Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
by Rena Kornreich Gelissen, Heather Dune Macadam
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Book Summary Information
Author: Heather Dune Macadam, Rena Kornreich GelissenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-10-30
ISBN: 0807070718
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Beacon Press
Book Reviews of Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
Book Review: Rena and Danka's story of survival in the Holocaust is essential reading!
Summary: 5 Stars
Though I am writing a review of Rena's Promise for the first time, I first read it about four years ago and have since read it about three times, the most recent being a week ago. The story of one Holocaust survivor's ordeal during her incarceration in a Nazi extermination camp makes for a harrowing but truly memorable read. This book ranks as my all-time favorite Holocaust memoir, together with Olga Lengyel's Five Chimneys [about her experiences in Auschwitz] and also A Jump for Life by Ruth Altbeker Cyprys. There are many more Holocaust memoirs in my library, but these three have remained constant favorites.
In Rena's Promise, Rena is a young farm girl living in a small village, Tylicz in Poland. She comes from a Jewish Orthodox family and their life seems ordinary and idyllic until the Nazis invade Poland. At a certain point, Rena has to leave her family and live with another family but when she fears for that family's safety in harboring a Jew, she leaves for a German work camp, naively thinking that she will be able to work and also save her family from the Nazis. Too late, Rena realises that she has been sent to Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp where the ultimate goal is to exterminate all Jews and undesirables. Rena's younger sister Danka arrives soon after and both sisters try their best to acclimate themselves to the horrendous living conditions in the camp.
When Danka's will to survive begins to wane, Rena makes her sister a promise that she will also die if Danka dies or is chosen for the gas. This gives Danka the will to live and also gives Rena a reason for existing amidst the direst conditions. They soon find themselves coming into contact with old friends and cousins, all the while hoping their parents are safe and alive somewhere.
What truly sets apart this memoir for me is the detailed descriptions of day to day life in the camp. To me, these details were not tedious at all, but provided an insight into the evil mentality and precision of the Nazi extermination machine. The Nazis were sticklers for discipline and order and systematically drove their prisoners to the brink of starvation, fatigue and eventually death. That Rena and her sister escaped death over and over again [be it a scabies infection that in a camp could be fatal, a selection for medical experiments by the infamous Dr Mengele, calesthenics by a sadistic camp guard, and other 'selections' for life or death] is miraculous indeed.
Another thing that makes Rena's memoir a fascinating read is that not only are readers given a detailed picture of daily life in the camps and accounts of Nazi brutality, but also Rena's experiences as a woman - how she copes with getting her period in a place where sanitation is at the worst level [no underwear, no pads], her burgeoning feelings for some male admirers that she comes into brief contact with [an indication that even as the Nazis tried to dehumanise their victims, the human will to endure and experience the beauty of life was still very strong], and also the camaraderie shared between Rena, Danka and their circle of friends. It made me realise that as horrific as Auschwitz was, there were still moments that affirmed the beauty of love, friendship and the will to live amidst all that depravity and suffering.
I can't imagine anyone who reads this memoir not being touched by Rena's experiences. Her story is essential reading for all those interested in the Holocaust, for those who wonder what the Shoah was all about and for those who still doubt that such things could have happened [and still do to this very day]. A memorable and haunting Holocaust memoir.
Summary of Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
Sent to Auschwitz on the first Jewish transport, Rena Kornreich survived the Nazi death camps for over three years. While there she was reunited with her sister Danka. Each day became a struggle to fulfill the promise Rena made to her mother when the family was forced to split apart--a promise to take care of her sister.One of the few Holocaust memoirs about the lives of women in the camps, Rena's Promise is a compelling story of the fleeting human connections that fostered determination and made survival a possibility. From the bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters, to the links between prisoners, and even prisoners and guards, Rena's Promise reminds us of the humanity and hope that survives inordinate inhumanity.
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