First One In, Last One Out

Auschwitz Survivor 31321: A Memoir

By: Marilyn Shimon

Narrated by: Sarah Borges

Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The horrifying true story of one of the first eight men to enter Auschwitz. 

Growing up in New York, Marilyn Shimon often visited her uncle in California. She saw his scars, gaped at his 31321 tattoo and listened to his horrific stories of surviving the Holocaust. However, she could not relate to the suffering he endured or understand the significance of his accounts until now. 

In this grisly memoir, Marilyn resurrects Murray Scheinberg's stories of six hellish years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The Polish Jew was one of the first eight men to enter Auschwitz, as a political prisoner in 1940, and one of the last to escape Dachau. Shockingly frank and truly harrowing, this is a gripping first-hand account of the horror and degradation of the camps, from the first day to the very last.

©2020 Marilyn Shimon (P)2020 W F Howes

Critic reviews

“It is both an uplifting tale and a sorry one about human nature in the face of evil.” (Abraham H. Foxman, Anti-Defamation League)

Lacks depth of detail.

The book definitely feels like a different generation retelling the stories they heard second hand, because it is. It’s lacking in a lot of the richness and depth of detail from a first person account. I also found it really hard to figure out the timing of events. His story was so important but the book did disappoint a bit. That being said, I’m so glad it was able to be shared.

My biggest issue was the narrator. The voice she gave to Murray sounded like he on the constant verge of tears (even before captivity) and not a survivor with an insurmountable will to live. Despite the book being on the shorter side, it took me days to finish. I wanted to hear his story but I really struggled with how it was read.

Suuuuper disappointed

Reader was HORRIBLE. She should be reading for children. Her voice is perfect for that. But this....not so much. Her reading was so horrible and distracting, I couldn't concentrate on the book itself. All her characters sound the same, she gave minimal emotion to very serious issues, she fluctuates her voice wayyyyy too much.
There were no graphic or specific stories either. It was an extremely general and vague book of information. Nothing that sets it apart from all the others. I couldn't emotionally attach to this book because the reader wasn't conveying the proper emotions! For as long as her grandpa was in camps, there should have been a LOT more stories and information and detail! I'm just so disappointed. I wasted my credit on this book 🙄

Very good book to listen to

Excellent! I really enjoyed listening to it and learning more of someone’s experience in that terrible time. It is another piece of the puzzle to get a better understanding of what happened.

Doesn't Qualify As A Memoir or Biography

This book is so poorly written. It's not a memoir of a particular Holocaust survivor, the author's uncle. There are too many generalities and not specific experiences that her uncle may have experienced. It's apparent that the author did not do extensive research about her uncle. If anything it's juvenile literature.
The narration is horrible. The narrator reads the book in a singsongy voice that is really annoying. In doing so, she fails at delivering any emotion.

Mans inhumanity

This was quite a gritty true story, but that said all these stories need to be told and remembered, so this can and will never be repeated.

My only criticism is the narrator is not best suited to this. I feel it should have been a male narrator, and secondly her intonation was very odd finishing quite harrowing sentences on a high note or making some of the statements a little superfluous.

Thank you to all those people who keep these testimonies alive and fresh in paire do that se might learn of man’s inhumanity to man and never repeat this horrific moment of history.

Excellent....

account of what happened and ordealed to one person during World War 2. The narrator was very good.

Very good book, annoying narrater

Book was really good.
But the narrater took me out of the story a lot

Great story of a harrowing ordeal

Great story of a harrowing ordeal. I’ve read many of these types of books yet this poor man has lived through it more than most and managed to survive. It is portrayed well and is quite a short read considering he spent more than 6 years at these camps yet it holds enough details for the reader to understand.

Awful reader

Good story line but the lady’s voice is soo irritating, she either talks really fast or really slow, I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it was read by someone else

Spoilt by the narator

Spoilt by the naration. Not a patch on the harrowing suffering told in If This Is A Man by Mr Primo Levi or Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyl.