Review: The Twins of Auschwitz, by Eva Mozes Kor, with Lisa Rojany Bucciere

In the summer of 1944, Eva Mozes Kor and her family arrived at Auschwitz.
Within thirty minutes, they were separated. Her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, while Eva and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man who became known as the Angel of Death: Dr. Josef Mengele. They were 10 years old.

THE NAZIS SPARED THEIR LIVES BECAUSE THEY WERE TWINS.
While twins at Auschwitz were granted the ‘privileges’ of keeping their own clothes and hair, they were also subjected to Mengele’s sadistic medical experiments. They were forced to fight daily for their own survival, and many died as a result of the experiments, or from the disease and hunger rife in the concentration camp.

Publishing for the first time in the UK in the year that marks the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, The Twins of Auschwitz shares the inspirational story of a child’s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil.

Also included is an epilogue on Eva’s incredible recovery and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and worked toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

PUBLISHED BY MONORAY
06/08/2020 | Paperback | £7.99

My Review

Thank you to Anne for organising this tour and to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. You’ll note I’ve gone back to my original format for reviews. It may just be for this book. I don’t know yet.

Eva was born in the town of Portz, Romania in 1934, along with her twin Miriam. They were the doted youngest children of a prosperous farmer, the only Jewish family in a village of 100 families. In early 1944 they were transported from their home to a barb wire surrounded field with a river running through it. A few weeks later they were taken to Auschwitz. The twins were taken to Birkenau, and the rest of the family died in the gas chamber, probably on the day they arrived. Relying on each other, Eva and Miriam survived Auschwitz. After they travelled back to Romania before going to Israel. She eventually arrived in the US after accidentally accepting a marriage proposal from an American tourist she had known for a few weeks.

Later she had children and then spent her life, up until her death in 2019, educating people about the Holocaust and tracking down Mengele Twins. She opened a Holocaust museum in her new home town of Terre Haute, Indiana. She lead trips to Auschwitz and talks around the world, keeping the memory of their experiences alive.

The original book was published in 2009 and was written by Lisa Rojany Buccieri based on extensive interviews and background research. It is written in the style of a person looking back at their childhood, in the first person. Reading the extra information from Lisa Rojany Buccieri and others at the back of the book, it is clear the book is aimed at the young teenage market, as part of Eva’s love of sharing her life’s lessons with children and teenagers.

The language level of the main book is perfectly pitched towards the target audience, while the extra details provided by other contributors, bringing it up to date from the original 2009 publication, are aimed at adults and the language changed to reflect that.

I read this book in a couple of hours and was thoroughly engaged by it. I found this book extremely moving. It has a simplicity of narrative and tone that underlies the strong message of the story Eva is telling. I think it will continue Eva’s mission of educating young people about the Holocaust.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
EVA MOZES KOR was a resident of Terre Haute, Indiana. Following her survival of Auschwitz, she became a recognised speaker, both nationally and internationally, on topics related to the Holocaust and social justice. Eva created the CANDLES organisation in 1985 to locate other Mengele twins and found 122 twins across the world. Ten years later, she
opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum to educate the public about the historic event she survived. A community leader, champion of human rights, and tireless educator, Eva has been covered in numerous media outlets and is the subject of a documentary, Forgiving Dr. Mengele.

She passed away in 2019.