Never Forget: Holocaust Resources

Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death

2010-11-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

For students of Jewish or European history, it is a well known fact that the Hungarian Jews were the last to be sent through the Hitler killing machine that decimated the Jewish population of Europe. In 1944, late in the war that Hitler was slowly losing, Swedish Raoul Wallenberg, educated in America and a world traveler, found himself with the knowledge that the Jews in Budapest were being rounded up and sent to their deaths. He felt that he must try to save as many people as possible and began to do just that.

Using fake protective passports, Wallenberg saved between 30,000 and 100,000 Hungarian Jews. He set up safe houses and managed to move the hunted Jews to safety. In doing so, he put himself in danger. As the Soviets came closer and closer to the Hungarian capital, they became convinced that Wallenberg was a German spy. After the war, Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets and has not been seen since the end of the war.

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is a non-profit site for public awareness and contains numerous educational materials for middle and high school students.

TITLE: Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death
AUTHOR: Sharon Linnea
COPYRIGHT: 1993
PAGES: 145
TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: This book made me sad - although why it should have more than others, I don't know. I think it upset me because a man who saved the lives of others could not be saved.

Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism during the Holocaust

2010-10-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Author Hudson Talbot had been friends with Jaap Penraat for many years when he realized that Jaap had an amazing story that needed to be told. Talbot tells this story in Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism during the Holocaust. The book neatly combines narrative with illustrations which should make this very readable for middle grade readers.

Jaap Penraat begins in Amsterdam in the 1930s where he is friends with many Jewish people. One elderly Jewish man is a special friend to Penraat who always helps out with small tasks for his neighbor. As the Nazis move into the Netherlands, Penraat is worried about the safety of his Jewish friends and begins to create couterfiet papers for them. After being arrested for suspicion of aiding the Jews, Penraat realizes that he must help more people more quickly. He and a friend travel to Paris to obtain a new type of travel permit for a fake company ~ they will be moving men to build a wall around Europe. Of course, their real purpose is to move Jews to France where they can safely get to Spain and on to freedom. From 1942 to May 1944, Penraat and his friend saved 406 Jewish lives. Penraat was awarded the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations. His medal is engraved with this proverb:

He who saves a single human life saves the entire universe. (p.64)

I found it interesting that School Library Journal gave this book a fairly negative review on November 1, 2000.

The author's personal connection to and affection for Penraat is evident in the warmth of his descriptions. Unfortunately, much of the story is told through unattributed or fictionalized dialogue, and while the imagined conversations have the ring of truth, they are not supported by any documentation. Competent watercolors and pictures of forged documents lend some authenticity, but today's young readers have come to expect explicit sources for factual accounts. General statements and information presented only on the jacket are insufficient.-Kathleen Isaacs

I disagree with the reviewer and feel that this book can certainly serve as a beginning read for students who can then do their own research to add to the narrative of Talbot's informative and emotional account of his friend's wartime experiences. And while Books in Print did not indicate that the book has won any awards, Forging Freedom has been nominated for the three awards listed below.

The Holocaust Teacher Resource Center has an excellent lesson plan for this book designed for grades 5-8. Here is another lesson plan from Chapman University.

TITLE: Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism during the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Hudson Talbott
COPYRIGHT: 2000
PAGES: 64
TYPE: non-fiction literature
RECOMMEND: This is a fascinating story about courage ~ how one man saved his fellow Dutchmen.

AWARDS: Maryland Children's Book Award (nominated 2004)

Virginia Reader's Choice Award (nominated 2003)

Young Hoosier Book Award (nominated 2005)

One Candle

2010-10-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

One Candle by Eve Bunting is another successful Holocaust book for young children. The illustrations by K. Wendy Popp are stunning. They are in light brown tones with some color added for life in the present, with family sitting around the dinner table on the first night of Hanukkah. As grandmother remembers one Hanukkah when she and her sister Rose were prisoners in Buchenwald, the illustrations lose their color and are muted. But the story grandmother tells at the Hanukkah table is beautiful.

With the help of her sister, Rose, grandmother stole a potato and some butter from the kitchen in Buchenwald. This was very brave for a small twelve year old girl. This was not for them to eat, although they did eat the parts of the potatoe which were removed from the core to make room for the butter. With a string from a skirt, a wick was made and grandmother, Rose and six other Jewish women had one candle for Hanukkah.

Each year grandmother and Rose recreate this moment with thier family. Retelling this story gives then some peace and hope. When one of the children asks why the young women took the risk, grandmother says,

That Hanukkah candle lifted us. It lifted us to the stars. In our minds, sweetheart. In our hearts.

In the end, grandmother, Rose and all of their family toast L'chayim - To life! And each year, they are all lifted to the stars. It is the tradition of remembering triumph over evil that raises us up. And sharing these moments with family is at the heart of every celebration.

A wonderful lesson plan for using this book with 6th graders can be located here, a University of Michigan site and written by a student. If this link becomes broken, please let me know as I am saving a copy. Also, since the book centers on Hanukkah, I found the Teacher Guide to Hanukkah very informative with a number of lesson plans which could also be used with this book.

TITLE: One Candle
AUTHOR: Eve Bunting
ILLUSTRATOR: K. Wendy Popp
COPYRIGHT: 2002
PAGES: 29
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I love how the family honors a tradition to show courage and hope. The illustrations are also very nice.

Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen

2010-09-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

Luba Tryszynska was a prisoner herself in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It was near the end of the war, but the conditions could not have been any worse. This was the camp where Anne Frank died shortly before the camp was liberated. Luba suspected that her own family, her husband and young son, were dead. In fact Luba wondered why she had been spared. The book, Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen tells Luba's story and explains why she felt she was still alive in the midst of such misery.

Luba woke one night hearing a child crying. She thought she was dreaming because there had not been children in some time. But she listened and heard the cries again. In what seemed impossible, Luba found firty-four children hiding in the dark behind the barracks. Luba led the children back to her barracks and persuaded the women to hide these children, at the risk of their own deaths. Somehow, Luba was able to obtain enough food to feed the hungry children, even as others in the camp were starving. When the camp was liberated some months later, all but two of the children had survived.

Author Michelle McCann tells Luba's story beautifully and provides an epilogue following Luba close to her seventy-fifth birthday ~ when she met with many of the "Diamond children" as these children had been known. A map, photographs, and a list of additional resources are also included to assist older readers with more research or deeper understanding.

I did read a rather critical review of this book in which the author was criticized for trivializing the conditions of the camp, for having illustrations that did not truthfully reflect the reality of the situation for the children and other prisoners. While the author did seem to focus on the positive aspects of Luba's experience with the children, I thought that was purposeful and geared toward a younger audience. Upon careful scrutiny, the illustrations do include some prisoners who have the stark thinness associated with Holocaust victims and it is apparent that many of the adults are terrified. I think that perhaps the book can stand as it is for young readers, while a teacher or librarian can expound on what was the experience of many camp prisoners, and perhaps how many people did not survive. As I considered the review, I did a little research and was surprised to see the photograph of a Luba and some of the children near liberation ~ you can view it HERE.

Here is a book trailer created by a librarian to encourage students to read the book. I hope it, and my review, will encourage you to pick it up as well.

TITLE: Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen
AUTHOR: Michelle McCann told by Luba Tryszynska-Frederick
ILLUSTRATOR: Ann Marshall
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 48
TYPE: Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: This book shows courage in the face of almost certain failure and how love can save lives.
AWARDS: 2004 Jane Adams Award Honor Book

BBAW - Interview Swap

2010-09-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the BIG DAY!! Interview - swaps! I am not sure what was harder the questions or the answers. This was the main reason I signed up for BBAW - I remember seeing these last year and thought how much fun! So without any further blathering from me, let's get started!

DO YOU KNOW THIS LOVELY LADY ON THE LEFT?

SURELY YOU MUST!! HER BLOG IS DELIGHTFULLY WONDERFUL!

SHE IS SOPHISTICATED, SHE IS DORKY! Oh wait, I just gave it away! It is my privilege to introduce you to Kim @ Sophisticated Dorkiness!

1. To get started, tell us a little about yourself. What do you do when you are not reading and blogging?

I live in Madison, Wisconsin, and I just finished my master’s in journalism back in May. I started working at an engineering/manufacturing trade magazine right after that, so I’ve spent most of the summer getting used to work and trying to get outside to enjoy the weather!

When I’m not reading and blogging I like watching tv shows on Netflix (I’m watching Sports Night and Pushing Daisies right now), crocheting, and trying to learn to cook better. Last week I cooked an entire chicken, which I’d never done before.

2. You read such a wide range of books. What is your favorite genre?

Narrative nonfiction is probably my favorite genre. So, that means nonfiction books that use elements of storytelling -- plot, dialogue, characters, etc -- to tell a true story. I think they’re my favorite because I studied journalism and so I read them for the story and technique. It’s fun for me to see how other reporters work or collect information and stories.

3. Tell us about the best book you have read that was totally outside your normal choices.

That’s a tough one! I’ve read more YA because of book blogger recommendations - one I really liked was Looking for Alaska by John Green.

4. Do you have a favorite place to read?

I love reading outside on a blanket at the park, but I haven’t gotten to do that as much lately. My other favorite place to read is on my couch with a mug of tea – the couch is huge and comfortable with lots of pillows and blankets.

5. What three things do you love (reading doesn’t count, or blogging!)?

My family and friends, my cat Hannah, my teddy bear. That’s cheating a little bit, I think, but oh well :-)

6. What would the name of your autobiography be?

This is a hard one, since I always think of autobiography as something you write when you’ve lived a life and have some perspective on it. Since I’m on 24, I don’t know if I have any real perspective on myself. But if I were going to write something about myself, at this moment I’d probably call it something like Discombobulated: One Dork’s Attempt at Being a Real Grown Up.
7. Do you have a favorite bookstore?

I’m not sure if I have a favorite, but there are a few bookstores in Madison that I love - A Room of One’s Own Feminist Bookstore, Avol’s Books, and Paul’s Books are three that I try to go to pretty regularly.

8. Are you a cat person or a dog person – or maybe a neither person?

I’m definitely a cat person, although before I adopted a kitten earlier this year (Hannah), I might have said neither - my family never had pets when I was growing up. But ever since I got Hannah I’ve been this huge sappy dork whenever I see or read anything about animals. It’s a little ridiculous.

9. What book should I rush out to buy if I don’t already have it?

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, because it’s one of the most emotional and well-written narrative nonfiction books I can think of.

10. When people visit your blog, what do you hope they leave with?

I hope they get a sense of me and my personality and that the feel inspired to try a new nonfiction book (or really any book). I feel like there aren’t as many nonfiction reading book bloggers, so anytime I can make nonfiction seem fun or exciting or get someone to try it, I feel excited.

This has been such a wonderful experience for me. I am in awe of Kim - I mean she made the short list for the Best Nonfiction Book Blog! And like Kim, I almost prefer non-fiction, as you can see by my blog. Truth is almost always better than fiction. Kim is a wonderful young blogger and I hope you will rush over to her blog, Sophisticated Dorkiness where she has her interview of me and some fabulous reviews of great books.

People of the Holocaust

2010-09-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

People of the Holocaust by Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck is a two volume reference set which is an excellent resource for young people interested in the Holocaust and the many different people who were involved. The two volumes are comprised of biographies of 60 women and men who participated in or were affected by the Holocaust.

