Stolen Years

by Sara Zyskind, Marganit Inbar (Translator)

Sara was an eleven-year-old child when the Nazis invaded Poland. She was a young woman of seventeen when their reign of horror ended. Sara's story is one of savage suffering and supreme testing. Hers is an odyssey of agony, and an epic of love and courage no reader will ever forget.

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

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Sara Rachela Plagier was born into a well-to-do Jewish family in Łódź, Poland. In 1939, at the age of 11, her world came crashing down after the Nazis invaded the country. Within three months of the Occupation, the Jewish citizens of Łódź were forced into a Ghetto, which was sealed off from the outside world in 1940. Sara's mother died that year, and Sara began work in a corset sewing workshop. She and her father successfully evaded arrest and deportation until Anschel Plagier died in 1943. The following year, the Nazis liquidated the Łódź Ghetto and Sara was deported to Auschwitz and then to other slave labor camps.

Sara survived and returned to Łódź in the spring of 1945, at age 17. All her relatives and friends were dead, so she decided to emigrate to Palestine. She left Poland with forged papers and, aided by a Jewish relief group called Escape, travelled across Europe for two years before entering Palestine in May 1947. In 1948, she married Eliezer Zyskind, a fellow Łódź survivor, and the couple had three children. Sara Zyskind described her Holocaust experiences in Stolen Years, first published in 1977. In her other book, Struggle, Sara Zyskind told her husband's story in the first person, from his point of view.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Sara Zyskind's Stolen Years the year I turned eleven, and it served both as my introduction to the subject of human evil, and as a launching point for a prolonged period of obsessive interest in the Holocaust, during which I read many, many testimonies. I know of others who have had a similar experience, and I sometimes think that such intensive adolescent reading projects (seen also in the ubiquitous novels and memoirs of children afflicted with terminal illnesses, a genre quite popular with young readers) are a means of exploring subjects both terrifying and mysterious. That first glimpse of such a horrific reality prompts a desire to know more, to comprehend. But, in my own experience, the more I discovered, the less I truly did understand...

As for the actual book itself, Stolen Years is an incredibly powerful work, a visceral portrait of a young Jewish girl, Sara Plager, who is caught up in the events of World War II. A survivor of the Lodz Ghetto and the Auschwitz-Birkenau death-camp, Sara relates her heart-breaking experiences, from being forced to witness her father's gradual death from hunger, to the horrific reality of being a slave laborer at Auschwitz, and later Mittelstein. A highly, highly recommended book - one that should never have gone out of print...

[Desi A]

This was the first Holocaust memoir I read (apart from The Diary of Anne Frank) in middle school. It was in our school library and I remember I read it in a weekend and I could not sleep the night I finished it. I laid awake and I could not quiet my mind and I eventually went and slept on the floor of my parents' bedroom, even though I was 11 years old.

I found a used copy online recently and bought it.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So hard to find copies of this book. One of the best novels I ever read in my teens. Highly recommend!

[Brennan · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didn't really like this book at all.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to find copies of this book. It’s seared in my memory though-I’ll never forget it.

[Shannon Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this book were more widely available! It is an impactful recounting of the authors experience before during and after the holocaust. It will stick with me for a very very long time.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stolen Years was published in 1981. The classic, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. was published in 1947. I wish I had read Anne Frank more recently and could compare and contrast the two. Stolen Years is an excellent example of adult-nonfiction describing a young Jewish girl's experiences during World War II. It is a worthwhile read of a horrific period in history that remains with the reader long after closing its pages.

[Patti Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a reader, but I finished this book in under a week. My late boyfriend had this book. I passed it on to a coworker who read it in a couple of days, passed it on to my mom who passed it onto my aunt, then her daughter than later a friend and we never saw it again :( this is history that should stay in our minds and hearts, great book, but sad. I managed to find a hard copy online from amazon. Haven't read it again but it is the first on my list !!!!

[Ursula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in high school after discovering it in our school library. It had such a profound effect on me that I have reread it many times since. It is a gripping story of survival and loss from one young girl's life during the Holocaust. The book is so detailed, and so well written that you will feel as if you are being dragged, right along with Sara, into hell and back again.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in sixth grade and had a similar experience to another reviewer - I was horrified by the Holocaust and needed to read more, which of course I did. This is still the most powerful of all the Holocaust books that I've read.

[Tina Boscha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a testament to this book that as I populate my Goodreads books that I remembered this book from reading it (repeatedly) as an adolescent. I still remember moments from this book. Beautifully written.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was 11 or 12 years old. I was deeply moved and re-read the book many times throughout my childhood.

[Jolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my high school freshman History class. I was so enthralled by this book that I couldnt put it down. It was a real eye opener!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

horrifying but inspiring story

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book. Really touched my heart!