BORN SURVIVORS

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★★★★☆ 4.7 out of 5 (10,636 ratings)

About This Product

“With remarkable detail gleaned from a wealth of research, journalist and author Holden relates the three women’s unforgettable journey from their imprisonment in ghettos to their arrival at Auschwitz. . . . An astonishing and deeply moving work.” —Booklist (starred review)The Nazis murdered their husbands but concentration camp prisoners Priska, Rachel, and Anka would not let evil take their unborn children too—a remarkable true story of survival that will appeal to readers of The Lost and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, Born Survivors celebrates three mothers who defied death to give their children life.Eastern Europe, 1944: In this gripping piece of WWII history, three women believe they are pregnant, but are torn from their husbands before they can be certain. Rachel is sent to Auschwitz, unaware that her husband has been shot. Priska and her husband travel there together, but are immediately separated. Also at Auschwitz, Anka hopes in vain to be reunited with her husband. With the rest of their families gassed, these young wives are determined to hold on to all they have left—their lives, and those of their unborn babies. Having concealed their condition from infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, they are forced to work and almost starved to death, living in daily fear of their pregnancies being detected by the SS in one of the most compelling Holocaust survivor stories ever told.In April 1945, as the Allies close in, Priska gives birth. She and her baby, along with Anka, Rachel, and the remaining inmates, are sent to Mauthausen concentration camp on a hellish seventeen-day train journey. Rachel gives birth on the train, and Anka at the camp gates. All believe they will die, but then a miracle occurs. The gas chamber runs out of Zyklon-B, and as the Allied troops near, the SS flee. Against all odds, the three mothers and their newborns survive their treacherous journey to freedom.On the seventieth anniversary of Mauthausen’s liberation from the Nazis by American soldier

Rating Breakdown

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What Buyers Are Saying

★★★★★ A book that simply must be read by Holocaust scholars

Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope was written by Wendy Holden. This is a fascinating story of three young women and their travel through the years of the Holocaust and their undeniable courage in staying pregnant through their horrors of Auschwitz, Frieberg, and Mathausen. That they were able to keep their pregnancy hidden from Dr. M

P. Blevins — Verified Purchase · Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017

★★★★★ Hope against amazing odds

I had to wait a few days to compose my review for this book, as I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to put into words what I felt when I read it. I’ve read a lot of WWII non-fiction and historical fiction lately; it is an era that both fascinates and repulses me. Out of all the books I have read in this genre so far, this one shocked me the most. This book covers a topic that most people

amsecretan — Verified Purchase · Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017

★★★★☆ Holocaust – rough read – VERY descriptive of the horrors!

I guess I expected it to be a more story-like about the Holocaust experiences of 3 women who became mothers during their time in the horrid concentration camps. It was a lot more than that. It grabs you right off with the personal experiences each woman experienced and photos of them and their husbands, followed by camp photos, train railways and boxcars, and later the children they birthed. Th

TexasGal — Verified Purchase · Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2021