Review: Surviving the Angel of Death

Title: Surviving the Angel of Death

Author: Eva Kor

Publisher: Tanglewood
Publication Date: 16 October 2009 

Pages: 175

Copy: Netgalley

My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele's twins were granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiments or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp. 

In a narrative told with emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child's endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue on Eva's recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

My Review

Surviving the Angel of Death is a true story about the horrors of the Holocaust. It's been condensed and adapted from Eva's previous work Echoes from Auschwitz for a young adult audience but it remains very upsetting and thus challenging to read.

It's a recollection of Eva and her twin sister Miriam's experience in Auschwitz, the largest of the German concentration camps. It has a different angle, however, to other survival accounts because the sisters were twins. This meant that they were taken and subjected to Dr Mengele's horrific experiments. 

Eva is a survivor of one of the worst genocides in history. She survived in some ways by chance but also through her determination and incredible instinct that enabled her to outwit Nazi guards and officers even though she was just a child.

Even though the book is heartbreaking it is one I recommend greatly. It focuses on one of the most horrendous parts of history but also a period we must never forget. Eva Kor's account is accessible and a fascinating insight into what really happened at Auschwitz. Eva's ability to forgive is also practically unprecedented and remarkable.