Each individual main entry biography is written at the students' level and is often accompanied by interesting photographs or primary source documents. In addition, the editors have included short related mini-biographies which are cross-referenced within the main entries. Each biography contains a "Words to Know" and "Further Reading" section.

I found the main entry biographies interesting and engaging, and feel that the volumes would be extremely useful in terms of research for middle school students. The choices made by the editors were wide and included people on all sides of the Holocaust.

A review of the 2 volume set found in the Voice of Youth Advocates (December 1, 1998) highlights some of the problems, or errors, with the text:

The text states that 1938 was the year Hitler and the Nazis began "implementing anti-Jewish regulations in Germany." This ignores the boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933 and the Nuremberg race laws of 1935, as well as the beginning of property regulations in 1937. In a paragraph describing the forced emigration of Jews in Europe, the text states that "millions of Jews were left behind in Germany": Europe is meant here, not Germany. One bibliographic entry gives the wrong date, and there are a number of typos. The following two mistakes were the most worrisome: An entry about a victim at Auschwitz reads "During the camp's [Auschwitz-Birkenau] existence, between 1940 and 1945, an estimated 400,000 people were admitted to the camp, and approximately 261,000 died there." This is a gross underestimate?nother entry states that at least 1.3 million Jews were killed there. In a sidebar on the war in Hungary a statement declares that Raoul Wallenberg helped to save 4,500 Hungarian Jews?yet another entry on Wallenberg claims he "saved as many as 100,000 Jews."

The author also includes a glossary, bibliography, and index to assist the reader. This should be in the library in every middle school across America - even with a few errors!

TITLE: People of the Holocaust, Volumes 1 & 2
AUTHOR: Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck
COPYRIGHT: 1998
PAGES: Volume 1 & 2 - 508
TYPE: non-fiction, reference
RECOMMEND: I think this is a very good reference source for middle grade students. The errors noted in one review can be addressed with students, but the biographical information and primary sources are worth the trouble.

Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, A Photographic Remembrance

2010-09-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

I seem to have been lucky enough to receive a number of different books about Anne Frank all at the same time. Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, A Photographic Remembrance is a wonderful book compiled in cooperation with the Anne Frank House and first published in the Netherlands a year earlier than the US copy. I think the best description of the content, the intent, of the book is found in the Introduction by Anna Quindlen:

We know Anne Frank the victim and Anne Frank the fugitive. This is Anne Frank the free, the living, the person who was able to write what has become a life lesson for millions of us in the years since: "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." (p. xi)

The photographic journey begins with the diary and slips back to the occassion of Anne's birth in Frankfurt am Main on June 12, 1929. There are pictures of newborn Anne, their home, and friends. Then back to Amsterdam where Anne had her thirteenth birthday and received the plaid diary that is so well-known today. The authors provide copies of Anne's diary with Anne's own drawings and photos glued in place. Maps and images of other documentation like food coupons, etc fill this book. Finally the copy of the transport record with the Franks being sent to Auschwitz. Although Anne died shortly after the transport, she has lived on through her writing and the authors provide photos of post-war life as well.

The authors provide learning aids at the end of the book which make this an excellent resource for children. There is a chronology, Notes on the different versions of the diary, Source notes, and an Index of People and Places.

Scholastic provides a long list of Extension Activities which could serve to expand middle schoolers' understanding of Anne's diary.

Looking for resources about Anne Frank and her diary, I ran across this Anne Frank Internet Guide, which while it is a bit dated, provides a good number of excellent links.

TITLE: Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, A Photographic Remembrance
AUTHOR: Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven for the Anne Frank House
TRANSLATORS: Tony Langham and Plym Peters
INTRODUCTION BY: Anna Quindlen
COPYRIGHT: 1993 (US copy)
PAGES: 113
TYPE: Holocaust narrative/photographs
RECOMMEND: I loved this book, so I think we can expand the age range on this one. The photographs bring Anne Frank's history to life in a way that the written word may not. From birth to beyond death, learn about Anne's life.

A Friend Called Anne

2010-08-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

A Friend Called Anne: One Girl's Story of War, Peace, and a Unique Friendship with Anne Frank provides young readers with yet another unique look at the life of Anne Frank. The remembrances of Jacqueline van Maarsen, as written by Carol Ann Lee, enhance our knowledge of Anne's life before the Holocaust. Additionally, because Jacqueline's father was Jewish while her mother was Catholic, Jacqueline's experiences during the war in Amsterdam were different from many of the survivor stories that we read.

Jacqueline and Anne were very best friends and when Anne went into hiding, diving under as it was known in Dutch, and Anne was sad to leave her friend behind. Once settled in the Secret Annex, Anne wrote a letter to her friend Jacqueline on September 25, 1942:

Dear Jacquleine,

I am writing this letter in order to bid you goodbye....Later, of course, you will be able to tell people that you had a farewell letter from me....I hope that we will always stay best friends until we meet again. Anne

Unfortunately, the two friends never met again. Anne knew that she could not send the letter to her friend, so she placed it inside her diary. During the war, Jacqueline's mother managed to convince the authorities that her children were good Catholics by removing their yellow stars and taking them to church whenever possible. This act likely saved their lives. After the war, in June 1945, Mr. Frank visited Jacqueline and gave her not one, but two letters, written to her from Anne. After the Diary was published, it was apparent that Jackie was Jopie in the diary and many people wanted her to comment on her friendship with Anne. Still it was 1986 before Jackie wrote about her friendship with Anne and the terrible experiences during the Holocaust.

A timeline of Holocaust events, especially in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, concludes the book.

TITLE: A Friend Called Anne: One Girl's Story of War, Peace, and a Unique Friendship with Anne Frank
AUTHOR: Jacqueline Van Maarsen, retold by Carol Ann Lee
COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 163
TYPE: non-fiction, memoir
RECOMMEND: I liked this new and unique perspective on the life of Anne Frank, as well as the Holocaust experiences of the author.

Anne Frank: Hidden Hope

2010-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Anne Frank: Hidden Hope by Rita Mullin is one book in the Sterling Biographies series. Mullin introduces the biography stating, Anne Frank's diary has helped people the world over to understand the impact of hatred on its victims and has opened dialogues in classrooms and government halls about the awful price of prejudice. Her story is as moving - and her words are as relevant - today as they were more than a half-century ago. (p. 1)

Mullins herself may make Anne, her family, and her life even more relevant and moving by her selection of a wide variety of facts, photographs, and images that supplement the readers' previous knowledge of Anne from her diary. One thing that I found interesting, and did not know before reading the book, was that Anne had an American penpal. Her name was Juanita Wagner and she lived on a farm in Danville, Iowa. The two exchanged letters in the fall of 1939 and April 1940. After Germany invaded the Netherlands, there was no more correspondence.

While I did not find any specific lesson plans for this book, I can think of a few myself. It might be interesting to look at Anne's diary and the information provided in this book and compare the two. Another interesting activity might be to visit the website Anne Frank Tree which is an interactive site focused on the chestnut tree behind the Secret Annex. Anne mentioned it in her diary. You are asked to put in your name and location and leave a message if you like.

The author also includes a glossary, bibliography, and index to assist the reader.

TITLE: Anne Frank: Hidden Hope
AUTHOR: Rita Thievon Mullin
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 124
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: Many books have been written about Anne Frank, but I found this one a bit different - with images and photographs that enhanced the well-known biography.

A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust

2010-08-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust by Alison Gold provides a more in-depth look at Sugihara's story that was initially told in Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story (reviewed March 8, 2010) by Ken Mochizuki. For early elementary students who have read the Mochizuki book, Gold's book will be a perfect follow up with details of the life and courage of Sugihara as well as the poignant stories of families who were survivors.

To briefly review Sugihara's story: Against orders from his Japanese superiors, Sugihara issued visas for over 6,000 Jews for travel through Russia to Japan during the WWII years. He did this as part of his service as the Japanese diplomat to Lithuania. He wrote these visas by hand, he wrote them day and night, he wrote them because he could not bear the idea of the suffering of these innocent people. He was removed from the post and along with his family, he was sent to an internment camp in Russia as the war ended. After returning to Japan, he was removed from diplomatic service in disgrace and his youngest son died from complications due to the harsh conditions of the camp. Because of his heroic actions over 40,000 Jewish people owe him their lives. He could have become depressed over all he had lost, instead, he was perhaps bolstered by the Japanese saying Shiimbo shiite seiko suru - success comes through overcoming adversity. (p. 167)

The book is informative and honest. The author interviewed Sugihara's wife and son, as well as a number of survivors with Sugihara visas. The author also drew heavily on written materials from both the family and the survivors. Here is a poem the author included. It was written by Sugihara's wife Yukiko:

The train pulls away,

hands reaching out the window

Passing out visas

Hands reaching towards the windows

for visas for life --

Hope (p. 99)

PBS has a film entitled Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness (2005). Visit the PBS website to view a trailer for the film, an interactive timeline of Sugihara's life, additional readings and videos, and teacher resources. Although this seems to be aimed at older students, I suspect it could be modified to a lower grade level. One thing that I found interesting was the discussion of Boshido, traditional samurai values, which were part of Sugihara's upbringing on his mother's side of the family.

Another interesting website is Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats. This non-profit organization was originally created to honor Sugihara, and has now been expanded to include any diplomat who saved Jewish people during the Holocaust.

TITLE: A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Alison Gold
COPYRIGHT: 2000
PAGES: 176
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: A very inspiring book, should remind us to do the right thing in all circumstances, without regard for the negative consequences.

The Good Liar

2010-08-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Good Liar by Gregory Maguire might serve as an introduction to the use of primary resources when researching a topic. The book begins with three young girls sending a letter to an older gentleman they see on television. The girls know he came to America from Europe and he seemed to be old enough to have been their age during the war. They ask if he could tell them about World War II. Marcel Delarue, our narrator, responds with the story of his childhood.

Fat Marcel, as he was called, grew up in Mont-Saint-Martin, France with his Maman and two brothers, Pierre and Rene. The year was 1940 and France was being occupied by the German army. Before the occupation, the brothers (who were Roman Catholic, like most French people) spent their time playing and trying to see who could tell the biggest lie. But then, the war came much closer to them. Uncle Anton came to their home from Paris, bringing a Jewish woman and her daughter who hid in the house until they could safely escape. The boys had one more thing to lie about. Then they became friends with a German soldier - and the lies got bigger and bigger. If you want to know how the story turns out, you will need to read the book.

As a mother (and a Catholic, I might add), I was not overjoyed with the idea of using lying as the main focus of the book. It is implied that Catholics lie, which I found very strange. As a reader and a human being, I realize that we all tell small lies from time to time - to not hurt feelings, or to protect someone. I also realize that young people might see this in an entirely different way, especially if their involvement with the book is led by a teacher.

Here is an interesting interview with the author discussing his experiences writing The Good Liar.

The Good Liar: A Teaching Guide provides an excellent five unit lesson plan for reading and interacting with the book.

TITLE: The Good Liar
AUTHOR: Gregory Maguire
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 129
TYPE: Historical fiction
RECOMMEND: This was not my favorite fictional work about the Holocaust. However, it did show the tense interactions experienced by the locals during occupation.

