I'm 88, so I have many memories of the war time and have read many books about that era. This book gave me the clearest feeling of what it is to be supremely miserable. It moves right along, and is hard to put down. It's not perfect, as realistic problems can disappear without explanation, but the characters are well-defined and the worst of the Nazi characteristics, I know, are presented as facts. Holocaust deniers should go elsewhere (which is not a bad idea, anyway).