Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz

by Michael Bornstein, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat

Overview

The New York Times-bestselling incredible true story of Michael Bornstein—who at age 4 was one of the youngest children to be liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp—and of his family

“Both moving and memorable, combining the emotional resolve of a memoir with the rhythm of a novel.” —New York Times Book Review

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 WWII German invasion in 1939.

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

A New York City Public Library Notable Best Book for Teens

“A wrenching, shocking, and ultimately inspiring memoir, a tale of unrelenting optimism and resilience that is no less than miraculous . . . [Survivors Club] is hauntingly timely.” —Esquire

“Enhanced by meticulous archival research, Bornstein’s story unfolds in novelistic form . . . This moving memoir [is] an important witness to the capacity for human evil and resilience.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250118752
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	71,011
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Michael Bornstein survived for seven months inside Auschwitz, where the average lifespan of a child was just two weeks. Six years after his liberation, he immigrated to the United States. Michael graduated from Fordham University, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, and worked in pharmaceutical research and development for more than forty years. Now retired, Michael lives with his wife in New York City and speaks frequently to schools and other groups about his experiences in the Holocaust. He wrote Survivors Club alongside his third of four children, Debbie.

Debbie Bornstein Holinstat is Michael’s third of four children. A producer for NBC and MSNBC News, she lives in North Caldwell, New Jersey. She also visits schools with her father, and has been working with him for two years, helping him research and write his memoir, although she has grown up hearing many of these stories her entire life.

Table of Contents

Preface; It's Time to Talk vii

1 Remember the Cup 3

2 Bloody Monday 12

3 The Roundup 25

4 What Snuck In with the Laundry 35

5 The Judenrat 47

6 Look Forward 52

7 Money Talks 63

8 Predictions from the Underground 68

9 Cousin Ruth 77

10 Last-Chance Decisions 91

11 Trapped 105

12 The Parting Gift 111

13 B-1148 121

14 Punishment at Auschwitz 135

15 News from the Fence 146

16 An Unexpected Departure 155

17 A Lucky Illness 159

18 Visitors for Ruth 167

19 Picture in History 175

20 Home 187

21 Aunt Hilda 199

22 Ghostface 208

23 A Knock at the Door 219

24 A Splash of Yellow In Zarki 229

25 Survivors Club 237

26 American Dream 247

27 At a Crossroads 254

28 All That Remained 262

29 Backyard Encounter 267

30 City of Rubble 271

31 The Dark Side of Munich 279

32 The Lady with the Swastika Necklace 287

33 The Bar Mitzvah Boy 297

Afterword Michael Bornstein 307

A Bornstein Family Who's Who 317

A Survivor's Club Photo Album 321

Glossary 337

Notes on Sources 341

Acknowledgments 347

Editorial Reviews

This book is published as narrative nonfiction for young readers, but the equal measures of hope and hardship in its pages lend appeal to an audience of all ages . . . Remarkable.” —Ruta Sepetys in the New York Times Book Review

“A wrenching, shocking, and ultimately inspiring memoir, a tale of unrelenting optimism and resilience that is no less than miraculous . . . [Survivors Club] is hauntingly timely.” —Esquire

“Enhanced by meticulous archival research, Bornstein’s story unfolds in novelistic form . . . This moving memoir [is] an important witness to the capacity for human evil and resilience.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[An] exceptional book of memoir and history . . . worth reading more than once. It is compelling; there is something novelistic about it. It certainly reads with more verve and detail than most straight testimonies . . . Although listed for ages 10 – 14, it also makes excellent adult reading.” —Jewish Book Council, starred review

“A tenderly wrought tribute to family, to hope, and to the miracles both can bring. A powerful memoir.” —Booklist

“The most memorable part of this extraordinary nonfiction work is the hope amidst tragedy and the ways individuals and families banded together despite unimaginable odds, including the challenges to rebuild after breaking free from the concentration camps only to find a world still filled with hatred and fear.” —VOYA

“A powerful reconstruction of family history . . . An ideal follow-up selection for students who have read The Diary of Anne Frank.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Middle schoolers will be engrossed by Bornstein’s account . . . The book is written in a soothing tone, which helps balance some of the grim details of Jewish life under the Nazi regime . . . The storytelling is fast-paced, and readers will be fascinated by this family’s survival and endurance. Few Holocaust survivors are still alive; Bornstein’s account is an excellent addition to middle school collections.” —School Library Journal

“In today's world, it remains more important than ever to remember these survivors.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Survivors Club chronicles the harrowing experience of Michael's extended family during the Holocaust, its aftermath and into the postwar years of immigration. The arc of their journey is both moving and memorable, combining the emotional resolve of a memoir with the rhythm of a novel…This book is published as narrative nonfiction for young readers, but the equal measures of hope and hardship in its pages lend appeal to an audience of all ages. Younger readers will appreciate the compelling chapter titles, swift pacing and unflinching descriptions of soap machine nightmares and uniforms that hang "like skin hangs from raw chicken." The heartbreaking accounts of fathers giving final hugs "that must have carried the weight of a thousand bedtimes" and a child believing, against all odds, in the return of his mother will resonate with adults.

