From Auschwitz with Love by Daniel Seymour is a story of love with many facets. The main love story is between sisters Manci Grunberger 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.
The book was launched in early 2022 on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble in e-book, paperback, and hardcover formats. www.fromauschwitzwithlove.com is the website.