Appel Is Forever: A Child's Memoir

By Suzanne Mehler Whitely and Suzanne Mehler Whiteley

Book Overview

Born in Amsterdam in 1935, Suzanne Mehler Whiteley saw ravages of war through a child'seyes. Her memoir, written in the voice of a young girl, describes the years before the invasion of Holland, her experiences during the German occupation, her time spent in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and her childhood afterward in Europe and then the United States. A holocaust survivor who is now trained as a therapist, the author tells not only what it was like to witness the horrors of Bergen-Belsen but also how a child set about resuming the business of growing up after. She shares the sense of dislocation afer the war and the hope that was restored by emigrating to the United States.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814328210
• ISBN13: 9780814328217
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 0.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

through the eyes of a child

... i found this book so interesting because a child's life was overlaid on the story of the holocaust. the amazing thing about the book is the genuineness of the child's point of view. she has real problems that are independent of the madness going on around her, yet which are,of course, strongly affected by it. often these kinds of books are cutesy and inauthentic; this one is amazingly real. the child's viewpoint changes, subtly, over time as she is growing up in the midst of this unreal world. it is quite an accomplishment.

A welcome and unusual contribution to both Holocaust studies

Suzanne Mehler Whiteley was born in Amsterdam in 1935 and saw the ravages of World War II through a child's eyes. Appel Is Forever: A Child's Memoir is written in the voice of a young girl and describes the years before the invasion of Holland, her experiences during the German occupation, her time spent as a prisoner within the infamous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and her childhood after the end of the war both in Europe and then the United States. This is a compelling, candid account of atrocities. Yet through the young Suzanne's introspection, we see beyond the history of events to a deeper meaning. Here is the miracle of having survived when millions of other perished, and after the horrors of the Holocaust, the promises and hardships of the American dream. Appel Is Forever is a welcome and unusual contribution to both Holocaust studies, Judaic studies, and Women's studies reading lists and reference collections.

This book is awesome

This book is anautobyogryiffy of a young girl. This book is really good because it is from the eyes of a child. It made me even more into the books, because it is what it might of been like for me. The girl's father was a rabbi in Holland. The girl's mom & dad got her Grandmothers out of Germany so they could try to sevive together.In 1943 they were taken to Westerbork (in Holland) and then to the famous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. (in Germany) She satyed for two years. She survived but her father and grandmothers did not. The book tells about her life after World War II. In England, New York, and Chicogo were she stayes with reletives and overcomes the tragity of the war.