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It Takes Courage to Save Books [1]

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Date: 2023-04-23  

FORTHELOVEOFBOOKS

I read this wonderful book by the Spaniard writer Antonio Iturbe. It moved me, it enlightened me, even though I have had a passion for books since I learned to read at 5 years old. This is a fictional novel based on the true story of Dita Kraus, a 14-year-old Jewish girl who was sent to Auschwitz by the Nazis together with her parents in 1942. The summary of the book on the back reads “Based on the experiences of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked everything to preserve the legacy and vital knowledge of books during the Holocaust”. At that horrible camp, books of any kind were banned. The conditions were inhumane as you all know, but this girl risked her life to save the only books they had, only 8 and in not good condition. But she managed to make them available to teachers in the camp and then hide them after class.

Why did this book move me so much? Of course, the atrocities that were being inflicted on those human beings, the gas chambers, the experiments and torture by Dr. Mengele (Dr. Death). Besides those horrors it moved me that those books gave a sense of freedom in middle of a prison. Dita’s father one time before they were transferred to that camp smuggled one book among their meager belongings allowed. His wife asked him why, that he could have packed a pair of shoes and he responded by saying that shoes were not that important in a prison because he could not go anywhere, however, a book would allow for him to go anywhere.

So, why do I write this diary? Because, if a 14-year-old girl risked her life for books, how about us? Our situation is not even comparable with what Dita was going through. We are not starving, we are free. So, let us follow Dita’s example and fight for books. We after all have a time machine, it is called books!!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/23/2165463/-It-Takes-Courage-to-Save-Books

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