Hiding to Survive: Stories of Jewish Children Rescued from the Holocaust

2010-08-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

The number of Jewish children who were hidden during the Holocaust is estimated to be somewhere between ten thousand and five hundred thousand. The range is so vast because there are no records of the children and rescuers who were caught and killed by the Nazis. Nor is it known how many children survived by hiding but have preferred to keep their story private. In any case, it's guessed that about 1 percent of the Gentile population in Europe hid Jewish children. (p. 5)

Maxine Rosenberg's Hiding to Survive: Stories of Jewish Children Rescued from the Holocaust is another book which came out from the 1991 international conference for hidden children which was held in New York City. Rosenberg offers fourteen first person narratives based on interviews with Jewish children who were hidden in Greece, Belgium, Poland, Holland, Hungary, Lithuania, and France. Each adult interviewed tells a different childhood story of being hidden during the war - they all have one thing in common - survival. And while 1 percent of the population which hid these children may seem small, for these specific children it meant the world.

The book begins with a brief and concise history of Hitler's rise to power and his march through Europe with the intent of killing all of the Jewish people and others deemed unimportant. This history sets the stage for the individual stories. Each story begins with a photograph of the individual from sometime before or during the war and ends with a current (early 1990s) photograph. In some cases, a photograph of the rescuer is also included. The stories vary widely, but all must have been very traumatic for the children who were often separated from their families abruptly and, in most cases, did not know the new family or people they were to live with. To further complicate matters, both the children and their rescuers were scared - scared they would be turned in to the Nazis and killed. When asked why they risked their lives, and the lives of their own family, to rescue Jewish children, most replied, I only did whqat I'd hope another human being would do for me (p. 8). If only we all always observed the Golden Rule of do unto others!

The author also includes a glossary and a short bibliography.

Standards-based Activities with Scoring Rubrics: Performance-based projects by Jacqueline Glasgow contains an excellent activity for this book which will engage students with the children who survived during the Holocaust. You can view the entire activity and rubric from Google Books at the link above.

TITLE: Hiding to Survive: Stories of Jewish Children Rescued from the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Maxine R. Rosenberg
COPYRIGHT: 1994
PAGES: 166
TYPE: Holocaust narratives
RECOMMEND: The stories presented in this compilation provide compelling evidence that what Anne Frank believed - that people really are good - was at least true for the population of people who risked their lives to save small children from the Holocaust.

Rutka's Notebook: A Voice from the Holocaust

2010-08-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

Oh, good Lord. Well, Rutka, you've probably gone completely crazy. You are calling upon God as if He exists. The little faith I used to have has been completely shattered. If God existed, He would have certainly not permitted that human beings be thrown alive into furnaces, and the heads of little toddlers be smashed with butts of guns or be shoved into sacks and gassed to death...It sounds like a fairy tale. Those who haven't seen this would never believe it. But it's not a legend; it's the truth. Or the time when they beat an old man until he became unconscious, becaue he didn't cross the street properly...The end...When will it come?... (pp. 22-24)

These words were written on February 5, 1943 by 14 year old Rutka Laskier who has come to be known as the Polish Anne Frank. During the months when Rutka wrote her diary entries, she lived with her family members in the Bedzin ghetto in south-western Poland, near Krakow.

I learn something new with each book that I read on the Holocaust. I was amazed when I read the diary entry quoted above. This was 1943. Rutka was in a camp in Poland. They KNEW. They knew that humans were being systematically murdered. Rudolf Vrba* and Alfred Wetzler were the first Jewish prisoners to escape from Auschwitz on April 7, 1944. They told officials in the United States, Great Britain, and Rome the truth about the gas chambers and murders. How in the world did Rutka and her group of young people know with such conviction a year earlier? And, of course, the question then becomes - why go to their certain deaths? I know the answer, but it breaks my heart.

According to Rutka's friend, 20 year old Stanislawa Sapinska (in whose house Rutka and her parents lived - the Germans forced the Sapinskas to move out of the ghetto), Rutka was well informed of the course of the war and the status of the military forces, as well of the fate of the deported Jews (p. 2). Stanislawa also indicated that she believed Rutka had contact with the anti-German underground. During her time in the ghetto Rutka told Stanislawa that she felt she would not survive the war and that she would hide her diary under the staircase and hoped that Stanislawa would retrieve it after the war. The ghetto was liquidated in August 1943 (although it is believed that Rutka left in April 1943 and was sent to Auschwitz and murdered shortly thereafter) and Stanislawa kept her word to her friend. She kept the diary hidden for sixty years, taking it out to read on occassion. When she was eighty years old, she decided she should give the diary to the world and presented it to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Here is a picture of Rutka's Christian friend on the day she presented the diary to the world:

*(If you would like to read about Vrba and Wetzler's experience, read I Cannot Forgive by Vrba. It is excellent.)

To read the article which went along with the photo, click here. There is also an insightful 2007 interview on NPR. The article includes some excerpts from the diary.

TITLE: Rutka's Notebook: A Voice from the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Rutka Laskier (1929-1943) and Daniella Zaidman-Mauer (editor)
COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 89
TYPE: Holocaust diary and commentary
RECOMMEND: This book is an excellent resource. In addition to the diary, the reader is provided with considerable discussion on the significance of this young girl's written words. A nice bibliography is also included.

Erika's Story

2010-08-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

I was born sometime in 1944.

I do not know my birthdate.

I do not know my birth name...

What I do know is that when I was just a few months old, I was saved from the Holocaust. (p. 1)

This is the beginning of Erika's story. She was thrown from a train to by her parents to escape the Holocaust. Author Ruth Vander Zee was traveling in Germany in 1995 when she met Erika sitting outside a tornado demolished building. Vander Zee allows Erika to tell her story through this book - with words and pictures. Erika wonders how her parents felt as they threw her to an uncertain future, hopefully to live instead of to die. As she ages, Erika marries and has children of her own. She reminds us that it was once said that my people would be as many as the stars in the heavens. Although six millions stars fell during the Holocaust, Erika's star is still shining and I am glad she shared her story with first Vander Zee and the now the world.

The illustrations are beyond wonderful. In fact, all but a few resemble photographs, although one can see that they are not. These "photographs" are all black and white or muted blue tones. The only colors are the yellow stars worn on the chests of the people in the cattle car and the pink blanket wrapped around the young baby girl. The emphasis created with this use of color is haunting. The cover (seen above) is also quite interesting with a black and beige background with a cut out star in the center which has a yellow background. Behind the star is a fence with the German word VERBOTEN, which means forbidden. A very powerful mental picture.

The author provides a Teachers' Resource Guide with a very nice assortment of materials for use with students.

TITLE: Erika's Story
AUTHOR: Ruth Vander Zee
ILLUSTRATOR: Roberto Innocenti
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 24
TYPE: Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: The book is so simple, yet powerful in its simplicity. The illustrations alone are stunning and combined with the narrative the book is an excellent resource.

Eli Remembers

2010-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Eli Remembers written by Ruth Vander Zee and Marian Sneider is illustrated by Bill Farnsworth. The story is based on Sneider's grandson, Ely Sandler, who took a trip to Eastern Europe to learn more about how his family had lived before and during the war.

Each year when his family gathered for Rosh Hashanah, Eli noticed that his great-grandmother lit seven candles and was sad. After she died, Eli's grandmother continued the tradition with the same sadness. When Eli asked his mother why it made the family sad, he was told some things are too difficult to talk about. (p. 5) When Eli was a bit older, his grandparents and parents took him to Lithuania to see when his family came from before the war. Near the end of their trip, the family traveled deep into the countryside to Ponar Forest. Walking into the forest, Eli finds a very large pit. His father tells him:

This is the grave of 80,000 Jews who were killed during World War II. They were force-marched night after night by the Nazis and ordered to stand around this pit. Then the soldiers shot them...in their backs.

This is where his great-grandmother's father and six siblings were killed. Young Eli leaves seven roses in the pit in remembrance. He also tells his family that this will no longer be a secret because he will always remember. Just like his family did by lighting the seven candles.

The illustrations, from the cover to the final pages are hauntingly beautiful. The author also provides a brief historical note at the end of the book.

The publisher, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, provides a Teacher Resources guide with activities. This resource guide can be downloaded and printed.

TITLE: Eli Remembers
AUTHOR: Ruth Vander Zee & Marian Snieder
ILLUSTRATOR: Bill Farnsworth
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: I think this book can be used to illustrate the fate of Jews outside of the concentration camps as well as a remembrance for the 80,000 who died in the Ponar forest.

AWARDS: Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (2008)

The Final Journey

2010-07-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

The sliding-door of the railway truck closed with a deafening clang. (p. 1)

These are the opening words of The Final Journey by German author Gudrun Pausewang. This is a harrowing fictional account of the journey of a young Jewish girl from innocence to knowledge, from home to Auschwitz, from life to death. Except for brief interludes, the entire novel takes place inside this cattle car on a train bound for Auschwitz. The grim story is told from the perspective of eleven year old Alice who has been sheltered by her grandparents and, in the beginning, really has no understanding of the dire position of the Jews in Europe. On the train with only her grandfather, Alice interacts with all of the different people in the train car who initially only have the Jewish star in common. They come to share hunger, thirst, intimacies, and death. Gradually Alice begins to understand that she has been lied to by her grandparents and lashes out at her grandfather, who dies shortly thereafter. A child is born in the train car, almost certainly to die very soon. Still Alice is hopeful, even as she arrives at the gates of Auschwitz and is led to the "showers".

Alice tipped back her head. Soon, soon, water would pour down over her from the nozze up there. The water of life. It would wash her clean of the dirt and horror of the journey, would make her as clean as she had been before. She raised her arms and opened out her hands. (p. 154)

And the book ends. Was Alice hopeful up to the very end? As she entered the showers, she began her first menses - a sign of life. While Alice did not know the outcome, readers of course know that for millions of Jews, this shower was the absolute final journey. Did the author stop at this point to allow the reader to contemplate hope vs. acceptance, knowledge vs. denial? In any case, the ending broke my heart all over again.

Another interesting tidbit (from a novel full of instances which could serve as discussion points) is the following passage:

The train was still standing in the afternoon sun. "This is murder!" shouted a man's voice from the neighbourhing truck. Alice's eyes opened with shock. "And God lets it happen!" screamed a woman. "What have we done? Just lived our lives like everyone else!" "Those people outside see the trains passing and no one does anything about it," moaned the woman. "Saw nothing, heard nothing." (p. 48)

I have wondered about just this scenario over my years of reading Holocaust materials. How many people saw the events taking place, but for whatever reason felt incapable of action? I know there were many who agreed with Hitler's assessment of the Jews, but there were also people who opposed the treatment of fellow human beings. There are records showing that at times people would throw bread to the people in the cattle cars. But, sadly, there are also reports of people jeering at the Jews.

Gudrun Pausewang was born in 1928 in a village in what is now the Czech Republic. Her father was a diplomat and was killed on the Russian front in 1943. In 1948, Gudrun and her family fled from communism to West Germany where she trained as a teacher. She has written a number of other books, mostly dealing with social issues, with only a few translated to English. Fall Out (about a nuclear accident) and Traitor (Holocaust related) are two that have been well-reviewed.

TITLE: The Final Journey
AUTHOR: Gudrun Pausewang
TRANSLATOR: Patricia Crampton
COPYRIGHT: 1996, original in German 1992
PAGES: 154
TYPE: Holocaust fiction
RECOMMEND: I found this to be one of the most difficult books I have ever read - only because I knew that the end would not be good. I am not sure I had ever really considered how difficult the journey.

All But My Life

2010-07-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

All But My Life is often a difficult book to read. The author, Gerda Weissmann Klein, did, in fact, lose everything to the Nazi's except for her life. She lost her family, friends old and new, and her possessions. In the epilogue to this new edition of the memoir, Klein writes: Survival is both an exalted privilege and a painful burden. (p. 247) I can only assume that writing this book and telling her amazing story of survival fulfills the commands of both - by her privilege of survival, Klein has taken on the burden and shared it with others. So that we will better understand the price she and millions of others paid, and to remember.

