Outcry: Holocaust Memoirs

2007 | Biography | History & Politics | Young Adult (YA)

Manny Steinberg (1925-2015) spent his teens in Nazi concentration camps in Germany, miraculously surviving while millions perished. This is his story. Born in the Jewish ghetto in Radom (Poland), Steinberg noticed that people of Jewish faith were increasingly being regarded as outsiders. In September 1939 the Nazis invaded, and the nightmare started. The city’s Jewish population had no chance of escaping and was faced with starvation, torture, sexual abuse and ultimately deportation.

Outcry - Holocaust Memoirs is the candid account of a teenager who survived four Nazi camps: Dachau, Auschwitz, Vaihingen an der Enz, and Neckagerach.

Manny Steinberg’s brother Stanley had jumped off the cattle wagon on the way to the extermination camp where his mother and younger brother were to perish. Desperately lonely and hungry, Stanley stood outside the compound hoping to catch a glimpse of Manny and their father. Once he discovered that they were among the prisoners, he turned himself in. The days were marked by hunger, cold, hard labor, and fear. Knowing that other members of the family were in the same camp kept them alive. Since acknowledging each other would have meant death, they pretended to be complete strangers.
Manny Steinberg relates how he was served human flesh and was forced to shave the heads of female corpses and pull out their teeth. Cherishing a picture of his beloved mother in his wooden shoe, he miraculously survived the terror of the German concentration camps together with his father and brother.

When the Americans arrived in April 1945, Manny was little more than a living skeleton, with several broken ribs and suffering from a serious lung condition, wearing only a dirty, ragged blanket.

This WWII survivor autobiography was written to fulfil a promise Steinberg made to himself during the first days of freedom. By publishing his Holocaust memoirs, he wanted to ensure that the world never forgets what happened during the Second World War in Europe. The narrative of this Holocaust survivor book is personal, unencumbered and direct. The story set in Poland and Germany in WW2 is told through the eyes of an old man forcing himself to relive years of intense suffering. It is an account of human cruelty, but also a testimony to the power of love and hope. Outcry has become a classic of Holocaust literature and human survival, and is recommended reading for college students and the younger generation in general. This remarkable true survivor story will appeal to readers of 'Born Survivors' and 'The Nazi Officer's Wife".


"Manny's story is heart breaking and yet living proof of the strength of the human spirit."
"I read this book with a very heavy heart and tears running down my face."
"Honest, to the point and as expected, horrific. No wallowing in self pity, no attempts to exaggerate."
"An incredible story of survival."
"Where I expected a depressing book, I instead came out encouraged. Yes, the book reveals terrible, terrible things. But it also demonstrates how a loving, compassionate, and grateful heart can continue to hold gentleness and kindness, regardless of the injustices it suffers. I admire this writer and his attitude."

Manny Steinberg (Author)