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Book Review of Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz

Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz
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Helpful Score: 1


Reviewed by Theresa L. Stowell for TeensReadToo.com

When twins Eva and Miriam Mozes were ten years old, the Nazis invaded their home in Romania and forced their family onto a train that would take them to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

When they got off the train, their family became separated. They never knew what happened to their father and two older sisters, Aliz and Edit. Their mother, in a desperate attempt to save her youngest daughters, answered "Is that good?" after a soldier asked if they were twins.

"Good" was a subjective concept, because Eva and Miriam were immediately torn from their mother's arms, and she was sent to the gas chamber while they were taken to the laboratory barracks for those who would become Dr. Joseph Mengele's experiments. This book is the story of how they survived the horrors that ensued.

Adapted from Eva Mozes Kor's self-published memoir, ECHOES FROM AUSCHWITZ: DR. MENGELE'S TWINS, THE STORY OF EVA AND MIRIAM MOZES, this book gives a heartbreaking view into two Jewish children's lives during the Holocaust. Though the subject matter is graphic and sensitive, Eva Mozes Kor's breathtaking ability to forgive Joseph Mengele for his atrocities, as well as her ability to overcome unimaginable cruelties, provide hope for all children who have gone through terrible experiences.

Keep a box of tissues at hand, because this book is one of the most challenging emotional roller coasters I have ever read. Definitely worth reading for people of all ages.