The book is divided into three almost equal parts. Part One deals mainly with Gerda and her family's experiences during the early years of the war before they were sent to camps. The fear is palpable as the family deals with the Nazi attempts to locate the men of the family. Part Two begins with the family being removed from their home and taken to camps. Gerda describes the last time she sees her mother and father and discusses how she relied on new friends in the camps to stay strong. Part Three deals with the time after liberation. In some ways, although the road forward was difficult, this is a love story. Gerda eventually marries the American who liberated her and helped her regain her health. The details provided in all three parts of the book are achingly true to Klein's memories.

Just one other thought about the book. In many ways the book reminds me of Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl speaks of his own Holocaust experiences and concludes that survival was dependent on a number of things, but central to that survival is expressed in the words of Nietzsche, "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." This is vividly apparent in the book with a number of people expressing this exact sentiment.

Please do take the time to visit the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation. The header at the top of the website states: You alone have the power to eliminate bigotry and hunger. While there are many wonderful links and videos to visit on the site, if you are a teacher or librarian be sure to order your free copy of ONE SURVIVOR REMEMBERS: A Teaching Kit for Grades 8-12. Our library has this kit and it is a fantastic resource telling Gerda's story through a multi-media exploration.

TITLE: All but my Life
AUTHOR: Gerda Weissmann Klein
COPYRIGHT: 1995, expanded edition (originally published in 1957)
PAGES: 261
TYPE: Holocaust memoir
RECOMMEND: The book covers the losses felt by so many young Jews during the Holocaust. With striking detail, life in the camps and death on the forced marches, the author illuminates the past for people in the future.

Isabella: From Auschwitz to Freedom

2010-07-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Isabella: From Auschwitz to Freedom, the autobiograhy of Isabella Leitner and co-written with her husband Irving Leitner is actually the combination of the author's two previous works Fragments of Isabella (published in 1978) and Saving the Fragments (published in 1986). It is interesting to note that Irving also produced a play Isabella, based on the first book, which was first performed in Russia on May 8, 1993 as part of a celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany. This was one of the first times that the people of Societ Russia were exposed to the experiences of Nazi prisoners in the death camps and the play received a standing ovation. Interestingly enough, on May 8, forty-eight years earlier a United States ship brought the first survivors of Auschwitz into an American harbor. Isabella and her sisters were among the passengers. Isabella recalls that In our battered beings we carried the charred souls of millions of innocent children, women, and men. (p. 15) And so begins this extraordinary book.

Leitner's book is divided into three parts:

Book One: Auschwitz
Book Two: Liberation
Book Three: America

There is also an Epilogue: This Time in Paris by Irving Leitner and an Afterword to one of the previous books by Howard Fast. The authors also provide two additional helpful sections: Lager Language and Lager Lexicon.

Even with these individual sections, the book moves forward and back in time. Even so, it is beautifully written. As I was reconstructing a brief account of her story, I was perusing another set of books that I plan to review soon. People of the Holocaust is a two volume set containing brief biographies of many different people connected in some way to the Holocaust. Isabella is one of the people included and her story is succinctly told in only a few pages. Isabella, her mother, four sisters and brother were deported from Hungary to Auschwitz in May 1944 after three months in a ghetto. Isabella's mother and youngest sister were killed immediately on arrival. Isabella and two of her sisters escaped during the Death March. Years later Isabella learned that her brother lived while her other sister died shortly after liberation. The survivors were liberated by the Soviets and made their way to America.

In an opening poem, Isabella remembers the day her mother and sister died:

My eyes turned skyward in search of a patch of sky,
but all I could see was a kingdom of hell
breathed in the darkest of swirling, charcooal gray smoke,
and my nostrils were saturated with the scent of
burning flesh, and the scent was that of my mother,
my sister, and each passenger's kin,
and half a century later, I am unable to inhale
air only, for the scent of singed human flesh
is permanently lodged in my nostrils.
I do not look different from other people,
but tread gently as you pass me by, for my skull
is inhabited by phantoms in the dark of night
and sights and sounds in the light of day
that are different from those that live in souls
who were not in Auschwitz a half century ago.

Because this pain was still so real and touchable even fifty years later, it is so important for us to remember and teach tolerance and peace to our young.

TITLE: Isabella: From Auschwitz to Freedom
AUTHOR: Isabella Leitner and Irving Leitner
COPYRIGHT: 1994
PAGES: 233
TYPE: Holocaust memoir
RECOMMEND: In particular, I really liked the format of this book. The chapters are often brief and lend themselves to reflection. I also think it is important for the reader of Holocaust works to realize that for many the war was not over when peace came - rather it was merely the beginning of survival and adjustment outside of the camps. This book covers both aspects of survival.

Hidden on the Mountain

2010-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle write children's books. In 2002 the pair took at trip to France where they visited a small museum in the south of France. This visit would result in years of research and personal interviews during which Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon was born. I am finding it very difficult to review this important book because each chapter, which contains the story of one child, could be, and also has been, written as a book unto itself. As an avid reader of Holocaust memoirs, I must confess that I had never heard of this refuge for Jewish children. The authors confirm that no children's book has ever been written on this topic.

To assist others who might not be aware of this small area of France, I would like to spend some time on the third chapter entitled "An Isolated Haven: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and La Montagne Protestante" before going on to the meat of the book. The geographic area in question is an isolated mountain plateau in South-central France. Hundreds of years before the Second World War, this area had been a hiding place and refuge for French Huguenots who were persecuted by French Catholics. Ancestors of these Protestants still lived in this area and had a special understanding of the hardships of religious persecution. Fiercely independent, the Huguenot Protestants had a strong sense of right and wrong. They valued their own freedom and respected the freedom of others. They were modest and humble. They beoieved in tolerance and in sharing what they had with others. Every day they read the Bible. and they were committed to living their lives according to what they read. They didn't blindly accept the authority of the government if it contradicted their religious beliefs. (p. 12). After the Germans overtook France, the country was divided into occupied France and unoccupied France which, under the Vichy government, collaborated with the Nazis. In both areas of the country, Jews were rounded up and sent to holding camps and then on to their deaths. And so these often poor farmers and villagers were ready to hide Jews, especially young children, in their homes until they could be relocated to Switzerland or until the war was over. This entire French community of Le Chambon cooperated to keep these children safe, with some offering warnings if a round-up was coming so that the children could be hidden high in the mountains for a day. Today, this beautiful story has been told by one of the Jewish children who was born there - Pierre Sauvage made the documentary film Weapons of the Spirit (the name comes from a speech by Protestant pastor Andre Trocme who urged the parishoners to stand up against injustice in non-violent ways, using "weapons of the spirit" (p. 14)).

And stand up they did, with several thousand children hidden in these mountains. DeSaix and Ruelle interviewed many of these survivors and include their stories as first person narratives in the book. To provide a broader picture of the area and the times, the authors also include chapters, written in third person, of non-Jewish people who lived in the area or helped the children in some special way (many of whom were no longer alive). Each child's story jumps from the pages, with memories often in conflict with that of another child who lived in the mountains during the same time. The authors observe that both memories are correct. Some of the children traveled across countries to arrive in this haven. They traveled without parents or friends. Some came from the nearby camp at Gurs. One thing they all found in Le Chambon was a sense of normalcy - schools, hard work, fun, friendships that continue to this day. What amazing bravery of both the children and their protectors. These stories gave me hope that within us all we have weapons of the spirit and are capable of standing up for what is right.

The history of the area and war, along with the individual histories and memories of the children are enhanced by photographs of the children in their daily activities, maps, a glossary, timeline, and recommended readings. To learn more about this topic, visit The Chambon Foundation and the authors' website for the book.

TITLE: Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon
AUTHOR: Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle
COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 275
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I thought this was a hopeful book - people did what they needed to do to save the lives of these children.

Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust

2010-07-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

Terrible Things: An allegory of the Holocaust written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Stephen Gammell is a very unusual book. First, if you look at the age range posted here, do not be fenced in by the ages listed because I think the book could be used by a much broader group. This is the first unusual aspect. The second unusual aspect is the use of a children's allegory to ask a question which is often considered but rarely asked.

Eve Bunting is a prolific writer I have read many of her children's books, and while they cover a wide range of topics - even difficult topics, I did not know until recently that she had this book on the Holocaust. Terrible Things is in many ways a very simple tale, as are most allegories or parables which are defined as "short moral stories." In her introduction to Terrible Things, Bunting explains the moral of her story better than I could:

In Europe, during World War II, many people looked the other way while terrible things happened. They pretended not to know that their neighbors were being taken away and locked in concentration camps. They pretended not to hear their cries for help. The Nazis killed millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust. If everyone had stood together at the first sign of evil would this have happened?

Standing up for what you know is right is not always easy. Especially if the one you face is bigger and stronger than you. It is easier to look the other way. But if you do, terrible things can happen. -- E.B.

The allegory is set in a forest with animals of all types. Our narrator seems to be a rabbit who with the other animals looks up to see a terrible shadow which blocks the sun. From the shadow comes a loud voice saying they have come for all animals with feathers. The other animals are happy that they do not have feathers and do nothing to help the birds. Then the shadows come for animals with bushy tails, then animals that swim, then animals with quills, and finally for all animals that are white. Suddenly the rabbits are no longer safe and wonder if they could have stopped the Terrible Things in the beginning by standing up for the birds. Have you ever asked yourself the same question? Was there a time when you could have stopped a bully? Or even stopped something that was wrong from being done? I think we all must answer yes. This is, of course, the power of the story.

The illustrations, by award winning illustrator Stephen Grammell, are very powerful. The cover above shows the rabbit running from the Terrible Thing and shows the style of illustrations inside the book. I like that they are in a simple black and white, with shadows used for things we might not understand but intuitively know are bad. I think the technique is excellent in that it allows for a wide use of the story - nothing that would terrify a younger child, but detailed enough to be readily understood by an older child.

The Mandel Fellowship Teaching Resources site contains a very nice lesson plan for Terrible Things. The actual web site contains other very interesting and informative links. Check it out if you have the time.

TITLE: Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Eve Bunting
ILLUSTRATOR: Stephen Gammell
COPYRIGHT: 1989
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Holocaust fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this little book. This book asks the question I, along with many other people, have asked so many times. Why did no one stop the madness? Why did so many people turn a blind eye? This book helps explore this topic and what can happen when no one stands up for what is right.

Goodbye Marianne

2010-07-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Marianne by Irene Kirstein Watts is considered documentary fiction as it is based on the author's experiences in Germany during the Holocaust combined with experiences of others. Uniquely, this small volume is a play with three to seven actors. Marianne is a young Jewish girl living in Berlin in 1938. She experiences the tightening of laws against Jews. She finds she cannot attend school, cannot sit in the park, and sadly Marianne cannot trust her own emotions. She meets a boy who seems to be her friend until he finds out she is Jewish. She is unhappy to see that he is just like all the rest. In the end, he really is different, but it is not enough. Marianne's mother sends her on one of the first Kindertransportes to Canada. The sadness of this event is all too real for both mother and daughter. Still it saved Marianne's life.

The play is brief at only approximately 30 pages in a small book. I can easily see it being used in middle and high school history classes. The author also provides a well-defined glossary.

