Echoes from the Holocaust

A Memoir

By: Mira Ryczke Kimmelman

Narrated by: Susan Marlowe

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The daughter of a Jewish seed exporter, the author was born Mira Ryczke in 1923 in a suburb of the Baltic seaport of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). Her childhood was happy, and she learned to cherish her faith and heritage. Through the 1930s, Mira's family remained in the Danzig area despite a changing political climate that was compelling many friends and neighbors to leave. With the Polish capitulation to Germany in the autumn of 1939, however, Mira and her family were forced from their home. In calm, straightforward prose - which makes her story all the more harrowing - Kimmelman recalls the horrors that befell her and those she loved. Sent to Auschwitz in 1944, she escaped the gas chambers by being selected for slave labor. Finally, as the tide of war turned against Germany, Mira was among those transported to Bergen-Belsen, where tens of thousands were dying from starvation, disease, and exposure. In April 1945, British troops liberated the camp, and Mira was eventually reunited with her father. Most of the other members of her family had perished.

©1997 The University of Tennessee Press (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Simply written and unflinchingly detailed." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Kimmelman writes of the terror and anguish...The result is this compelling memoir." ( Booklist)

4.5* - memoir of a survivor

Any additional comments?

This isn't the first memoir from a holocaust survivor that I've read/listened to, and I appreciate listening to each and every one. I enjoy reading military history (audio)books and personal memoirs are an important complement to historical accounts of events. With each history book and each memoir that I read, it adds a little more to my understanding of that period of time. And, it helps me understand the context of current events better as well.

One of the main reason why I enjoy reading memoirs from the WW2 era is to understand the motives and behaviours of different people. Did the 'good guys' always behave honourably? Did the 'bad guys' always behave reprehensibly? The more I read, the more nuanced my understanding becomes. I'm always particularly curious about the feelings that holocaust survivors have towards German citizens, non-Jewish friends and neighbours, camp guards, factory managers that used slave labour, and so on. The author, indeed, comments that some survivors are much less forgiving than others - that is very interesting to me and it is one of the things that makes survivor memoirs so compelling. (I realize that I start to experience vicarious trauma when I read too many grisly details about atrocities, so that is not what draws me to survivor memoirs.) Towards the end of the book, the author commented that when she emigrated to the United States, she was clearly and strongly discouraged from talking about her experiences (she mentioned that she would wear long sleeves while at work, to cover the prisoner ID number tattooed on her arm). This is something that I haven't appreciated when reading/listening to other literature relating to the holocaust; my assumption was that survivors who moved to the States were reluctant to talk because of personal trauma, not because they felt pressured not to talk about their experiences. This is a theme that I'd like to understand better, so it's something that I'll look for when listening/reading to other books on this subject.

Just like every victim of the holocaust has a unique story to tell, every reader of memoirs such as this will have a unique reaction after hearing that story. I'm glad that memoirs such as these exist; I admire the author for sharing her story with me, and I appreciate the 'food for thought' that compels me to reflect about human nature....

A quick word about the narration: I found the narration to be quite well done, except it was a bit slow for my personal preference. Once I slightly sped up the playback speed on my tablet, I was perfectly satisfied with the pace and tone of the narration.

I provided my personal opinion in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook from the author, narrator, or publisher.

Echoes from the Holocaust

Echoes from the Holocaust is not only about death camps during WWII.
it is about surviving. Mira's narration makes for a gripping story, that begins with her early life in Poland and ends with her readjustment into society and her eventual immigration to America. Welcome home Mira!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Let us not forget! Teach it, tell it, read it!

Any additional comments?

This is the amazing story of a resilient young Jewish woman during world war II, her personal experiences, feelings, horror and hardships at the hands of the Nazis in Jewish ghettos and concentration camps, and how the hand of God made a way for her survival.. Let us not forget that this happened, let us never allow this horror to happen again! Thank you Mira for sharing your terrible experiences in such a classy, graceful, and dignified manner. May the Lord bless you and reward you for all your suffering!

Narrator Susan Marlowe has a very sweet, distinguished, and clear voice and did an excellent job.

I received this audio-book free for an honest review by the author, narrator, or publisher. Thank you!

Important and interesting book.

Would you consider the audio edition of Echoes from the Holocaust to be better than the print version?

I don't know

What other book might you compare Echoes from the Holocaust to and why?

Auschwitz #34207 the Joe Rubenstein story. Both are about persons who went through awful things in Auschwitz and other places during WW2. Both books are good and interesting. I would recommend this one for more sensitive readers though because it doesn't describe the details of the awful things as much.

Have you listened to any of Susan Marlowe’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

Beautiful tragic reminder of Holocaust atrocities

This audiobook was amazingly touching. I felt a strong sense of heartbreak and sorrow for Mira as she took me through her journey. She captured the innocence of the people who thought there was no possible way that an entire nation or idea could be so cruel and unforgiving. The sheer disregard for human life during WWII is stunning. You hear through school and just through other means that things were bad for Jews during WWII, but I never got a true sense of the horrors they confronted daily until listening to Mira's story. At times, it seems, death would have been a welcome reprieve during her years in the different camps.

The most amazing part of her story, for me, is that she was still able to find goodness and remember the kind acts during her ordeal. I hope this story lives on forever and is shared so that we might never forget how absolutely appalling the Nazis behaved during their short reign of power. The world should never again allow something like this to transpire.

The narration by Susan Marlowe was great. She embodied the story by reading it through a slow and somber cadence. For me, her voice reflected the pain and anguish when appropriate, but came slightly to life when slightly positive events occurred.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lest we forget

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, everyone should remember this part of history.

What did you like best about this story?

It touched all emotions: fear, joy, sympathy, empathy, love

What about Susan Marlowe’s performance did you like?

She brought life to the characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Lest we forget

Any additional comments?

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review”.

Echoes from the Holocaust

Echoes from the Holocaust
: Mira Ryckze Kimmelman

A true survivor, Mira shares her life experiences from before WWII and well beyond the liberation of the Death Camps. This woman had many things that helped her to live while many others did not. Every survivor's story is different, yet still the same because of strong will that carried them to the end. I like listening to this type book, not because of all the horror uncovered, but to remind me that it could happen again.




The narration was well done. There weren't many characters to portray, but Susan Marlowe brings the listener inside the story.



"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Amazing Book

this book was very well written and told. The authors experiences made you feel like you were there.

Excellent

Excellent book, excellent narration. So very sad what people had to go through and endure over bigotry. God bless all the survivors, I myself will always remember for them and what they had to go through.

Gripping first person account of the Holocaust

This was a really interesting account of Mira and her family's life and imprisonment during the Nazi regime. Though this is Mira's account alone, I was surprised by how long she was able to stay in close contact with her father, brother and uncle, until the Nazi's eventually separated them. Though the story and narration are present in a very matter-of-fact manner, it was still an interesting story. If you're looking for lively narration that is going to keep you involved in the story, this may not be the book for you. The thing is...I don't think that this story should be performed with lively narration, as it's a recollection of a terrible time in history and hearing the atrocities that Mira and the other Jews had to endure, well, more upbeat narration doesn't seem quite appropriate.

What I enjoyed, as far as one can enjoy hearing about the Holocaust, was that Mira's story takes us to to a few different places than we often hear much about. Her time as a scribe and seamstress, working offsite and being able to escape the concentration camp through work was interesting to me.

This book likely won't be one that you want to listen to all in one sitting, as it's heavy and depressing. I had to take periodic breaks from it to listen to something a bit more upbeat from time to time. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.