Let Me Go Audiobook

" I first read this whilst I was in Milan in 2007, and I've just re-read it whilst in France. It's not the most cheerful holiday reading, but it's a marvellous book. It's shocking, harrowing and heartbreaking, and is filled with the most horrendous scenes about what went on in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. It's such a courageous account to have written, and I think that Schneider has been so brave in detailing her estranged mother's part within the concentration camp system. "

" This is a quick but spectacular read. Considering the topic, quick is best, as it can be hard to digest. "

" The author Helga Schneider receives a letter that her estranged mother is dying, and she may want to come to Vienna to say goodbye. "Let Me Go" follows the afternoon where Schneider arrives to see her mother, and the conversations, remembrances, and confessions that follow. But this is no ordinary estrangement--Schneider's mother was a top-ranking SS officer who oversaw some of the worst concentration camp atrocities. In this conversation, Schneider attempts to make sense of her mother's choices, both personal (abandoning her husband and young children to serve Hitler) and political (her undying loyalty to the Nazi party and unapologetic stance regarding her brutal past). The narrative reads like a one-act play, with its heightened emotion, tension, and ambiguous conclusion. Schneider goes looking for answers, and the sad result is that there can never be any with such a fraught, devastating chapter of history. "

" A true story about a young girl whose mother was active extrremely committed to the Nazi party, so much so that she essentially abandoned her husband and young children because of it, joining the SS and becoming a concentration camp guard. This narrative is written by her daughter and tells some of her mother's story and also their final meeting at a nursing home, nearly 60 years after she left in 1941. Her mother's lack of remorse is chilling. The language in the book is a bit stilted at time, perhaps because it is translated from Italian, but the story of the daughter's struggle to deal with her mother's actions is interesting and poignant. "

" The trials that some people go through are truly amazing. This book was very interesting and disturbing at the same time. It's always horrible to hear about the concentration camps but it's even worse when it's a first hand account from a volunteer SS. I wish it would have ended different, I felt like I was left hanging. "

" The author isn't what I would call a great writer, but it's a very powerful as a memoir and record of history. "

" This was really interesting and a different look at the Holocaust than one might be used to reading. It was, however, frustrating to read about such a terrible person and not be able to find anything redeeming in them. I guess it was real and that's what made it tough. "

" very intense and very sad. "

" This is another random pull at the library, and I read the whole thing in one evening. It's a dialog between a woman and her partially senile mother, who was an SS officer in a concentration camp. It's a short, sharp read, with a bad aftertaste. "

" A heartbreaking work about a daughter whose mother abandons her to be a guard for the SS and how her daughter learns to deal with the torment that her mother inflicted upon the Jews. This book is hard to read but it is definitely a tale of how evil humans can become. "

" very intense and very sad. "

" Actually listened to this on CD. Interesting. About the child of a female SS officer who left her children and husband to devote herself to the SS. The grown daughter goes to visit her and asks her tough questions. "

" Hard read, but worth it. "

" Heartbreaking! But it pulls you in to read on because it is history...and we should NEVER brush the brutality of the holocaust under the rug like it never happened. Hard read, but a good insight to the mask the SS would have had to put on in order to carry out such atrocities. "

" This is a quick but spectacular read. Considering the topic, quick is best, as it can be hard to digest. "

" This is one that will stick with you. "

" This is another random pull at the library, and I read the whole thing in one evening. It's a dialog between a woman and her partially senile mother, who was an SS officer in a concentration camp. It's a short, sharp read, with a bad aftertaste. "

" An interesting holocaust memoir. I listened to the audio version. "

" Very interesting how a child learns to deal with her mothers nazi past. "

" Short but powerful memoir. Helga Schneider's mother abandoned her family in 1941 to join the Nazis and was a prison guard in the camps. You can feel Helga's pain, shame, love and loathing. Difficult to read, but riveting. "

" This is one that will stick with you. "

" A very difficult mother-daughter relationship. How hard to have a mother who abandoned you to be an SS officer in Nazi concentration camps. This book chronicles the second and final visit between mother and daughter in 45 years. Very emotionally powerful. Short fast read that packs a punch. "

" Very interesting how a child learns to deal with her mothers nazi past. "

" Actually listened to this on CD. Interesting. About the child of a female SS officer who left her children and husband to devote herself to the SS. The grown daughter goes to visit her and asks her tough questions. "

" I'm hooked from the start "

