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Manci and Ruth Grunberger’s life story is fascinating, poignant, and convincing. It captivates the reader and historians will relish the details associated with their early lives in Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia. Their bond was unbreakable.

Dr. Kelly J. Zúñiga, CEO, Holocaust Museum Houston

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Daniel Seymour’s From Auschwitz with Love is the story not of a survivor of the Holocaust but of the survival of a family that emerged from the ashes of the calculated annihilation of the very notion of a family. It is the story of the love between two sisters that emerged from a realm in which everything conspired against any such love. It is introspective and penetrating, taking the reader into the souls of the survivors of the Event and its aftermath, into the souls that were themselves the target of the Nazi evil. While the book’s historical detail alone marks it as an invaluable contribution to Holocaust studies, its testimony to the dearness of human life threatened by the Holocaust makes it even more so. Indeed, with his elegance of style Seymour weaves a personal tale that transcends the history to take us into the depth dimension of the Shoah. I shall recommend this volume to my students. I wholeheartedly recommend it to all.

David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies, The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas

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‘From Auschwitz with Love’ tells the extraordinary story of two sisters, Ruthie and Manci. Deported with their family from the multi-ethnic eastern Slovakian city of Mukacevo, Ruthie and Manci arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944. The sisters were able to connect with a cousin and two other young women. Helping one another, and with mixture of luck and resourcefulness – the entire group was assigned to sort personal belongings of the murdered in the Kanada warehouses where they had access to food and clothing – all survived Auschwitz. Towards the end of their time in the camp, they volunteered as a group to be transferred to what turned out to be a hellish,“private” death march. At the end of the war, they found themselves at the border of Denmark. They were then brought to Sweden where they could recover. After recuperating, both sisters moved to the United States, and here, their stories reflect some of the different trajectories of post-war American Jewry. Although their lives diverge, Ruthie and Manci stay connected, and even grow closer over time. The fast-paced narrative is driven by the memoirs and reflections of the women themselves, which were collected by author Daniel Seymour, who is also Manci’s son-in-law. Seymour also introduces the book and provides historical background throughout. As the number of survivors decrease, ‘From Auschwitz with Love’ reminds us anew of hope, dedication, loyalty and heroism of Ruthie and Manci and the other survivors. Their stories will continue to inspire us.”

Paul Radensky, Senior Director for Education, Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York City

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Daniel Seymour writes an eye-opening and painfully-insightful book peering into the personal lives of Manci and Ruth Grunberger, two teenaged sisters, trapped in Hitler’s death camps, who endured the horrors of the Holocaust and survived. This story will grip your heart, make you angry, and show you the true meaning of love. I highly recommend ‘From Auschwitz with Love.’ 

Denise George, co-author of The Secret Holocaust Diaries (Nonna Bannister, with Denise George and Carolyn Tomlin).

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‘From Auschwitz with Love’ is a fascinating book about the life stories of Manci and Ruth Grunberger. It is the story of the Holocaust, survival and rescue. At the same time, this is also the story of infinite love between two sisters. The love shapes who they become as individuals and gives them the strength to survive Auschwitz, cope with the rescue and temporary stay in Sweden, and with challenges of building new lives in the US. This well-written book is both captivating and insightful, and, as such, it is an important new contribution to Holocaust studies.

Roland Kostić, Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Research, Senior Lecturer in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Director of Master’s studies at the Department of History and the Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden

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’From Auschwitz with Love’ is an intimate glimpse into the lives of two remarkable young women. Other than the Diary of Anne Frank which chronicles events as they happen, this book is unique from many other accounts as so much of this was captured in diary form by the two sisters just after they were liberated. Thus, many of the experiences they relay are fresh, vivid, and raw in their intensity.

‘From Auschwitz with Love’ is an account that will live in history forever, and is a story that will never be forgotten. In capturing this story, Daniel Seymour has given the world a beautiful gift. 

The words of advice, whispered to his daughters through a wire fence at Auschwitz by Marci and Ruth’s father, are haunting and unforgettable. The wisdom he imparts to them at that moment is one of the most touching testaments to a father’s love: a father who is caring for his daughters in the only way he can, in the worst of situations. His words will echo in my head forever. 

Later in the book, Ruth describes returning to Auschwitz as part of a standard tour. She is able to provide additional and important information, such as when the guide said that eight people shared a bunk. Ruth gently corrected him by saying, ‘That’s not really true. There were 12 or thirteen.’

There are so many powerful insights into human nature in this account, but none more emotional for me than what transpired with Ruth when she toured Auschwitz years later. With her group was an anti-semitic couple. I will save it for the reader to discover for themselves what transpired between them, and what Ruth said to them that profoundly touched the hearts of at least one of them..to the point that one of them could not stop crying.

Ruth later summed up the reason why she continues to tell her story to anyone who will listen. ‘For others, it is simply history, but it is different for me.’

Could there be anything more profound than that simple statement? Thankfully, most of us will never have to face anything remotely as horrific as the Holocaust. But to that end, it is vital that such accounts as ‘From Auschwitz with Love’ are told so that those of us who have never lived through such terror, will never forget that the Holocaust was, and is, far more than a distant history subject to be studied. For those who lived through it, like Ruth and Manci, it was not history, it was their life. May we never forget.

Nancy Sprowell Geise, author: Auschwitz #34207 – The Joe Rubinstein Story 

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‘From Auschwitz with Love’ is written with loving care by Daniel Seymour, Ph.D. Written in the first person voice, the reader is transcended to their locale, witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust through their young eyes. Interwoven between the juxtaposing chapters is accurate historical information, so that the reader can put their experiences in context. What unfolds is an immersive read, and a real page-turner as the reader relives their hopes, dreams and fears. Students age 13 and older will gain much from reading ‘From Auschwitz with Love.’

Millie Jasper, Executive Director Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center, White Plains, NY.

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From Auschwitz with Love is a captivating and compelling account of the lives of two loving and devoted sisters ranging from their happy childhoods in eastern Europe to their terrifying Holocaust experiences that sought to systematically rob them of their humanity to the successful and fulfilling lives they built for themselves in the United States. The book provides the reader with a powerful awareness of the painful losses suffered by the sisters, the emotional and psychological bonds that contributed to their survival during the Holocaust and the life affirming, though divergent, paths their lives took subsequently. The sisters’ honest, moving and detailed first person memoirs, accompanied by helpful historical contextualization and illuminating photographs, are skillfully and insightfully interwoven to produce a praiseworthy work. Its account of victimization, human endurance and resilience, coping with trauma, deep and lasting friendships and sibling love should not be forgotten.

Elliot Lefkovitz, Adjunct Professor of Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership

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As teenagers in Auschwitz, sisters Manci and Ruthie were forced to sort the personal belongings of newly-arrived Jews while hearing the screams and pounding of walls from gas chambers nearby. Thanks to family encouragement, Manci’s son-in-law Daniel Seymour took on writing their story. The result is a compilation of first-person interviews, memoir and diary entries with historical detail that provides a well-documented and poignant telling of two remarkable lives.

D.Z. Stone, journalist and author of No Past Tense:  Love and Survival in the Shadow of the Holocaust, the biography of Kati and Willi Salcer

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This book offers a valuable and well-documented testimony. It portrays the struggles and achievements of two sisters who survived internment in the Auschwitz extermination camp. How could they summon the strength to start anew when their whole family was murdered?  An essential emotional resource in their resilient process was their sisterly bond of love.

 Their gripping path demonstrates that human beings cannot be defined by the tragedy that fell upon them, but rather by how they responded to adversity. ‘From Auschwitz with Love’ by Daniel Seymour is a skillfully woven narrative that sheds light on the coping mechanisms used by Manci and Ruthie to rebuild successful, yet dramatically contrasted lives.

Françoise S. Ouzan, author of How Young Holocaust Survivors Rebuilt Their Lives, France, The United States, and Israel, Senior Research Associate, The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel

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‘From Auschwitz with Love’ by Daniel Seymour is a story of love with many facets. The main love story is between sisters Manci Grungerger Beran and Ruth Grunberger Mermelstein, who tell their story of survival in Auschwitz for seven months, then several work camps, and then a forced march toward the Danish border. Both agree that they could not have survived without the other. And even before their deportation it is clear that the sisters came from a large loving family in Munkacs. After surviving the Holocaust, they continued their close and loving relationship first in Sweden, and then in the United States. Their testimonies record that they also loved and were loved by their husbands, children, grandchildren, and other relatives. A family member who brought them to the United States, Aunt Katie, had a trove of family photographs that enhance the book. Daniel Seymour used their own words to write this book, which also includes his own short but scholarly background texts that give the sisters’ testimony historical context. The sisters’ loving relationship continued into their old age. Seymour, too, is part of their love story, because Manci is his mother-in-law. This inspiring memoir of two sisters’ survival, devotion, success, and love is an authentic and an important contribution to giving women their voices.

Rochelle G. Saidel, PhD Founding Director, Remember the Women Institute” Rochelle Saidel, Founder and Executive Director, Remember the Women Institute and author of The Jewish Women of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp