In 1995 the author was one of eighteen Auschwitz survivors to return to the Bavarian resort town where the American army had liberated her and other skeletal prisoners 50 years earlier. The former mayor's son was nine years old in 1945. As an adult he had tried to describe the human suffering witnessed then as Auschwitz survivors emerged into the town; he had found post-war generations unwilling to believe his account of that ghastly liberation, so he arranged the dedication of a memorial tribute and invited survivors to attend. Following that visit, the author began to write about her memories. Her personal account begins when she was a 15-year-old living in a small Hungarian town and ends when in 1951 she sails past the Statue of Liberty. Her memoir takes the form of a diary in which she unfolds in excruciating detail what she remembers from the time she spent in the camp. She writes, "My story is my message. Never give up." Her riveting Holocaust narrative is certain to find a large readership. (Age 12-adult)

What is death all about? What is life all about?

So wonders thirteen-year-old Elli Friedmann as she fights for her life in a Nazi concentration camp. A remarkable memoir, I Have Lived a Thousand Years is a story of cruelty and suffering, but at the same time a story of hope, faith, perseverance, and love.

It wasn’t long ago that Elli led a normal life that included family, friends, school, and thoughts about boys. A life in which Elli could lie and daydream for hours that she was a beautiful and elegant celebrated poet.

But these adolescent daydreams quickly darken in March 1944, when the Nazis invade Hungary. First Elli can no longer attend school, have possessions, or talk to her neighbors. Then she and her family are forced to leave their house behind to move into a crowded ghetto, where privacy becomes a luxury of the past and food becomes a scarcity. Her strong will and faith allow Elli to manage and adjust, but what she doesn’t know is that this is only the beginning. The worst is yet to come...