Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? [Paperback]

Joseph Bau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

In a memorable scene in Schindler's List, viewers the world over witnessed the miracle of two Jews being wed clandestinely in the Plaszow concentration camp. Those two were Joseph and Rebecca Bau. In this memoir, filled with his stories and drawings, Joseph Bau tells of their love, finding beauty and wonder in a time of horror. Whether recounting the bombing of Krakow, is brother's daring exploits in the ghetto, the brutality of the camp, or the harsh last days at Schindler's factory, Bau balances the grimness of events with the humor, resiliency, and love that helped him transcend the unspeakable.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bau, an Israeli artist and animator, met his future wife, Rebecca, in the German concentration camp of Plaszow, on the outskirts of Krakow, Poland, where they married in secrecy?a scene depicted in the film Schindler's List. His searing, powerful Holocaust memoir, illustrated with his nimble black-and-white documentary drawings, will move readers especially deeply for his account is also a testament to the resilient human spirit. Rebecca, allowed to add one name to the list of Jewish slave laborers whom Oscar Schindler would take with him to his factory in Czechoslovakia, added Joseph's name instead of her own. She was sent to Auschwitz, where she survived, and the couple was reunited after the war. Bau's parents, deported with him to Plaszow from Krakow's Jewish ghetto, were not so fortunate. His father was murdered in Plaszow by an SS officer (against whom Bau testified in Vienna in 1971), and his mother perished in Bergen-Belsen. Both in the early chapters describing his harrowing escapes in the German-occupied Krakow ghetto and in his re-creation of the hell of the camps, Bau combines an understated tone, quiet irony and a pointed existential questioning of the God he feels abandoned his people.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Available for the first time in English, Bau's emotional memoir recounts the love story depicted so movingly in the film Schindler's List. Bau fell in love with and married Rebecca Tannenbaum in the Pl/aszow concentration camp in Poland during World War II. Anxious to save her husband at whatever cost, Rebecca placed Joseph's name on the list of Jews that Oskar Schindler would be allowed to take with him to his new factory in Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia. She herself was sent to Auschwitz, where she was selected for the gas chamber three times but each time managed to elude death. Amazingly, both survived the Holocaust. Although Bau lost both parents in the camps and a brother in the Krakow ghetto, he and his wife were miraculously reunited after the war. They emigrated to Israel, where he became a well-known animator and graphic artist. Here, Bau uses drawings, poems, and stories to tell the tale. Also of special interest is his account of the trial in Vienna of SS guard Franz Gruen, at which both he and his wife were called to testify. Sensitive and highly readable, this is an important addition to the literature of the Holocaust.?Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., Livingston, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155970540X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559705400
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A totally absorbing book that I will never forget., September 4, 1998

By 

Darcy Heald ([e-mail]) (Poultney VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? (Hardcover)

This is indeed a very descriptive book of many pointless sufferings: starvation,humiliation, and torture{mental and physical}. It left a sick feeling in my stomach that such could ever happen just because Hitler wanted the perfect race. Who was he to say? These people were treated like animals. How lucky I felt to be alive and living in a democracy! The book has many sketches to give you a better picture of the horror Joseph Bau and his family had to go through. Even the cover sends chills down your spine. Once you pick it up it will be hard to put down.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling account of the treatment of Jews during that time, May 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? (Hardcover)

This book gives you a chill up your spine. It's pictures and accounts are amazing and specific. I would reccomend it to any one intersted in the Holocaust period.