In 1945, in a now-famous piece of World War II archival footage, four-year-old Michael Bornstein was filmed by Soviet soldiers as he was being carried out of Auschwitz in his grandmother’s arms. This is the unforgettable story of how a father’s courageous wit, a mother’s fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved his life, and how others in his family from Zarki, Poland, dodged death at the hands of the Nazis time and again with incredible deftness.
In case you were wondering, Michael Bornstein survived for seven months inside Auschwitz, where the average lifespan of a child was just two weeks. Six years after his liberation, he immigrated to the United States. He graduated from Fordham University, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, and worked in pharmaceutical research and development for more than forty years. Now retired, he lives with his wife in New York City and speaks frequently to schools and other groups about his experiences in the Holocaust.
Working from his own recollections as well as extensive interviews with relatives and survivors who knew the family, Michael relates his story with the help of his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat. Shocking, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting and inspirational, this narrative nonfiction offers an indelible depiction of what happened to one Polish village in the wake of the German invasion in 1939.
Note from Bonnie: Even though this is written for ages 10-14, reviewers say this memoir should be read by everybody. As I was re-shelving library books here at the Crown Center for Senior Living, I noticed this book and checked it out to read myself.
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