Final Letters from Victims of the Holocaust selected by Reuven Dafni and Yehudit Kleiman

 I am not reviewing this book. There is nothing to say. Truly the saddest book I've ever read.

"Tens of thousands of our fellow nationals have already left the country almost barefoot and naked. Now our turn has come"   (pg 25)

"There is no escape. Tonight or at the latest tomorrow it will be our turn. At seventeen I have to face certain death."   (pg 45)

"I am just begging you to find our only child if possible and to take care of her."   (pg 67)

Letters sent to loved ones, left in churches and other buildings and tossed from the trains in the hope of someone finding them and posting them. Most are resigned, some are hopeful, all are heart wrenching. Some from Jews, some from sympathetic Gentiles, some from parents and some from sons and daughters. Only the last two or three hold any details of the atrocities perpetrated on these people, and these letters made me, literally, sick to my stomach. My 18 year old wants to read this short and incredibly powerful book and I find myself wanting to hide it from her: wanting to protect her. And still it goes on. Genocide continues in various countries throughout the world. There are no words.

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Final Letters: From Victims of the Holocaust (From the Yad Vashem Archive)