The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope

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The Daughter of Auschwitz is a remarkable, illuminating book written by Tova (changed from Tola in America) Friedman with the assistance of Malcolm Brabant, as she recalls her memories of those dark days of the Holocaust, and how it formed her adult life. She wants no one to forget the Holocaust, the genocide and crimes against humanity. Tova is an inspirational woman who has continued her Jewish line with children and grandchildren, much against the desires of Hitler. There are photos in the centre of the book as well, showing Tova as she grew from a small child to adulthood. This insightful, excellent memoir is one I recommend highly. As I sat down to read The Daughter of Auschwitz I more or less knew what I’d be getting. A harrowing account of a child’s survival against all odds during a time of inexplicable torture, hatred and hopelessness. This book gave me so much more and thanks to her heart wrenching account of her days trying to live, simply see the next day, Tola gave me a book I’m unlikely to forget – just like that time was with Vera Gissing when she opened up her home to me. FRIEDMAN: ...When one of them killed the other and God put a sign on his forehead that he's a murderer so the world should see. And I said, you know what? If the number would be on my forehead so the world could see what happened, I wouldn't take it off. I was only 12, but I said, I think people should know.

FRIEDMAN: But I can never let him up so easily. I don't think so. We're coming up to the Jewish holidays. FRIEDMAN: I remember from the age of 2 or 3 - in absolutely horrific circumstances, which I thought were normal because I knew nothing else. We lived in a ghetto with a lot of people in a very, very tight, small apartment. And it was so crowded that I remember being mostly under the table for two reasons: for space - I could eat there, I'd sleep there, I had blankets there - and for safety. Because if they would come in, they - the Nazi - they would immediately look for children and for the elderly. It was a safe place for me to be.

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FRIEDMAN: I don't know. I don't know. You know, I don't know the different theories that God didn't do it, that man did it. They murdered most of them, not some of them, most of them. I just want to tell you, there were about 15,000 Jews in this town, the beginning of the war. When the war ended in 1945, 300 returned out of 15,000. All these were murdered, some in Auschwitz, some in Treblinka, some starvation. And from hundreds and many, many, many children, five survived. So, in a sense, the entire town was destroyed. I and my mother, the two of us, we didn’t know anybody else who survived. Just two of us walking into the town. And my mother met somebody she knew, a Polish neighbor, and the neighbor was coming towards us and my mother was so happy to see somebody she knew. And the Polish woman said to her, which I remember very well, “What are you still doing here? I thought Hitler killed you all.” So, the war did not end for us, for many of us, at the liberation. The combination, however, has turned into gold, as Brabant unerringly provides accurate research to support Friedman’s callow memories. Tova, ( she changed her name not just from Tola- a name she was born with, but also from the name Susan adoptive family gave her - perhaps out of what they perceived would protect her from being bullied in school -and guess what? From adults too!) Gives us a peek into a world that narrowed and became extremely more difficult each day to survive.

A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz. The accounts were what we now know but as each survivor has a different story she offered snippets that I’ve not read before. SIMON: Ms. Friedman, let me ask you to tell us about the day you were - well, you were taken to Crematorium III. Tova survives through unimaginable deprivation, and has amazing recall of some of the incidents in the ghetto and concentration camp, considering how young she was at the time. She was actually in the gas chamber near the end of the war, when the Nazis decided there was some mixup and they weren't supposed to gas this particular group of women and girls.

So, shortly after that, I think he called and — right, and we said something about, maybe we should really write the book that you have been talking about. I challenge anyone to read it without being moved to tears. I cried more than I have for a long time. And yet in no way is this a morbid, self-pitying or depressing read but a real story of survival against all odds and a message of great hope. This was a true story vs. a historical fiction. The author wants to make sure that no one ever forgets what happened during the holocaust, and as human beings, we never should!

SIMON: You say in this book that you never saw a person with white hair until you survived the Holocaust and came to America after the war...Mit jedem Tag, der vergeht verlieren wir Zeitzeugen. Die Tage vergehen und immer mehr Menschen leugnen den Holocaust. This is the true story of Tova Friedman one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. She was only 4 years old when she was sent to the first camp with her parents after the Jewish ghetto they lived in in Poland was liquidated. She was almost 6 when her and her mother were separated from her father and sent to the extermination camp Auschwitz II or Birkenau as we know it, her father was sent to Dachau. And I said, “Well, actually, I know some publishers and we can actually write this book for the grandchildren of the world. It is horrifying reading Tova's story, to read how casually the young Tova viewed death, not afraid of hiding snuggled up tight with a corpse because as she said, why be afraid of the dead woman, the dead wouldn't hurt her. No, not like the alive Nazis would. These experiences are so beyond what I can comprehend, reading her story, her words as she describes what life was like for her. One of her first memories being in the ghetto and her always hidden underneath a table with a tablecloth, this is where she spent most of her young days. The train ride in the cattle cars, just everything, it is like reading a horror story. I cried and cried for the young Tova and the loss of innocence. I feel as she did, that these stories need to continue to be told, that we need to be reminded of these horrific events, we need to be vigilant and aware so that this history is never again repeated. This book should be on everyone's required reading list. Tova Friedman and Malcolm Brabant do an unbelievable job of educating us on Tova’s life, before, during and after Auschwitz. She was five years old when she entered the notorious concentration camp in the summer of 1944. Tova’s description and conversations with her mother during her time in Auschwitz are now etched in my mind. Her mother, Reizel, was an indomitable force, who was smart and kept her daughter alive. The horrors of the Holocaust brought to life, from the point of view of a small child who could barely read or recognize numbers. She knew her own, though, the number tattooed on her arm, by a young Jewish woman, in the camp.