Publisher and Publication Date: Open Road Media. 2016. First published 1978.
Genre: Nonfiction. Memoir. World War II. Holocaust.
Pages: 94.
Format: Kindle Unlimited eBook. Originally the eBook was obtained by me through NetGalley and I deleted it by accident.
Source: I am a paid member of the Kindle Unlimited program.
Audience: Readers of Holocaust memoirs.
Rating: Excellent.

Link @ Amazon: Fragments of Isabella

Further links of interest:
Mengele and the Holocaust
Encyclopedia-this site has pop-up ads
Holocaust Chronicle

The YouTube is an audio (only) recording in English of Isabella Leitner telling her story.

Summary:
May 1944.
Isabella Leitner (age 23) began her brief memoir with the day of deportation. She and her family live in Kisvárda, Hungary. They are Jews. Their father is already in America and working to get their immigration papers. After arrival at Auschwitz, Isabella and her three sisters survive the first point of selection to live. It was Mengele who selected them, but other family members were murdered.
Fragments of Isabella is a deeply emotional, compelling, and harrowing account of the “struggle to survive.”

My Thoughts:
From the first sentence, I became consumed in the pages of the personal, horrific, and raw account. I believe it might have been too much, to read a lengthy story. I read the book cover to cover in 1 sitting.

On the day of deportation, Isabella is having her period. I want you to imagine what that must have been like. The experience of being packed in a train car with 74 other humans. There isn’t a bathroom. There isn’t a place to clean-up. There isn’t a place to sit. There isn’t a place to hide. This experience alone is suffering.

Several reasons why this memoir is excellent.
1. The memoir captures the horror and despair of Auschwitz.
2. It is an eyewitness account.
3. The story is told in a chronological order of events with personal feelings and thoughts added.
4. The story highlights and documents the evil acts of Nazi brutality and murder.
5. The story explains post traumatic stress that continued to impact life.