The Holocaust Scream: Rachel Rosenberg - Nazi Concentration Camp Survivor - The Holocaust And That Scream

by Rachel Rosenberg, Robert Urban, Abe Sass (Contributor)

Are you ready to meet the Polish Anne Frank who survived? Rachel Rosenberg is a Holocaust survivor of 4 Nazi concentration camps. Learn about her remarkable experience during the Holocaust and its long-term aftereffects. Some of Rachel's struggles within the Nazi SS final solution were similar to the tragic experience of Anne Frank. Both found poignant but fleeting young love. Each had an attic experience and both were chronicler-victims of World War 2. While Anne Frank survives in her diary, Rachel survived and is telling her story. Rachel endured 6 long years in Hitler's death camps. Rachel's remarkable saga didn't end with her liberation at the end of World War 2. Rachel had lost her idyllic community, her strong Jewish spiritual roots, her adolescence and most of her immediate family. So thorough and diabolical was the Nazi Holocaust that Rachel even lost her birthday! Rachel tells us about those terrible personal moments in the camps when Life and Love struggled against Death personified. On one of these struggles with Death, Rachel's Love experienced that scream. That powerful Holocaust Scream is her biggest hurt. You can find out about that scream for yourself. Prepare to cry. Rachel was clever and resourceful. She was able to hide in the camps. How could she do that? You will find out. When the camp gates were finally thrust open, Rachel had to reconnect to all those things that we take for granted. It wasn't easy. Rachel had to take charge in order to get through the post-war turmoil. Rachel became a beacon of help to many in need. Rachel and her husband Carl were interviewed by movie director Steven Spielberg. Some of her concentration camp and ghetto experiences served as background for the movie, "Schindler's List." Learn about Rachel's encounters with Nazis in the United States. Rachel is witty and charming. Her attitude toward her Holocaust experience is truly remarkable. Find out how Rachel feels about the German people. Rachel is an example of the "leading lady" persona. What does it mean to be a "leading lady?" Rachel's story unfolds like a kaleidoscope of images. There is a rhythm to her story, one that defies organization. The rhythm creates a remarkable connection with the reader. You will sense the rhythm as you resonate with it. Get ready. The story includes several dialogues with Rachel. In the dialogues, Rachel tells her story in her own words as much as possible. These dialogues reveal Rachel's keen memory, insight, honesty and vulnerability. Rachel has some advice for those who may be in terrible circumstances. You can meet this remarkable women and follow the gripping tale of her life's struggles. It's time for you to meet Rachel. Come on in.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

212 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2013

Reviews

[Siân · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wish this had been written like a proper book with a start, middle and end. Rachel's story needs to be told properly.

[Robert A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Rosenberg's story is not only about her experience with the German Nazis and the concentration camps but about life after she was liberated, especially her life in the United States. The book is presented in an interview format. Basically, her answers are short and lack detail, not fully developed. The reader does not get to know her as an individual or "feel" her ordeal.

Because of the lack of detail about life in the concentration camps, the reader does not "see" the real horror and evil. Do we need the witness of Holocaust survivors? Of course, but with the descriptive detail that reveals the nature of terror, evil, and brutality. To understand the full impact of absolute evil, those evils need to be compared to other forms of evil and contrasted with goodness and innocence. (Reviewed by the author of The Children's Story, A Novel Not for Children, which is about good and evil.)

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read as the entire books is done interview style. It was very hard to connect with Rachel as her responses were at times short, and the book jumped very fast from childhood, to the camps, to after. I imagine it was hard for her to relive and as such each topic was touched upon but not drilled into.

The comparision to Anne Frank to me is not warranted here. I feel they are both compelling accounts of this tragedy, but one is spoken from the mind of a child, and the other of a elderly woman. The reflection time of Rachel gives the story a completely different perspective.

I would recommend this book if you already have a basic understanding of this time frame / subject matter, however, from a historical standpoint, i don't feel it provides much insight into a detailed account of the daily living / functioning of that time or event.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful story of a woman who suffered unspeakable horrors as a holocaust survivor. She also lost the young man she loved who did not make it as well as her mother and brothers and aunt also lost their lives. This brave woman who manages to portray her story even in a language that is not her native tongue will touch your heart. Highly recommended.

[sweetpeagjyahoo.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still shocked and horrified

I've always been interested in the Holocaust survivors and devour the stories. For people to still believe that this didn't happen is insane and insulting to the people who died during this period of time and also to the people who survived. It's like saying, in the United States, that slavery didn't happen. Rachel is a shining example of the true meaning of survivor. She doesn't have hate in her heart she's full of joy and light. Thank you

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not know where to start. Words cannot express my deepest heart felt thankfulness and gratitude to Rachel for reliving her most horrific childhood memories so that i can have a glimpse into her life. Hers is a story that must be told now and for future generations.
In the section on Rachel’s first love. What a remarkable love story. Some people live a lifetime and never find love like that. The way she describes young Morris almost makes me fall in love with him too. The only thing that could make this love better is to find out that he survived and spent his life longing for her as well. Then to marry a man that you don't really love only to discover that it wasn't really love that was the issue but a deep mistrust for human nature. After surviving such suffering how could she ever trust to love again?
Then there is "The Scream". The Scream that will live on forever. The Scream that no one hears but yet feels all the way to the bone. After all these years that scream is still so fresh in her ears that it still haunts her. I resist going into much detail as i do not want to tell the account of what happened. One must read the book to truly understand how that scream can continue through the decades.
It is understandable that Rachel does not like being separated from her children and i pray that she will have the opportunity to enjoy her family the way she longs to.

