Sherry Rosenthal

Stephen "Pista" Nasser was 13-years-old when he and the rest of his family was taken from a Budapest ghetto to Auschwitz. He and his older brother, Andris, soon seize an opportunity to sneak into a work detail headed for a labor camp in Bavaria. They are transported to Muhldorf Concentration Camp, part of the larger Dachau complex. There they are forced to work building a huge bunker that was intended to become a factory to produce Messerschmitt jet fighters. Despite three brutal beatings, typhus, pneumonia, and starvation, Pista survives and returns to Budapest and high school. Fearing the encroaching Communist takeover, Pista applies for immigration to Canada and eventually makes his way to the US.

Stephen delayed writing about his experience until his Uncle Karoly passed away for Stephen knew the tragic fate of his uncle's wife and baby and did not want him learning the details.

Despite the horrible events of Stephen's youth, he remains a positive and optimistic person. He begins his story at the end, telling of his rescue and rehabilitation. At first he uses the construct of telling a nurse what had happened to him, in bits and pieces, but then transitions into a straightforward narrative, which worked better for me. His story is written in the first person present tense, which immersed me in the story, but does make it less history and more narrative. I found his experiences after the war —returning to Budapest and school, reconnecting with family—members, to be interesting and am glad he continued his story until the point he leaves for Canada.

My Brother's Voice is another important story in Holocaust literature and reminds us of the impact of war on children.… (más)