" Short and harrowing! So short that I had about three million questions for the author at the end.... but a truly gripping and incisive memoir. The reader has the best, most authentic German accent, too. My walls were rattling when i played this on my stereo aloud. "

" This was really interesting and a different look at the Holocaust than one might be used to reading. It was, however, frustrating to read about such a terrible person and not be able to find anything redeeming in them. I guess it was real and that's what made it tough. "

" A very difficult mother-daughter relationship. How hard to have a mother who abandoned you to be an SS officer in Nazi concentration camps. This book chronicles the second and final visit between mother and daughter in 45 years. Very emotionally powerful. Short fast read that packs a punch. "

" I listened to the audio version of this book and I think the reader made the characters much more enjoyable for me than if I had read the traditional bound book. I really liked this book, but now that I have finished it, my heart is aching! "

" Short but powerful memoir. Helga Schneider's mother abandoned her family in 1941 to join the Nazis and was a prison guard in the camps. You can feel Helga's pain, shame, love and loathing. Difficult to read, but riveting. "

" I was riveted by this story. Truly fascinating. "

" Schneider attempts to reconcile with her 87-year-old mother who abandoned her family to become a Nazi SS officer. The mother is unrepentant and matter-of-fact in a way that is both chilling and disturbing. (reviewed audio for Booklist) "

" I'm hooked from the start "

" very moving and quite thought provoking.. "

" I found this book to be almost surreal - was it nonfiction? It seemed too unbelievable to be true. But it was. Although it was a quick read, but it stayed with me long after the book ended. This book should be required reading for students who are learning about the atrocites in WWII. "

" Short and harrowing! So short that I had about three million questions for the author at the end.... but a truly gripping and incisive memoir. The reader has the best, most authentic German accent, too. My walls were rattling when i played this on my stereo aloud. "

" Short and harrowing! So short that I had about three million questions for the author at the end.... but a truly gripping and incisive memoir. The reader has the best, most authentic German accent, too. My walls were rattling when i played this on my stereo aloud. "

" A very difficult mother-daughter relationship. How hard to have a mother who abandoned you to be an SS officer in Nazi concentration camps. This book chronicles the second and final visit between mother and daughter in 45 years. Very emotionally powerful. Short fast read that packs a punch. "

" A very difficult mother-daughter relationship. How hard to have a mother who abandoned you to be an SS officer in Nazi concentration camps. This book chronicles the second and final visit between mother and daughter in 45 years. Very emotionally powerful. Short fast read that packs a punch. "

" I was riveted by this story. Truly fascinating. "

" I was riveted by this story. Truly fascinating. "

" Sfida internazionale Questi sono i libri brevi ma concepiti con sentimento, intrisi di emozioni. Stanno in piedi grazie alla vita e ai rimorsi. Queste sono frasi da leggere con calma, da prendere e conservare, da capire con mente compassionevole. Questa purtroppo è vita vera. "

" Sfida internazionale Questi sono i libri brevi ma concepiti con sentimento, intrisi di emozioni. Stanno in piedi grazie alla vita e ai rimorsi. Queste sono frasi da leggere con calma, da prendere e conservare, da capire con mente compassionevole. Questa purtroppo è vita vera. "

" Un libro sconvolgente! Rivela dei particolari della tragedia che mi erano sconosciuti e mi hanno lasciato esterefatta! "

" Un libro sconvolgente! Rivela dei particolari della tragedia che mi erano sconosciuti e mi hanno lasciato esterefatta! "

" What a hard book to like. Very well written. Heartbreaking, but a very good book. One of those you hate to love. "

" What a hard book to like. Very well written. Heartbreaking, but a very good book. One of those you hate to love. "

" Dull. I didn't even finish... "

" Actually listened to this on CD. Interesting. About the child of a female SS officer who left her children and husband to devote herself to the SS. The grown daughter goes to visit her and asks her tough questions. "

" Actually listened to this on CD. Interesting. About the child of a female SS officer who left her children and husband to devote herself to the SS. The grown daughter goes to visit her and asks her tough questions. "

" Okay, a poor choice to coincidentally pick up and read on Mother's Day . . . It was a completely engrossing and compelling memoir, though. What an unbelievable and horrific story. "

" Okay, a poor choice to coincidentally pick up and read on Mother's Day . . . It was a completely engrossing and compelling memoir, though. What an unbelievable and horrific story. "