Can anyone give me some suggestions for nonfiction books on..?

Question

.. modern history ? Particularly World War II and the Holocaust. What are some good memoirs out there also written by people who lived through it ? If you have any other suggestions not on the topic of World War II and the Holocaust that would be great too. Thanks.

Answer 1

One book that I found fascinating was "Outwitting the Gestapo" by Lucie Aubrac.
A suspenseful rendering of Aubrac's experiences as a French Resistance fighter during WW II. This memoir owes its existence to the 1983 extradition to France of Klaus Barbie, the ``Butcher of Lyon'': In order to refute Barbie's defenders and former collaborators, Aubrac told her story publicly for the first time- -and it became a bestseller in France. Focusing on a nine-month period that begins with the conception of her second child, Aubrac looks back 40 years at experiences of enduring intensity. During the war, the author, her Jewish husband Raymond, and other ``resistants'' published and distributed underground newspapers, found new identities and homes for fugitives, forged permits, stole guns, and blew up roads and bridges--all routine Resistance activities. What makes this account special, however, is Aubrac's irrepressible energy and resourcefulness, and the graceful way in which she interweaves her separate but parallel lives. As a mother and wife struggling in a wartime economy, she bartered for hard-to-find items; as a devoted schoolteacher, she applied the lessons of history to current events; as a secret member of the Resistance, she couldn't disclose her true identity even to her most trusted colleagues, switching names and identities like a quick-change artist. Three times, she helped free her husband from prison. The last incarceration was the most harrowing: Walking into a trap, Raymond was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to die by Barbie himself. Despite her anguish, Aubrac tricked her husband's captors into meetings and masterminded an intricate rescue. The Aubracs' escape by airlift to London, where their baby was born, is tremendously exciting. A breathtaking account that feeds the soul as much as it satisfies the appetite for vicarious danger.

Answer 2

Read Night by Elie Wiesel. It's his memoir of surviving a death camp during the holocaust, while his family did not. It's a really moving book.

Answer 3

The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
In My Hands by Irene Gut Opdyke

see my website:

http://bl-books.tripod.com/id124.html

Answer 4

There is one book that are diaries of 5 teenagers during the holocaust. It's called Oh I can't think of the title.... It's a really good book but I'm not sure if it's nonfiction I think it is.

Answer 5

I don't know if you've already read this... Actually, if you're interested in the Holocaust you probably have - but how about the Diary of Anne Frank? It was moving and poignant without being at all sentimental. She was a courageous girl who wrote about her experiences in Nazi occupied Amsterdam.