For someone like me who doesn't relaly believe in family unity and ultimate sacrifices, the choices that Hannah Wolffe made to follow her family in deportation are completely alien, but without this choice her time in the Nazi concentration camps may have been very different. It make seem like an insane choice (with horrible consequences and experiences), but the outcome was her survival and the meeting of her future husband. We will never know if she would have been spared deportation as an attendee of an all girls school in Berlin (though it was strictly for Jews), but I agree that her assumption that it would have happenned eventually is most likely correct considering the Nazi's legislative restrictions of the Jewish population of Germany and the deportation trends that were already occuring. Irregardless, her narrative is one that should be read as it provides another perspective of the Jewish experience of the concentration camps and the miracle of being on Schindler's List. ( )

The book starts out with Hannelore Wolff (Laura Hillman) in a school, receiving a letter that her father,Martin Wolff, was dead and her mother and brothers were being deported from Weimar. she sends a letter that will allow her to travel to Weimar. Throughout the book, she goes to many different camps which is said on the map before the book. Her first job was as a Nursemaid taking care of two SS family children. her second job, which she got when she moved to the next camp, was a nurse working in the infirmary. Her previous camp was liquidated, where she was separated from her mother and brothers, Karoline Wolff, Wolfgang, and Selly Wolff. Later she sees Selly again in the infirmary, of which he dies at fifteen. In the next chapters, Hannelore meets a POW named Bernard Hillman, also known as Dick. she falls in love with him, and they get separated and found each other in another camp. soon reveals that they were both put on Schindler's list. along with others, she is actually put on a train that brought her to Auschwitz Birkenau. The book ends with the corrections being made and her ending up in Schindler's, where she is with Dick again. the war ends and a Russian man (doesn't mention his name) tells all the people that they are free.

IN my opinion, this book really does deserve five stars. not only did it describe the setting correctly, but it gave a unique perspective on what it was like to be a jew during WW2. This is a first witness account book, and the fact that this book was published decades after the war ended, it is told in great descriptions of the real people. To tell how even in some of the darkest times, they could still seem to smile. Truly I can't say this book was bad, I don't have any complaints (If I did I would put them up with history more than I'd put them with this author!) The book was great, it had a happy ending. ( )

A young girl named Hannelore Wolff was born when Hitler was the dictator of Germany. She had lived in a school for Jews until she got a note from her mother saying her father was dead. She then decided to go live with her family in this hard time also Hannelore found out her mother and two brothers were being deported. As she went on with her family Hannelore slowly started getting separated from her family one by one only to hear from her brother Selly who was not so good in heath. Hannelore had been transferred to a labor camp. There she would meet her true love and first real friend. Time went on and Hannelore had been transported to so many different places that she eventually separated from her love and only friend. By 1945 the Germans had lost the war. Hannelore found her true love once again, like in her daydreams. Hannelore was now free from her troubles.

I think the book was a very fascinating story to read.I absolutely couldn't get enough of it. There was lots of things that made me think and realize lots go things that I wouldn't dare to think. I think Hannelore was very lucky considering all that she went through. It's just the type of story where you can't stop reading because you wanna know what happens so badly. With this being a true story I couldn't imagine what I would've done in Hannelore's shoes. It was just truly a remarkable story. ( )

Laura Hillman is Hannelore Wolff, a student in a private school in Berlin who decides to go home and be deported with her recently -widowed mother and brothers. At the arrival of the concentration camp, Hannelore is separated from her mother and brothers, and in a 3-year period, she endures 8 concentration camps and hardships. From her own rape to the execution of a friend who got involved with a German soldier, Hillman recalls her experiences in straightforward, direct language, mirroring perhaps her resignation to simply endure. She and her love, Pole Dick Hillman, end up on Schindler's list (we are never told how), which is how they ultimately survive the Holocaust. They are the only surviving members of their family, and after they are reunited, they marry. Hillman's recollection is a challenging, yet honest, depiction of human cruelty but also of hope and love.

I teach Night in English II, and next year, in addition to the Wiesel text, students will have to read one other Holocaust experiences. I plan to recommend Hillman's novel. While Wiesel provides the voice of the adolescent male, Hillman provides the experience of the adolescent female during the Holocaust. ( )

I thought it was an excellent story of love and survival during the holocaust. I would recommend reading the book. ( )