Non­fic­tion

The Twin Chil­dren of the Holo­caust: Stolen Child­hood and the Will to Survive

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2021

The Twin Chil­dren of the Holo­caust presents orig­i­nal, infor­ma­tive, and mov­ing anno­tat­ed pho­tographs of the twin chil­dren who sur­vived the bru­tal and hor­ri­fy­ing med­ical exper­i­ments con­duct­ed at the Auschwitz-Birke­nau death camp, in Poland (194345). The exper­i­ments were the work of the infa­mous Auschwitz physi­cian, Josef Men­gele. These nev­er-before-seen pho­tographs were tak­en by the author on the 40th anniver­sary of the lib­er­a­tion of the camp. The main events — the twins’ reunion at Auschwitz-Birke­nau and the pub­lic hear­ing on Men­gele’s war crimes, held at Yad Vashem (A Memo­r­i­al and a Name) in Jerusalem — took place in Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary 1985. Oth­er mem­o­rable moments includ­ed a pre-event meet­ing with twins, trav­el­ing to Krakow, vis­it­ing War­saw, hear­ing the sur­vivors’ tes­ti­monies, attend­ing an Inquest to review evi­dence of Men­gele’s death, and meet­ings with some of the twins today. Hav­ing to do my part in pre­serv­ing the twins’ mem­o­ry by pub­lish­ing the pho­tographs which were tak­en thir­ty-eight years ago, a frac­tion of which have been seen only by Segal’s stu­dents, fam­i­ly and friends.

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