Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors [Paperback]

Elinor J. Brecher (Author), Thomas Keneally (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1994

They appeared at the end of the movie Schindler's List - the poignant processional of real-life people whom Oskar Schindler saved. Now they tell their stories in a book that is the living legacy of what Schindler did and what the human spirit can endure and overcome. Through their own words and more than 100 personal photographs, we learn the truth of their experiences with Schindler, their incredible stories of day-to-day survival, and their ultimate triumph of rebuilding lives, reclaiming family, and recording their memories for future generations. They range in age from late fifties to nearly ninety. Some emerged from the Holocaust as the lone remnants of their families; others, miraculously, survived with parents, siblings, and children. Their current lifestyles are equally varied: a multi-millionaire New Jersey developer; a Cleveland tailor who works out of his basement; a retired New York cafe violinist; a Baltimore fabric-store owner; a Pittsburgh cantor; a Los Angeles high school shop teacher; a world-famous Manhattan commercial photographer. Some remain committed, observant Jews; others have drifted far from religious ritual and belief. Some cling to the past; others have spent a lifetime trying to forget. Some seem to take pleasure in every breath; others seem forever burdened by sorrow. What they have in common is this: Oskar Schindler gave each a second chance at life. Now we learn what they did with that precious gift.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Plume (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452273536
• ISBN-13: 978-0452273535
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Real Survivors, April 13, 2002

By 

Charles Lewis (Macon, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (Paperback)

One of the most popular films of 1993 was Steven Spielburgs Schindlers List, the story of
one mans fight against the Nazi killing machine that we know today as the Holocaust. As the
film closed, the audience saw many of the survivors and their families as they gathered at
Oskar Schindlers grave to pay homage to this Righteous Gentile.

Like many others in the audience, I wondered what had happened to those men and women
after the war and the experiences that had not made the movie. Now I know. In Schindlers
Legacy, Elinor Brecher has shared the fascinatingand horriblestories of over 40 of those
who eventually came to live in America.

They tell, for example, of the almost random nature of their survival. Several tell of times
when the German guards lined up their work detail and shot every fifth person. Many were
away from home on some kind of errand when the Gestapo came and took away the rest of
their family. We read of Celena Karp who was selected by the notorious Josef Menegle for the
line heading to the gas chambers. For some reason, he decided to remove some from the
doomed line. When Celena reached him the second time, she begged him, Let me go, and
for some inexplicable reason, he did!

In these accounts, we learn again of the horror of the concentration camps. Remember the boy
who survived several searches by hiding in the filth of the latrine? This was no product of the
writers imagination; Roman Ferber tells his own story in his own words. Others relate the
beatings they survived, the rides in unheated and unventilated cattle cars, of the friends they
carried to the ovens. That they survived is nothing less than a miracle.

These arent just the stories of the camps, however. We learn more about the people and the
lives they lived before the warthe young couple who married only days before their arrest,
the woman who had to give her new-born son to a Catholic family in order to survive herself,
and the men and women who watched in horror as their parents and their brothers and sister
were dragged away or shot before their eyes.

After these experiences, what kinds of people did they turn out to be? Some have never
forgiven the German people for what happened, while others have miraculously put the past
behind them. And some are so traumatized that they have never been able to watch the film
based on their experiences.

This is a book that needs to be read!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oskar Schindler - Rake and Saviour, August 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (Paperback)

Oskar Schindler, one remarkable man who outwitted Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to save more Jews from the gas chambers than most of the heroic rescuers during WWII.

Oskar Schindler was one of only a handful who surfaced from the chaos, and generations will remember him for what he did ...

When asked, Schindler told that his metamorphosis during the war was sparked by the shocking immensity of the Final Solution. In his own words: "I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more."

Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt on the 9th of October, 1974, at an age of 66. From 1939 to the day he died he was such in love with his Jewish people, that he wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. His friend, a Schindler-Jew, Poldek Pfefferberg asked him shortly before he died, why he wanted to be buried here. He answered :"My children are here ....."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holocaust Survivors Remembered, May 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (Paperback)

I'm stressing this to all, that this book is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It's very intense and real. Because of the way these Holocaust survivors explain their experiences at the concentration camps, it makes you feel as if you could've been there. The way that these survivors have achieved great goals in there lives after the Holocaust, is amazing. I recommend this book for everyone to read to get a better understanding of the Holocaust. This book is truely amazing.