CILKA\’S JOURNEY

By Heather Morris

Released : 15/08/2021

Reviewed : 05/07/21

Reviewed by : Marilyn Nongmaithem

After reading \”The Tattooist of Auschwitz\”,my mind couldn\’t stop thinking about Cilka Klein.

\” She was the bravest person I ever met,not the bravest girl,the bravest person \” – Lale

Why? I wondered.

So soon after reading \”The Tattooist of Auschwitz\” I grab this book and I find myself that I love reading Holocaust story.

I couldn\’t stop my tears from falling as I was reading this book. My heart felt numb when I imagine being myself in her place.She was so young and she came far enough enduring so much abuse and surrounded by brutal death.

She spent 13 years as prisoner:-

3 Years at Auschwitz- Birkenau (Poland)

– 10 Years at Vorkuta- Gulag (Russia)

She was only 16 years old when she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her beauty saves her life from worst in that hell.A Nazi Commandant Officer used her for his sexual pleasure.Yes,she was sexually abused. He put her as a block-in-charge and she got a special place, a private room in the most horrifying block in Birkenau(the last destination before the female prisoners were sent to the crematory). It is the block where the sick and dying women were put before they would take them to the gas chambers to murder them.

Three years later, Russia liberated Poland, many of the prisoners in Auschwitz were released and allowed them to go home.Cilka had to face another hell. She was sentence to 15 years \”hard labour\” and sent to Vorkuta- Gulag,Siberia,a prisoners camp established by Stalin.

What was her crime?

– Staying alive at Auschwitz by choosing the only option given in her life rather than death.(She slept with the Nazi, no raped by the Nazi).

In her young days, she finds herself with two choices – one,the narrow path opening up in front of her,the other,DEATH.

Yes ,she survived the first hell of the hell but did she survive the other hell?

The story of Cilka tells us about friendship,belief,kindness,hope in a hopeless place,survival and love in the most horrifying places in the world\’s history.Life can still happen even in the worse place.

(Comparing to\”The Tattooist of Auschwitz \”

\”Cilka\’s Journey\” is more horrifying to me).