Holocaust survivor Bender was 11 years old when the German army invaded his native Poland. He lived in Czestochowa, a backward town steeped in medieval ideas and anti-Semitic attitudes—and thoroughly unprepared for the mechanized terror of the Nazis. When the SS arrived, Bender, his family, and the town's other Jews were soon segregated into a ghetto. Later, Bender and his brother were spared from the death camps because they could provide useful labor for Hitler's war machine. Forced to leave their parents behind, they moved from factory to factory, only to end up at Buchenwald.
Interspersed throughout are chapters about Bender's future wife, Sara, her struggle against Nazi occupation, and how she and Bender later met in an Israeli kibbutz. Glimpses is an extremely readable narrative that's both horrifying and uplifting.
About the Author, Benjamin Bender
The film Liberators featured the author's return to Buchenwlad and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. It was also honored with the IDA Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award, and has been broadcast nationally on PBS, in Australia, and throughout Europe.
