This is one of the most touch­ing books I have read. After the hor­ror and mis­ery endured by these pris­on­ers, it is amaz­ing that they found the ener­gy and spir­it to secret­ly sew scraps of sheets and jack­ets togeth­er to make an Amer­i­can flag. Hav­ing no flag to look at, they worked from mem­o­ry and added an extra row of stars. Colonel Richard Seibel, com­man­der of the 11th Armored Divi­sion of the U.S. Armored Divi­sion that lib­er­at­ed Mau­thausen, was so moved that he ordered that the flag with 56 stars be flown proud­ly over the camp as a sym­bol of free­dom. This book includes many inter­est­ing sto­ries about Mau­thausen and its lib­er­a­tion, some of which I have nev­er heard pre­vi­ous­ly. A U.S. army para­troop­er who had bailed out and was impris­oned in Mau­thausen was sure that lib­er­a­tion was at hand. They had word from some pris­on­ers work­ing in the homes of Ger­man offi­cers, who secret­ly lis­tened to radios. He taught the band to play the ​“Star Span­gled Ban­ner.” The same band that was used for nefar­i­ous pur­pos­es by their Nazi cap­tors played the anthem of those who saved them, upon lib­er­a­tion. The illus­tra­tions are top-notch, many inspired by well-known pho­tos, such as Simon Wiesenthal’s on page 17. They add a fur­ther dimen­sion to this excel­lent book. A teach­ing guide is avail­able on the publisher’s web­site: www.holidayhouse. com. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 – 14.