TITLE: Goodbye Marianne
AUTHOR: Irene Kirstein Watts
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 48
TYPE: Documentary fiction
RECOMMEND: As I mentioned earlier, this could be used as a preformance during a Holocaust unit and open many different discussions.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

2010-07-06T06:28:00.000-07:00

Please make sure that you watch for Book Blogger Appreciation Week which will be September 13-17, 2010 this year. Tomorrow is the last day to register (which will list your blog in a directory and increase your visibility). In addition, you may submit your blog for awards. Although this blog is very specific in focus, I believe that the resources I review are vitally important for children's literature. Therefore, I am submitting the following five reviews for the Best KidLit Book Blog.

The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust

The Cat with the Yellow Star

Brundibar

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust

Thank you so much for your consideration and for remembering those whose stories will never be told.

The Number on My Grandfather's Arm

2010-07-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is a very simple book with a great deal of information. The Number on My Grandfather's Arm is a conversation between a young girl and her grandfather. For the first time, the young girl notices a number on her grandfather's arm. She asks him what the number means. The girl's mother urges the grandfather to explain the number to the girl. The grandfather explains his experiences during the Holocaust in Poland. Both begin to cry and the young girl tells her grandfather,

I put my hand on Grandpa's and told him, "You shouldn't be ashamed to let people see your number. You didn't do anything wrong. It's the Nazi's who should be ashamed." (p. 22)

The beauty of this book is that each page has a photograph of a grandfather and granddaughter talking together. The author chose to use real people rather than illustrations and it adds to the realistic feel of the book. The author also includes some background history on the war - very simple so that it can be understood by a younger child.

TITLE: The Number on My Grandfather's Arm
AUTHOR: David Adler

RECOMMEND: I really like this book for the younger child. The author touches on the many topics of anti-Semitism during the war. The number on the grandfather's arm stands for all the horrible things that happened to the Jewish people.

The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust

2010-06-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust is an amazing story of the resilience and strength of one child and her survival during and after the Holocaust. Lola Rein lives with her Jewish parents and grandparents in the Polish town of Czortkow. She is five years old when she has her first real memories of her childhood. In September 1939 Russian soldiers take over the small town and for a brief moment the Jewish population hopes their lives will be better, but the Poles are angered by their own treatment and lash out at the Jews. Over the next few years, conditions worsen and in 1941 the German army takes over the town. At this point, the Ukrainians lash out at the Jewish population. In April 1942, Lola and her family are moved to a ghetto. In 1943, Lola is eight years old when her mother is shot in cold blood by the Gestapo. A few months later, Lola's grandmother makes the decision to send Lola into hiding. She arranges to pay a Ukrainian woman to take Lola into her home.

So began Lola's lonely journey of suvival. She only lives with the Ukrainian woman for a few months and then is moved to the woman's sister's house where she hids in a six foot by six foot hole in the barn with three other Jews. She is wearing the dress embroidered by her mother and does not take it off for the nine months she is hidden in the hole. When she and the other Jews are liberated, Lola has no where to go. She returns to her home town and finds that her grandmother has been murdered. She begins walking with other displaced persons toward the Russian border. She passes out on the road and is rescued by a Russian soldier. She continues her journey until she is reunited with two of her uncles and their families. Ultimately at the age of twelve, Lola immigrates to the United States.

As in other memoirs, silence is a common thread. Lola writes,

RAfter the war, many hidden children - those in Europe, those in America, those in Israel - have something in common: silence. The years pass; hidden children grow up. They don't discuss what happened to them with thier friends. They fall in love, and get married. They don't talk about the war years with their husbands and wives. They have children of their own. They don't tell their children. (p. 85)

What a blessing that so many of these hidden children have now chosen to tell their stories. Our lives are enriched by their truths and our memories are secured. We will be alert to such hatred and honor their memories with diligence in fighting discrimination.

To listen to the author tell parts of her story recounted in the book, click here. Lola's story is beautifully told, with pictures of the author and dress, at the virtual museum of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The dress remains at the museum for all to remember.

TITLE: The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Lola Rein Kaufman with Lois Metzger
COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 97
TYPE: Biography, Holocaust literature
RECOMMEND: This book is almost unfathomable. I have seen eight year old children who are unable to spend the night at a friend's house, much less hide alone for such a period of time. Lola believed in her family and did as she was told by her grandmother. What courage and strength.

Benno and the Night of Broken Glass

2010-06-10T09:40:00.001-07:00

In Benno and the Night of Broken Glass, a children's book perfect for introducing the Holocaust, author Meg Wiviott introduces the reader to Number 5 Rosenstrasse in Berlin. The year is 1938 and Benno, an orange and white cat, lives on this street with families and businesses owned by both Germans and Jews. Benno visits each of the families and watches as the children play together. But suddenly Benno notices changes. The little Jewish girl walks to school alone. Some of the businesses are no longer open. And men with big boots walk through the street. But worst of all is the Night of Broken Glass with the men with brown shirts and boots broke the glass in many of the stores and set fire to the synagogue down the street. Benno notices that some stores and homes are not harmed. The next morning he waits for the little Jewish girl to go to school. Benno never see her again. Benno still sleeps at Number 5 Rosenstrasse, but

But life on Rosenstrasse would never be the same. (n.p.)

The author provides historical context in an afterword which is helpful for teachers who would like to use the book in the classroom. Or useful even for older students who are researching the subject.

TITLE: Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
AUTHOR: Meg Wiviott

ILLUSTRATOR: Josee Bisaillon
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 48
TYPE: Holocaust fiction

RECOMMEND: This is a very thoughtful and personalized (through Benno) account of Kristallnacht.

Tell No One Who You Are: The hidden childhood of Regine Miller

2010-05-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Tell No One Who You Are: The hidden childhood of Regine Miller is the story of a young Jewish girl from Belgium who survived the Holocaust pretending to be someone she was not, or more importantly pretending not to be what she was. As a very young girl, Regine went with her father to political meetings in Brussels called Solidarite. When Jews in Belgium were required to wear the yellow star, Regine's father sewed a red star to the back of her star and believed that when the war was over, they would freely show their resistance to hate by wearing the red star. The hope that she and her father would be reunited to wear these red stars kept Regine going.

At the age of 10, Regine's father was arrested, her brother was called up, her mother was dying from cancer. She went to live with her grandmother, who finally sent her away alone, to hide as an Aryan child. A friend of her father's, Fela, helped make the arrangements. Regine lived with four different families - none of whom realized she was Jewish. Three of the four families pocketed the money, or coupons, they received for her care and provided only the very basic shelter and food. The last family lived on a farm and considered young Regine the daughter they never had.

As the war ended, Regine left the last family to try to find her father and to discover what really happened to her mother and brother. As she met other survivors, Regine did not tell her fantastic journey through the Holocaust. The author suggests a reason for her silence:

Regine did not realize that she was behaving like most of the Jews in Europe who had survived the war. They did not talk about their experiences and they did not ask questions. Whether they had passed through the horror of the death camps or the terror of being caught while hiding, to talk about it was to relive it or cause others to relive it, and release emotions too intense to be dealt with. (p. 161)

In a number of memoirs which I have read, this silence is mentioned as a means of self-protection. I spoke personally with one elderly survivor who had never told her own story, not even to her husband and family. Deep memories which when shared will hopefully remind us of our own duty to remember.

Although it seems that there has not been a Hidden Children Gathering since 2003, the web page Hidden Child Foundation/Anti-Defamation League provides some interesting links and information. Included are three short but compelling accounts of other children who were hidden during the Holocaust:

Beyond Secret Tears - Lili Silberman, hidden in a convent

Krystyna's Story - hidden in the sewers of Lvov, Poland

My First Kaddish -Alexander Kimel, hid in a ghetto and the forest

There is also a teachers guide to be used with these stories and others which might be included.

TITLE: Tell No One Who You Are: The hidden childhood of Regine Miller
AUTHOR: Walter Buchignani
COPYRIGHT: 1994
PAGES: 185
TYPE: Biography, Holocaust literature
RECOMMEND: This book is fascinating as it shows the good and the bad in people who had a choice to help children. While many people did assist Jewish children, many took money to help children and withheld food and necessities. The book also contains a small glossary and some factual information on the hiding of children during the Holocaust.

The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal's Search for the Truth

2010-05-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal's Search for the Truth is primarily the biography of Simon Wiesenthal who lived through the Holocaust years in a number of concentration and death camps and survived to have a tremendous impact on the post-war world. This excellent work provides a complete biography of Wiesenthal while focusing on one of his more noted accomplishments.

In 1958, Wiesenthal was living in Linz, Austria with his wife and recieved a phone call to come to the Landes Theater. Neo-Nazi teenagers were heckling the actors who were performing the stage version of The Diary of Anne Frank. They said the diary was a fake. After doing some investigating on the group of teenagers, Wiesenthal found that most people in his area agreed that the diary was a forgery, being used to extract more money for survivors. Wiesenthal vowed to prove Anne's existence to these young teens by locating the SS officer who arrested Anne and her family.

As Wiesenthal searches for the officer, the author provides the reader with the reason Wiesenthal was willing to spend so much time on this case. A fairly encompassing biography of the man who spent years of his life searching for, and finding, Nazi war criminals is both sad and illuminating. As is often the case, when Wiesenthal found the SS officer Silberbauer, he discovered that the man worked only blocks from his office in Vienna for the Austrian police force. Although Wiesenthal never spoke with any of the teenagers who disrupted the play, he hoped that they all saw the sensational story on the national news and realized that they were wrong. When asked why he continued with his search for war criminals, bringing over 1,100 to justice, Wiesenthal replied,

When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, "What have you done?" there will be many answers....But I will say, "I didn't forget you." (p. 34)

The author provides another more indepth biography of Wiesenthal at the end of the book, along with a small glossary and references for factual information contained in the story. These extra sources of information make this book useful for both literature studies and reference information.

I like to look for lesson plans or useful webpages to allow readers to expand their knowledge or the knowledge of children they teach. In many cases, if you go to the publisher's website, you will find an educator's guide of some sort. Here is a great guide put together by Holiday House.

Another source of information on both Wiesenthal and the Holocaust is the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Also visit the museums or resources affiliated with the Center:

TITLE: The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal's Search for the Truth
AUTHOR: Susan Goldman Rubin
ILLUSTRATOR: Bill Farnsworth
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Biography, Holocaust literature
RECOMMEND: I like that this book is based in facts and provides references, which introduces young people to the idea that our factual statements must be grounded in other primary sources. In addition, Wiesenthal is someone who should be recognized for his contributions.

Star of Fear, Star of Hope

2010-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Star of Fear, Star of Hope opens with the following three lines:

My name is Helen, and I'm nearly an old woman now. When I'm gone, who will remember Lydia? That is why I want to tell you our story. (p. 1)

Author Jo Hoestlandt then allows Helen to tell hers and Lydia's story. The two girls were nine years old in 1942 and lived in the north of France in the Nazi occupies zone. Lydia was Jewish and had to wear the yellow star. Still the girls were friends. On the night of July 15, the girls were spending the night at Helen's apartment and heard some strange events taking place in the hallway. When Helen's parents came home, they realized two Jewish people were seeking shelter with a neighbor. Helen's father took Lydia home and Helen was angry because it was her birthday. She never saw Lydia again. Helen told her mother that Lydia wasn't born under a lucky star. Her mother replied, Bad luck almost never comes from the stars above, Helen. And this bad luck certainly doesn't. Unfortunately, it comes from people, from the wickedness of some and the weakness of others. Sometimes it can be so hard to live together... (p. 28)

This is the second book in which the date July 16, 1942 is important for the Jewish population of Paris. In my review of Sarah's Key you can find some useful links to the Vel de Vie (common name to the roundup of Jews in Paris on that date).

