Customer Reviews

To See You Again

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a high-school student in Arizona. We had to read this book for school, and the Schimmels came to our class to talk about their experiences as Holocaust survivors.
I didn't really care that much about the Richie love story once I met them in person. Mr. & Mrs. Schimmel are people devoted to each other and, no matter how it happened, found an incredible love story of their own. I hope someday to have a relationship like theirs is now.
Their survival really made a difference to the world, since they are here to tell their story. There are a lot of people my age that think the Holocaust never happened. I know it did because I met people who lived through it and spend all their time telling students about the war. It was really touching, and a lot of us were crying hearing about all the terrible things that happened to them and we were all thinking about how we might have been in the same situation.
I guess the best part of the book is what people will do to survive, but the really cool thing is that Betty took the time to write it and tell everyone about her story.

At its heart this book is about how one must make painful, uncertain decisions in painful, uncertain times -- and how one particular person and family lived with the impact of those decisions long after WWII had ended. Reading about Betty's life, as well as her husband, Otto (not to mention Richie), is a poignant, moving experience. All emerge as real people with real virtues and real flaws -- products of the time and place in which they were forced to grow up too quickly and in a world turned upside down. The book works because of the well-crafted details: Betty's pre-war memories of her mother's delicate tea cups and jam jars lined up neatly in a row; the daily decisions her mother -- and others -- made during the war to protect themselves or to escape the enemy; the description of how a friend, who chose to pass as a gentile, was lost; and the pain in Otto's voice -- a man who had resigned himself to always be second fiddle. No wonder he worked so hard. "To See You Again" reminds us that we're all too human, that some choices stay with you forever, and that we can grow to accept and even to embrace them.

There are so many confliciting reviews, I just had to read this book and write this review.

I knew the author, many years ago in Europe. Although we did not know each other before the war in our native Budapest, we were in the same camp. We are about the same age. I knew her then -- and her family. Betty [her American name] was a young girl, whose idealized life was torn apart. Her love for Richie kept her hopes alive as much as her dear Mother kept her body alive... and perhaps her faith kept her soul alive. She was ill in the camps, perhaps often delirious. Many of us were -- with death, sickness and hunger as our constant companions.

I can't blame her for her obsession with her first love -- I am sure her maturity was arrested at the same time she was taken away. So, she got older, but remained 15 for many many years. You cannot imagine the horrors we endured -- Schindler's list is a "Disney-like" version of our experience.

All Holocaust survivors are deeply damaged souls. We are not "normal" in any sense of the word. Luckily, in later life, Betty finally learned what true love is, and her {also deeply traumatized} husband stuck with her -- through her troubled life and even now... even as she painted such a unneccessarily cruel and negative portrait of him in her book... he must be a very sad and very special man.

This book will not win any great awards. It is just one story -- one about a very spoiled, self-centered and foolish girl who is REAL. She did live the life she described -- I know that for certain -- and she had the nerve to admit it to the world. Don't criticize her, understand her.

I have met Betty Schimmel and her husband Otto. How anyone can say her story is fiction is beyond me. Yes, both Betty and her husband Otto survived the concentration camps. The deep emotions of her story are still evident in her voice and face. This is a true life story about both the horrors of war and being a Jew in WWII Europe and of true love.

True, this is not an ending to give away. Read Betty's story. It will rip your heart in many directions. You will not be disappointed. You will not be able to put this book down.

"To See you again" is one of the most touching stories I have read in ages. It is a riveting tale that holds the reader throughout its entirety. Although much of the story takes place in Hungary during the Holocaust, the mood is one of hope & even joy in a time & place when it is least expected. The characters become bigger-than-life & you feel as if you are there with them. I enjoyed this book completely and would recommend to all: historians, lovers, and anyone wanting a great story. Congrats to the authors.

I normally would not be drawn to love stories, nor stories involving the holocaust. However, this book was impossible to put down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to get a better feel for what life was like under Nazi rule, and to hear an amazing story of a love that never died.

Reading this book changed my life and helped me learn to cherish the liberties and love in my life. To See You Again : A True Story of Love in a Time of War is a valuable historical account that shares what it was like to live through an ordinary day in an extraorinarily horrific time.I couldn't put this book down. It was enlightening to read an honest and graphic account of life in the war torn city of Budapest as well as accounts of life in the Ghetto, concentration camps and a death march. The love story encapsulated in this book is enthralling, sweet and touching. This book teaches the reader that life, love, and faith have the power to overcome hatred and horror. Betty Schimmel was a bit self serving at times but anyone with a spirit and sense of survival as strong as hers is truly a important person. This is a wonderful book.

Not very many books make me cry..this one DID! Betty Schimmel is an amazing survivor and has a story that I will probably never forget. I do not understand how people can call her "selfish" or or say she complained too much. She endured and survived the most cruelest circumstances and her story tells how strong love can be even in the darkest times. If someone can read this book and not feel any emotion something is wrong. This book makes you realize how lucky we are to enjoy freedom and health. I read this book more than a year ago and it still touches my life.

I am surprised that everyone is saying how generous and kind Otto was to Betty. I found him to be very selfish. Betty had made it clear that she wanted to be with Richie. He had promised her freedom if she ever found him.
HE LIED TO HER. RICHIE CAME TO THE DOOR AND OTTO SENT HIM AWAY AND KEPT IT A SECRET FROM BETTY FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS. He even pressed her soon afterwards to get the marriage legal (they had just had a jewish ceremony prior) and he was so anxious to move to PA. He lived for himself he was lying to Betty by keeping secrets. She agonized over the idea that Richie might be dead.

When she found out otherwise, Otto said "I couldn't let you go.
I couldn't let my son go. I had already lost so much." He only thought of himself and he lived a lie for all those years. He was utterly SELFISH.

Betty was not happy in her marriage to Otto. Her heart belonged to and with Richie.
Otto STOLE her life and true happiness because he wanted her for himself.

When 2 people are meant to be together like Richie and Betty they SHOULD be together.

A very sad, sad story.

I have read countless Holocaust memoirs but this book was EXCEPTIONALLY well written! From the first sentence on page one Betty seems to "take your hand" and brings you completely into her life. I could NOT put this book down and felt I was at Betty's side every step of the way! Her unbelievable story tore at my heart, and by the end of the book my emotions ran so high I simply cried and cried. An ABSOULTE MUST READ for anyone interested in the Holocaust (or anyone who needs a quick reminder as to just how lucky we were not to have had to endure such hell on earth). I am convinced I will never read a more poignant (true) story such as this one. TEN STARS FOR THIS BOOK!