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Summary: A refreshing, different look at life under Nazi regime
Review: I found this book very refreshing -- couldn't put it down -- a very different, refreshing look at life during Nazi rule in occupied France. Told from the angle of a young girl, there are similarities to Anne Frank -- but instead of being in hiding, Simone is out in the open, subject to Nazi persecution, torn from her family.Her courage and how she endured are an inspiration to everyone -- this is must reading --
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Summary: A courageous young girl in Nazi Germany
Review: I greatly enjoyed this book! The author writes in a very candid way about her life as a child in Nazi Germany. As Germany becomes a Nazi state with tremendous pressure on everyone to conform without question, she very well tells the story of how her family goes through a change of religion, to become Jehovah's witnesses, and gain strength to remain true to Bible principles in spite of very real threats and punishments inflicted on her family and finally on her personally when she is taken away to live alone in an orphanage where human kindness was extremely rare, especially to anyone who chose to stick to their principles.
Her experiences and the courage shown by her and her whole family are very inspiring!
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Summary: extraordinary courage and faith
Review: I recommend this book to people regardless of their religion. It is a shining example of the human spirit. And how good can triumph over evil, even when a world has gone mad.
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Summary: Faith Stimulating Encouragement
Review: I stumbled onto a site recommending this great autobiography, ordered it and was left in wonderment at what we can learn from the experiences of one of such tender age. Simone will long live in my memory and took me back to the days of my youth when I first saw the film "The Diary of Anne Frank". I remember walking the streets in deep meditation. This publication should be on the 'must read list' of youths and adults and anyone caring about their fellowman. I have since ordered another fifty-two books and I'm gifting them to important persons in my life. Drink deeply on this material....and be prepared to ENJOY! I'm pleased to see it now available through Amazon.com. Thank you!
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Summary: Life-Changing
Review: If you read this book you will find yourself asking "Do I have conviction and strength of this little girl?" It is a gift of introspection for all who pick it up. It will change how you view the world!
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Summary: A testimony to faith
Review: In just a matter of days, I've completed reading what I consider to be one of the most moving books I have ever had the privilege of reading. It touched me deeply, personally...beyond mere words.
"Facing The Lions" is an autobiography written in the voice of a young girl, Simone Arnold. Growing up in Alsace (a location on the French/German border), Simone is an astute and happy child surrounded by a close-knit and loving family. In time, her parents become Jehovah's Witnesses and Simone too makes the personal decision to embrace the faith with a fiery zeal and enduring fervor beyond her years, that would make any parent swell with pride.
However, WWII is just around the corner, and trouble strikes when the Nazis annex the bordering French territory of Alsace, the home of the Arnold family. The Bibelforscher (Jehovah's Witnesses or "Bible Students" or as they were known then) in all of Nazi Europe are quickly put under ban.
Being conscientious objectors in line with the scriptures' admonition "You must not murder", the steadfast Bible Students did not support the war effort in any way whatsoever. They refused to "Heil Hitler". As a result of their bible-based beliefs and their neutral standing, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps to suffer cruelly at the hands of the Nazi regime. Even though the Bibelforscher were given the opportunity to be released if they "simply" renounced their faith by signing a legal document, these ones remained steadfast and unmovable. Because of their unbreakable allegiance to God alone, and not the state, they became targets of the Nazis' rage and even their fellow citizens. However, their beliefs and firm reliance on Jehovah God helped these students of the Bible endure the oppression of the camps, some even to the point of death.
As unwavering "Bibelforscher", the Arnold family was not immune to such horrors of the war machine. Soon after the war's outset, Simone's father is arrested and is taken away to the Dachau concentration camp and thereafter the infamous Mauthausen. Shortly after Simone is extradited to a strict Nazi reform school, her mother and aunt are also deported to the Schirmeck and Gaggenau camps.
"Facing The Lions" is full of heart-rending experiences as Simone recounts physical and mental abuse at the reform school by those who outwardly and secretly conspired to break her spirit. Yet, Simone maintains her strong faith amidst such persecution, and throughout maintains her spiritual and moral conviction. Excerpts from personal letters, documents, photographs of family and detailed drawings by the author herself serve to personalize the events, making for a poignant vicarious experience.
Inspiring, encouraging...this moving life story of a courageous and steadfast young girl has added to my respect and admiration of my rich spiritual heritage; and to all those, including Simone and her family, who struggled courageously to endure man's inhumanity to man.
Rating:
Summary: A testimony to faith
Review: In just a matter of days, I've completed reading what I consider to be one of the most moving books I have ever had the privilege of reading. It touched me deeply, personally...beyond mere words.
