Sunday Favourites: Continuing with Memoirs

 Book: Stolen Years

Author: Sara (Plager) Zyskind
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1981

One of my favourite time periods to read about is World War II and the Holocaust. The Holocaust in particular has always interested me. In grade seven, my teacher brought in a Holocaust survivor to speak to the class and her vivid account of the horrifying events always stuck with me. I guess even as a 12-year-old, I couldn’t imagine such atrocities occurring to people whose only crime was being born a Jew. Listening to her tell her story and noting that she wasn’t much older than my own grandmother, made me realize that it really wasn’t that long ago. By high school, our religion class ventured to Detroit to visit the Holocaust museum. Again the speaker left the class speechless and said his main goal was to tell his story so these acts of violence would never happened again.

As a result, I began to read classic Holocaust memoirs such as Night by Elie Wiesel and Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl. Both well written and well known, but nothing seem to impact me as much as Stolen Years by Sara Zyskind. A local used bookstore was closing down in my town and they were having a huge clearance sale. Most paperbacks were 50 cents each. I came across one with a cover of a sullen-looking girl with long braids. The cover was extremely tattered and taped. I added it to my mountainous pile without out much thought.

This virtually unknown book and author became one of my favourite books of all time. It is the story of Sara Plager living in Lodz, Poland in 1939. As an eleven-year-old Jewish girl, her life is turned upside down when the Nazis invade her city. She is forced into the ghetto, narrowly escapes Auschwitz, and finishes up the war at seventeen in a labour camp. How she manages to survive when so many around her are dying is beyond reason. The description of her struggle is unforgettable and like nothing I have ever read before. And I think that is what separated her story from the rest for me. Seven years after reading it, I still remember how much she made me appreciate something as simple as a piece of bread. It is also one of the few books my mom has ever read twice.

This book is extremely rare. I haven’t been able to track down a copy at any bookstore and I have only found a few copies online. Therefore I have only given it out to a few trustworthy people over the years. I remember it also being difficult to find any information about the author. If you want a story to make you appreciate your own life, I suggest tracking down a copy of the Stolen Years.





*Note: Sunday Favourites is an idea I have to force myself to sit down and write a short blog post every weekend no matter how busy I get with school! I might do similar topics for a month. Examples: Book genres, music, desserts, sports, etc. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!


Sincerely, Mag