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On Both Sides of the Wall: Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto
The author tells of her narrow escapes in Warsaw as an underground courier working for the Aryan side of the resistance movement.
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
33 people are currently reading
3332 people want to read
About the author
Vladka Meed
1 book16 followersVladka Meed is the pen name for Feigele Peltel Miedzyrzecki.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 26, 2026
It took longer than I thought yo get my thoughts together.
This book was very emotional for me. I recently found my Mother’s biological Father (who she thought was her Uncle) his ancestors were from Poland. I received the Polish family tree and it was filled with lots of stories about her ancestors. Many were in the camps. Some survived, some escaped, but many perished.
In her book Vladka Meed really gives you incite on the Holocaust and what both Jew and Polish people endured. I went through every emotion reading what she witnessed. Most of all I felt a sense of fear, doom and the urge to run.
Many do not realize it wasn’t just Jews that were put into the camps but Catholics, Polish, etc.
Highly recommend reading “On Both Sides of the Wall”
This book was very emotional for me. I recently found my Mother’s biological Father (who she thought was her Uncle) his ancestors were from Poland. I received the Polish family tree and it was filled with lots of stories about her ancestors. Many were in the camps. Some survived, some escaped, but many perished.
In her book Vladka Meed really gives you incite on the Holocaust and what both Jew and Polish people endured. I went through every emotion reading what she witnessed. Most of all I felt a sense of fear, doom and the urge to run.
Many do not realize it wasn’t just Jews that were put into the camps but Catholics, Polish, etc.
Highly recommend reading “On Both Sides of the Wall”
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September 20, 2011Let's face it your probably reading this because it was on a approved reading list for a class that deals with the holocaust and I wont lie this will be a slow read but a very goodread ;) that I promise. Her story is based of her amazing determination to fight back against the nazi regime. She risks her life countless times, saves countless lives and just did a real life Rambo! There is not much more I can say other than these words written by her and other words written by fellow holocaust survivors are all we have left of a horrible event in history. In 10 years there will virtually be no one alive that survived the holocaust and with the idea that the holocaust never existed and frightening and all we have to remember it by is their work.
May 25, 2012
Great book about a very courageous women in some truly horrific circumstances. Vladka's account of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is captivating and sad. To read about her constant struggle to aid those in need, only to read two pages later how they were captured or killed is heart wrenching. Why we continue to be bystanders to this sort of hatred is numbing.
June 5, 2014
"On Both Sides of the Wall" is written by Vladka Meed, a Polish Jew who at such a young age had to overcome the obstacles of being forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis during World War II. It's heartbreaking, I found myself almost in tears, and there are so many scenes where my heart almost rattled just because in so many instances she was almost caught. She smuggled a map of one of the death camps in her shoe out of the ghetto to prove what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, as well as posing as an Aryan and working for the Jewish resistance on the oustide of the ghetto. She overcame so much, and had to watch each of her family members die or be taken away and to never return. She smuggled children out of the ghetto and found Aryans to house them, she smuggled food in and out as well for the starving Jews of the ghetto. She is one of the most courageous women to walk this earth, and in a time that was so frightening and death lurked around every corner. I can't imagine what this women went through, I can only read her story, but nothing that I ever think to complain about is nothing compared to what these people had to endure and suffer through and I feel sorry for anyone who thinks differently. I looked at life differently after reading this.
August 8, 2021
A powerful and difficult book about life in Warsaw during the war. It's not always linear, and many chapters are anecdotal in structure rather than following any strict chronological narrative. Not easy to get through, as it is full of specific details of revolting behavior by people who could so easily have been allies through a situation that was dire for all - but chose instead to be just as racist as the invaders. Individual exceptions existed, of course, but they were rare exceptions. Ms. Meed ends with her reaction to the monument at Treblinka, which she saw over thirty years after leaving Poland:
"What remains is this vast and empty field, covered with 1500 pointed stones that rise toward the heavens with a silent but piercingly eloquent accusation."
Accusation, indictment... I rarely get angry when reading Holocaust material. This book made me very angry.
"What remains is this vast and empty field, covered with 1500 pointed stones that rise toward the heavens with a silent but piercingly eloquent accusation."
Accusation, indictment... I rarely get angry when reading Holocaust material. This book made me very angry.
