A moving tale of courage, love, tenacity, and hope, this remarkable memoir documents one woman’s experience during the Holocaust. Enamored with a man named Arno, Zdenka Fantlová, a young Czech-Jewish woman, is separated from her soul-mate due to the German invasion. During a brief reunion, Arno proposes to 19-year-old Zdenka with a ring made from tin. Following Zdenka from Terezin through Auschwitz and Kurzbach to Bergen–Belsen, this heartbreaking account dwells less on the horrors of extermination camps and more on the compassion of the friends and family who shared in her ordeal.
Zdenka Fantlová Book order







- 2010
- 2001
"My Lucky Star" Dedicated to the unknown British Army officer who saved her life in Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, this is the affecting and uplifting memoir of Zdenka Fantlova, who shares in her direct, unsentimental style day-to-day life during the rise of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Fantlova’s astonishing memory and remarkable love of life combine to produce a historical document that will edify and inspire its readers. A moving story of extraordinary courage and integrity, "My Lucky Star" is also a reflection on the magical power of true love, a paean to the triumph of calmness and compassion over the machinery of hatred and murder, and a testament to the strength of the human spirit as it approaches death, struggles to survive, and is reborn.
- 2001
The tin ring - How I cheated death
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
A peaceful childhood in pre-war Czechoslovakia seemed on course for a happy ending with her soul-mate Arno: but war intervened.