Always Remember Your Name: A True Story of Family and Survival in Auschwitz

(Hardback)

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*NOW WITH A DETAILED READING GROUP GUIDE* A haunting WWII memoir of two sisters who survived Auschwitz that picks up where Anne Frank's Diary left off and gives voice to the children we lost. On March 28, 1944, six-year-old Tati and her four-year-old sister Andra were roused from their sleep and arrested. Along with their mother, Mira, their aunt, and cousin Sergio, they were deported to Auschwitz. Over 230,000 children were deported to the camp, where Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death, performed deadly experiments on them. Only a few dozen children survived, Tati and Andra among them. Tati, Andra, and Sergio were separated from their mothers upon arrival. But Mira was determined to keep track of her girls. After being tattooed with their inmate numbers, she made them memorize her number and told them to "always remember your name." In keeping this promise to their mother, the sisters were able to be reunited with their parents when WWII ended. An unforgettable narrative of the power of sisterhood in the most extreme circumstances, and of how a mother's love can overcome the most impossible odds, the Bucci sisters' memoir is a timely reminder that separating families is an inexcusable evil.

Reviews

"Always Remember Your Name is apowerful, yet simple, telling of aharrowing period in two young girls lives. The Bucci sisters will stay with the reader long after the book is closed."
Rabbi Marc Katz, The Jewish Book Council

"Andra and Tatiana Buccis riveting memoir reveals the extraordinary courage of two little girls; their will to live, and the profound love of their mother, who was determined to keep them alive. Always Remember Your Name isheart-breaking and yet utterly uplifting, with the fierce bond of two sisters at its heart, who survived the Holocaust to bear witness, so that none of us will ever forget."
Heather Morris, international bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilkas Journey, and Three Sisters

"Written in the simple, direct language of witness and accompanied throughout by family photographs, this poignant story celebrates human resilience and warns readers living in an increasingly divided and chaotic world to beware the 'monsters' created by 'the sleep of reason.' Historically significant firsthand documentation from the 20th centurys darkest period."
Kirkus

Author Bio

Andra (b. 1939) and Tatiana Bucci (b. 1937) were born in Fiume, the daughters of a Catholic father and Jewish mother. They were deported to Auschwitz along with their mother, grandmother, aunt and a cousin. When the camp was liberated in 1945 they were sent first to Czechoslovakia and later to the UK where their parents finally tracked them down. They were reunited with their parents in 1946. Today, they bear witness in schools and at the camps.