Customer Reviews
Rich, descriptive, engaging and powerful - By: Gary Selikow, 20 May 2008 
Susie Weksler was only eight years old when the Nazis invaded her city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
The family would be forced to endure starvation & fear, & she describes the experience of hiding with other Jewish families & children in the Malina (the underground tunnels & sewers of Vilnius), where she describes the death of a baby who was smothered when his father tried to keep him quiet.
Worse was to come.
With the help of her mother who saved her by disguising her as being 16 years old when she was only ten, & filled her with a strong spirit of survival, Susie survived three concentration camps, & a "death march".
The book describes heart wrenching & disturbing scenes of the horrors imposed upon the victims of the Nazi inferno, scenes you will never forget.
The death camp where Susie & her mother were interned was liberated in January 1945, only three of her family had survived.
The book included the English translations of the poems Susie wrote in the ghetto & the camps.
They are powerful & inspiring & show a gem of a spirit:
The Time is Not Far
There will come a time
and the time is not far
when from east & west,
from every side
light will arrive
and a warm wind
and the clouds will
alll disappear quickly
Oh, believe me my friend,
the time is not far.
This is one of the richest, most descriptive & engaging accounts by survivors of the Holocaust & I would strongly recommend it as a high school set work book.
Susie immigrated to Israel in 1950, where she did her military service & married & still lives today.
Her mother died in 1974.
Most Holocaust survivors & most descendants of Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.
An amazing story of courage and determination - By: Chelli, 07 Sep 2007 
A young Lithuanian Jewish girl's account of the string of terrifying ordeals that she endured during WWII & survived only thanks to the amazing spirit & courage of her mother.The author goes from the ghetto,to hiding out in an underground chamber,to the slave labout camps,the concentration camps,and finallly the death march,only narrowly escaping death alll the way.Although the story is sad,the willpower of the author's mother makes it a moving tale of how much a positive attitude can acheive.
A moving tribute to the courage of the human spirit. - By: , 07 Feb 1999 This is a haunting book. It is amazing what the human spirit can endure when there is bit of hope. Susie's mother not only was determined that they both would survive but she retained her humanity in the process often sharing rations & thinking of ways to help the other prisoners. Sometimes the writing is stiff but is reminds you the story is being told by a child's viewpoint. This would be an excellent book to recommend to students who have read The Diary of Anne Frank & want to know more about the Holocaust.
very good, but sad and depressing - By: , 28 Jan 1999 I am in the 7th grade. Most people might think i'm too young to read this, but belive me, i've read much more mature stuff. You should also believe me when i say that this is a reallly good book. I read this for an English report & i will never forget what i read. what the author went through was a horrifying experience & i hope that something like the holocaust never happens again.
