Welcome to Litsy!

In the spring of 1998, 41-year-old Daniel Russ received a package in the mail from his mom. Inside was a dark vinyl three-ring notebook holding his mother's handwritten account of the most terrible events of her life: the 14 months she spent in three Nazi concentration camps. It was the first time he had ever heard her talk about this part of her life. This short story is real. It can be read in one sitting, yet its images will take years to forget. Irene's story of survival is a gift of love to her children and to the world - a tribute to the many in her generation who kept their eyes fixed on life while its very breath was being stripped away. Her candid words remind us that the most valuable things we pass down to our children are not the souvenirs of life but the lessons of courage and faith lived out in it.