Children of Terror

Children of Terror is a nonfictional account of two women's experience in Nazi concentration camps.  The women actually met many years later in the US and discovered they had quite a bit in common.  As their conversations continued they decided to share their stories - this book is the result.  As mentioned, these two had much in common, and yet, they also were opposites in other ways.  These comparisons are part of what makes this book a worthwhile read. 

These women were born only months apart in the year 1934.  One was the daughter of Christian farmers in Poland.  The other was an only-child of Jewish merchants in Germany.  They were children of such different backgrounds, and yet, their stories are similar.  Both were captured, along with their families, by the Nazis.  Both families were placed in concentration camps when the girls were very young.  And both girls were rescued from the camps at the early age of 10 years old.

The girls' childhood memories are not of playing, going to school, or other common childhood memories, but instead are of life in a camp.  One thing about this book that simply amazed me was how both women were able to move on after the war without obvious anger or bitterness.  Their stories are very moving.