Before My Eyes

A memoir of childhood during the Holocaust In Before My Eyes, Mila Bachner tells her story of courage and faith in the face of Nazi horror. She was twelve years old when the Germans invaded her hometown of Chrzanow, Poland, and her entire world fell apart. Over the next five years, she was forced to draw upon strengths she never knew she possessed. She watched as her brothers, sisters, and mother were taken away one by one. She toiled in a slave-labor camp, endured cattle trains, survived a death march, typhus, and Bergen-Belsen. She was witness to the most brutal crimes ever perpetrated against a nation. Incredibly, she survived, and with remarkable determination rebuilt her life. For most of us, the Nazis’ crimes defy comprehension. To understand, we need to focus on the individuals — their stories, their memories, their miracles. For over thirty-five years, Mrs. Bachner has been speaking about her experiences at synagogues, colleges, and public schools, making her life an open book that any person — regardless of age, religion, or ethnic background — can appreciate.