

[Elizabeth Cisewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was interesting. In the beginning it was pretty boring, then it was really interesting, then it went back to being really boring. This is a book that is good, but not one that I would strongly recommend.

[Ashley Hobgood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read this book for a history class in college. I liked learning about Mira's survival during World War II. I thought the book was somewhat intriguing because I didn't know a lot about the Holocaust. It was a decent book but not a favorite.

[Melissa]

ok for class, a little slow for book club

[Victoria George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow

[Lana Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing that people survived the horrific conditions in the camps. Moving story of her struggle to survive.