Survivors Club

The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz

By: Michael Bornstein, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat

Narrated by: Fred Berman

"Narrator Fred Berman brings gravitas to the events of this memoir while still creating a voice for Michael [Bornstein] that sounds young and vulnerable. Berman also excels at the use of Yiddish, Polish, and German accents where needed to create a sense of the time and place." — AudioFile Magazine

This program includes a preface read by both authors with an afterword read by Michael Bornstein. A bonus conversation with the authors, archival recordings, and a pdf of photos are also included.

In 1945, in a now-famous piece of World War II archival footage, four-year-old Michael Bornstein was filmed by Soviet soldiers as he was carried out of Auschwitz in his grandmother's arms. Survivors Club tells the unforgettable story of how a father's courageous wit, a mother's fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved his life and how others in his family from Zarki, Poland, dodged death at the hands of the Nazis time and again with incredible deftness.

Working from his own recollections as well as extensive interviews with relatives and survivors who knew the family, Michael relates his inspirational Holocaust survival story with the help of his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat. Shocking, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, this narrative nonfiction offers an indelible depiction of what happened to one Polish village in the wake of the German invasion in 1939.

This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

Critic reviews

"<b>Narrator Fred Berman brings gravitas to the events of this memoir while still creating a voice for Michael that sounds young and vulnerable.</b> Berman also excels at the use of Yiddish, Polish, and German accents where needed to create a sense of the time and place. <b>[Michael] Bornstein and his daughter, coauthor Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, are charmingly natural and emotionally affecting in the preface and afterword</b>, explaining why Bornstein felt compelled to share his story after more than 70 years. They have an easy banter that helps the listener understand Bornstein's sunny outlook despite the difficult circumstances of his early life."<b>-</b><i>AudioFile</i>

Incredibly Moving!

This is a very well put together account of the atrocities that took place during the Nazi occupation of Europe. History should be read and remembered so we do not repeat the human cruelties that take place when evil people gain power.

very good

couldn't stop crying, I'm so sorry that happened to you!!! unbelievable how other human beings can act

Excellent!

Very well told, in part to the excellent narration, given.
The addition at the end with Mr. Bornstein and his daughter Debbie is very moving.

Sad but true

I read this prior to the virus and glad i did. We all think times are tough now! That ain't nothing compared to what this family went through. Escape back to a time when the world was a mess, bigotry was rampant and the future was bleak. In the end it is a book of triumph and hope.

Must read!

I don't typically review an audiobook even if I love it, but this time was different. This is a beautiful, sad and triumphant story of love and survival. I couldn't stop listening. If you want to read an uplifting story about the unbreakable human spirit, please read this book. You will not regret it.