The New York Times Book Review - Ruta Sepetys

★ 01/16/2017
After Bornstein discovered an image of himself as a child and other young Auschwitz survivors being used as Holocaust-denying propaganda, he resolved to research his history and share his memories. Assisted by his daughter Debbie, a news producer, he learned that out of 3,400 Jews living in Zarki, Poland, before the Holocaust, fewer than 30 survived, almost all from his family. Enhanced by meticulous archival research, Bornstein’s story unfolds in novelistic form, beginning with the arrival of Nazi soldiers in Zarki in 1939. Through the retelling of harrowing eyewitness stories, the authors recount the increasing degradation, deprivation, and terror of Zarki’s Jewish citizens, and the courageous attempts of Bornstein’s father to save many neighbors from death. Bornstein’s family’s fight for survival included his aunt and uncle leaving their three-year-old daughter at a Catholic orphanage while hiding in a neighbor’s attic; in Auschwitz, Bornstein’s mother hid him in her barracks. The story of a silver kiddush cup, which Bornstein’s father buried and his mother recovered after the war, bookends this moving memoir, an important witness to the capacity for human evil and resilience. Ages 10–14. Agent: Irene Goodman, Irene Goodman Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2017
Gr 6–8—Middle schoolers will be engrossed by Bornstein's account (written with the help of his daughter) of his and his family's survival during the Holocaust. Bornstein was born in the town of Zarki, Poland, which had largely become a Jewish ghetto after the Nazi invasion. For years, his parents survived through bribery and good fortune, but ultimately they, along with the entire Jewish population of the town, were sent to concentration camps (the Bornsteins to Auschwitz, specifically). When the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz, Bornstein was four years old and accompanied only by his grandmother. (His father and brother were dead, and his mother was presumed dead.) The remaining Bornstein clan would eventually immigrate to the United States. The book is written in a soothing tone, which helps balance some of the grim details of Jewish life under the Nazi regime. In the preface, Bornstein explains why he chose to finally chronicle his experiences (a picture of him during the camp's liberation was being used by Holocaust deniers). The storytelling is fast-paced, and readers will be fascinated by this family's survival and endurance. VERDICT Few Holocaust survivors are still alive; Bornstein's account is an excellent addition to middle school collections.—Esther Keller, I.S. 278, Brooklyn

School Library Journal

Author Michael Bornstein was only 4 years old when he and his grandmother left Auschwitz, liberated by Russian soldiers. Narrator Fred Berman brings gravitas to the events of this memoir while still creating a voice for Michael 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. Bornstein and his daughter, coauthor Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, are charmingly natural and emotionally affecting in the preface and afterword, 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. N.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2018 - AudioFile

2016-12-14
Michael was only 4 when he miraculously survived the liberation of Auschwitz in January 1945.Filmed by Soviets liberating the camp, he saw his image years later, but he was not ready to tell his story until he saw his picture on a Holocaust-denial website. He enlisted his daughter, a TV journalist, to help him uncover further information and to co-author this book. In the preface, Holinstat writes: "we tried to keep the book as honest as possible. While the underlying events are entirely factual, there is fiction here." The father-daughter pair found documents, diaries, and survivors' essays to supplement the limited memories of a very young child, and they write about this process in the preface. The first-person narrative begins with the events of September 1939, even though Michael was not born until May 1940, which feels artificial. Horrific as the experience was, the Auschwitz chapters are just part of Michael's journey. Living in an open "ghetto" in his hometown, moving to a forced-labor camp, then to the extermination camp where his older brother and father die, returning home where Jews are not welcomed, and then living in Munich as a displaced person for six years until he can emigrate to the United States with his mother, the chronicle of Bornstein's first 11 years parallels the experiences of many other surviving victims of the Final Solution. In today's world, it remains more important than ever to remember these survivors. (afterword, photos, characters, glossary) (Memoir. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews