Alicia: My Story

The story of Alicia Appleman Jurman as told in this book is one of the best written, fastest paced, most interesting survivor accounts from the Holocaust. It reads like a well written novel but is entirely a true story. It is also much more interesting than other accounts, such as Anne Frank's Diary, due to the broader scope of Alicia's life, she was not confined to a hiding place for most of the war but instead survived by staying on the move.

I original wasn't sure about reading this book but I am glad I did. While reading it I have cried, been outraged and absolutely astonished. I think it is the most helpless I have ever felt and the most ashamed of the human race. It is so hard to fathom that someone actually lived this way, further more....millions of people. I have told my family about it as I read and now my teenage daughters want to read it. I wish I had the opportunity to correspond with the author, I would love to hear about her life after she survived all this.

Alicia's story is a descriptive account of a girl who fought daily to survive. The author described the various settings of the story so well that I literally envisioned Alicia's surroundings. I'm left wondering how anyone, young or old, managed to survive during the Nazi occupation.

Well written poignant story. This young woman lost all of her family one at a time in the most gruesome circumstances and never gave up. Unbelievable how many close calls she lived through. One prominent theme in all the books I have read about the Holocaust is the guilt the survivors have for surviving when so many family and friends perished.

Alicia is truly a survivor. Her determination to live and help others is truly amazing. It is difficult to conceive that a child could be as clever and strong as Alicia. It is so frightening to realize that one man and one country could cause such atrocities.

Excellent read if you want to see the life during the World War II through the eyes of a Jewish 11 year old girl! I couldn't stop to be amazed at her perils and wisdom far beyond her years. Written very well and hard to put down. I am reading it the second time already in a couple of months.

Alicia is a very moving story of the Holocaust written by a girl who lived through it. The hopeful part is that you know that she lives through the Holocaust unlike Anne Frank. It is an important book so that we never forget what it was like and never let it happen again.

As a true biography it was well done. The subject is emotionally hard to accept and keep reading it is more than depressing.The content has been written about many times and in many ways but on the whole the book was a good read.

Being a high school teacher for many years, I taught ALICIA-MY STORY in my ninth grade non-fiction English classes, and my students loved this book as I do. I honestly can say that if I had tried to take this book away from my students, they would have revolted. Once they began to read ALICIA,-MY STORY they could not put it down. Every moment of the their days was devoted to the reading of this truly great book. I urge all reading groups to read ALICIA-MY STORY. I have given dozens of copies of ALICIA away and will continue to do so in the future. The reading of ALICIA-MY STORY was followed by a showing of the Academy Award movie SCHINDLER'S LIST in my non-fiction English classes.

What an amazing person! I have had some friends in my lifetime who were holocaust survivors, and it's horrible what they had to endure. Alicia Appleman-Jurman, however, was the bravest, most caring and amazing child who grew into a brave, compassionate, strong woman who knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she had to do whatever it took to survive. At a very young age, she had to come to terms with the reality that hate and greed are very much alive. That she endured what she did and survived was nothing short of a miracle.

A truly gripping read! I've read many books about those dreadful years drug the 2nd World War, this one was so very painful - to read, to try to understand what the world was like for a young innocent Jewish teenager. Please God, that this never happens again!

This was an extremely poignant book. One of the best accounts of the holocaust reads, I have read thus far. Very difficult in parts of course. I cannot believe that any human could or would treat another the way these people were treated.

I just finished another very painful but interesting and shocking memoirs in "Thanks to my Mother" by Shoshana Rabinovici and started this book. It's absolutely shocking and heroic struggle to do everything possible to survive day-by-day and minute-by-minute the Systematic Nazi Plan to annihilate the Jewish People.
Highly highly recommend to every one who is interested in Holocaust and to everybody to read and to learn what was really WWII about.

This book is supposed to be Alicia's biography and it was super interesting to learn what victims did after they were liberated, however, some things sound to me quite unbelievable. All in all, I couldn't stop reading and I admire this woman because of what she did with what was happening to her is admirable.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Such a heartbreaking and gripping story. Im in complete shock this hasnt been made into a movie. Im doing research about kids in the holocaust and have read 26 books, seen 18 movies and have read 1000's of pages of online information.... Alicia's experience surpasses any other persons experience I've read about. It's really that incredible.

Excellent read. Lots of tears, moments of grat strength and heroism. The atrocities of WW II upon the elder children of God our Father in heaven must never be forgotten. History must not repeat itself. These histories should be mandatory reading for all school children.

Alicia is a holocaust memoir for everyone. For high school students, it can be a story of youth empowerment.
For the rest of us, it is an important window into Eastern Europe during WWII!
It is well written. Of course, there are questions, but they are not so critical. They are not necessary to appreciate and learn from the book.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Such a heartbreaking and gripping story. Im in complete shock this hasnt been made into a movie. Im doing research about kids in the holocaust and have read 26 books, seen 18 movies and have read 1000's of pages of online information.... Alicia's experience surpasses any other persons experience I've read about. It's really that incredible.

Excellent read. Lots of tears, moments of grat strength and heroism. The atrocities of WW II upon the elder children of God our Father in heaven must never be forgotten. History must not repeat itself. These histories should be mandatory reading for all school children.

Alicia is a holocaust memoir for everyone. For high school students, it can be a story of youth empowerment.
For the rest of us, it is an important window into Eastern Europe during WWII!
It is well written. Of course, there are questions, but they are not so critical. They are not necessary to appreciate and learn from the book.

Riveting. Couldn't put this book down. When you think of the Holocaust, you think of the concentration camps. I never realized how the Jews who weren't in the camps survived. This was a real eye opener.

I started out reading this for my English class and thought, "fantastic, another book I have to read." From the first words I could tell it was going to be great and immediately changed my thoughts about it being just another book. This book has transformed the holocaust from something that I really didn't feel connected to, to something that breaks my heart to hear about. This book has showed me what it really means to have nothing but that we find ourselves in the lowest of times. I cried several times and smiled also, such an incredible story.

Amazing, well written and an incredible story. Her perseverance and fortitude to survive go beyond anyone's I've ever known or read about. Her wit is charming and her quick thinking I envy.

The short chapters are a perfect length. I can only think about and digest bits of this girl's journey in small amounts.

Alicia was an amazing young girl, who refused to submit to the Nazis. I got the feeling she was constantly thinking of how to survive in the madhouse that the Nazis created. She was determined, brave and the story was an inspiration to me. Good book..

This book should be read by everyone. Not only is it inspiring but makes you think about taking everyday things for granted. I purchased a used copy and was very pleased to find that it had been signed by the author and survivor Alicia in 1993.

The best true depiction of that time. She draws you in to her story so well, I cried quite a few times. It's shocking to think that the human race is capable of so much hate to almost eradicate a complete race. Alicia Jurman is an astounding woman who's story I hope will never be forgotten.

Such strength and courage through the horrendous times she and so many others were forced to endure. It's hard to imagine anyone could survive all she went through and not have their life engulfed with hatred for those who put them through hell!

I have read several Holocaust memoirs and this is one of the best. People always ask me why I like to read about the Holocaust. Isn't it depressing, they ask. While it is depressing, I find the things that each Jew did to survive fascinating. The evil perpetrated in the name of the Nazi's is overwhelming, but in the memoirs of the survivors, there is inspiration in the way they defeated evil by surviving against all odds. Alica should have died many times, but she kept fighting to live, and in fighting for her own life, saved many others.

Alicia was an amazing young woman, and I'm not sure I could have done the things that she did. I will definitely read this book again.

This book is full of incidents that strain credibility. I have read many holocaust books, and this is the first one that I feel the author has, well, maybe exaggerated and embellished some of her experiences a bit. There are just too many surprise encounters, her mother finding her hiding place in the ravine, rescuing the partisans by pulling them out of a window in the jail, meeting long lost friends years later, etc. But it's a good read. Just don't take all the events literally. Author's license, you might say.

Most Holocaust stories are about people in the concentration camps. This story is unique as Alicia retells the horrors of people trying to remain alive in small towns and villages and on the run not only from the Nazis but from their own countrymen.

I read this book several years ago, but purchased it on Kindle because I had to read it again. Not many stories stick with you for that long, but this is a book I have been suggesting to friends ever since I read it for the first time. What this young girl went through during the holocaust is unbelievable. A personal account that just makes your jaw drop that a person could survive SO MANY horrible things, at such a young age, and pretty much on her own. It will really make your everyday complaints seem like nothing.