by Icek Kuperberg
My Rating: ☼☼☼
Photo credit: goodreads.com
This is another account of the holocaust. This time from a man's point of view. But for now, it matters not anymore. Mala and Icek have both been in hell and back. And they have their own stories to tell. But even if it's not the same story, the similarities are stunning.
With the first book that I read, 'The Bleeding Sky,' I was half-believing that it really happened. I remembered making a note: "I thought that 'digging your own grave' was only at the movies... until I read this book." And what this book did was to confirm everything that Mala told. They both have been to Auschwitz, although Mala's account was more detailed. I assume that she must have stayed there longer than Icek. But again, it matters not.
Icek was only seventeen when the war broke out. Just like the others, he was transferred from one camp to another from time to time, including Auschwitz, which they considered the death camp. His ability with metal works gave him extra food to stay stronger - and therefore to stay alive. He was lucky to have a boss who was kind enough to do things for him that any ordinary German of that time wouldn't do for a Jew. At the point of almost being totally blind, his boss saved him from sure death. Because during that time, as Mala said in her own account, "if you're not fit enough to work, you're not fit enough to live."
The one thing in common with Icek and Mala is that they are both lucky. I wouldn't say that they are both knowing for there are a lot of instances that the stroke of luck saved them both from sure death. The other thing is their unbelievable fight to stay alive.
They risked their lives in order to live.
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