Awards

• Runner-up for Ecumenism or Interfaith Relations 2017 (United States)
• Winner of Catholic Press Association Book Award 2017 (United States)
• Winner of Catholic Press Association Book Award: Ecumenism or Interfaith Relations 2017 (United States)
• Winner of Catholic Press Association Book Award: Ecumenism or Interfaith Relations, Second Place 2017 (United States)
• Winner of Panorama-La Procure Prize for Books on Spirituality and the 2013 Prize for Religious Literature 2012 (United States)

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9780268101220

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Reviews

Four Scraps of Bread is highly and unreservedly recommended...[It is] an exceptional and moving read. --Reviewer's Bookwatch, February 2017 The images Hollander-Lafon sketches in Four Scraps of Bread are often brutally evocative; so it is with this book. She gives us a hint of what she and the others suffered. . . . She trusts us to feel the pain. And, to remember. --Neworld Review, vol. 10, no. 68, 2016

Magda Hollander-Lafon s book shines with an unquenchable yearning for life despite the appalling suffering and brutality it portrays. Through the eyes of her memory we see the whole gamut of human reactions to unspeakable suffering and cruelty. We connect with them at extraordinary depth through the heart of a tortured child whose hope never died. This is a heartbreaking, compassionate, triumphant book filled with a rare insight into human evil and suffering. Gemma Simmonds, CJ, Heythrop College, University of London

This small, gentle book does not condemn anyone. In France, it was honored as the 'spiritual book of the year.' Indeed, it deserves to be recognized as the 'humane book of the year.' It is a book that tells of the complete inhumanity of an age, and how a smile from another person can bring light even in the darkest hours. Rarely has a book moved me so much. I need to read it again, and share what I have read in it, so that humanity never forgets--and never can forget. --Maria Stiefl-Cermak, Freiburger Rundbrief Magda Hollander-Lafon's book shines with an unquenchable yearning for life despite the appalling suffering and brutality it portrays. Through the eyes of her memory we see the whole gamut of human reactions to unspeakable suffering and cruelty. We connect with them at extraordinary depth through the heart of a tortured child whose hope never died. This is a heartbreaking, compassionate, triumphant book filled with a rare insight into human evil and suffering. --Gemma Simmonds, CJ, Heythrop College, University of London Magda Hollander-Lafon's experience of the Holocaust may parallel that of the Romanian-born Elie Wiesel, but her approach is even more abstracted and poetic. Instantly recognizable details of dehumanization, complicity, and endurance are all present, but with the goal of developing a spiritual and therapeutic vision of survival beyond the amassing of evidence. The enormous recent growth in publication of both saved firsthand accounts and post-memory analyses forms an additional appreciative context for Hollander-Laffon's singular work, not least as it is written by a woman, when most original accounts were produced by men. --Se n Hand, University of Warwick The book's reflections, prose, meditations, and poetry offer ways to experience alongside Hollander-Lafon her lived experience, both in the death camp and in the the Holocaust's aftermath, as she, despite all odds, lives through Auschwitz's atrocities and builds a new life after the war. Her book shows the beauty, hope, and presence of God while not flinching from an open-eyed portrayal of the worst violence and brutality that humans are capable of inflicting on each other. --Emily Sanna, associate editor, U.S. Catholic [E]very once in a while a book is published which grabs us by the throat, the mind and the heart and makes us look, think, reflect and allow ourselves to be challenged. Such a book is Magda Hollander-Lafon's Four Scraps of Bread, a brief memoir, part poetry, part prose, of her experience as a child in Auschwitz. There are few such original accounts written by women and few in which the horror and cruelty are balanced by such extraordinary spiritual depth and resilience, and such unrelenting self-confrontation in search of hope. --Thinking Faith As a profoundly personal quest for meaning, Four Scraps of Bread makes an important contribution to Holocaust literature and is highly recommended for parish libraries. --Catholic Library World The images Hollander-Lafon sketches in Four Scraps of Bread are often brutally evocative; so it is with this book. She gives us a hint of what she and the others suffered. . . . She trusts us to feel the pain. And, to remember. --Neworld Review 'I did not understand how people changed so much: Some became executioners, others became victims, ' writes Holocaust survivor Magda Hollander-Lafon in Four Scraps of Bread, a slim volume of piercing, simple-yet-profound reflections on her journey through hell and back. --Sojourners An extraordinary memoir that is a valued and appreciated addition to the growing library of Holocaust literature, Four Scraps of Bread is unreservedly and emphatically recommended for community, college, and university library collections. --Midwest Book Review Four Scraps of Bread is highly and unreservedly recommended...[It is] an exceptional and moving read. --Reviewer's Bookwatch The brevity of Magda Hollander-Lafon's Four Scraps of Bread only magnifies its power. Part prose, part poetry, it takes us into the gates of Auschwitz, where her sensitive observations and intense self-examination open up the inner world of the Lager. One must appreciate the power of her words; more importantly the integrity of her example. I was moved, touched, frightened, and horrified. One must be grateful for such a distinct act of witness. --Michael Berenbaum, director, Sigi Ziering Institute