As always, I like to look for lesson plans or useful webpages to allow readers to expand their knowledge or the knowledge of children they teach. In this case, I located the Educator's Resource Toolkit: Lessons from the Holocaust published in 1998 by the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee. The pages specific to Star of Fear, Star of Hope are E3, E4, and E5. However, if you get the chance read through the entire publication as it has a wealth of information presented in a well-organized fashion.

TITLE: Star of Fear, Star of Hope
AUTHOR: Jo Hoestlandt
ILLUSTRATOR: Johanna Kang
TRANSLATED BY: Mark Polizzotti
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Holocaust literature
AWARD: Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award - 1995 Award Winner for Younger Readers
RECOMMEND: The beauty of this book is that the child in the book has grown up and is retelling the story and relates the emotional impact of what happened when she was still a child.

The Search

2010-05-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Search by authors Eric Heuvel, Ruud van der Rol and Lies Schippers is the sequel to A Family Secret which I reviewed here. This graphic novel was published first in Dutch by the Anne Frank House in cooperation with the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam. Reading the two books together is a real learning experience.

The Search begins with Esther, who has come to Amsterdam to see her grandson's Bar Mitzvah, greeting the grandson of her old friend Helena. Esther and Helena had been friends during the years of the Holocaust and had been reunited in the first book. While she is visiting Esther decides to revisit the places she hid during the Holocaust and to try to find out exactly what had happened to her Jewish parents. With Esther, we follow the path she took to survival and learn how her parents met their death.

According to one review of the book, the artist uses the European ligne claire style in the drawing of the comics. Artist Craig Terlson has an excellent description of this style on his web page. In addition to the wonderful cartoons, the author includes short snippets in many of the frames which provide factual information which supplement the story line. Maps of war torn Europe and labeled drawings of Auschwitz add to the detailed information presented. The book is not without controversial statements which even adults may have difficulty answering.

Esther tells her grandson about some prisoners who escaped from Aushwitz:

Escaped prisoners told the British and American governments about Auschwitz. But little was done by the Allies with that information. (p. 51)

In the next frame, prisoner Bob sees Allied bombers flying over the camp and asks, Why don't they bomb the gas chambers and the railway lines? (p. 52) Instead the Allies are to bomb the factories. Even today, we cannot understand the answers to these two questions. Why didn't the United States and her Allies do more to stop the killing? While we cannot make sense of what happened, we can remember. Books like this one help us to do just that.

For an interesting article and lesson plan for this graphic novel, read No Laughs, No Thrills, and Villans All Too Real by Michael Kimmelman (New York Times, 29 February 2008). for a more complete description of the award and a list of all winners. The lesson plan which focuses on the novel and the short article can be found here.

TITLE: The Search
AUTHOR: Eric Heuvel, Ruud van der Rol, Lies Schippers
Translated by: Lorraine T. Miller
COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 61
TYPE: non-fiction, graphic novel
AWARD: Dutch Comics Association's category award
RECOMMEND: In its unique format, this will appeal to many who do not care to read a traditional novel. In addition, the story is told in a very personal and informative way that brings emotions and actions to light.

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

2010-05-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle was the 2010 recipient of the Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teen Readers. After reading the book, written in free verse, I can understand why the book was selected. Especially when you combine the format with the little known history of Jewish refugees in Cuba.

The colorful and exotic cover art invites the reader to join Daniel, David, Paloma, and Paloma's father in 1940 Cuba. Daniel is a young Jewish refuge from Germany who is among the people allowed to disembark from the large ship in Cuba. The ship was turned away in Canada and the United States. David is an older Jewish man who fled Russia many years before World War II. Paloma is the daughter of a wealthy Cuban who is stuffing his own pockets at the expense of the refugees who have to pay him to come off the ship. The story of these four people is told in alternating poetic verses. David tries to give Daniel advice about living in a new country while Paloma befriends Daniel against her father's wishes. The two young people share sad secrets as they try to reach for their dreams.

Joy and truth both have a way
of peeking through any dark curtain. (p. 73)

One of the more interesting points made in the book is that many non-Jewish Germans were arrested in Cuba as spies. In many cases, having the J for Jew stamped on the passport saved a person from being arrested. How different from Europe where the J was enough to be killed. The young people hide a husband and wife who would have been arrested. Compassion and understanding are strong components of this book.

TITLE: Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba
AUTHOR: Margarita Engle
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 198
TYPE: Holocaust fiction

AWARD: 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teen Readers
RECOMMEND: I enjoyed the format of the book and am grateful to the author for providing us with knowledge of a little known group of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.

Behind the Bedroom Wall

2010-05-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E. Williams is an unusual fictional account of the Holocaust. It is unusual because the main character is a young German girl who is a member of the Hitler Youth Group. She, like many Germans, believed that Hitler was telling the truth about how he planned to lift up the German nation. She thought he was right about the Jewish people. This is certainly a different perspective than found in most Holocaust books.

Korinna Rehme is a 13 year old German girl who lives with her mother and father. She and her girlfriends belong to the Jungmadel, a Nazi Youth group for girls. Although their meetings are fun, the girls are taught Nazi rhetoric and trained to turn in anyone who does not comply with Nazi ideology. Korinna believes that she should be a loyal Nazi until something happens in her life that causes her to question everything. She finds out that there are Jews living behind her bedroom wall. At first, Korinna believes she should turn her parents in, but over time she learns that the mother and daughter living in hiding in her wall are people just like her family. Soon Korinna finds that she and her family must also hide.

The struggles of the young girl are often palpable in the book. I found myself hoping Korinna would make the right decisions. I think today's young people will identify with Korinna on many levels.

Here is a very nice teacher's guide for the book. The guide includes chapter by chapter lessons and vocabulary words.

TITLE: Behind the Bedroom Wall
AUTHOR: Laura E. Williams

ILLUSTRATOR: A. Nancy Goldstein
COPYRIGHT: 1996
PAGES: 169
TYPE: Holocaust literature

AWARDS: Numerous state book awards
RECOMMEND: This story is seen from the eyes of a young German girl, so the focus is a little different than normal. Certainly a topic of interest to young people.

Hiding Edith: A True Story

2010-04-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Edith Schwalb was only six years old when she and her family fled from their home in Austria to Belgium. As Jews, they were trying to find a safe place to live. By March of 1943, Edith's father had been arrested twice and her mother had to make a decision. Mutti sent Edith and her younger brother Gaston to live in a small town in France - Moissac; to live with strangers. But Mutti was convinced her youngest children would be safe. And they were. For a time.

Kathy Kacer shares this story with us in her book Hiding Edith: A True Story. There are two things that are amazing about Edith's story. The man and woman to whom Edith and her brother were taken were members of the Jewish Scouts of France and they provided a home for hundreds of Jewish children whose parents were either frightened or missing. What makes this a unique story is that all the townspeople knew the children were Jewish and instead of turning them it to the SS, they protected the children. After the war, all but one of these children was alive.

Even so, it was not only the townspeople of Moissac or Shatta and Bouli Simon that kept Edith safe. When it became so dangerous that the children could no longer stay in the house Shatt and Bouli found each one of the children a safe place to go and they left one at a time for their new homes. After the war ended, Edith returned to the home in Moissac to care for orphaned children.

For more information on the Jewish Scouts of France, click HERE.

Also, this book, published by Second Story Press, is A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers. You can view other titles in this series HERE.

TITLE: Hiding Edith: A True Story
AUTHOR: Kathy Kacer
COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 151
TYPE: Holocaust narrative, non-fiction
RECOMMEND: It seems that many of the books I have read recently have been about the rescue of Jews in France. Because most of my studies focused on Eastern European Jews, I am very glad to be learning about the experiences of Jews from other areas. This book is quite interesting and the photos provide another layer of education. The author did an excellent job in telling the story of Edith Schwalb Gelbard.

Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat?

2010-04-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Author Nancy Patz visited the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. While she was there, Patz saw a woman's hat, alone on display in a glass case as part of the Museum's Holocaust display. She drew the hat in her sketchbook and continued on her tour. Later, looking back on the visit, Patz saw her drawing and wondered about the woman who had worn the hat. Over time, Patz drew more pictures and wrote individual poems reflecting on who the woman was who had worn the hat. She soon realized that together the poems created a reflection of the woman, and through her, other victims of the Holocaust.

The book includes an extensive author's note at the end, as well as a Chronology of the Holocaust. The author includes her own drawings with actual photographs incorporated into the drawings - this is an excellent method of making the imagination blend into reality. It also allows for young children to think about the woman at whatever level they are capable of understanding. Here is a brief section of the poem:

I wonder
if she wore it
the day she left home the last time,
that cold, cold day in Amsterdam -
that cold, cruel day in Amsterdam
when the Jews were herded together

and arrested in the Square. (p. 10)

This small book was the 2003 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Older Readers. This award is given yearly to books which have outstanding Jewish content for children and teens. Visit the Association of Jewish Libraries for a more complete description of the award and a list of all winners.

TITLE: Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat?
AUTHOR: Nancy Patz
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 48
TYPE: Holocaust narrative, non-fiction

AWARD: 2003 Sydney Taylor Award
RECOMMEND: I can see many thoughtful uses of this slim meditation, both in the classroom and as a personal reflection.

A Family Secret

2010-04-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

With the Anne Frank House in cooperation with the Resistance Museum of Friesland, this graphic novel by Eric Heuvel was originally published in Dutch The work was translated to English by Lorraine T. Miller. With eight to nine panels per page, this graphic novel moves along quickly and is similar to Maus by Art Spiegelman.

The story begins on April 30, which is celebrated in the Netherlands as Dutch Queen's Day, where people have fun buying and selling secondhand items. Jeroen goes by his Gran's house to see if she has anything to sell. Looking in her attic, Jeroen finds an old scrapbook that his grandmother made during World War II. As Gran remembers, she shares a family secret with Jeroen. The book is full of historical information on the Nazi machine, collaborators, resistance efforts and life during the war.

There is a sequel to this book entitled The Search with Gran and her friend Esther visit areas where Esther hid during the war. I am going to try to locate this book next!

TITLE: A Family Secret
AUTHOR: Eric Heuvel

TRANSLATOR: Lorraine T. Miller
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 40
TYPE: Holocaust, fiction, graphic novel
RECOMMEND: I really enjoyed this book. For me it was my first graphic novel other than Maus and I found it to be very well done and extremely readable and informative.

Angel Girl

2010-04-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this book is a little difficult to review. In addition, it is possible that even if you wanted to use it in your research or classroom you might not be able to locate a copy. As I read the book, knowing it was based on a true story, I found it odd that I remembered hearing something about this exact story recently. So I went to trusty Google and did a search for the title and author. Publisher's Weekly published the following on December 30, 2008:

Upon learning that the widely publicized Holocaust love story of Herman and Roma Rosenblat, which inspired the picture book Angel Girl, is not entirely true, Lerner Publishing Group announced yesterday that it would pull the book from shelves. Lerner imprint Carolhroda Books published Angel Girl by Laurie Friedman in September 2008. The house has canceled all pending reprints and is issuing refunds on all returned books. The company is no longer offering the book for sale and is recalling the book from the market.

