Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen

MarksvilleandMe 

reviews

Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen

written by

Yossi Sucary

One thing I love about being able to review books is being able to read them before they are available to everyone. Of course with this one I was more then a little bit behind on my reading so this review did not make it up before it's debut but this book was a good read. 

This was a book about a different area of the world where I didn't know the Holocaust even touched. So even after years of reading and learning about this frame in time I am still surprised by how much I still have to discover. 

This book takes you through a families life during the times of the Holocaust. Will their British Citizenship save them from harm or will the Nazi's not care? Will they get better care because of it or will they be treated worse? For that you will have to read this for yourself to see how this family if any survive the Holocaust. 

Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen can be found on Amazon.

What the publisher has to say about Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen

An epic romance retrieves from oblivion the lost story of the Holocaust of North African Jews

Silvana Haggiag is a brilliant and beautiful young woman in her early twenties, dismissive of the patriarchal norms that govern her Jewish community in the Libyan city of Benghazi. When Silvana’s family is violently uprooted from its home and homeland, she is taken along with other Libyan Jews through the blazing Sahara Desert and war driven Italy to freezing Germany. In the long and tumultuous journey from her birth town to the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, Silvana’s, navigating her family through horror and distress, she is confronted with dire dilemmas and retrieves hidden strengths. Away from her language, detached from any familiar ground, she is forced to cope with the terrors of a cruel and arbitrary humanity, and prevail.

A breathtaking novel based on profoundly detailed historical research

Benghazi-Bergen-Belzen, the first novel about the Holocaust of Libyan Jews, brilliantly depicts the transformations and tribulations this intriguing community has undergone during the Second World War. Violently uprooted from their autonomic lifestyle and thrown into a language, culture and geography completely foreign to their own, Libyan Jews, Like other Jews living among Arabic speaking Muslims, were doomed to profound detachment, cut off even from the new ways of life formed among the camps’ prisoners. Placed at the bottom of the Nazi race-hierarchy for their oriental origin, they were incomprehensible to the European eye and perceived as intimidating, even by their fellow European Jewish prisoners. The novel was chosen by the Israeli Ministry of Education to be included in the Holocaust studies program for high school students.

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Disclosure:  MarksvilleandMe received one or more of the products mentioned above as part of a promotion with Tomoson and Yossi Sucary. Regardless, MarksvilleandMe only recommends products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Some of the links in the article may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive compensation.  If you would like MarksvilleandMe to review a product or service please contact us at marksvilleandme@gmail.com. 

Codename: Zosha

MarksvilleandMe 

reviews

CodeName Zosha

written by

Yehudit Kafri

Most of my readers know I like to read books about World War II when it pertains to Nazi Germany or the Holocaust. That time in history is just so full of information I could just read about it everyday, watch movies, hear stories, see pictures, I think you get the idea. 

This book was more about Zosha's life and her story of fighting back, never giving up. The author did a great job of blending what she perceived to have happened and what actually happened from records, stories, and people who knew Zosha.  

Very different then what I am used to reading but still hit the mark on what I like to read about and gave me a glimpse into a another life during this time in history. A sad time were tragedy happened along with gains in science medical practice, etc, all in the name of genocide. 

We can all be thankful for things that happened during this time while mourning the deaths of so many innocent people who should have had a right to live on to be able to tell their own stories. People like Zosha stood up and tried to help others even if it cost her the very life she lived. A great book that any Heroine lover will enjoy. 

I only wish to be as strong as this lady if the day ever comes for me to stand up for what I believe in.

You can find Codename Zosha on Amazon.

Zosha Poznanska is an unsung Jewish heroine of World War II. Born in Kalisz Poland, she immigrated to Eretz Israel as a pioneer and for a brief time belonged to the group that founded Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek. Afterwards, she joined the Palestine Communist Party (Palestiner Kumunistishe Partie in Yiddish, abbreviated PKP), and from 1930 until her death she lived in France and Belgium. 

On the eve of the war she was recruited into the Soviet spy network known as the Red Orchestra, which operated in Western Europe. Zosha was part of the inner core of the network, a third of whose members were Jews. Apparently unaware of the Jews' participation in the Red Orchestra, Hitler declared, "The Bolsheviks surpass us in one area alone: espionage!" and he commanded his counterspies to eradicate this network at all costs. 

This book tells the story of Zosha Poznanska through all the chapters of her short life: childhood, the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement in Poland, Eretz Israel and the PKP in the 1920s, Europe in the 1930s and the Red Orchestra. It tells of her loves, her relationships with family and friends, her daring activity in the Red Orchestra and her heroic struggle in a Gestapo prison. The State of Israel posthumously awarded Zosha a medal of honor for fighting the Nazis. 

The book is written as a biographical novel and relies on exhaustive research; all fictional passages are derived from and based on extensive documentation. 
The book was awarded the 2004 prize for top literary achievement, by the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel 

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Disclosure:  MarksvilleandMe received one or more of the products mentioned above as part of a promotion with Tomoson and Yehudit Kafri. Regardless, MarksvilleandMe only recommends products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Some of the links in the article may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive compensation.  If you would like MarksvilleandMe to review a product or service please contact us at marksvilleandme@gmail.com. 

The Moon Was My Witness Review

MarksvilleandMe reviews

The Moon Was My Witness

the Jewish boy who sabotaged the SS commander's motorcycle

written by 

Abraham Levy

Having always said that stories, movies, etc about the Holocaust have been my favorite, I have changed my wording to fascination with the subject rather then favorite. Not sure if sounds better, but thought it fit better. 

Even though this book is called the Jewish boy who sabotaged the SS commander's motorcycle, I believe that the title "The Moon Was My Witness" fits much better. Don't get overly excited about a story revolving around the SS commander's motorcycle because that is a very small part in this book about Abraham's fight to live through the Holocaust. 

This will take you on a journey through his memories of his family, life as child, life in the camps during the Holocaust as well as a brief glimpse into his life 60 years after Liberation. What I find the same in most of the surviving camp Holocaust people is their will to survive from the very beginning. A force that kept them moving forward no matter how hard things got. 

I speak all of the time about how God gives me breath each day but the stories of the Holocaust survivors always reminds me that life can always be worse, the stories also give me hope and strength to continue on my own journey through life, no matter what is thrown my way. The suffering of those from the holocaust is a constant reminder of the strength of the humane soul

As with many books with this subject matter I read this in one sitting in only a few hours. A page turner for sure, filled with lots of information. The life the Holocaust victims and survivors has is something everyone needs to remember so that it will never happen again.

You can purchase "The Moon Was My Witness" on Amazon.

#TheMoonWasMyWitness

Disclosure:  MarksvilleandMe received one or more of the products mentioned above as part of a promotion using Tomoson.com. Regardless, MarksvilleandMe only recommends products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Some of the links in the article may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive compensation.  If you would like MarksvilleandMe to review a product or service please contact us at marksvilleandme@gmail.com.