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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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sblbooks It makes the story much more touching and heartbreaking. I love stories based on true events, but it's also harder to read about something that really happened. It's unbelievable to me that this actually happened. What's scary is it could happen again, if people don't learn from history. 5y

megnews I agree with everything you said @sblbooks It‘s definitely more horrific when you know it‘s someone‘s real story. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo Reading about true events such as this is a good reminder of how important it is to teach others about how we should and shouldn't treat others. 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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sblbooks This sort of continues from the last question, but once you lose hope that's it. If you have no hope you have no reason to live. Therefore you won't fight. I'm amazed that Helen, was able to keep hope alive. By doing so she was able to save more lives. This is true of many survivors. 5y

megnews Having read Holocaust memoirs it‘s clear hope was the only thing that kept people going. When people gave up hope they shortly give up and die. The nursery gave the workers, the children, and their parents the valuable commodity of hope. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo Hope is strength. I think these people knew that without it there was no chance of survival. So for those who continued to hope it was their most valuable possession. Without hope, they had no reason to continue to live. Therefore they gave up and died. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo agree! 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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sblbooks Many were in shock.When the people started losing family members and seeing so many people die it definitely had an effect on their mental state. How could it not? After a while they just lost hope and thought the only way to get out of this prison was to die themselves. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo The body's natural defense system of fight or flight response probably helped a lot of the survivors survive physically and mentally. The mind is an amazing part of the human body. I'm wondering if over time they blocked out a lot of the abuse/torment to maintain mental stability in order to survive. Especially when they knew at any time death could happen. 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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sblbooks In a word, propaganda. He just wanted to make a name for himself. They didn't want the full truth to come out, to other countries. It was just another way of giving the prisoners false hope. 5y

megnews @sblbooks I agree. And it made it “easy” for him to select his victims. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo During that time Dr. Mengele was an assistant to a researcher who was doing experiments on twins and other multiple birth children. Having the school was an easy access to the children without the parents or anyone else suspecting any wrong doing. I'm sure there were other benefits for him as well as making a good name for himself at the time, until the truth was discovered. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo agree totally 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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megnews I don‘t. There was probably rumors and conjecture of what might be happening but there was also a lot of propaganda about how great the camps were. And who could imagine people could be so cruel and evil. I think they had no idea what was going to happen. 5y

sblbooks I think she knew it was bad but I don't think she had any idea to what extent. I don't think anyone could even fathom such atrocities before the Holocaust. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo Yes, I think there was some idea of what was going on. Especially when her husband's family had been deported 3 years earlier and never heard from again. That's a sure sign/red flag that things were probably really bad. It was said that it didn't take her long to realize what was happening once they were at the train station boarding the brown cattle car. I think she knew but tried to block it from her mind just to get by daily. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo yes, I can‘t imagine the strength of mind it had to take to survive the circumstances they faced. 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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megnews When faced with this question about other Holocaust stories I usually say I‘d like to think I‘d be strong but one can never know for sure until you‘re faced with the situation. In this case, however, I can‘t imagine not going with my children. I would probably run the nursery school as well because it would be something for my children & others that might lessen the horrors of camp for awhile. The other option to sit & wait is not appealing. 5y

sblbooks I can't imagine ever leaving your family. Hindsight's 20/20 but I probably would have tried to leave the country beforehand. These people had no idea what was coming though. 5y

megnews @sblbooks I agree which is why my answer to the next question is no. 5y

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megnews @SaturnDoo 5y

SaturnDoo Helene's in-laws had already been deported to Poland 3 years earlier but because she was a pure bred her family had not been bothered. Still yet, I think I would have tried to leave the country as soon as the the in-laws were deported. Nothing at that time was a guaranteed safety net.Because they risked staying and the police came the only option she had was to go with her family. At that moment, I would have gone with my kids too. 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo I think a lot of people were trying to emigrate but couldn‘t find a country to take them, were getting charged exorbitant “fees” they couldn‘t afford, or were getting the bureaucratic run around from the Nazis. There was so much propaganda about the camps it‘s hard to know what people could know at the time. It‘s kind of like the frog in the pot with the water slowly getting hotter and not jumping out. Hindsight is 20/20. 5y

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

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Auschwitz Lullaby: A Novel | Mario Escobar

so-so

The story of Helene Hannemann‘s kindergarten in the midst of the horrors of Auschwitz is an important one to tell. Unfortunately, I felt this book, with a plot at times disjointed, fell short. Conversations felt awkward & I wish characters were more developed, especially Helene & her children. Ultimately this book was between a so-so and a pan for me. I give it 2 1/2 ⭐️.

Still enjoyed #LullabyBuddyRead & can‘t wait to hear @sblbooks thoughts.

sblbooks I'm only on chapter 11, so far it's a so-so for me. I'll tag you when I review it though. 5y

SaturnDoo I was wondering if anyone had finished,reviewed and discussed this yet. Although I haven't been here much,every couple days I would get on briefly and look at my notifications or see if I had been tagged 😂. Did I miss the discussion already? 5y

megnews @SaturnDoo You didn‘t miss it. I posted ??? Sunday for conversation this week. I‘ll go tag you in it. Wasn‘t sure if you were still reading the book. Hope all is well! 5y

sblbooks @SaturnDoo I just reviewed it. Looking forward to hearing your comments on the discussion questions. 5y

SaturnDoo @sblbooks I just answered the questions 😊 5y

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