"The Boys" by Martin Gilbert

I read this book about the Holocaust and it was a truly amazing and heartbreaking one. It is the story of 732 concentration camp survivors that were mainly boys and were mostly Polish Jews. Out of 6 million Jews only them survived; it is hard to read their story; they are pretty descriptive but I am sure that there was more that they just couldn't say. I can't believe this happened just a few years before my parents were born. It started in 1939 and ended in 1945 4-5 years before my parents were born. For whatever reason I thought that it happened in ancient times when there was less civilization on the earth. When I went to Germany we visited Dachau in Munich where one of the concentration camps was located; this one was briefly mentioned in the book because mostly the boys in the book were in other ones and they were switched throughout the years. Now I better understand while the Germans are not so proud of that part of the history.

What I think is really sad is the fact that there was much prejudice and people in Polland as well as in some of the neighbouring countries hated Jews for killing Jesus and they were so mean to them. I know it was a plan carried out by Hitler, but those soldiers were more cruel to them than they were required and some of the illing could have been avoided.

I think that Hitler choose a great time to accomplish such a huge crime because of the hatred that was in the hearts of the people. I still don't understand why so much hatred; not all the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus and even if they did it happened a long time ago. I do not want to be blamed for something that my ancestors did a long time ago. I think people are forgetting that Jesus himself was a Jew and it is sad that it was taught in churches about this hatred.

Did you know that there were some Gypsies in the concentration camp? They had their own place and they were treated higher than the Jews but not for long because they were killed as well. I don't know if any of them survived or not.

One other thing that I thought was sad is the fact that when some of them returned to their home land after years of avoiding it, they not just only found their cities destroyed but also their cemeteries; their loved ones who were buried there were taken away and locals were placed in their stead. Many locals were afraid that the Jews came back to claim their properties, but none wanted to live in a place where they were still not accepted and where they had bad memories of their past. It is amazing to see how although they will never forget about what happened to them and about the people who killed their families in front of them, they were able to let go and nor revenge for what happened. (they returned after 40 years with their own falilies to show them where they grew up). Many of them who returned after the end of the war were killed by local police; Hitler was defetead - why did they have to do that; and it was also in Polland not in Germany. Sad!!!!

One of the thiings I liked was their attitude; they said that we have to not forget what happened and tell our children so something cruel like this would never happen. If we teach our children about hate and acceptance of all races we will save generations. So true!

Well, I think this book is a great one if you want to read more about the Holocaust. It is amazing when you read their survival story and what they became in spite of the hard times they went through their lives. Only a few of them couldn't cope with the memories and were institutionalized or died of grief. Now I am reading a book about Hitler; The Hidden Hitler. I will post more about it after I am done with it.