Always Remember Your Name by Andra and Tatiana Bucci, translated by Ann Goldstein is a powerful true account of the sisters’ survival as children in Auschwitz.
Tatiana was born in 1937 and Andra in 1939 to Catholic Jewish parents in Italy. They entered Auschwitz with their mother on April 4th 1944 and remained their until liberated by the Russian army on January 27th 1945.
The sisters’ story is one of survival. Separated from their mother on arrival, they lived in the kinderblock. To this day they do not know why they were spared the fate of so many children who were sent to the gas chambers on arrival at Auschwitz. They wondered if it was because the Nazis believed them to be twins. “There on the ramp our fate was sealed.” It is impossible for us to imagine the horrors they faced but as young children do, they ‘normalised’ what they saw. “Even the idea of ‘going out through the chimney’ seems normal to us.”
Following Auschwitz the sisters spent time in an orphanage in Prague before entering Lingfield House near London in April 1946. This was a home for Jewish children who had survived. Here the sisters received kindness and home comforts for the first time in years.
As with many Holocaust survivors, the sisters did not talk about their experiences until 1995. They first re-visited Auschwitz in 1996.
Having each other in Auschwitz helped their will to survive.
I loved the inclusion of photos so the reader can put faces to the names mentioned. The sisters were as beautiful as they were brave.
Theirs is a story that needs to be told in memory of the six million who no longer have a voice. We must never forget them.
Thank you Andra and Tatiana Bucci for telling your story.
I received a free copy from the publishers via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.