So, you may wonder why I am bothering to review the book at all. For the author! Not that I know her, but she wrote the book believing that the story was true. And if it were true, it would be a powerful story. So she deserves credit for writing the book. In case you are wondering, she is not the only one who was fooled. A major motion picture company was making a production of the man's story when he finally told people that the story was not entirely true.

So what is the story. A young boy goes with his mother to a concentration camp where he is separated from his mother who tells him in a dream that "an angel will save you." The angel came in the form of a young peasant girl who threw food to him over the camp enclosure. Ater being liberated the young man travels to America where he meets and marries the same girl.

So it was an unlikely story, but one that held hope and love at it's core. Unfortunately the fact that it is based on a lie makes it very difficult to use or appreciate.

TITLE: Angel Girl
AUTHOR: Laurie Friedman
COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Holocaust narrative, written as non-fiction
RECOMMEND: It has a happy ending but is not true, so I just don't know what to say.

Hidden Child

2010-04-08T07:28:00.001-07:00

While it will not be the last book I find written about this specific topic of Holocaust survival, it is the first for me to review. The author, Issac Millman, relates his experiences in France during the Holocaust. In a unique format which blends narrative with softly drawn mosaic illustrations sprinkled with photographs, the book is powerful in its emotion and child-like honesty. Because both indepth narrative and simple illustrations are used, the books is appropriate for a wide range of readers.

Issac Millman was only seven years old when his country, France, was invaded by Hitler's army. His father was arrested a year later and sent to a internment camp. He and his mother lived alone with the help of neighbors for another year and then attempted to escape to Free France. They were arrested and imprisoned. Except for the assistance of a friendly guard, Issac would have met the same fate as his mother and father who did not return at the end of the war. Issac was taken to a hospital where he pretended to be ill until he could be sent to live with someone safe. As in most life situations, safe was a relative term. Ultimately Issac was protected by a kind and caring Christian woman. After the war, Issac was adopted by a family in the United States.

After almost fifty years of silence, Issac Millman decided to tell his own story. He reminds us of what was lost and what was gained. Most of all, he urges us to remember.

TITLE: Hidden Child
AUTHOR: Issac Millman
COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 73
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: A rare story of a child who was hidden by Christians during the Holocaust.

Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival

2010-04-05T11:19:00.001-07:00

Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer is an amazing story of survival. In addition to surviving with 17 other people in the dug-out basement of a house for 18 months, fifteen year old Clara (at the insistence of her mother) kept a written record of their day to day lives, the fears and sorrows, and the joys. The details of living under such stress are the moments which make this such a compelling story.

As if living under a house in a crawl space dug out with your own hands is not enough, it is incredible who lived above them in the house. Initially the house was inhabited by Mr. and Mrs. Beck who were both German. Before the war, Julia Beck has served as a maid for Clara's family and she convinced her husband, who was known to be anti-Semetic, to allow the families to hide under their house. In addition, the house was inhabited by Nazi trainmen and Nazi soldiers. Many times, the Jewish families lives were saved by only seconds of time - time to hide, time to eat, time to cry. After the war Clara and her family returned to their own home which became a gathering place for the mere fifty surviving Jews of the 5,000 who had lived in Zolkiew Poland before the war. I was stunned, but not terribly surprised, by Clara's statement after her return to life:

From the stories the survivors told us, I realized we had it better than most. (p. 310)

Still, for me, the most poignant paragraph in the book was written in Clara's diary near the end of the war, with the enemy in the rooms above them and the Becks under suspicion:

Tuesday, 9 May 1944. You could think that a person who looks into the eyes of death as many times as we do would get used to it. But it's the opposite with us. The more we are in danger of dying, the more we are frightened. One wants to live no matter what and no matter how. Every day we look death in the eyes and every day has its own history. If at least we had a verdict, a time, how long we will suffer. We are sitting here and we don't even know if it's for nothing. (p. 262)

To continue on day after day, not knowing when it would end - or how it would end had to have been such an emotional strain and yet these 18 people survived. Ultimately Julia and Valentine Beck were honored at Yad Vashem in Israel. The Beck's daughter, Ala, who lived in the house with the eighteen survivors for most of the war came to the service and planted a tree in the Garden of the Righteous. And Clara - she tries still to live her life worthy of the Becks and her sister Mania who died trying to escape the basement during a fire. She considers her work on Holocaust education a large part of her obligation to these people she loved so much.

Harper Collins provides the reader with the following message from the author (this is also in the book):
4/6/2009
To the Readers of Clara's War
Writing this book was like walking out of my kitchen door in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and straight into my home in Zolkiew. Although the events in this book happened over 60 years ago, they have never left me. As with many survivors, I relive them in the present. I am 81 years old, and I am one of the lucky ones. Ever since the day I left the bunker, I have done my best to live a worthy life. I have dedicated myself to the teaching of the Holocaust. The privilege of surviving comes with the responsibility of sharing the story of those who did not. Everything in this book is as I lived and remember it, although I have taken the liberty of reconstructing dialogue to the best of my recollection. I have also used the spelling and names most familiar to me. During the 18 months I spent in the bunker, I kept a diary which today is in the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. There was little light and less paper and only one nub of a pencil to write with. I documented as much as I could in my diary, but although I often spoke about my life, the idea of writing about it never occurred to me. Thank you (to my cowriter) for encouraging me and for taking this journey with me back to Zolkiew. And thank you for capturing my life so beautifully on paper. I am so grateful that my great-great-grandchildren will be able to meet those of us who came before.

From my memory to theirs, and to yours—

Clara Kramer
{accessed at http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/news.aspx?authorid=35107&newsid=5447#5447}

And here is a YouTube video made by the author.

TITLE: Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival
AUTHOR: Clara Kramer
CO-AUTHOR: Stephen Glantz
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 339
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: A moving story of heroism and determination.
AWARDS: 2010 Sophy Brody Honor Book

The Cat with the Yellow Star

2010-04-02T11:13:00.001-07:00

Fate is an interesting thing. I ordered this book from our Interlibrary Loan department without really knowing the story. Of course, I knew it was a Holocaust book for children, but I was wonderfully surprised when I realized that this book was written by one of the Girls of Room 28. (I reviewed this book a short time back.) Room 28 was a room at the Children's Home at Terezin, a holding camp or ghetto in Czechoslovakia. A key element in both books is the children's opera Brundibar. I also reviewed a children's book retelling the opera Brundibar. But back to fate, when I got the book, I flipped through the 40 pages and found a page of photographs - the page looked almost like a yearbook page with fourteen photos of young girls - Handa, Eva, Hanka, Marianne, Lenka, Anna, Helga...I knew them all! It was like seeing photos of friends from middle school. I was elated to know these women through these stories. And very excited to read another book about their blessed experience during the Holocaust.

In some ways, Cat with the Yellow Star, written by Susan Goldman Rubin with Ela Weissberger, is a more intimate look at the experiences of the girls of Room 28. Maybe it feels that way because the words are crafted for a younger audience and therefore feel like a story shared by only a few. I am so thankful that Ela shared her story and photographs with Susan. It was interesting to learn that the women who were caretakers for the girls of Room 28 made sure the children learned their manners and kept clean in an easily overwhelming environment.

Ela starred as the cat in the children's opera Brundibar. She talks, as did the previous author, about the importance of these artistic endeavors for the children of Terezin. I knew that the Nazis had promoted Terezin as a model camp and invited the International Red Cross to view how well the Jewish people were taken care of. I did not know that the children performed their opera for the Red Cross in June 1944. Apparently the Red Cross believed what they saw in 1944. They learned the truth about Terezin when the camp was turned over to them by the Nazis on May 3, 1945. This is when Ela was liberated.

Still this was not the end of Brundibar. Fifteen of the children of Room 28 survived the war and since 1986 they have joined one another once a year to enjoy talking about their lives. Ela continues to hear her beloved opera - performed by children all over the world. After one such performance on December 7, 2003 at the Simon Wiesenthal Center - Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, Ela spoke to the audience:

Sixty years ago we performed this opera at Terezin. Only a few of us survived. I lost many of my friends. But when we were performing Brundibar, we forgot where we were, we forgot all our troubles. Music was part of our resistance against the Nazis. Music, art, good teachers, and friends meant survival. (p. 35)

Holiday House provides a wonderful Educator's Guide for this title.

TITLE: The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin
AUTHOR: Susan Goldman Rubin with Ela Weissberger
COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 40
TYPE: Holocaust narrative, non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I learned a lot from this small book and the images included are very interesting. It certainly could be used in conjunction with Brundibar. I really liked this book.

Brundibar

2010-03-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

As I took a trip through this beautifully illustrated children's version of Brundibar by Tony Kushner, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, I listened to an interview on PBS NOW between Sendak and Bill Moyer. Sendak went on to assist in the production of the opera in Chicago where he met one of the women who performed in the original production in the Nazi camp described in detail in the previously reviewed book, The Girls in Room 28.

The 2003 Brundibar is a retelling of the 1938 children's opera by Hans Krasa and Adolf Hoffmeister. It is the story of Pepicek and Aninku, two young children whose mother is sick and needs milk from town. The two run to town only to find they need money to get milk. They are poor and decide to sing for the money to buy the milk. But they are thwarted by Brundibar, a hurdy-gurdy man who sang with his monkey and got all the coins. Finally 300 children join the two and they defeat the bully Brundibar. The children sing the final song:

The wicked never win!

We have our victory yet!

Tyrants come along, but you just wait and see!

They topple one-two-three!

Our friends make us strong!

And thus we end our song

Unfortunately the original authors and Kushner and Sendak remind us of potential future dangers with this final note from Brundibar:

They believe they've won the fight,

They believe I'm gone - not quite!

Nothing ever works out neatly -

Bullies don't give up completely.

one departs, the next appears

and we shall meet again, my dears!

though I go, I won't go far...

I'll be back. Love,

Brundibar

Sadly this serves to remind us that we must remember what happened to these children and thousands of others who have been oppressed and murdered. We might defeat one bully, but there are others we should seek to defeat. Only by our persistence in the defeat of evil in our world can we honor these children who together defeated Brundibar.

TITLE: Brundibar
AUTHOR: Tony Kushner
ILLUSTRATOR: Maurice Sendak
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 54
TYPE: retelling of 1938 children's opera
RECOMMEND: I always love Sendak's illustrations, and this is a story of courage which tells a simple story of good over evil.

The Girls of Room 28

2010-03-19T13:08:00.001-07:00

The Girls of Room 28: Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt by Hannelore Brenner is a remarkable memorial to girls who lived together in one room, in one building at the children's camp at Theresienstadt, a "model" transit camp a short ride from Prague. While this was not a death camp, many died there or left there by rail to their deaths in Auschwitz. This is a story of their lives in the ghetto and often how they arrived there at the hands of the Nazis. They were young, mostly 12-14 during their stay in Room 28. They were trying to grow up in the worst of times. Today fifteen or so of the women who survived meet yearly to remember and share the best of times they have had as survivors.

The book is filled with primary sources: photos, journal entries, drawings, copies of documents. It is an amazing resource even beyond the tribute the materials pay to friendship and love. In the beginning, one of the survivors remembers what the young girls had promised one another as they were forced to leave Room 28:

"On one of the first Sundays after the war we shall wait for each other under the Bell Tower in the Old Town Square in Prague." This is what Flska and her comrades had promised one another when they had to say goodbye in Theresienstadt. They reinforced their promise with words that resonated like an incantation and a secret password.