July 4, 2016
Remember the TV movie, "Uprising," with Leelee Sobieski? She portrayed a young woman named Tosia Altman. In reality, the character she played was a juxtapose of two individuals: Tosia Altman and Vladka Meed. This book is Vladka's memoirs and shows scenes and situations featured in the TV movie, under the guise that it occurred to Tosia. Tosia is mentioned a few times in this book, but this is wholly Vladka's story.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
On Both Sides of the Wall is a compilation of the harrowing true stories of the Holocaust experienced by Vladka Meet translated from Yiddish into English decades ago and now re-translated by her son, Steven D. Meed. Vladka was a Polish Jew living in Warsaw. When she was only twenty one in 1942, at great personal risk she left the Warsaw Ghetto and became a courier for the Aryan side, literally the other side of the wall where people enjoyed parks and ignored the gunshots meters away. Vladka was desperate to help her fellow Jews and was incredulous that no one on earth was coming to their aid. Fellow Poles were feared as much as the Germans and gladly betrayed and even killed them for a price. Experiencing many, many close calls, she smuggled important documents in her shoes and money to those in hiding in milenas (the story of the precious people in hiding in a shed beneath wood is excruciating). She even smuggled metal files and anything else she and those working with her could possibly manage.
The Warsaw Uprising where Jews ironically became scapegoats, the dangerous ordeal of obtaining work permits, labor camps, painful wisdom of children, and physical and emotional torture are vividly detailed as well. But some Christians/Gentiles put their lives on the line for Jews which gave them tiny slivers of hope. The betrayal by so many enemies especially crushed my heart. Vladka witnessed unspeakable horrors and lived in fear every second. After moving to the United States with her husband in 1948, she recounted her experiences in speeches and begged people not to forget.
I am extremely grateful to have had the honour of reading her powerful memoirs and am aghast at the capacity of both cruelty and kindness of fellow human beings during this desperate time. I have read many, many books on the Holocaust and this one is a standout. Vladka’s personal true stories moved me to tears and are imprinted in my mind. She suffered incomprehensibly yet there is not one iota of self pity in her tone and words. Though she carefully made it clear she was not a heroine, I strongly disagree…she is one of the most heroic and courageous people I have ever read about.
This book is absolutely unmissable and should be required reading everywhere. I could not possibly recommend it more highly!
The Warsaw Uprising where Jews ironically became scapegoats, the dangerous ordeal of obtaining work permits, labor camps, painful wisdom of children, and physical and emotional torture are vividly detailed as well. But some Christians/Gentiles put their lives on the line for Jews which gave them tiny slivers of hope. The betrayal by so many enemies especially crushed my heart. Vladka witnessed unspeakable horrors and lived in fear every second. After moving to the United States with her husband in 1948, she recounted her experiences in speeches and begged people not to forget.
I am extremely grateful to have had the honour of reading her powerful memoirs and am aghast at the capacity of both cruelty and kindness of fellow human beings during this desperate time. I have read many, many books on the Holocaust and this one is a standout. Vladka’s personal true stories moved me to tears and are imprinted in my mind. She suffered incomprehensibly yet there is not one iota of self pity in her tone and words. Though she carefully made it clear she was not a heroine, I strongly disagree…she is one of the most heroic and courageous people I have ever read about.
This book is absolutely unmissable and should be required reading everywhere. I could not possibly recommend it more highly!
February 17, 2026
First published in Yiddish in 1948, On Both Sides of the Wall: A Resistance Fighter's Firsthand Account of the Warsaw Ghetto has been newly revised with additional notes from Vladka Meed's son Steven D. Meed. It recounts Vladka Meed's (b. Feigele Peltel) survival in Warsaw, Poland during World War II.
The narrative now begins with a background of Vladka Meed's life pre-war and the precarious situation of her family, she developed a hard working style and how to present herself as Polish, skills that would later save her life and make her a successful courier of both messages and money. The earlier versions of the text begins with the July 22, 1942 round up of Jews from the ghetto prison and the public posting that all Jews save those with employment in the workshops are to be deported. Vladka marks this as the beginning. A beginning of both the end of the ghetto and the focus on resistance.
From this starting point the narrative continues in short episodic chapters with Meed trying to secure work and a place for her family. As a witness and survivor we journey with her through the deep grief and marvel at her drive and commitment to resistance. Knowing the Warsaw Ghetto was on limited time, Vladka escapes from the ghetto with the aid of an underground network and with fake ids sets herself up in Warsaw.
