Artscroll: Hope Never Dies by Sarah Wahrman

This is a volume of personal memoirs -- and yet so much more. In this chronicle of faith, and hope, and fulfillment, Sarah Wahrman speaks nostalgically of a world lost forever. We mourn with her the rapidly-fading past of the glory that was the world of the Jewish shtetl, yet we are also elevated to great spiritual heights with her as she traverses a travail-ridden youth to achieve a triumph that only an intense faith can generate. This thoughtful work transports us from a carefree girlhood in a small Hungarian village, through the grim portals of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, and on to the healing balm of recuperation in Sweden. Along the way, Mrs. Wahrman’s unshakable faith is the beacon that lights the way and which, 54 years later, lights the eyes and straightens the spine of the reader. Such faith, such commitment, in the face of such adversity... In many ways this work is an intellectual exercise as well. It presents an interestingly documented discussion of thought-provoking topics. It is liberally interspersed with carefully selected political and historical incidents that color the pre-war and wartime years. In addition, there are two illuminating chapters dealing with the attitude of the rest of the world to the ordeal of the Jews during the War, as well as a clear repudiation of the often-prevailing thesis that the Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter. For the thoughtful reader and for the reader who is haunted by the conviction that we must never forget... this book is a vehicle that serves both those purposes admirably.