Rescued from the Ashes: The Diary of Leokadia Schmidt, Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto (Holocaust Survivor Memoirs World War II) Paperback – Illustrated, 23 Jan. 2019

What an amazing book written by an amazingly strong women about her husband and family. I can't seem to be able to read enough about a time I was never taught of as a child, history in our school was pre 1945. We need to read these accounts so we know what suffering is really about, I get angry when people moan today about not being able to go out because of covid, then I read amazing accounts like this and I feel blessed. This family and there traumatic but amazing survival is written in first hand and even though she is not a writer and sometimes seems a little disjointed when writing about places and streets amazes me and I personally found it very easy reading and I truly felt part of her family and felt there struggles and heartache. You have got to read these amazing account to realise miracles do happen.

If this book does anything, it re-enforces my opinion of mankind in all of his atricities. When even Jews will exploit Jews no matter how badly off they all are in order to save themselves including their own families and children (I mean the bigger family of Jews here not kith and kin) it rather says it all about the depths to which people will sink to save their own skins and this book represents that and also the good in people since the author did survive despite the odds. A most shocking account of mankind for good and for bad. Not one to read if you want to see everyone only in a good light but if, like me, you’re a realist then you won’t flinch from this harrowing account of the Ghettoes and life lived there.

This incredibly resilient woman and her husband lived through one of the worst periods in history, surviving only due to their own faith and the help of a very few goodhearted people who refused to be duped by Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda in World War 2 Poland.For years they were forced to hide from almost all of their neighbours and former friends who would betray defenceless families to their pitiless Nazi occupiers and collaborators who didn't hesitate to shoot innocent people on the street or send them to the extermination camp in Treblinka.This book is not only a timely warning for our society of the dangers of extremist politics and prejudice but also a moving and inspirational reminder of the enduring power of goodness, even when held in the hands of only a fragile few.Leokadia's story is life-changing! Like Anne Frank's diary, it should be required reading for every generation and nationality: its message is timeless.

If people want to know what life and death was like in the Warsaw Ghetto and occupied Poland in World War 2 this book will spell it out. Slightly disjointed in places - but that isn't surprising given the number of years that it took to record events in secret, plus the harrowing circumstances in which they were recorded. A truly remakable account of how quickly the vaneer of normality in human kind can be stripped away in adversity. The cruelty in the human race and the nobility of spirit is shown in stark outline in this memoir. If people don't want to see history repeat itself this book should be read, re-read and discussed amongst each generation as time passes.

This is quite possibly the longest memoir I have read but it was gripping from start to finish. It serves as a reminder that past generations endured so much tyranny and hardship that we cannot begin to understand. Betrayal is around every corner of this read and I can’t recommend highly enough to give followers of such stories an in depth view of a families fight for survival to overcome obstacles at every turn during the Holocaust in Poland. A must read!

I thought this book was excellent. The detail is incredible and really conveys the situation that was faced. Well done.

Quite a harrowing account of one woman's survival against all odds during a terrible time.What this illustrates is the depths to which some people will sink in order to survive at the expense of others but also that good people can be found anywhere even in the most extreme circumstances.

This is the first book I’ve read about the holocaust and it is very informative but also brings home how senselessly cruel human beings can be. To learn how lives can be sold for a little money is truly sickening. I believe that all schools should have to read books of this nature to teach them how not to behave. The German people (and from what I’ve read, a lot of Polish people have a terrible amount of blood on their hands) . Everybody should read this book.