Memory is about choice. We can choose to remember the past in ways that provoke pain and stir our anger, or we can remember in ways that help us create the kind of world in which we most want to live. Nowhere is this choice more important than in connection to the Holocaust. And never has it been more important than now, because we are the first generation that will live without the presence of those who can tell us in their own words what they saw with their own eyes. These seventy-one firsthand stories from survivors of the Holocaust teach us to choose to remember for life, for their words are not about hatred and death but about ethics, decency, and love. Although the stories are arranged to accompany the weekly Torah readings and many of the Jewish holidays, they are just as meaningful when read on their own, in any sequence. The themes--journey, identity, resistance, community, refuge, and righteousness, to name but a few--are universal. And the lessons--about how to live more fully the life we are given--shine through.

An account written by Tubach of his own life experiences and those of his friend, Bernat Rosner, as related to him. Rosner, a Holocaust survivor, was born in 1932 in the village of Tab, Hungary. Tubach, a non-Jew, was born in 1930 as Friedrich (Fritz) Tubach, and grew up in the village of Kleinheubach, Franconia. After the war, Tubach and Rosner both immigrated to the USA, where they met and became friends. Their wartime stories are interwoven in the book. In July 1944, after the German occupation of Hungary, Rosner and his family were deported to Auschwitz. In September 1944 Rosner was sent to Mauthausen, and then to Gusen and Gunskirchen. His parents and brother perished in Auschwitz. Rosner created a new American identity for himself, and it was only in the 1990s that he and Tubach began to record their conversations on their lives in wartorn Europe. Tubach also relates the fate of some Jews of Kleinheubach and describes the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in the village.

This is a rare account of the horrors of the WW2 death camps from someone who experienced them. Born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Prague, Hoffman lost his entire family in the Holocaust. Fourteen-year-old Martin Hoffman escapes immediate death on arrival at Auschwitz by claiming to be eighteen. Through a combination of chutzpah and luck, he first survives a year at Auschwitz, then the Death March to Buchenwald, and stays alive until the camp is liberated by American troops. After relocating to England, Hoffman is tortured by survivor's guilt, which leads to episodes of deep depression. He learns a trade (diamond-cutting), but eventually discovers two things: a talent for bridge, and a fascination with gambling. As he finds success with the first, becoming a world-class professional player, the second almost destroys him. It is only later in life, with the help of his wife Audrey, that Hoffman is able to overcome his dark memories, conquer his addiction to gambling, and finally find contentment in a new life in Florida.