A Survivor Book

When he entered Auschwitz in 1942, Moshe Garbarz was welcomed by a fellow inmate with a bitter speech. "Tough luck, be brave," he was told, "No one can do anything for you here; there's no organization, everybody dies; you have three more weeks to live." But for Garbarz, those three weeks became three years. Here is his riveting story of endurance and remembrance. First published in France in 1984, A Survivor documents the daily struggle of an ordinary man to live through the wrenching hell of the Nazi death camps of World War II. In this simple diary of everyday events, Garbarz relives the horror and barbarism that he witnessed--the forced labor, near starvation, terrible beatings--helplessly watching the deaths of friends. He tells of his jobs in the camps--transporting the dead, installing the lighting for mass graves, and slaving deep below the earth in a coal mine. Although A Survivor is filled with ghastly detail and terrible tragedy, this story has moments of humor and a rich sense of appreciation for the twists and turns of fate. Garbarz endured the unendurable and returned to bear witness to one of history's darkest chapters. Told in a uniquely personal way, this is an unforgettable story of beating the odds, living moment by moment, and surviving at all costs under the most crushing of circumstances. A Survivor is a monumental testimony, as well as an inspirational affirmation of the indestructible strength of the human spirit.