Despite being saved from the risks of the ghetto, life on the other side of the walls has its own unique challenges. Most of the Poles of Warsaw are hostile to Jews or anyone who appears Jewish. Swift to report strangers to the German authorities or to first blackmail all the money they can from Jews and then still report them. Food is a constant concern as is securing a place to sleep.
When a Jew in hiding becomes ill the risks are that much higher as getting medicine or treatment is that much harder.
Meed's narrative is exemplary for many reasons, especially as one of the early written and released accounts of the Holocausts deadly systematic structure. Vladka also counters the narrative of sheep going to the slaughter instead, showing many ways Jews resisted both passively and where possible armed with weapons.
Steven Meed has a light touch, for the most part letting his mother's words flow easily with only occasional editorial comments typically to explain a term. Vladka also takes some moments when speaking of different people to say whether or not they survived, offering brief resolutions on her work.
Recommended to readers of World War II, Underground networks or Holocaust primary sources.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
The narrative now begins with a background of Vladka Meed's life pre-war and the precarious situation of her family, she developed a hard working style and how to present herself as Polish, skills that would later save her life and make her a successful courier of both messages and money. The earlier versions of the text begins with the July 22, 1942 round up of Jews from the ghetto prison and the public posting that all Jews save those with employment in the workshops are to be deported. Vladka marks this as the beginning. A beginning of both the end of the ghetto and the focus on resistance.
From this starting point the narrative continues in short episodic chapters with Meed trying to secure work and a place for her family. As a witness and survivor we journey with her through the deep grief and marvel at her drive and commitment to resistance. Knowing the Warsaw Ghetto was on limited time, Vladka escapes from the ghetto with the aid of an underground network and with fake ids sets herself up in Warsaw.
Despite being saved from the risks of the ghetto, life on the other side of the walls has its own unique challenges. Most of the Poles of Warsaw are hostile to Jews or anyone who appears Jewish. Swift to report strangers to the German authorities or to first blackmail all the money they can from Jews and then still report them. Food is a constant concern as is securing a place to sleep.
When a Jew in hiding becomes ill the risks are that much higher as getting medicine or treatment is that much harder.
Meed's narrative is exemplary for many reasons, especially as one of the early written and released accounts of the Holocausts deadly systematic structure. Vladka also counters the narrative of sheep going to the slaughter instead, showing many ways Jews resisted both passively and where possible armed with weapons.
Steven Meed has a light touch, for the most part letting his mother's words flow easily with only occasional editorial comments typically to explain a term. Vladka also takes some moments when speaking of different people to say whether or not they survived, offering brief resolutions on her work.
Recommended to readers of World War II, Underground networks or Holocaust primary sources.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
March 28, 2026
On Both Sides of the Wall: A Resistance Fighter's Firsthand Account of the Warsaw Ghetto by Vladka Meed and Steven D. Meed is a must read. This book, first written in Yiddish and then translated by her son is an important account of a woman living in the Warsaw Ghetto.
She lost her father to pneumonia, and then later her mother, brother, and sister died in Treblinka. She was outside the apartment when they were taken away, but she looked more Polish than Jewish with a small nose and blue eyes. She was picked to be a courier, a munitions smuggler, a rescuer of small children, and people who escaped the concentration camps, some escaped the camps by squeezing through small openings on the moving trains. There are many stories of bravery and courage and also stories of the decimation of the Jewish population inside the Ghettos.
She proved that you can still make a difference even in a frightening situation, even when starving. She wrote more about others than herself, but she decided to take chances and ultimately won for herself, and a group of children, and more people in hiding. Even though there are many tragedies in this book, you have to be inspired by the Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust. This book left me with hope and a sense of the importance of doing as much as you can.
She lost her father to pneumonia, and then later her mother, brother, and sister died in Treblinka. She was outside the apartment when they were taken away, but she looked more Polish than Jewish with a small nose and blue eyes. She was picked to be a courier, a munitions smuggler, a rescuer of small children, and people who escaped the concentration camps, some escaped the camps by squeezing through small openings on the moving trains. There are many stories of bravery and courage and also stories of the decimation of the Jewish population inside the Ghettos.
