Izaak SturmReseñas

Touching story of survival and loss. Excellent addition to any WWII/ Holocaust library.

I think this book would be of more interest/value to someone who was either from Izaak Sturm’s hometown of Debiça/Dembitz, Poland or had ancestors from there, than to the average Holocaust reader.

There are detailed footnotes explaining the lives and fates of neighbors and friends and relatives Sturm mentions, as well as lots of photos and documents included, but the actual writing is not terrific. Everything is told rather than shown, in a flat matter of fact way, “and this happened, then this, then this” like going down a checklist.

Even with things that must have been particularly devastating, like the murder of Sturm’s mother or the time he thought his dad and sister had been killed, you don’t actually get a feel for it. In fact I found the book hard to finish for this reason. I think this is not indifference or stoicism on Sturm’s part but just an indication that he’s not that talented a writer. The story might have worked better written as one of those “as told to” books.

If you have a special interest in Debiça/Dembitz’s history in particular this is a valuable resource, but for general Holocaust reading there are better memoirs.

(I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review.)

I really don't know WHAT to write about this book, but I'll try ;)

A story of a Jewish boy (Izaak Sturm) who lives through the atrocities of the Holocaust, as he is moved from concentration camp to concentration camp.

First Izaak tells us about the peaceful life he lives in the town of Debica, then he follows with his recollection of the cruelty of the Nazi's. A guard, named Grün, whipped or shot people whenever he felt like it. Later Izaak testifies against him in court.

He also tells us about the commandant of Plaszów, who 'took a great deal of pleasure in walking around with his gun and shooting people left and right'.

Before being 'evacuated' Izaak lives in the ghetto, and something that caught my eye was the following line he wrote:

“Jewish life was cheap in the ghetto. --- It was not unusual to see people shot to death. It was common. It was nothing.”

Izaak gives detailed information about the people he tells about in detailed footnotes. The book feeled like a transcript of his presentations.

Sometimes he gives too much information about persons, but I guess that is okay in this kind of books.
The book had many undefined Jewish-terms, that made it sometimes difficult to understand for non-Jewish people. A explanation in the end of the book would have been welcomed.

This book was enlightening and concise, but as said by others, filled with details not really needed. This also made the book not an easy read. Various documents have been added in appendices, to five as much details as possible.

A well written book, that should be a recommended read for history lessons, but with some clarifications for some names.

I find it hard to give stars to these kind of books. Would I rate it 5 stars because of the story, or the what the author has gone through or..., so the 5 stars I give are based on the story it self

The person in charge of layout and format of the book has done a good job. The book itself looks great, the paper is of a top-quality

By the time I had read the first three pages of Filling in the Pieces, by Izaak Strum, I realized I was experiencing the story of a life as if I were hearing him speaking to me.
with photos and footnotes illustrating, diagraming, more fully describing, etc. points of the narrative, Mr. Strum gives his personal experience of life as a young Jew in an already anti-Jewish nation (Poland) just prior to,
during and after World War II.
He is not uber-dramatic, nor is he horrifically graphic in his descriptions. He seems to know that as a populace we already have been drenched in the horror and his simple description of his experience is enough.
The story is powerful, unprejudiced and warm.
I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. As the title implies, it does fill in the pieces of who went through what and how they got through it.

The expectations put forth to the reader in Rabbi Hier's introductions are many. There is the promise we won't be immune to heartbreak and triumph. We will be powerfully reminded of the atrocities of World War II. We will be provided with a clear-eyed view of human behavior throughout this disturbing time. We will have insight into both the world of the perpetrator and survivor alike. We will be reminded that the Holocaust must be remembered and not denied, forgotten, or repeated. We will learn from the author's persistence to survive. Above all else, we will be touched. All of that is true. Expectations such as these and then-some are met in Sturm's courageous words.
Introduction by Rabbi Marvin Hier.
Preface by Moish (Mark) Sturm, Izaak's son.
Favorite element of the book: There is an attention to detail as if history depends on Sturm getting it exact (like the precise year of his birth). Footnotes are plentiful.
Book trivia: the photographs are generous, both in color and black and white.

