Things I Like to Read About

I like to read about the Holocaust and World War II. It is both terrifying and fascinating to me. I still cannot believe that such atrocities were committed in recent history. I enjoy reading concentration camp survivor stories. The people who actually survived are definitely worth reading about. Some of my favorites are The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, Night by Elie Weisel, and All But My Life by Greta Weissmann Klein. These are all amazing survival stories that I couldn't put down.

I also enjoy books about Jews in hiding. I have always loved Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. I've been to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and in recent years I've read several other books about Anne Frank. I also love to read The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss, about two Jewish girls who survived the entire war in hiding.

I really enjoyed The Counterfeit Traitor by Alexander Klein. It's about an American man who pretended to be a Nazi for years in order to act as an inside spy for the US government. The intelligence he provided was instrumental in locating German synthetic oil plants that were bombed. There is another book called The Berlin Diaries written by Marie Vassiltchikov. She was a German women who lived in Berlin throughout the war. Berlin was practically leveled by allied bombs by the end of the war. She was a "resister" who was intimate friends with many people who were involved in the July 20th plot on Hitler's life (Valkyrie).

Although I mostly like reading about the European side of the war, a word must be said about Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Amazing, amazing story. This story takes place on the pacific side.

About a year ago I actually tried to read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shier. This is a massive piece of nonfiction. I made it about a third of the way through before I started to get really freaked out. The Nazis were so evil!

I guess what I enjoy is the shear shock that evil could have been so powerful to have taken over to such an extent. I also enjoy the fact that evil was eventually systematically extinguished. And all of this happened in a very developed country, and not really that long ago! I can't get enough of the interesting stories of survival. Do you have a favorite you think I should read?