“I kept asking myself, Was all my suffering worth it? Was it worth staying alive? Nobody was left—no family, no friends . . . Then I remembered that I had Josio and thanked God for that. We joined hands and started walking, ready to face the future."
In 1984, Claire Baum receives a letter from a stranger in Holland who has found a package from the war that belongs to Claire’s family.
What keeps 15-year-old Gerta Solan going in the Auschwitz children’s barracks is dreaming of the normal life that had been torn from her.
When 17-year-old Leslie Meisels insisted that his mother and two brothers join a transport going who knows where, all he knew was that they had to get out of the terrible holding facility in Debrecen, Hungary.
"Two close calls in one day were enough for me. I realized that the uprising was not like the games I played with Jóózek before the war. This was a very real battle, in which people were being killed and wounded."
Survival Kit is both Sermer's thoughtful reflections on the miracles of her survival and a testament to the power of courage, love and determination.
"I had always liked to play make-believe, but somehow they made me understand that this game was real. I never gave away my secret."
"The more we felt the Germans' heavy boots in our lives, the more I knew I had to leave . . . but I was scared. Where was I going to go? What would I live on?"
"I was stubborn. I didn't want to stay in Auschwitz. I didn't want to go to the gas chambers. I didn't want to be cremated. I didn't want to die there, and I kept pushing back."
"I dove into the frigid river, the sudden shock leaving me gasping. By the time that I was two-thirds across the river, my strength was fading . . . Somehow, I managed to reach the shore—the unoccupied zone of France and my entry into freedom."
"The mountains were almost 3,000 metres high . . . We had to climb to the peaks, where it was frozen and slippery. One single misstep could mean certain death."