I won an advanced copy of this book through the Library Thing early reviewer program. Thanks to Gefen Publishing House for choosing me to receive this book.

Over the years I have read a fair amount of books about WWII, including several memoirs by Holocaust survivors. This book is not quite like a typical memoir. I racked my brains trying to think of how to define it. I think the best description is that it is an excellent primary source.For future authors researching the era, this would be a wonderful book to refer to.

Whomever was in charge of the format of the book did an excellent job. Well done! Everything is perfect. The book is printed on high quality "coffee table art book" paper. (It even smells good) There are a lot of photos and even better, they are interspersed throughout the book. You don't have to keep flipping to the photo section of the book to see images. I think my favorite part of the structure of the book is that there are footnotes, not endnotes. Be still my beating heart. Ok, I admit I am a lazy person in that I get irked constantly flipping to the back of a book to read the notes. Sometimes I end up not bothering because it disrupts the flow of my reading. (I know, first world problems) This, having the notes on the same page of the text was great. Another feature of the book that readers don't normally see was multiple appendixes. There were five. Two detailed the stories of Mr Sturm's wife's experiences during the war and those of his father & sister. One was photos of the many, many relevant WWII documents discovered during the research of the book. One was the transcript of the trial Mr Sturm testified at. The final one showed a lot of later family photos that totally made me cry. I was so happy that after losing many family members in the war, Izaak & Sally Sturm ended up with children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren in their lives. That brings me to the touching forward of the book, which were letters written by each of their kids & grandkids, describing the love they had for their dad/granddad.

As for the actual "book" part of the book, it was fairly dry and concise. Very Dragnet "Just the facts, ma'am" style. I got the impression that it was more like an extended transcript of the talks he gives, rather than a detailed memoir with a lot of self-reflection & inner emotions revealed. But that's ok! I think the important thing was to add his voice/book to that of other survivors so a detailed record can be gathered before all the people who lived through these events die.

"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." Already, polls are showing that the younger generation does not know much about the Holocaust. It's frightening. With the rise of right wing politicians throughout America and Europe, I fear that a future holocaust is possible. Look at all the politicians who blame immigrants and Muslims for all the world's ills and are applauded for it! Just like how in Germany before & during the war, Jews & Communists were blamed for everything. These blanket statements about huge groups of people are so ignorant but there are a lot of ignorant people out there.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Izaak Sturm said little about his experiences during the Holocaust for many years. He had wanted to spare his children and grandchildren from the knowledge. As a very old man, he decided first to tell them and others, and then to record his story for posterity. Reading this book feels to me as if he was including the readers in his family circle, just as if we were beloved grandchildren. He is a grandfather that anyone would be proud to have. His warmth and honesty comes through clearly in these pages. First he recounts his boyhood life in a small Polish village and the gradually more and more ominous atmosphere culminating in the Nazi invasion. He was just a teenager when he was sent to the concentration camps and he names with gratitude the many people who helped him survive, often by very small actions such as sharing a bowl of watery soup. Frequent footnotes give the rest of their stories; many survived, and he seems to have made a point of keeping in touch with them. There are many documents and photographs illustrating the book. In the appendix are many further documents relating to his post-war sojourn in Sweden and immigration to the USA, and family photographs almost up to the present. Again, these reinforce the feeling that it's a family document. To me, this gives a certain authenticity and immediacy to the narrative. I'm grateful to Izaak Sturm for sharing his story with all of us.

I received this book free from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer programme in return for a review.

This is the captivating story of a Jew who as a boy in Poland was captured by the Nazis and moved from one concentration camp to the next.

Izaak’s mother was shot but both his father, sister and he himself miraculously survived.

