My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"Truth is the first casualty of war." When truth is destroyed then madness may reign free. From the time she was 9 years old, Edita "Dita" Adler has seen the truth disappear the moment the Nazi's occupied her home in Prague in 1939. From there Dita was taken from her home, placed in the ghettos and then finally shipped to Auschwitz where she spends every moment trying to survive. Not live, just survive.
Amid the filth, bloodshed, starvation, sickness and hatefulness, there is a small glimmer of happiness. Block Thirty-One has been made into a school for the children too young to work. It is of course a sham for the Nazi Party to give the appearance that Auschwitz is a perfectly ordinary displaced persons camp, however to the teachers and their pupils, Block Thirty-One is a sanctuary.
Even though it's termed 'a school,' books are forbidden. Yet, Fredy Hirsch, the director of Block Thirty-One manages to stash eight different books that will be secretly shared around. He gives the position of Block Thirty-One librarian to fourteen year old Dita, believing that she is capable to handle it. From the moment the books are put into Dita's hands, she vows she will protect them with her life. And every moment of her life could possibly be her last.
A gritty, heartbreaking, true life account of a young girl who witnessed and survived the darkest and most evil institutions in history. She is constantly on her guard whether protecting the books, evading Dr. Josef Mengele the notorious "Angel of Death," keeping her family together or even fighting her feelings for a man she admires.
The Nazi's tried to destroy the truth of culture and humanity. They tried to kill it within the gas chambers and the tunneled graves. However, by hiding the eight books of Block Thirty-One, Dita preserved the truth and brought it to light, with her story of survival, resilience and courage.
Sounds like a good one!
ReplyDeleteIt's very good!
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