I borrowed
To See You Again by Betty Schimmel from one of Amanda’s co-workers. It’s the true story of two young people, Betty and Richie (named changed) who met in 1939 in Budapest after Betty’s family moved there to escape growing concern for their safety as Jews in Czechoslovakia. Despite the war waging around them, they fell in love and dreamed of a day when the war would be over and they’d enjoy a future together. They believed they could survive anything, even Hitler.
As with all of the holocaust stories I’ve read, it’s amazing to me what people can survive. Betty and Richie were separated after the Germans invaded Hungary. Betty writes in detail of the horrors she and her siblings endured during the holocaust of which they survived mostly to the credit of their mother and her unwavering faith in God. Miraculously, both Betty and Richie survived the war. However, they weren’t reunited with each other for some thirty years.
This is Betty’s “moving memoir of survival and sacrifice, of love lost and love found.” I really enjoyed this book (much more so than the last one I reviewed about the holocaust in Italy). However, if you have a young person reading it, please be aware that there is one scene (only a page or so) which you may want them to skip.