The whole horrible scenario of the Holocaust experienced and witnessed by the boy, Izaak, is described in minute detail.

The book is immaculately expressed and the gruesome scenes are depicted matter-of-factly with little emotion.

The book is illustrated with many useful and interesting photos, both of Izaak and his family, Nazi officers and others.

Izaak tells us first of his peaceful youth in the Polish town of Debica prior to Hitler’s rise to power.

The cruelty/lack of humanity of the Nazi officers was unbelievable. One guard, Grün, at whose trial Izak testified in 1971, whipped or shot people if he was in the mood to do so.

Göth, the camp commandant (at Plaszów) “took a great deal of pleasure in walking around with his gun and shooting people left and right”. He killed people at random with his machine gun for no reason other than he felt like it.

Izaak personally witnesses many atrocities.

Prior to incarceration in various concentration camps Izaak and his family lived in the ghetto.

“Jewish life was cheap in the ghetto. --- It was not unusual to see people shot to death. It was common. It was nothing.”

Izaak gives many details of the people he mentions, also in the rather too detailed footnotes, which could beneficially have been placed at the end of the book instead of at the bottom of each page.

Another negative feature was the fact that the book included many undefined Jewish terms, incomprehensible to most non-Jews. Again, there could advantageously have been a section at the end of the book explaining these terms.

I found the book enlightening but filled with, in my view, unnecessary details, such that this comprehensive book was not really an easy read.

Appendices included various documents, apparently provided for the sake of giving all possible information.

At the end of the war the Germans “dynamited the crematoria and the gas chambers to hide the most obvious signs of mass murder, and started marching us away from Auschwitz”.

A chapter describes “the death march, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen”, and there is also a chapter about liberation.

Following liberation Izaak travelled to Helsingborg in Sweden; he was impressed with the Swedes” “good-heartedness”.

Eventually, Izaak got to New York where he obtained an education and employment, and met and married Sally, also a Polish Jew.

For most of his life Izaak told no-one, not even his family, of his traumatic past.

I found this book to be eloquently written and a valuable testimony to the atrocities of the Holocaust – a work that could advantageously be prescribed reading in history classes.

I received this book as part of LibraryThing’s early reviewer program.

Filling in the Pieces is the story of Isaak Sturm's life during the Holocaust and his life after. Naturally, its heavy reading, but its an important book, even more so in this day and age. Everyone, Jewish and gentile, should read at least one survivor's testimony in their life.

What struck me is that Sturm survived Hell on earth but didn't lose himself and his faith. I found myself most interested on the small kindnesses and bravery of his companions and helpers. I enjoyed seeing the family pictures included in the book.

Thank you Gefen Publishing House for sending this book to me.

This book is an important and impressive memoir by a Holocaust survivor. Izzak Sturm shares his account of his early life in a Polish town and then his horrifying experience trying to stay alive while suffering the fate of many other Jews in Europe during WWII. He narrowly escapes starvation, concentration camps and Typhus to end up after the war in Sweden and the USA.

What is striking are the number of times his intuition to act a certain way saved him from an early death. We learn of the cruelty and indifference of the Polish people and also of the few Polish citizens who were kind and saved Jews. It's interesting to learn that his children and grandchildren have revisited Sturm's hometown in Poland.

I read this book to learn more about the Holocaust. Not only was I enlightened by the story, but I was moved by Strum's reconnecting with Judaism and his roots. He has passed on his strong sense of human decency and religious spirituality to his family and their future generations. This is a book well worth reading, especially if you are Jewish!

This is a story of both tragedy and love. The author survived the worst inhumanity it is possible to imagine. His story of survival shows astonishing strength. What struck me most however, was not the horror but the love. The amount of love demonstrated towards his family and their love for him made this a profoundly beautiful book.

The fact someone can live through the hell of the Holocaust and respond with such love makes this book a story of hope and an example to everyone.