Can anyone recommend a good autobiography (or two) by jewish authors that survived the Holocaust?

There’s Elie Wiesel’s Night.

Primo Levi survived and wrote ‘If This Be a Man’.

I second Mariah. Anything by Elie Wiesel is good to go.

I don’t know where you are from @flutherother. But wouldn’t it be nice to know if there were any living survivors in your area and you could hear them speak yourself. I have done that in places I’ve lived in the past and it is life changing.

Note that you’re more likely to find “If This Be a Man” under the title “Survival in Auschwitz” in the US.

@bkcunningham Good suggestion too; I haven’t been quite the same since hearing a woman named Helen Sperling speak at my school.

Victor Klemperer kept a diary through the rise of the Nazis and the war.

He was born Jewish, but survived because he was a WWI veteran and married to a Christian. Just one example of what they endured; Gestapo would repeatedly search their house and beat them for keeping items forbidden to Jews, like pencils paper or a kitten.

He was scheduled for deportation to the camps, but when the allies firebombed Dresden, he and his wife walked out of the city and joined the throngs refugees,

I consider it the most important book I have ever read.

I Will Bear Witness, A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933–1941

“From Mauthausen to the Moon.” by Art Lakner. he became a NASA scientist.

@bkcunningham I am in Glasgow, Scotland. I haven’t heard any survivors speak and I should make an effort as time is running out.

@dappled_leaves Thanks for pointing that out though I do prefer the UK title.

@flutherother – I agree, it’s too bad they changed it for US publication. Have you read his book The Periodic Table? It’s also beautiful – one of my favourite books of all time.

@dappled_leaves That was the first book of his I read. I liked it very much.

I also suggest Elie Wiesel, heavy stuff, but incredibly well written.

Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird was a diificult read – but then I was only about 12 or so.

The Road to Auschwitz by Hedi Fried.

I heard this author speak at an event in 2000 and was fortunate enough to share a table with him and his wife at the luncheon following. As usual, I didn’t pass up my opportunity to ask questions. I was very much affected by hearing his story and, subsequently, by reading his book.

Thank you all so much for the many suggestions. I’ll be picking up a few this week from the public library.

Did you also read Maus 2? Equally good.

@filmfann Indeed I did. Excellent book.

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust. It’s a child’s book, but it’s a great account.

My uncle is a survivor and wrote an autobiography of his experience that I found very moving and illuminating, and of course unbearably sad. It’s available through Amazon.

I definitely agree with anything by Elie Wiezel. I bought three of his books for my seventeenth birthday. I also suggest “The Cage” by Ruth Minsky Sender. I plan to get “The Pianist” by Wladyslaw Szpilman, which was the basis for the movie.

I really enjoyed Fateless or Fatelessness by Imre Kertescz (sp). He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He wasn’t very happy with the English translation but I thought it was brillaint.
Also Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House Five was particulary moving. It is not a traditional autobiography but still very thought provoking.