"Facing The Lions" is an autobiography written in the voice of a young girl, Simone Arnold. Growing up in Alsace (a location on the French/German border), Simone is an astute and happy child surrounded by a close-knit and loving family. In time, her parents become Jehovah's Witnesses and Simone too makes the personal decision to embrace the faith with a fiery zeal and enduring fervor beyond her years, that would make any parent swell with pride.
However, WWII is just around the corner, and trouble strikes when the Nazis annex the bordering French territory of Alsace, the home of the Arnold family. The Bibelforscher (Jehovah's Witnesses or "Bible Students" or as they were known then) in all of Nazi Europe are quickly put under ban.
Being conscientious objectors in line with the scriptures' admonition "You must not murder", the steadfast Bible Students did not support the war effort in any way whatsoever. They refused to "Heil Hitler". As a result of their bible-based beliefs and their neutral standing, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps to suffer cruelly at the hands of the Nazi regime. Even though the Bibelforscher were given the opportunity to be released if they "simply" renounced their faith by signing a legal document, these ones remained steadfast and unmovable. Because of their unbreakable allegiance to God alone, and not the state, they became targets of the Nazis' rage and even their fellow citizens. However, their beliefs and firm reliance on Jehovah God helped these students of the Bible endure the oppression of the camps, some even to the point of death.
As unwavering "Bibelforscher", the Arnold family was not immune to such horrors of the war machine. Soon after the war's outset, Simone's father is arrested and is taken away to the Dachau concentration camp and thereafter the infamous Mauthausen. Shortly after Simone is extradited to a strict Nazi reform school, her mother and aunt are also deported to the Schirmeck and Gaggenau camps.
"Facing The Lions" is full of heart-rending experiences as Simone recounts physical and mental abuse at the reform school by those who outwardly and secretly conspired to break her spirit. Yet, Simone maintains her strong faith amidst such persecution, and throughout maintains her spiritual and moral conviction. Excerpts from personal letters, documents, photographs of family and detailed drawings by the author herself serve to personalize the events, making for a poignant vicarious experience.
Inspiring, encouraging...this moving life story of a courageous and steadfast young girl has added to my respect and admiration of my rich spiritual heritage; and to all those, including Simone and her family, who struggled courageously to endure man's inhumanity to man.
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Summary: A detailed view of life during Hitler's ill-fated regime
Review: Simone Arnold and her family were devout members of the evangelical Christian movement known as Jehovah's Witnesses and living in Nazi occupied Alsace-Lorraine during World War II. Like the Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists, and political liberals, the Jehovah Witnesses were targeted by the Nazi's for extermination. Shunned by the community at the direction of the Nazis, rounded up and imprisoned in concentration camps, starved, beaten, abused, and publicly humiliated, all that Simone and her family would have had to do to avoid arrest and persecution was to simply sign a piece of paper renouncing their religion. Facing The Lion is the compelling autobiographical account of a young girl's faith and courage, and her refusal to accept the Nazi party and remain loyal to her faith -- despite the her father's being sent to the camps and she separated from her mother and interned in a reform school for purposes of "reeducation". Facing The Lion is a compelling and highly recommended testament to both Nazi atrocity and the endurance of the human spirit, a detailed view of life during Hitler's ill-fated regime and an inspiration to future generations having to cope with overwhelming pressure to conform in violation of heartfelt beliefs.
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Summary: Creates a picture of life in Alsace-Lorraine
Review: Simone Arnold Liebster creates a vivid picture of her early life pre-World War II. She's a fierce-hearted, loyal and caring little girl who buys treats at the bakery to share with her hungry school friends. As she grows, so does the Nazi threat, but she is unbowed by the attempts to force her to compromise her integrity. This is an absorbing story that I did not want to put down. There are some fascinating appendices included which feature information about some of the concentration camps.
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Summary: Perfect through Suffering
Review: Simone has become a household name in my family, since her book arrived here a couple of months ago. She and her friends have inspired us to greater faith and the resolve to live by Christian principles, without compromise. From 1982 to 1985, I was incarcerated in a military detention camp because of my Christian neutrality. The examples of single-minded people like the Arnolds (Simone's family) and their family in Mullhausen, served to strengthen me then, as they continue to do now. From Facing the Lion, I have re-learnt that the fabric of civilization has worn very thin in the last century. We cannot expect always to be comfortable or secure. All we pray for is Christian dignity and courage - the God-given privilege to rise above our fear. Thank you to those who urged Simone to call up those memories - many of them painful - for our strengthening.
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