Magda Hollander-Lafon s book shines with an unquenchable yearning for life despite the appalling suffering and brutality it portrays. Through the eyes of her memory we see the whole gamut of human reactions to unspeakable suffering and cruelty. We connect with them at extraordinary depth through the heart of a tortured child whose hope never died. This is a heartbreaking, compassionate, triumphant book filled with a rare insight into human evil and suffering. Gemma Simmonds, CJ, Heythrop College, University of London Four Scraps of Bread is highly and unreservedly recommended...[It is] an exceptional and moving read. --Reviewer's Bookwatch The images Hollander-Lafon sketches in Four Scraps of Bread are often brutally evocative; so it is with this book. She gives us a hint of what she and the others suffered. . . . She trusts us to feel the pain. And, to remember. --Neworld Review [E]very once in a while a book is published which grabs us by the throat, the mind and the heart and makes us look, think, reflect and allow ourselves to be challenged. Such a book is Magda Hollander-Lafon's Four Scraps of Bread, a brief memoir, part poetry, part prose, of her experience as a child in Auschwitz. There are few such original accounts written by women and few in which the horror and cruelty are balanced by such extraordinary spiritual depth and resilience, and such unrelenting self-confrontation in search of hope. --Thinking Faith An extraordinary memoir that is a valued and appreciated addition to the growing library of Holocaust literature, Four Scraps of Bread is unreservedly and emphatically recommended for community, college, and university library collections. --Midwest Book Review Review for the German edition: Hollander-Lafon has kaleidoscopically pieced together fragments of memories and thoughts about her childhood and youth, her dreadful experiences in Auschwitz, her directionlessness after the war, her silence, her rebirth, and her search for inner peace. These are very short texts but they are tied together in a continuing story, which in poetic language, focusing only on the essentials, let us share the emotions of surviving the Holocaust, which Magda sees now, after many years of repression, no longer as a victim but as a witness. --ekz-Bibliotheksservice Review for the Italian edition: As the title hints, the author does not address only the most dramatic aspects, but recounts (somewhat telegraphically) the acts of humanity, demonstrating considerable gratitude for the little things that allowed her to survive and which these days, in our world of abundance, seem insignificant to us--such as a scrap of bread or a pair of boots given by a guard. Acts of humanity which in a civilized world we would take for granted but which in the world of Nazi death camps, could mean torture and death not only for whoever performed such acts, but also for whoever benefitted. --Nuova Agenzia Radicale Magda Hollander-Lafon's experience of the Holocaust may parallel that of the Romanian-born Elie Wiesel, but her approach is even more abstracted and poetic. Instantly recognizable details of dehumanization, complicity, and endurance are all present, but with the goal of developing a spiritual and therapeutic vision of survival beyond the amassing of evidence. The enormous recent growth in publication of both saved firsthand accounts and post-memory analyses forms an additional appreciative context for Hollander-Laffon's singular work, not least as it is written by a woman, when most original accounts were produced by men. --Sean Hand, University of Warwick Review for the German edition: Hollander-Lafon has kaleidoscopically pieced together fragments of memories and thoughts about her childhood and youth, her dreadful experiences in Auschwitz, her directionlessness after the war, her silence, her rebirth, and her search for inner peace. These are very short texts but they are tied together in a continuing story, which in poetic language, focusing only on the essentials, let us share the emotions of surviving the Holocaust, which Magda sees now, after many years of repression, no longer as a victim but as a witness. --ekz-Bibliotheksservice Review for the Italian edition: As the title hints, the author does not address only the most dramatic aspects, but recounts (somewhat telegraphically) the acts of humanity, demonstrating considerable gratitude for the little things that allowed her to survive and which these days, in our world of abundance, seem insignificant to us--such as a scrap of bread or a pair of boots given by a guard. Acts of humanity which in a civilized world we would take for granted but which in the world of Nazi death camps, could mean torture and death not only for whoever performed such acts, but also for whoever benefitted. --Nuova Agenzia Radicale Magda Hollander-Lafon's book shines with an unquenchable yearning for life despite the appalling suffering and brutality it portrays. Through the eyes of her memory we see the whole gamut of human reactions to unspeakable suffering and cruelty. We connect with them at extraordinary depth through the heart of a tortured child whose hope never died. This is a heartbreaking, compassionate, triumphant book filled with a rare insight into human evil and suffering. --Gemma Simmonds, CJ, Heythrop College, University of London The brevity of Magda Hollander-Lafon's Four Scraps of Bread only magnifies its power. Part prose, part poetry, it takes us into the gates of Auschwitz, where her sensitive observations and intense self-examination open up the inner world of the Lager. One must appreciate the power of her words; more importantly the integrity of her example. I was moved, touched, frightened, and horrified. One must be grateful for such a distinct act of witness. --Michael Berenbaum, director, Sigi Ziering Institute The brevity of Magda Hollander-Lafon s Four Scraps of Bread only magnifies its power. Part prose, part poetry, it takes us into the gates of Auschwitz, where her sensitive observations and intense self-examination open up the inner world of the Lager. One must appreciate the power of her words; more importantly the integrity of her example. I was moved, touched, frightened, and horrified. One must be grateful for such a distinct act of witness. Michael Berenbaum, director, Sigi Ziering Institute

Author Information

For many years, Magda Hollander-Lafon has shared her experiences with thousands of high-school students. First published in French in 2012 as Quatre petits bouts de pain, Hollander-Lafon’s book has won two prestigious literary awards in France, including the 2012 Panorama-La Procure prize for books on spirituality. It has been translated into six languages and now into English. Anthony T. Fuller has extensive experience translating literature as well as political and current affairs documents. He founded and was the first president from 2005-2012 of the Princeton, New Jersey, chapter of the Alliance Française, an international grouping of French-language educational and cultural institutions.

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