You believe me, I believe you.

You know what I know.

Whatever may happen,

you won't betray me,

I won't betray you.

These women carry all of the young girls with them, even today, until the last one is gone. Throught their mutual experiences, they are bound to those who are no longer alive and to each other. Theirs is an intimacy that goes beyond space and time.

One experience that binds these women and many others from the Children's Home in Theresienstadt was the children's production of Brundibar. On July 7, 1943 there was a transport of children from the Prague orphanage. After a performance of The Bartered Bride in their honor, Rafik Schachter and Rudolf Freudenfeld decided they would cast and perform the children's opera Brundibar at Theresienstadt. This process was magical and as many children as possible participated. This is an opera of triumph, of good over evil. Young children won out over an evil adult. The first performance was on September 23, 1943 and there was an audience of over three hundred. It was magical and the performances continued weekly until the last performance in August 1944.

Read an excellent article on the opera here. According to the article, the cover of the book The Girls of Room 128 shows the original cast of the opera. There are many videos of new performances of the opera Brundibar which brought joy and hope to those who lived under the oppression of the Nazi hatred. Also, please see my next review of the children's book Brundibar.

TITLE: The Girls of Room 128: Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt

AUTHOR: Hannelore Brenner

TRANSLATED BY: John E. Woods and Shelley Frisch (from German)

PAGES: 320

TYPE: non-fiction

RECOMMEND: A wonderful resource for middle and high school students interested in the Holocaust.

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

2010-03-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee, with an afterword by Hiroki Sugihara is a beautiful book which shows that the actions of one person, supported by their family, can make a huge difference.

The opening page of the book contains the following two proverbs, which serve as starting places in ones thoughts for reading the book:

If you save the life of one person,
it is as if you saved the world entire. -- Jewish proverb

Even a hunter cannot kill a bird
that comes to him for refuge. -- Japanes proverb

This beautiful story is told through the voice of a five year old boy, Hiroki Sugihara, who lived with his mother and father and other family members in Lithuania in 1940. His father was the Japanese diplomat to Lithuania. One morning in July, the family awoke to see hundreds of Polish Jews standing outside their front gate. These people were refugees who begged Mr. Sugihara to issue them Japanese visas so they could escape through Russia to Japan and avoid certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Mr. Sugihara asked his country if he could issue these visas and was repeatedly told no. After asking his family, including the young boy and his siblings, Mr. Sugihara decided to issue as many visas as he could before he was stopped by his government or the Nazis. In doing so, he put his family in the line of danger as well.

Passage to Freedom is a very moving story and the illustrations are beautiful - according to the book they are "rendered by applying encaustic beeswax on paper, then scratching out images, and finally adding oil paint and colored pencil." The result is an image in monochromatic tones of brown with haunting clarity. The cover brings forth an interesting thought - I had passed this book a number of times, wondering what in the world a Japanese father and son could possibly have to do with the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. Certainly the Japanese were involved with World War II, but not to liberate the Jewish people. After reading the short book, I am fairly ashamed of my own ignorance, and perhaps my bias. Still, an unusual link which is further highlighted in the Afterword, with Sugihara stating, In 1969, my father was invited to Israel, where he was taken to the famous Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. In 1985, he was chosen to receive the "righteous Among Nations" Award from Yad Vashem. He was the first and only Asian to have been given this great honor. (Afterword)

The publisher, Lee & Low Books provide a Classroom Guide for the book. Here is another lesson plan for conflict resolution. And another guide for students who are a little older - 6th grade lesson plan. The book is versatile in that it is writtten at a lower reading level, but the story itself transcends age.

TITLE: Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

AUTHOR: Ken Mochizuki

ILLUSTRATOR: Dom Lee

PAGES: 32

TYPE: non-fiction

RECOMMEND: A very unusual Holocaust book, with a strong moral story.

Thanks to My Mother

2010-03-07T11:36:00.001-08:00

Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici (translated from the German by James Skofield) is startling in its brutality. The book is narrated by a young Jewish girl, Susie Weksler. Susie was only eight years old when the Nazis came to her city of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is interesting that the perspective provided is from Susie's young eyes. The fact that we have a very young narrator (who wrote the book after the fact) makes the narrative even more compelling - I wondered throughout how such a young girl could have coped with the events she describes in great detail. I know that having her mother with her, to protect her and encourage her were key. The two were first moved into a ghetto, then to labor camps. Raja, Susie's mother, who had disguised Susie to look much older, worked hard to ensure that Susie had extra food and clothing. In the midst of cruelty and murder, Raja also found ways to help the other women in the camps. At the end, only Raja, Susie, and one other family member survived the Holocaust.

I was unable to locate any specific lesson plans for this title. I suspect the detailed horrors will be difficult for some children, so it might be best for it to be an individual read. If you locate any teaching materials to go with this work, please include a link in your comments.

TITLE: Thanks to My Mother
AUTHOR: Schoschana Rabinovici (translated from the German by James Skofield)

PAGES: 246

TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative

RECOMMEND: A very brutal account of one Jewish family and their experiences during the Holocaust. This book covers the horrors of the ghettos, camps, and marches.

AWARDS: 1999 Batchelder Award winner

The Secret of Priest's Grotto

2010-03-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story by Peter Lane Taylor with Christos Nicola is a different sort of Holocaust story. Two stories are told together and one supplements the other. Chris Nicola is an American caver and has traveled all over the world looking at and crawling into caves. In 1993, he was exploring the Gypsum Giants, a large cave system in the Ukraine, when he heard about the special use of one small part of the cave. Legend had it that a number of Jewish families survived in the cave throughout 18 months of the Holocaust. Through the magic of the Internet, Nicola was able to connect with survivors of this amazing Holocaust story. Luckily Esther Stermer, one of the Jews in hiding in the cave, wrote her memories in a book titled: We Fight to Survive. Through interviews with the living survivors, Stermer's memories, and an extended visit to the cave, Nicola produced The Secret of Priest's Grotto which is informative and amazing. One main idea through the book is that the cave provided the Jews a freedom the outside world could not. Esther wrote: We were masters of our own fate in the cave. There was no one to whom we owed our safety or upon whom we depended. After our men came in from the outside and scraped off the mud which would cling to their clothing as they slid through the entrance, and they had washed, they were free men. (p. 59)

To view some pictures of the cave, click here to visit the Ukranian American Youth Caver Exchange Foundation. Or visit the Priest's Grotto Heritage Project.

Another excellent article about the research and expedition can be found at the National Geographic Adventure Magazine.

TITLE: The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story

AUTHOR: Peter Lane Taylor with Christos Nicola

PAGES: 64

TYPE: non-fiction

RECOMMEND: An exceptional book telling two stories. Both are stories of persistence, one an unimaginable story of survival.

Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939 - 1944

2010-01-18T06:09:00.001-08:00

Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 by Aranka Siegal is an amazing story which completes the story of the Holocaust which began in Poland. The author's beautiful dedication sets the frame for her narrative: This book is dedicated to those who did not survive. They are deathless and timeless. Auschwitz could not sever the bonds of love and friendship which contributed to my survival and which will live within me to the end of my days.

The author, known as Piri in the book, lived in the area Hungarian town of Beregsaszy near the Ukraine. As the war began, 9 year old Piri was visiting her Grandmother in Komjaty in the Ukraine. She remained there as the Jews began to feel the restrictions throughout many parts of Europe. Piri was able to return to her home in 1941, but then was faced with curfews and even more restrictions. Ultimately Piri and her mother and siblings must move into a ghetto and finally to Auschwitz in May 1944. Piri and her sister Iboya were separated from their mother and other family members. They never saw them again. The girls worked in the kitchen at a munitions plant and were forced on a death march in early 1945 when the Russian army came closer. The girls were liberated on April 15, 1945. Piri immigrated to the United States in 1948. The author provides wonderful detail about each of the situations.

I found this book very informative and was drawn to the author's story for a number of reasons. When I completed my MA in History, my final paper was entitled Intimacy in the Holocaust Camps and looked at how friendship, love, forced relationships, false relationships, etc assisted the Jews prisoners in survival. This intimacy lies at the heart of Siegal's narrative. Additionally, I have a special place in my heart for the Hungarian Jews who were among the last to be rounded up in Hitler's final solution. These people could have been saved - by people, nations, religious figures, who knew that the Nazi machine was systematically murdering the Jews of Europe. I mean in no way to say the Hungarian Jews were more important - it should have been stopped from the beginning, but as an American and a Catholic, I still feel somewhat sad that nothing was done sooner.

The Book of Life has an interview with the author who discusses her books and her life. It is inspiring to hear her speak about her life. She has a number of other books which I plan to locate and read, including a sequel to this book, Grace in the Wilderness, After the Liberation 1945 - 1948.

TITLE: Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939 - 1944

AUTHOR: Aranka Siegal

PAGES: 214

TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative

RECOMMEND: This was an exceptional book in that it shows the progression of the Holocaust for the Hungarians who were among the last to be rounded up during the war. Excellent book.

AWARDS: 1982 Newbery Honor Book

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust

2010-01-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust by Elly Berkovits Gross is a different sort of Holocaust narrative. The main body of the book is written in short, repetitive chapters. As I first read the book, I was mystified by reading the same story and words over and over. Then I decided to think about it a little more and realized that the chapters were like memories. When I think about something that might have been disconcerting to me, the memories of the event come back to me in waves. And certainly, anything I might have been through is nothing compared to the experiences of the author. Thinking about how memories are manifested, I read many of the chapters again. I realized that the repetitive parts were the hard parts, the parts most difficult to remember yet impossible to forget. Perhaps this is the power of this narrative.

Elly lived in Hungary and while before the war she felt the sadness of anti-Semitism, she and her family were not moved into the ghetto and camps until 1944. The most difficult memory for Elly is her arrival at Auschwitz when she was sent one direction while her mother and brother were sent the other direction. She never saw them again. Guilt and sadness have followed Elly through liberation, immigration and her life. Why did she live? Why did she not call to her mother to join her on the other side? Elly was liberated from the camps on April 14, 1945.

At the end of her narrative, the author includes her works of poetry and an afterword written by her daughter. Although the book was only recently published, the author has shared her story with 60 Minutes and Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation Institute.

In the author's final note, she tells us why she wrote her book:

We hope for a better world. People should live in peace and harmony; there shouldn't be bloodshed between nations. It is very sad that innocents, especially children, suffer because of war. People must learn that hatred and prejudice create only destruction; at the end, there are no winners, only losers. I hope people will take my message to heart.

As I read each Holocaust narrative, it is hope which comes through so strongly that it changes my soul. I wonder what more has to happen for people to learn Elly's lesson?

Scholastic Books provides a Book Talk for Elly.

TITLE: Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust

AUTHOR: Elly Berkovits Gross

PAGES: 125

TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative

RECOMMEND: I really liked this book and it made me think about how memories are reconstructed and the power of writing these memories down for others to consider in their own lives.

The Lily Cupboard: A Story of the Holocaust

2010-01-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

The Lily Cupboard: A Story of the Holocaust by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim and illustrated by Ronald Himler is a very short children's story which introduces one aspect of the Holocaust. I was learning to read in the late 1950s and the illustrations in this wonderful book remind me of my early reading experiences. At only 32 pages The Lily Cupboard can be easily read by young readers or read to a group of children by the teacher.

Miriam is a young Jewish girl living in Holland in 1940. When the Germans invade the country, many Dutch Jews were sent to camps where they were killed. