I Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived Auschwitz

The illuminating and deeply moving true story of twin sisters who survived Nazi experimentation, against all odds, during the Holocaust.
Eva and her identical twin sister, Miriam, had a mostly happy childhood. Theirs was the only Jewish family in their small village in the Transylvanian mountains, but they didn't think much of it until anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in their school. Then, in 1944, ten-year-old Eva and her family were deported to Auschwitz. At its gates, Eva and Miriam were separated from their parents and other siblings, selected as subjects for Dr. Mengele's infamous medical experiments.
During the course of the war, Mengele would experiment on 3,000 twins. Only 160 would survive--including Eva and Miriam.
Writing with her friend Danica Davidson, Eva reveals how two young girls were able to survive the unimaginable cruelty of the Nazi regime, while also eventually finding healing and the capacity to forgive. Spare and poignant, I Will Protect You is a vital memoir of survival, loss, and forgiveness.
From School Library Journal
Gr 3–7—In 1941, at the ages of seven, Eva Mozes Kor and her twin Miriam were already experiencing antisemitism. The small village of Portz on the border between Hungary and Romania was not beyond the grasp of the Third Reich. Kor remembers going to the picture show and watching a movie called, "How to Kill a Jew" where a Jewish father and son were running away from Germans with guns, hunting them for sport. In schools, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a fabricated document about the evils of the Jewish race, was being taught as truth. In 1943, the girls' father tried to take the family and flee into the night, but it was too late. They were made to be prisoners in their own home. The following year, the Nazis invaded Hungary, and the family was forced to wear the Star of David patches on their clothes. Later, they were transported to Auschwitz. The family was immediately separated, and the twins were taken to Dr. Mengele for experimentation. Eva and Miriam endured starvation, medical experiments, and countless other atrocities. They made it out of Auschwitz when the Soviets liberated their camp, but their lives would never be the same. Many Holocaust books make a passing reference to these twin experiments, but Kor gives readers a firsthand and disturbing account. The narrative flows well and is accessible for middle schoolers. Even though the memoirist is between the ages of seven and ten during most of the work, this is more appropriate for older readers. The gripping story and fast-paced chapters make this a valuable purchase for reluctant readers. VERDICT In a world where most people who lived the Holocaust are no longer with us, this book is a sincere and truthful reminder of this horrific event.—Jeni Tahaney