She proved that you can still make a difference even in a frightening situation, even when starving. She wrote more about others than herself, but she decided to take chances and ultimately won for herself, and a group of children, and more people in hiding. Even though there are many tragedies in this book, you have to be inspired by the Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust. This book left me with hope and a sense of the importance of doing as much as you can.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It feels superfluous the review this amazing book with a rating, but surely the only rating it warrants is the highest 5 star since that's the most permitted. Vladka's story of life in the Warsaw ghetto, her work as a courier, her witnessing of the Ghetto Uprising, and her work providing financial and other means of support to the many Polish Jews in hiding, living in forests, and even in slave labor camps is nothing less than heroic and astounding. Her book memoir is generous in spirit as she continues to praise those who worked alongside, both those who survived and those who were murdered.
It is such a tribute to her life and work that her son has created this new translation of her original memoir published during her lifetime with short essays of praise from many, including Elie Weisel.
This book is long but it is so worth reading from beginning to end.
I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.
It is such a tribute to her life and work that her son has created this new translation of her original memoir published during her lifetime with short essays of praise from many, including Elie Weisel.
This book is long but it is so worth reading from beginning to end.
I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.
April 13, 2026
Oh wow, this book was a LOT. You probably couldn’t get a more in-depth first hand account of life in Warsaw during the Second World War! Vladka starts off in the ghetto but then due to her Aryan looks she is able to live on the other side where she pretends to be a simple smuggler while of course she is working for the Jewish resistance. This book is heavy and fascinating and I couldn’t put it down but now I definitely need something a little lighter! There’s so many characters, most of whom die, and it’s almost unfathomable to believe that so many did actually survive. Although this is very long it’s easy to read and there are many personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout.
March 8, 2026
A master class! The rare 10 stars out of 5. A riveting eyewitness account on both sides of the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto. Vladka Meed and her comrades are true heroes saving countless lives with risk to their own. Some survived to tell the horrific truth of the loss of their families and community. The pictures in the book humanizes the experience as the author gives the lives of those affected meaning.
Thank you to Kensington Publishing Corp and the author's family for helping to keep the story alive. A good read.
Thank you to Kensington Publishing Corp and the author's family for helping to keep the story alive. A good read.
March 16, 2026
On Both Sides of the Wall by Vladka Meed is widely lauded as a crucial, gripping memoir of the Holocaust, offering a rare, firsthand account of life inside the Warsaw Ghetto and as a Jewish resistance courier on the "Aryan" side. Critics and readers describe it as an emotionally resonant, suspenseful, and detailed testimony, highlighting her courageous efforts in smuggling weapons and rescuing children. Highly recommend.
March 19, 2026
This book is a tough read but definitely worthwhile. It offers a riveting first-hand account of the life in the Warsaw Ghetto, facing constant raids and risks of deportation and death, as well the risks involved in living on the outside working for the Jewish underground. Vladka recounts her experiences so vividly that this book will stay with you well after you finish. I could, for example, picture Vladka's time with the fighters who had fled the Ghetto and resettled in a forest, or the spaces that people were hiding in when Vladka went to visit them with supplies and encouragement.
March 2, 2026
I received a copy of this book through a giveaway however opinions stated are mine.
I thought this was an eye opening look of the Warsaw Ghetto. It shows both the best and worst parts of humanity and should be required reading in school. I was an honor to read Vladka's story.
I thought this was an eye opening look of the Warsaw Ghetto. It shows both the best and worst parts of humanity and should be required reading in school. I was an honor to read Vladka's story.
March 8, 2026
Everyone should read this book. Most detailed book I ever read on the holocaust.
March 30, 2026
This was such an amazing read.
December 31, 2025
Vladka Meed is an absolutely amazing woman! She went through a great deal to help her friends and other Jewish people. She risked her life to help anyone in need and never thought twice about it. How she was able to find the courage and strength during such a dark time, I can't even imagine. Reading about her life during WWII in Poland gives a clear look into the truth of that time. Vladka's story is one that needs to be told repeatedly! There is still a lot of relevance in today's world. Vladka's story will stay with me for a very long time.
Thank you Netgalley, Vladka Meed, Steven Meed, and Kensington Publishing for the advanced reader copy!
Thank you Netgalley, Vladka Meed, Steven Meed, and Kensington Publishing for the advanced reader copy!
