I Only Wanted to Live (World War II True Story)

I enjoy reading WWII books based on personal accounts and experiences. This book is unlike most because of Arie’s age and social status as he entered into WWII. Incredibly well written, I had a hard time putting it down once I got started. Arie is a remarkable human being. I am very grateful he shared his story. We must never forget and alway strive to make this World a better place.

This was such a good book! It was so heart wrenching. I have read many books about The Holocaust; it was nice to read a first hand account of what a young boy went through. He survived because of his will to live, ingenuity, intelligence , compassion and sheer guts.

The book itself has a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, however, I notice this happens in a lot of kindle books (not just this one.) This book is Arie Tamir true story about his life growing up as a child during the Holocaust. Although, his family had money and for the longest time they lived the life of luxury before the Holocaust started, his father was able for many years to prevent them from living through the horrific events that many other families went through by paying off many people along the way, and I believe that there was a lot of luck involved as well (especially when they were in the camps and separated from their family.) All in all though it is still a heart-filled and very touching story. Although, it seems that his family didn't struggle as much as many of the other families did, they struggled just as much, but in a different way. I learned many things about the Holocaust and what these families went through by reading this book. I applaud Arie for his strength and facing his fears head on while living through such horrible events, all the while trying to keep a positive attitude through it all. Although, there are many different opinions on this book, I feel that it is one well worth reading.

This is an extraordinary book. It provides information in end notes that shed light on the role of Jewish collaborators, and the function of the Gestapo and SS in murdering Jews. It provides testimony as to the enormous manpower and resources that the Nazis poured into the gruesome task of annihilating Jewish men, women and children, and of the deceptions, some very elaborate, used to disarm suspicion. This true story of a child's survival in slave labor camps also gives testimony to what happens when the fragile boundaries of civilization collapse and man's naked evil is unleashed against an innocent population. The unimaginable brutality of those wielding power makes it difficult to believe in man's supposedly innate goodness. This child's tragic experiences instead show that human beings readily engaged in the most horrible acts of extreme cruelty and barbarism against other human beings when the victims were considered less than human and therefore worthy of death. Germany was thought to be a religious society, highly cultured and accomplished in education and the arts. However it was this society that elevated a madman to ruler, either applauding or conveniently ignoring his hate filled rants against the Jews. So it was this society that gave the world a priceless legacy of art and literature that also taught the world how unbridled hate can engulf tens of millions in a whirlwind of violence and death. A long history of extraordinary accomplishment did nothing to prevent unspeakable atrocities against those, who, before they were bodies machine gunned in huge pits or became skeletal remains heaped into piles of corpses, were vibrant, loving individuals, doctors, professors, skilled craftsmen, musicians, businessmen, with beautiful, healthy families. Evil unbridled resulted in their destruction. Let the rise of the evil beliefs of Nazism be a warning that ANY society is capable of descending into hell and taking the innocent along with it.

This was an excellent read, and I couldn't put it down. I have read many Holocaust survivor stories, and this one gives the most-detailed description of life in a Jewish ghetto. He is also very honest in his description of his relationships with his German and Polish captors, and mentions the good ones to offset the bad. What a thrill to end the story with a description of his new life in Israel and his rebuilt family. His father, bless his memory, would have been proud!

I thought the story was hard to read. The author made it sound as if he plight was an adventure and that most of the time it wasn’t so bad. What! Was he kidding!!!The only part he felt was heartbreaking was when the children were marched out of the Ghetto to the trains. I am glad that he didn’t have any after effects from his experiences.

As many reviewers have stated, this is a most unusual tale of the Krakow Ghetto and the Holocaust. Why? It isn’t filled with the same emotion many other stories are filled with. But then, that is the beauty of the story. We are seeing the events through the eyes of child. A child who realizes early there is no time for emotion. Survival is the only thing that matters. He witnesses hundreds of murders and executions. He doesn’t’ become callous, he becomes immune to the site of death. It is becoming common place. This does not mean he accepts it, but since he can do nothing to change it, he thanks God he is not one of the lambs being led to the slaughter. How can we possibly imagine what it would be like at ten/eleven to have your entire world turned upside down and you, your family and friends targeted as “Enemies of the State, but have committed no crime other than being born Jewish. Arie does an excellent job describing his life in the Ghetto, his time with friends, strangers his time in Plaszow and eventually Mauthhausen. I had never head of the Plaazow camp. I found it very interesting especially the passage on how the nurses and guards kept the children calm as they led them to be slaughtered. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and Arie’s perspective on how he survived.

Brilliant!

It is written as a documentary rather then a lived story. Not as gripping as i would have liked.

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He wanted to live and he survived by working in the Polish situation and managed to get various jobs and worked with Polish and Jewish people and despite his family being taken away and some killed, he was not sent to the Holocaust places. He was both lucky and competent in his survival. The book also has some reflections of his life after the war and he was so lucky he survived.

The ingenuity of this young child, as he was at the time, is amazing. How he fought for his survival and his memories is simply unbelievable.