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As God Is My Witness
"As God Is My Witness" is an extraordinary account of how a courageous young man fought the invading Germans and survived the most hideous era in world history. This true story is the culmination of a lifelong promise to his mother that if any of her children should survive they would tell the world their story so that the death and destruction inflicted by Nazi Germany upon the Jewish people should never be forgotten.
133 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1991
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November 22, 2014
One of the first things I do when reading books about history, particularly if they are biographical in nature, is to look through them and see what, if any pictures are included. On the back cover of the book is the statement that the author wrote this as the culmination of a life-long promise to his mother that if any of her children should survive they would tell the world their story so that the death and destruction inflicted by Nazi Germany upon the Jewish people should never be forgotten. The pictures included in this book help to do this but are graphic in nature being primarily shots of dead bodies taken shortly after the liberation of various death camps.
Ok - I have now finished the book and feel ready to comment in some way on Carl Rosenberg's story and how it has impacted me. I know when I read a book of this type that I will read of unspeakable horrors.There are very few (if any) books written by Jewish people who have survived the war that do not report on these horrors. This book was written in 1990 as a fulfillment of a promise the author made to his mother. It details his early life with his family in Poland and how the signs of antisemitism were very present well before the second world war but became much worse in the years approaching war.Rosenberg's father impressed on his children at an early age that staying out of sight would be one of the best ways of surviving, and Carl took his father's words to heart and from a youthful age was very careful. He was also intelligent learning to speak read and write multiple languages which also helped his survival. Ultimately, he was the only one from his family to survive. He spent time in various work camps and death camps along the way, surviving sometimes through what can only be described as miraculous circumstances.
Reading these words given in such a heartfelt way cannot help but impact me as a reader and as a human being. I know that had I been in his place I would not have lasted very long and yet he survived, still retained his spirit (though no doubt there were blips along the journey) and came throughout still trusting His G_d.
This is not a book you read for pleasure. It is a book you read to learn from and remember and to teach you that the human spirit is a wonderful thing not to be toyed with. Sadly, we still need to learn this as a species and that inpart is why books like this are still so important. We must not forget.
Ok - I have now finished the book and feel ready to comment in some way on Carl Rosenberg's story and how it has impacted me. I know when I read a book of this type that I will read of unspeakable horrors.There are very few (if any) books written by Jewish people who have survived the war that do not report on these horrors. This book was written in 1990 as a fulfillment of a promise the author made to his mother. It details his early life with his family in Poland and how the signs of antisemitism were very present well before the second world war but became much worse in the years approaching war.Rosenberg's father impressed on his children at an early age that staying out of sight would be one of the best ways of surviving, and Carl took his father's words to heart and from a youthful age was very careful. He was also intelligent learning to speak read and write multiple languages which also helped his survival. Ultimately, he was the only one from his family to survive. He spent time in various work camps and death camps along the way, surviving sometimes through what can only be described as miraculous circumstances.
Reading these words given in such a heartfelt way cannot help but impact me as a reader and as a human being. I know that had I been in his place I would not have lasted very long and yet he survived, still retained his spirit (though no doubt there were blips along the journey) and came throughout still trusting His G_d.
This is not a book you read for pleasure. It is a book you read to learn from and remember and to teach you that the human spirit is a wonderful thing not to be toyed with. Sadly, we still need to learn this as a species and that inpart is why books like this are still so important. We must not forget.
Displaying 1 of 1 review