Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust

By: Lyn Smith

Narrated by: Andrew Sachs

Following the success of Forgotten Voices of the Great War, the series now chronicles one of human histories darkest hours. The author comes to the project following her significant work in recording the experiences of Holocaust survivors for the Imperial War Museum sound archive, one of the most important archives of its kind in the world. The intertwined moving and revealing interviews reveal the sheer complexity and horror of the Holocaust. The great majority of survivors suffered considerable physical and psychological wounds, yet the overall story is far from being just gloom and doom. There are many poignant vignettes describing acts of charity, reciprocity and kindness in the face of the most extreme form of barbarism. As well as revealing the story of the Holocaust as directly experienced by victims, these testimonies also illustrate how, even enduring the most harsh and degrading conditions and treatment as well as suffering massive family losses, hope, the will to survive, and the human spirit shines through.©2005 Lyn Smith and the Imperial War Museum (P)2005 Random House Audiobooks

Journey of Survival during a Hopeless Time

it is difficult to listen to at times because we can not imagine the horrors of what they lived through. Thank God they did. interesting and horrifying at the same time. I struggle to comprehend and grateful for the opportunity to know some of the things that must never happen again as in.

Please - do not forget.

The terrible years of the holocaust come to life as the survivors tell their moving accounts of the hatred and the unbelievable treatment these people tell. It was not long ago that scares me & listening to their voices, it could have been yesterday. Books like these should be required reading in senior schools as these survivors fade away there will be nothing to remember them by. These were people whom we would know and what happened to them is still almost unbelievable of what man can do to his fellow beings.

You know what to expect, yet you can't believe it.

The Holocaust. Mankind at its worst. You think you've heard it all before.

But this book is different. The individual accounts from actual survivors touch your very soul. I am so grateful for the courage of the survivors to share their stories. You hear how the survivors struggle to tell even their own children why they were in camps, and what happened to their friends and families. Touching. Moving.

To forget is to repeat !!

It is a totally unbelievable thing of how quickly "we" forget what these precious souls have endured under the realization of evil NOT stopped.

Are you listening? These blessed souls lived through the "all is well" "we can talk to them" "they love peace" if we do not learn from the words of these wonderful souls who lived, breathe, and endured the hatred of a man who said "I only want to help my people" "we want peace, we mean no one any harm"

Can you imagine a group of people breaking down your door and beating you with a perfect hatred and your family divided and you remember those who raised the alarm; do they sound stupid now, are they now alarmists???

Please read this book and remember they once lived in peace and prosperity. I highly recommend this book.

Listening to the Voices

I have been reading holocaust literature during the last year and every story is so unique. . This is the first book I have listened to where there are actual interviews with survivors and since I listened to the audio version, it was even more poignant. Although heartbreaking it was also touching in many ways because of the obvious acts of charity in the face of extreme cruelty. As much as I read about it, still unimaginable. Te audible portion was a little difficult in parts because of the accents, but it didn't detract from the content.

other testimonies

If you are intrested. Two websites I find very good are: http://voices.iit.edu.interview.html and http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu (Voice/Vision of holocaust survivors from University of Michigan)
The difference between these and those at the holocaust memorial web site is that they were done in 1946 in DP camps. I have to remember that the interviewer is a professor sticking to the facts because I think he was a lousy interviewer, but thank goodness someone thought to do this. Most were done in German and Yiddish and translated to English. Some audio but text to speech helps.

Harrowing

If you could sum up Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust in three words, what would they be?

Harrowing emotional sad

What was one of the most memorable moments of Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust?

Following individual stories

What three words best describe Andrew Sachs’s voice?

Emotional sincere fantastic

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

All of it

Any additional comments?

A fantastic and honest view of the holocaust. Will make you shed tears and then inspire you. Worth buying!!

A bit short, but very compelling

I read and listen to a lot of WWII history. Every time I think I'm beyond being shocked at the atrocities of the war, I'm proven wrong. 9 times out of 10 it's a story from the Holocaust that gets me.

This audiobook, told in the first person by the actual people involved, is no exception. The tone tends to be matter-of-fact, rather than emotional, but that adds to the impact of what you're hearing. One of the stories hit so close to home that I broke down and wept at one point, and that's not the sort of thing I do often.

My only complaint is that the work was too short, skipped too many parts of Europe, and skipped over large sections of the war. It's entirely possible that I wouldn't have been satisfied until they'd made a 100 hour compilation.

I highly recommend this audiobook, as well as the other Forgotten Voices books to have come out of the Imperial War Museum. This one, however, is not for the faint of heart. The soldier's war was much different than what was experienced in the ghettos, concentration camps and hideouts throughout Europe. This is an unblinking chronicle of some of the worst things humans have done to one another in recorded history.

Real Human Stories

This book is like listening to a documentary; several holocaust survivors are interviewed and you can hear their real voices and stories. The interviews are not only with Jewish holocaust survivors but with POW's and a Jehovah's Witness as well. Very captivating, with the most moving part being when you hear the stories of each person's liberation and the hope that they felt at the time, inspiring really.

I was tickled that Denis Avey was interviewed and I was able to hear his voice IRL as I have just finished listening to his 2011 book, The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz (which I highly recommend).

Powerful

This is extraordinary. I am so glad I bought this one. Very powerful if you are at all interested in this period of history.