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Resisting this, historian Emanuel Ringelblum organized the Oneg Shabbat Archive, the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, to create an historical record of Jewish life and to gather evidence for postwar justice. For example, her mother told her it’s her fault her father got captured (she had NOTHING to do with it and could’ve done NOTHING to help) she just wondered if it’s truly her fault.Eva spends her time at the local church with Pere Clement a priest, Remy a fellow forger and together they create new identities for hundreds of Jewish people escaping to Switzerland. I loved Eva, despite the atrocities happening right in front of her nose she fought courageously, looked death in the eye and did whatever she could to help save lives. Klaristenfeld navigated through the massive Book of Names at Auschwitz-Birkenau and found the names of his grandmother’s parents and other relatives.

We think it’s significant that it will be inaugurated in the place that was intended to be a place of peace and of preventing another genocide. Characters are frequently “incredulous”, “stunned”, “heartened”, “full of hatred”, “frustrated” or “terrified”. Riding on an emotional roller coaster that drags you through hope, love, trust, friendship, humanity and secrets, While we never see the horrors of the death camps in this novel, we see the heartbreaking impact on so many, especially children, whose mothers and fathers were rounded up by the Nazis sent to those camps, killed there or before they get there. I cannot believe that anyone who lived in WWII and was Jewish were as naive and so clueless as to what was happening as Eva’s idiotic mother.Nigel Peever did an stellar job as narrator bringing the stories to life especially with the background sound effects. Loved this quote: “She doesn’t understand what it means to love books so passionately that you would die without them, that you would simply stop breathing, stop existing. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Paris 1942, Eva lives happily with her mother Faiga and father Tatus, once the German’s arrive every day life is made more difficult for Jewish citizens and living in Paris is very hard. Who will remember the real names of the Jewish children for whom she is forging the documents and who are too young to remember later their real names.

And leaving the empty pages is a remembrance that they also existed, that they also were Jews, they also were human beings.Eva’s desire in this beautiful way reflects my belief as well as so many others, that it is so very important to remember these victims. I hope it will survive – it will be the most beautiful, the best outcome of what we did in these cruel times (…) I do not ask for any thanks, for any memorial, for any praise. Not a single internal monologue about how she has to change her practice, keep her practice hidden, does not feel connected to Judaism, or anything. Makes false identity cards for herself and her mother so that they can pass as non-Jews, immediately reveals her true indentity to everyone she meets. Meanwhile, the work of recovering the unknown victims’ names will continue apace, as it has for the last seven decades.

Focusing on names from nature, names inspired by history, names that rhyme and names that are beautifully unusual, this is simply a celebration of readers and a book full of joy. My audio version of the book had no author's notes (I have no idea if there are author's notes in the print versions of the books) so I'm including some links of interest to those who read the book.However, the story relies on some leaps of faith (especially Eva’s ability to master forgeries as easily as she does). On 14 April 1956, Shlomo Lichtensztajn, living in 74 King Salomon Street in Tel Aviv, completed several Pages of Testimony to remember the life of his brother, Israel Lichtensztajn, his sister-in-law, Gele Seksztajn, and his little niece, Margalit Lichtensztajn. There is a lot to consider – names can be an indicator of so many things including class, status, religion and culture.