Customer Reviews

Tell the Children, Letters to Miriam

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Yes, do talk to your children, and especially about this book and it's subject. It is the most insightful and informative personal account of the whole problem in Europe during the Nazi period. Not only does Dora Sorell tell us about life before her internment, but also the problems that the end of the war created for those who lived under the communist rule. That is one thing that has been sorely lacking until now. We must never forget, and must tell our children and our grandchildren. Dora Sorell has given us a way to do that in her letters to Miriam.

Tell the Children is a vivid story so well told that it is hard to believe its author is not a professional writer. Dora Sorell was taken by the Nazis from her home in a Romanian village to some of the worst concentration camps, where she managed not only to survive but also to be reunited with her childhood sweetheart, to become a physician, to experience years of almost unimaginable horror under Communist rule, and to escape successively to Italy, Brazil, and finally the United States. Her chronicle, presented as letters to her granddaughter, benefits from sharp perception, a powerful memory, an extraordinary interest in the people around her (including a large and interesting family), and a genuine ability at storytelling. Unpretentious as she is, Dora Sorell is a heroic woman. Her book is unpreachy and unsentimental but deeply felt, and for me it made a lot of modern history seem real for as if the first time.

Ms. Sorell describes life in pre war world two Transilvania and Holocaust events like nobody else. She expresses personal feelings, and at the same time paints the picture of the overall way of life for the Jewish community in the times preceding the war. The Holocaust description is the most moving one I ever read and preserves for future generations the realities of a terrible time through the eyes of a survivor. The book balances the view of a mature person with the feelings and desires of a young lady experiencing terrible events.

I spent two weeks with Dora traveling to Poland and Israel with Shalhevet Bet. Dora is an amazing person and story teller, her book captures much of her inspirational story and memory. Her story is life changing and her voice is calm and unintrusive. She doesn't force her story or her opinions on you, but rather gives you her story as an offering to make of it what you want. A must read for anyone and everyone.