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Mirla Raz
Author
The Birds Sang Eulogies

In this poignant memoir, The Birds Sang Eulogies, Anna and Danny Geslewitz's incredible stories of survival are told by them, their daughter and their granddaughter, three generations affected by the Holocaust. Danny's harrowing story began the moment the Germans invaded Lodz, Poland in 1939. His harrowing story of survival begins in the ghetto where starvation and death were rampant. When the Germans liquidated the ghetto in 1944, Danny and his remaining family members were sent to Auschwitz. Danny's account of hell on earth leaves the reader horrified. After enduring Auschwitz for three weeks, Danny and his brothers began nightmarish journeys to seven forced labor camps were they endured inconceivable deprivations. After witnessing two brothers perish, Danny is near death when suddenly the Germans disappear. 

Living in the eastern Polish city of Lvov, Anna vividly describes life and death in the Lvov Ghetto. When it becomes clear that the Germans will kill every remaining Jew in the ghetto, she and her sister flee into Germany. There, Anna works as a maid in German household. She lives a life of constant terror fearing that her Jewish identity will be discovered. 

The mayhem of liberation brings its own challenges to Anna and Danny. Barely alive, Danny struggled to regain his health. Anna scrambled to find a way to survive in the chaos and find her sister from whom she had been separated. As Danny and Anna worked to find their place in life, they meet in Germany. Together, they begin a memorable new chapter. Years later, their daughter and granddaughter travel to Poland. Their personal accounts of their trips are riveting.

Anna Geslewitz was a poet. One can feel her sorrow, terror and angst as one reads her poems. The poems are included in The Birds Sang Eulogies: A Memoir.

Reviews
Amanda Shernoff

One of the best books I have ever read. It is remarkable that the Holocaust survivors in this book were able to remember so much and in so much detail. You read it and gain better insight on what life was like for European Jews. It is no Hollywood film story line, it is the truth. There are various perspectives and experiences in the book from Holocaust survivors, children of Holocaust survivors, politics, and humbling poems written by Anna. This book is readable for all levels of understanding the Holocaust and you will learn how one survives during the worst and then thrives after.

Amazon customer

Starting in the present and transporting us through time and place, the memoir is a moving tribute, not only to Raz's parents’ memory, but to the resilience of all Holocaust survivors who have gone on to create lives of meaning and grace. The reader can almost hear her parents’ voices in her transcriptions of their words, allowing their testimony to speak for those who could not. They give us an unfiltered insight into what their world was like before, during, and immediately after the war.

Arden Shames

Amazingly detailed description of surviving the horrors of the holocaust. The poetry written by Anna is exceptionally well written and moving. The author who is their daughter wrote from her heart and the reader is able to experience their voyage through a horrendous period in history.

 

 

Elizabeth Blakely

The author paints a picture of a very tragic time in our history. You feel like you are walking in the shoes of her parents. The Birds Sang Eulogies is a page turner that should be read by everyone so we don’t forget the Holocaust.

Jan Aufschneider

Marilyn (Mirla Geclewicz Raz) is a dear friend of mine from high school. We would have sleepovers & I vividly remember her parents. The tattoo on Mr. Geclewicz’s arm, his humor, his kindness. He was very out spoken & welcoming. I remember Mrs. Geclewicz as also being kind, welcoming, a bit more reserved (now I’m aware that her feelings went into her beautiful poetry) & a very good cook.
I am so proud of Marilyn’s accomplishments, this book is the icing on the cake. She did a wonderful job & I was thoroughly engrossed throughout.
Everyone should read this book, especially those who have doubts about the Holocaust even existing, it happened people, no if, ands, or buts!
Thank you Marilyn❤️

Sierra Chandler

A poignant and painful reminder of the evil in society that attempts to dehumanize people for their spiritual or ethnic origin. This moving account reveals the pain of a family remanent that came through the unimaginable atrocities of Nazism. May we heed history and focus our efforts against current or future attempts to dehumanize anyone based on race or religion.

Susan Lane

I've read a lot of Holocaust books, but there's something special about this one. It's a little like reading a suspense novel, but not quite the same. You just can't put it down. I think this should be read by every single person in the world. We need a dose of reality as to what hatred can accomplish, even in this country. It's so sad to realize what people of capable of doing to each other. This is what happens when a people think they are superior to others

TLK

I picked up this book one morning when I had a little free time to read; I didn’t put it down until I had finished it late in the evening. Harrowing and heartbreaking, it is the best book about the Holocaust I have ever read (and I’ve read a lot of them). The conversational passages, the tone, the descriptions and the multi-generational perspectives are layered in such a way as to provide the reader with a deep context in which to grapple with the horror of this tragedy. This book is profoundly moving and impactful. It should be required reading for every high school/college history course, particularly as juxtaposed to world events today.

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