December 1, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an eARC copy of On Both Sides of the Wall by Vladka Meed and Steven D. Meed
A essential and profoundly moving firsthand account of courage, resistance, and survival during one of history's darkest chapters. Vladka Meed - born Feigele Peltel - recounts her experience as a teenage courier for the Jewish underground in the Warsaw Ghetto, offering readers a rare, intimate view of daily life under Nazi terror and the extraordinary bravery of ordinary people who refused to surrender their humanity.
Vladka's sotry is unforgettable: living "on both sides of the wall," navagating the Aryan side under false identity, smuggling weapons, rescuing children, helping hidden Jews, and maintaining contact between ghettos, camps, and partisans. Her resilience and determination illuminate the many unseen acts of defiance which sustained the Jewish resistance.
This is a new edition of the book that provides a careful restoration and expansion of Meed's original narrative. This edition provides photographs and additional material, along with revised translations of Vladka Meed's Yiddish prose and making it more accessible for readers to understand emotionally and historically.
A essential and profoundly moving firsthand account of courage, resistance, and survival during one of history's darkest chapters. Vladka Meed - born Feigele Peltel - recounts her experience as a teenage courier for the Jewish underground in the Warsaw Ghetto, offering readers a rare, intimate view of daily life under Nazi terror and the extraordinary bravery of ordinary people who refused to surrender their humanity.
Vladka's sotry is unforgettable: living "on both sides of the wall," navagating the Aryan side under false identity, smuggling weapons, rescuing children, helping hidden Jews, and maintaining contact between ghettos, camps, and partisans. Her resilience and determination illuminate the many unseen acts of defiance which sustained the Jewish resistance.
This is a new edition of the book that provides a careful restoration and expansion of Meed's original narrative. This edition provides photographs and additional material, along with revised translations of Vladka Meed's Yiddish prose and making it more accessible for readers to understand emotionally and historically.
August 27, 2017
An eye opening view of what it was like for the Jewish community during WW2 in Poland. Most of the history I know of WW2, was battles and other facts and of course the Holocaust, but I had no idea there were blackmailing Poles and Ukrainians helping the Germans. That saddened me, but also showed how the human condition only goes so far as to save yourself no matter what the ideals you held before unless you are the strong of conviction. There were also good people willing to help, but the danger was real for the Aryan Jewish on the other side and the poor living conditions in the Ghetto. Vladka was a brave woman in a dangerous period of history. I was also saddened to see that the Jewish cemetery was grave robbed and family history ruined for a few gold teeth and the poor treatment of the Jewish after the war in Poland. A definite read for anyone interested in WW2 history. For anyone out there that is a Holocaust denier there is no doubt that this sad part of world history existed. Vladka refers to her friends in the resistance by name, I saw this as a way to honor their work for both survivors of the Holocaust or those that died for the fight to rid the world of evil.
April 8, 2014
I had a hard time getting through this book and it took me a while to figure out why. I finally realized that I had mentally categorized it as a memoir, which it somewhat is, but it is largely a record. The book is filled with names of a lot of people that you never really learn anything about and a lot of addresses for places in Warsaw that no longer exist and details of life which are heart-breaking. There were a couple times when I debated just putting the book down and giving up, but I didn't feel like I should. In the end, I realized that the purpose of this book is to bear witness to the suffering and death of many individuals who were victims of the Nazis and, to a lesser extent, of the indifference of the Polish people. I could not have left the book unfinished because if these individuals could live through these horrors, it was my obligation as a human being to at least take the time to be informed. I was glad to learn more about the history of this portion of World War II, which is not one that receives a great deal of coverage.
April 17, 2023
This is a harrowing account of persecution in Warsaw Ghetto and on the "Aryan side". With restrained emotion, Vladka/Feiga depicts the overwhelming and all-encompassing fear of being a Jew in Poland. Vladka does not mince words, nor does she shy away from describing the brutalities that her friends, family, and comrades endured. Before the war began, Vladka had ties to the Jewish underground and Bund movement. As an Aryan-looking Jew she was recruited to join the underground Coordinating Committee (a collection/community of Jews who worked tirelessly, recklessly, and with courage, to save and support Jews in hiding), to hide out on the Aran side and smuggle information, intelligence, money, ammunition, and connect Warsaw Jews inside and outside the Ghetto to safe hiding places.
