Berkovits-Gross, Elly
Publisher, Date of Publication:
Scholastic Press/ March 2009
Grade Level/ or Age Level:
8th and Up
Classification: Non-Fiction
This book is a true story about Elly Berkovits- Gross's life before and after the holocaust. Elly was fifteen when she was sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz_II/Birkenau. There were several miracles that saved her life while she was in the concentration camps. One time she was put to work carrying large canisters with food to the distribution place. She found the first food in weeks in the garbage, when the guards looked away she and a few other girls filled their stomachs with potato peels. When she was singled out by a sadistic doctor who was known for torturing woman, he turned her away because she looked pregnant. Another time she was helped by a nice doctor who gave her salt to keep her mouth from bleeding. There are pictures that help bring home the fact that her life actually happened to many Jews in 1944 during the Holocaust. The stories are more like little essays. She also put some poems she wrote towards the back of the book. Elly was known for her appearances on CBS's 60 Minutes for her involvement in bringing an important lawsuit against Volkswagon, whose German factory used her and other Jews as slave laborers. She received a settlement from the lawsuit and didn't keep any of it. She and her husband donated the money to charities. At times this book was hared to read because it has some graphic details of what happened to her and her family. The stories she tells are not only a tribute to all those who did not survive the Holocaust but it is an inspirational story that shares her triumphs as well as her losses.
Reviewer: Lila Davis
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