I recently took my 13 year old son to the Dallas Holocaust museum and since i had read this book first i was able to have a deeper understanding of the pictures and artifacts i saw.
So, do i recommend this book? Absolutely! This should be a must read for high school students. We must never allow anything like this to ever happen again.
Rachel, thank you and may God truly bless you.

[Brandon Bass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was a very good one for anybody who wants to know anything about life inside of the Holocaust. The storyteller is Rachel and she helps give a perspective to the pain and suffering that people went through during the Nazi regime. Rachel went through 4 concentration camps and was a good textile worker, which helped to keep her alive. She however had to watch as her last brother was torn away from her to be sent to his death. She met many famous Nazis who were searching and using them to study and to work. She also tells a story about how her future husband manages to save her sister from death by being a good tailor. They also give an explanation of how to survive the Holocaust by staying distant, being good at what you do, and hanging in the back of groups. She was taken from her home at 14 and sent to the concentration camps where she lost many family members, only her two sisters survived. She also describes how life after the holocaust was tough. People from the community center supported her, but other Jews didn't like to talk to them, and people kicked them out of their homes. One day, she found that someone had painted a swastika on their porch and Rachel went into a trance because of it. The holocaust permanently affected Rachel in the way of mental problems and her children were also affected by their loss of family members. Some people who survived the holocaust couldn't even have kids because of the experimentation done on them. The holocaust continues to be apart of Jewish people's lives and we should be able to know what they went through.

[Kassidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been lucky enough to have personally met Rachel, and her story is a life changing one. To listen to the hell this woman went through at such a young age makes me realize how lucky I am to be 15 and free. Throughout the book her brothers, her mother, her aunt, and the boy that loved her all die. As I read her words I can feel her pain, her heartache, and that's something I've never experienced with a book before. Some people might think the interview format that it's written in doesn't do Rachel's account justice. I feel that that was a brilliant way of portraying a conversation with Rachel. The book is told in her exact words, which allows you to connect with a woman heart to heart when she's miles away. When reading this remember, Rachel's first language isn't English and she was never formally taught. So the wording isn't always grammatically correct, but never does it take away from the story. In fact it adds to the sincerity.

-Thank you Rachel for making me appreciate the life I have. I will think about your story every day.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in a single setting. It's done in interview format and the author is telling her interviewer about her experience before, during and after the holocaust. I still can't wrap my head around how the Jews were treated during that time, but this lady, in not too explicit detail, tells of her experience. She was in a total of 4 concentration camps over a two year period and managed to survive. I would highly recommend this book for anyone to read, but it would also be very appropriate as an introductory book to younger children. Very similar to the diary of Anne frank, but this lady lived to tell her story.

[lillian gaskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank the Lord my father was raised in the USA. May GOD bless you Rachel.

Though this book is a short read (meaning you can read it within about an hour) - it is so powerfully in it's simplicity. I don't think I would have survived being in a death camp during the holocaust...We need to enlighten our youth...our children....and even adults. Thank you again Rachel for sharing your life, your sorrows and pain, and the joy of survival, love, and sometimes it's the simple things in life that heal the heart and soul.

[Kiera Singer]

The fictional twin text I would pair this book with would be Number the Stars by Louis Lowery. Although The Holocaust Scream is very different from Number the Stars because Is talks about being in a concentration camp and is presented in interview format, both books discuss how life was for the Jewish people before and after world war II. Number the Stars was also the only fiction book I had read about world war II that talked about life BEFORE and AFTER the war, so my selection was limited.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honest but lacking

I enjoyed the truth behind the book having it come straight from the mouth of the survivor, but it lacked in depth experiences and details. I understand a book covering such a topic is up to the author and where the information is gathered from, but I was expecting a little more.

[Danitaruth]

A story that needs to be told

The book was not written in the manner I am accustomed to. I wanted to quit reading it because it was not written as a chronological story. However the words were so captivating and the story so vivid that I could not put the book down. Let us never forget the horrific details of the holocaust so as to never repeat them. God bless you all

[Stacey Cathers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #2/75 of my challenge.

A decent read, a little bit too all over the place for me. I was expecting more stories of what had happened inside, and that only accounted for about 25% of the book. Not as intriguing as "Night" by Elie Wiesel.

[Marlene Bulnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I really really liked the way Rachel expresses herself in such a carefree way... thanks for letting me feel you in such a way that in some parts i could almost touch your soul...

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't read this all the way through. I didn't care for the writing style or story telling style.

[Elizabeth Splain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to read about survival under the most awful circumstances

[Marie massart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this book

[Christine Robak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found that there were

to many corners the book jumped around too much. I
Just wanted for it to end.