From Fordham University professor Keller's interviews with Werber comes the expertly-told tragic story of a short-lived and star-crossed marriage during the Holocaust. Werber's tale begins in Radom, Poland where she shared a two-room apartment with her mother, father, and brother. In 1941, Radom was established as a ghetto and the family was required to move into a one-room apartment with Werber's aunt, uncle, and cousins. The next year, she was forced to live and work at an ammunitions factory at the age of 15. It was here that Werber met Heniek Greenspan, a Jewish man working as a police officer at the factory. In the span of a few months, they fell in love and surreptitiously married. She cannot recall exactly how long they were married before he was betrayed by a fellow officer and, presumably, sent to a death camp. He knew he was to be sent away and he brought his wedding band back to her, hoping she might sell it and increase her chances of survival. Throughout the war-including a horrific tenure in Auschwitz-Werber managed to hold on to both wedding rings and her wedding photo. Werber survived, married again, made it to the U.S., and had children, but the two rings serve as constant reminders of Heniek and their brief and hopeful love. B&W photos.
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“While she's decades younger than Alice Herz-Sommer, Millie Werber is also an inspiring figure. ‘Two Rings: A Story of Love and War,' which she wrote with Eve Keller (Public Affairs) is a beautifully written memoir of surviving the Holocaust as a teenager. Werber, who now lives on Long Island, reveals the unlikely heroes of her life, and also a powerful and tragic wartime love story that she had kept hidden in the years since.”
Anton Newspapers
“Werber and Keller movingly convey the hopelessness of being a teenager, a widow, and a factory worker at a Nazi-operated facility, with no end to the casual cruelty and violent deaths in sight. In addition, Werber's 1943 marriage, her time at Auschwitz in 1944, and subsequent relocation to Lippstadt, Germany in 1945 are covered in great detail and make for a compelling read.”
Sydney Morning Herald / The Age (Australia)
“A heartbreaking tale of lost love… These stories are tributes to those they loved and lost, and whom they want not to be forgotten…In between all of this are descriptions of the brutality in the camps. Ultimately, this will leave the biggest impression on readers, most of whom - like this one - will struggle to comprehend the evil that men and women are capable of perpetrating against others.”
Curled Up with a Good Book
Kirkus Review
“Werber's story is wholly engrossing, written with exceptional immediacy and attention to detail… A deeply affecting addition to Holocaust literature.”
Booklist
“Among all the shelves of Holocaust memoirs, this book stands out for the quality of the spare, honest, passionate narrative of survivor Millie Werber… A story certain to spark discussion.”
The Weekender
“Every now and then a book comes along that so clearly draws the line between catastrophic devastation and minor nuisance that it's impossible to ignore… It is impossible to not be moved by the writing in this book, and it is impossible to not be awed by the fact that Werber's survival was simply based on luck, chance and, often, the kindness of others.”
American Jewish World
“Charmingly told… Millie kept much of this private for 60 years, until a son persuaded her to tell it to Keller. The result keeps you turning the pages.”Jewish Week
A dramatic Holocaust memoir about young love and survival. Though told in Werber's voice, the book was written by Keller (Director of Graduate Studies/Fordham Univ.; Generating Bodies and Gendered Selves: The Rhetoric of Reproduction in Early Modern England, 2006). Werber's son urged Keller to interview his mother and write about her experiences of World War II. After 60 years of reticence, the Long Island–based Werber revealed the entirety of her hardships, including the loss of a first husband whose existence she had theretofore kept secret from her children. Born in Radom, Poland, at age 14 Werber was forced to live in a small Jewish ghetto. A year later she was laboring in a factory, in conditions so brutal that mistakes cost workers their lives. "We were called the armaments workers," Werber explains, "but really, we were slaves, half starving, beyond exhausted." Within a matter of months, Werber's brother was killed and her mother, grandparents and most of her aunts and uncles had been taken away. At 15, Werber fell in love with a Jewish police officer, Heniek, more than 10 years her senior, who got her a new job in a kitchen. The two married quickly in the hopes of escaping as part of a new German exchange with Argentina. Away from the ghetto when the first "exchange" happened, Werber learned that all of the German hopefuls had been shot. After witnessing many deaths, Werber survived many close calls, as well as time at Auschwitz. Liberated in 1945, Werber moved to Germany, where she met her second husband, Jack, to whom she was married until his death in 2006. Werber's story is wholly engrossing, written with exceptional immediacy and attention to detail. A deeply affecting addition to Holocaust literature.
Yelena Shmulenson reads with a slight Polish accent and a young but strong voice, just as one might expect of Millie. She is able to express both the highs and the lows of Millie’s sweet, strong story very well.”
—Sound Commentary
A deeply affecting addition to Holocaust literature . . . wholly engrossing, written with exceptional immediacy and attention to detail.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Yelena Shmulenson reads with a slight Polish accent and a young but strong voice, just as one might expect of Millie. She is able to express both the highs and the lows of Millie’s sweet, strong story very well.”
—Sound Commentary
Eve Keller's impressive writing and Yelena Shmulenson's gifted narration create a moving presentation of Millie Werber's memoir of love and survival amid the horrors of the Holocaust. The clear, briskly narrated introduction, narrated by Keller, immediately captures the listener’s desire to learn more about this quietly remarkable woman. Shmulenson employs a conversational tone that enhances the air of shared intimacy and pulls the listener further into Werber's poignant yet triumphant story. Through nuanced inflection and subtle manipulation of pace, Shmulenson delivers the emotional impact of Werber's tragedies and joys, and her successful use of accents adds further authenticity. Superb writing and narration offer listeners an exceptionally rich experience. M.O.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2013 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
