Endless Miracles [Hardcover]

Jack Ratz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 1997

Jack Ratz was a boy of fourteen when his hometown in Latvia fell to the Nazi forces, only a few years after the Russians had brought communism to the peaceful country. Despite the murder of his mother and four brothers, Ratz tells of endless miracles he witnessed during the ordeal: how he and his father survived the Nazis' attack on their ghetto, how they were saved from a death camp by the Russian Red Army, and how they were able to escape to the West to live long and wonderful lives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack Ratz

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Jack Ratz; 10th ed edition (October 26, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884002020
• ISBN-13: 978-0884002024
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,183,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > History > Europe > Latvia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seen from the Riga perspective, March 22, 1999

By 

"dzintars" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endless Miracles (Hardcover)

I live in Riga, the same city Jack Ratz was born in, and the same city he was forced to flee during World War II. All the places he describes are still here, but the people who animate his book and who animated Riga are not here anymore. Even if Riga is still one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and is still getting more beautiful everyday, it nevertheless lacks the diversity it used to have. It used to be a city where Germans, Latvians, Jews, Russians, Poles, Gypsies and people of many other nationalities lived side by side, with all the advantages but also the tensions that come with such an arrangement. However during World War II, the Jewish community was destroyed, and the Baltic-Germans who had been living her for many centuries were repatriated (willingly and unwillingly) to Germany. During the Soviet occupation from 1944 to 1991, the Moscow government continued to destroy Riga's international character by flooding Riga (and all of Latvia) with Russian immigrants, deporting the local Latvian population to Siberia, or simply executing them on the spot. Now Riga is the Latvian capital, but is still more than 50% Russian. By reading Jack Ratz's book, for a brief moment, the pre-war Riga seemed to come back to life. Many corners of the city which are now completely devoid of life or character were revived through Ratz's childhood memories. It is a shame that European Jewery was destroyed by the Nazis, it is a shame that Jack Ratz and his family had to live and die in such horrible ways, and it is also a shame that many cities in Europe, like Riga, which were alive with language, culture and color until World War II are now destroyed for ever. Jack Ratz's efforts to have the memory of Latvian Jewry live on in Riga, in Latvia and around the world is commendable. By doing this he does not only pay an immense service to the Jewish community but as well to the city of Riga, which is now trying to come alive again after 50 years of destruction and oppression. Even if the Jewish population is now almost invisible in Riga, at least the monuments erected with the help of Jack Ratz to the memory of the destroyed Jewish community will testify to what this city used to be and to what it has the potential to become again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling tale about hope and survival., July 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Endless Miracles (Hardcover)

I am the author's son. My father is but a handful of survivors of the Riga ghetto who writes about his ghastly experiences as a 15 year old in the forced labor camps of Latvia and then through 3 years of concentration camps. My father's message remains clear in that a course of "Endless Miracles" takes him and my grandfather through one hell to another. Thier faith in God allows them to see light and help other people through survival and liberation. My father becomes quite personal and writes about his arrival in the US and building a family. His legacy is that we should always remember how cruel people can be towards each other but he taught me how important it is to treat each other we respect. This the true lesson of a holocaust survivor.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This a great book for everyone to read., April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Endless Miracles (Hardcover)

I think this is one best book because it talk about the holocaust. Some people try to forget what happen and teach their kids that it never happen. I think this is one best book. I wish that this won't happen agin but happen agin in Kosovo.