Boston North Inc.
Present Memories
DAR from ISRAEL & Students from Florida
Book Review by Dar, a 15 year old Israeli boy
I promised I would Tell" by Sonia Schreiber Weitz
This story is about a girl named Sonia Schreiber.
Sonia is a survivor of five Nazi concentration camps:
1. Auschwitz
2. Bergen-
3. Venusberg
4. Mauthausen
5. Plaszow
She was born in Krakow Poland in 1928. In 1939, when Sonia was just eleven years old, she and her family were taken into ghettos with other Jewish families.
Sonia's family had 84 people in it but Sonia and her sister Blanca were the only sole survivors.
Along the way Sonia, and her family had a lot of hard times. Every time when Sonia felt anger or loneliness she would start to write a little poem like:
1." 40 years later" (page 96)
2." Where was man?" (page 86)
3." The tree of life" (page 100)
She wrote many other poems as well.
After six terrible years, she finally made it to the United States.
Sonia was nineteen when she began a new life in the USA. She said that the people in the USA didn't want to hear about the Holocaust and the survivors.
The most awful thing about it was that people didn't know the meaning of the word "Holocaust" like it wasn't part of their vocabulary. On the other hand, people who had been through the Holocaust and survived the terrible Nazi concentration camps didn't want or didn't have the will to talk about it.
The only one who actually listened to her was Dr. Mark Weitz and she soon fell in love with him. They met in 1949 and got married in 1950.
Two years later she had her first son and in 1955 she had twin daughters (one of the twins is my mom).
Her sister Blanca was building her life too with a man she met and married in the ghetto, named Norbert. Blanca had her first son in 1950 and her daughter in 1953.
The reason I chose this book for the book report is because my Grandma wrote this book from her experiences.
Sonia is my Grandma!
Home » Survivors » Sonia Schreiber Weitz>> Students Respond>> Dar
Boynton Beach, Florida Students Respond
My thoughts on “I Promised I Would Tell” are that it’s said to read how these horrible things actually happened to families such as Sonia’s. Yet, it is interesting to hear her point of view and the actual encounters she faced and how brave she and her sister were to overcome this tragedy. My favorite part of the book would have to be how she kept her promise to her mom and let people know that the Holocaust was real. It did happen and it did affect many Jewish people’s lives. I found this book heartwarming. Ivanna
I think that Sonia is a very brave person for talking about what she went through. She went through a very hard time and persevered. She also had a lot of luck getting through those times. Her sister also played a huge part in her survival. Patrick
I think Sonia’s book was one of the better memoirs that explained the Holocaust. Her story was extremely upsetting and also inspirational. She had the will power to write her story to tell the world. I thought it was interesting to read about what happened after the Holocaust and about where she went because you don’t usually hear things about what happened afterwards. Dylan
I think that Sonia is a very strong woman for having to go through all that at such a young age. I really appreciate her writing a book and sharing it with the world. It’s very nice how she promised her mom she would tell. I would have really loved to meet her. I also liked the fact that she included her poems in the book. It made it more interesting to read. This is definitely one of my favorite Holocaust books. Danielle Silva
Reading “I Promised I Would Tell” made me visualize the Holocaust in different ways than I had before. I’ve been learning about the Holocaust since 2nd grade and quite honestly, at 16 years old, started to get tired of hearing about it. But, after reading this book I’ve matured and I NEVER ever want the Holocaust not to be talked about. It’s a horror that should never be forgotten. The more we learn about it, the bigger chance that it won’t happen again. Rachel
My feelings towards this book are very strong. I give Sonia mad points for passing her story on to share with everyone. This story helped my understanding of the Holocaust. I have become more knowledgeable. Hazel
The way I feel about this story is that it’s really sad that all those things happened to Sonia. She was so young. She lost some of her friends and she lost her mother. Her book taught me more about the Holocaust and what was going on. I think it was wrong and evil that she had to go through all this pain. I learned that she had almost no food, she had to work, and had no privacy. I think this book is a really sad book and more people should read it so they could learn more about the Holocaust and the survivors. Newton
My thoughts and feelings about Sonia’s book was that it was very sad. I was surprised how people can be very ignorant because some were saying that what happened to the Jews was a made up story. These people thought that the Jews were making the story up in order for other people to feel pity for them. I felt that the Nazis were very cruel to the Jews because they treated them like they were some kind of animals. Esthanie
My thought on this amazing book has honestly changed me. Sonia is a very brave human being. She has been through a lot in her young life. To live through it all was a great accomplishment. It’s hard to go through a lot and turn out okay. She is an amazing woman and should be honored for everything she has done for her mother and many more. I feel really bad about what happened to most of her family, and to her mother who she loved dearly. Why do bad things happen to good people? Denisha