A remarkable memoir from a remarkable woman
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I knew Helen Lewis back in the early 60s, when she taught us dance at drama school, and with the exception of my wife, I have never known anyone with that same energy, determination, joie de vivre, and pluckiness. She remains one of the most remarkable people I have ever known. I still remember the time when she rolled up her sleeves in class and I saw the numbers tattooed on her arm. It gave me such a jolt, even though I'd known she'd been in a camp. In those days, she never talked openly about her experiences. But years later she wrote this eloquent memoir that tells us all we have to know. If she'd been an ordinary person, I doubt if she could have survived such terrible treatment. But having seen her in action, I never for a moment doubted that, if anyone could have got through it, she could. If you've read Primo Levi and the rest, this will complete your understanding of the depravity of the camps. It should be made compulsiry reading for anyone who claims the camps never existed.
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A stunningly frank account of ordinary people in extremis
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This book should be mandatory reading for all of us who have become complacent in the comfort of our freedom. I recently had the honour of meeting Mrs Lewis and her prose writing style is exactly the same as the way she speaks in conversation. Her story is all the more shocking for the mundane nature of the tortures to which Jewish people of all classes were subjected by the Nazi regime. The personal beauty of this woman shines through and has not been dimmed by her experiences. This book is humbling in it's freedom from bitterness and it's stark contrast with predictable life in the freedom of our post-Holocaust world. No one can deny the voracity of Lewis's experience, no one can remain unmoved or unchanged by it's reading. Read this book and never let this happen again.
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An inspiring tale of courage and suffering.
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A moving and inspiring tale of courage and suffering by a Holocaust survivor. Mrs Lewis reflects on the devastating effect of the Final Solution on her own life and those she loved. He story is even more remarkable when one considers that the eloquent honesty evident on every page comes from someone whose mother tongue is not, of course, English. Her account of learning what befell her husband left me reeling. Right up there alongside Schindler's Ark and The Diary of Anne Frank - a must-read.
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