First One In, Last One Out

Auschwitz Survivor 31321: A Memoir

By: Marilyn Shimon

Narrated by: Sarah Borges

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)

Beautiful Story but Terrible narration

I really found it so difficult listening to this book. The narrator had a strange sing-song voice coupled with her interpretation of the author’s uncle was unsettling.

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.

Important details and honesty of moral qualms.

Read many Holocaust survivor stories but this was me of only where the survivors tells and admits to the levels they had to stoop to in order to survive. Bribing, helping Germans build death camp buildings, killing Germans in cold blood not self defense. More honest to admit these things that had to be done to survive. Also more honest to explain that the survivor was tormented rest of life. This story had some unique info I didn’t learn from other survivor stories. Important to remember history.

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.

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.

Horrible narrator

Story was good, but made almost unbearable to listen to due to narrator’s inflection and tone. Voice went up when it should have gone down, words were pronounced wrong.. . .