An extraordinary story of survival against all odds, full of life and heart in the face of death
We’ve heard it all before. We’ve read the book, we’ve seen the movie. Yet we haven’t. That’s the thing about human stories: each is unique. Sam’s is remarkable. Not just the death camps, but his escape from them. And that he could build a life afterwards. –The Big Issue
In September 1939, Hitler’s Germany invaded Poland. It was Sam Pivnik’s thirteenth birthday, and his life was turned upside down overnight. He was first transported to a ghetto in his home town of Bedzin, then another. He then spent a harrowing six months on Auschwitz’s notorious Rampkommando, before being sent to work at the brutal Furstengrube mining camp. As the Third Reich collapsed, he took part in the ‘Death March’ that took him west – only to board the prison ship Cap Arcona which was mistakenly sunk by the Royal Air Force in 1945, as they believed SS members to be on board.
Each of these experiences could have proved fatal. Many brought Sam on the verge of death. But he survived, against all odds, and built a life from himself after the War.
In Survivor he tells his incredible story.
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Survivor has moved readers all around the world:
‘This should be read and re-read for generations’ – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A man with dignity. A book that is raw and unflinching. A staggering account of Nazi obsession with the obliteration of a people. It left me profoundly sad and angry for what happened, and grateful that because of survivors such as Sam Pivnik, this episode in history can and will not be forgotten.’ – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A huge 5 stars for a story that had to be told. There is simply far too much to say to do Sam, his book, or the nightmare of the war justice.’ – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Reviews
'This vivid memoir'.
Sixty-seven years after the end of the war, by which point the extent of Hitler's death camps have been fully exposed, we've heard it all before, read the book, seen the movie. Yet we haven't. That's the thing about human stories: each is unique. Sam's is remarkable. Not just the death camps, but his escape from them. And that he could build a life afterwards.
'The tale is frank, brutal and horrifying...The fear seems real, and smells real'.
Powerful, absorbing and - tragically - entirely truthful, Hollocaust survivor Sam Pivnik is a remarkable storyteller.
Frank, brutal and horrifying.