This is no self-congratulatory memoir. Valdka showers praise and pride onto her comrades, but never pats herself on the back for her heroism.
A powerful and honest memoir of a horrific and incomprehensible time and the surreptitious resistance of Jewish fighters.
Pub: 1948 (Yiddish); 1979 (English)
This is no self-congratulatory memoir. Valdka showers praise and pride onto her comrades, but never pats herself on the back for her heroism.
A powerful and honest memoir of a horrific and incomprehensible time and the surreptitious resistance of Jewish fighters.
Pub: 1948 (Yiddish); 1979 (English)
January 19, 2014
This simple, readable, warm, engaging, and personally inspiring book gave me a much deeper, gut-level understanding of the Warsaw Ghetto than I'd had previously. I came to understand the totally untenable psychological position that ordinary people were placed in, as if in some kind of mass sadistic psychological and physical experiment; I learned that many endured about as well as I probably would have endured, continually living on the verge of psychological collapse, but I also learned that more than a few rose to levels of remarkable perseverance and outright heroism. The title "on both sides of the wall" refers to the lives of both the inmates of the ghetto and to those Jews who "escaped" from the ghetto, lived in Warsaw as secret Jews, always at risk of being discovered, betrayed, and killed, and many of whom worked to supply those inside the ghetto with food and arms. If you're at all considering reading this book, my advice is: Do.
January 18, 2026
Vladka Meed was an ordinary person that did extraordinary things and saved hundreds of lives. With her Aryan features, she could have used her advantage to leave the Polish Ghetto and run for safety. Instead, she risked her life by joining the Resistance, and smuggled people and supplies in and out of the Warsaw Ghetto, and throughout a vast Resistance network. The load she carried—emotionally and logistically—was substantial, but she is the perfect example of how important it is to not lose one’s humanity. I have read a lot of accounts from the Holocaust, but Vladka’s unique voice sets her apart. Her determination and bravery are and were astonishing, and while the personal toll is noted, her focus is always on helping others. In this time, with the current political scape being what it is, this book should be a must-read.
December 16, 2025
Let’s be honest here I 100% read this book for my highschool class on the Holocaust. Now I won’t say that I hated the book because I absolutely didn’t but I also read it in 4 days because I completely forgot about the assignment. It’s a hard book to read in less than 10 sittings, it’s one of those books where someone has so much to say and so many important stories that it becomes a lot to digest in a single sitting. I highly enjoyed the book otherwise. Vladka Meed is a highly intelligent woman who deserves all, she is a incredibly brave person who will inspire all who read her book on the heroic actions she took during her time in and around the Warsaw ghetto.
June 30, 2020
I'm thankful to Vladka for sharing her experiences, and giving us a peek into what it was like to be Jewish during the Holocaust.
I bought this book after touring The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and seeing a placard with information about Vladka's bravery and heroism.
There's so much the book didnt get into, that I wanted to know, so now it's time to read books written by other survivors.
I'm giving this to my teen son to read next.
I bought this book after touring The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and seeing a placard with information about Vladka's bravery and heroism.
There's so much the book didnt get into, that I wanted to know, so now it's time to read books written by other survivors.
I'm giving this to my teen son to read next.
July 27, 2020
The first book to be published by a Jewish survivor. It is the story of the Jews in Poland during world war II. Vladka, the another, was Jewish and worked mostly for the underground in Warsaw. She takes great care in documenting the lives of all the Jews she met and often includes their code names, their real names, their Polish names anything that would identify these people. Very interesting book.
August 18, 2024
Books like this that are about real people dealing with terrible things always take me a little longer to read. It is hard to digest that the things the author discusses in the book, she experienced. It's not fiction. There were real life heroes of the Holocaust and world war ii, ordinary people living through terrible things. And with the state of the world today, especially here in the US, you can't help but as yourself could I be that brave?
January 31, 2025
I first read this in the early 2000s because I was teaching a few excerpts from it. I reread it because one of my book discussion groups just finished a historical fiction about Vladka. I had forgotten many of the important details and was again amazed at the bravery of those who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and who helped, as Vladka did.
December 20, 2025
[ARC Review] Captivating story, especially relevant today in America. Knowing what happened going in, still I felt like on the edge of my seat and anxious during the narrative. Every part of this story was purposeful and helpful to the overall picture of how they ended up in the situation and how she persevered. I will be buying a copy!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews