Survivors Club Book Discussion

The library will host a book discussion on the book Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz by Michael Bornstein Thursday, March 10 at 2:00pm in the library's community meeting rooms. Discussion copies of the book can be picked up at the library's Check-Out Desk. 

The incredible true story of one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz—an accessible, inspirational Holocaust memoir for middle-grade readers.

In 1945, in a now-famous piece of archival footage, four-year-old Michael Bornstein was filmed by Soviet soldiers being led out of Auschwitz in his grandmother’s arms. Here is the unforgettable story of how a father’s courageous wit, a mother’s fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved his life. And this is not just Michael’s story, but the story of a family that dodged and deceived death time and again with incredible deftness. Working from his own recollections as well as extensive interviews with other family members and survivors who knew the family, Michael relates his inspirational story with the help of his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat. Shocking, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, this is an indelible depiction of what happened in one Polish village in the wake of the German invasion in 1939.

This program is a lead-up to the library's Americans and the Holocaust exhibition, which is a traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibition will be at the library from Saturday, March 26 through Friday, May 6. 

As a part of the exhibition, Michael Bornstein and his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat will be visiting Marshalltown and speaking at the Marshalltown High School Auditorium on Thursday, March 31st at 10:00am. For more information, please visit https://www.marshalltownlibrary.org/americans-and-the-holocaust-exhibition/.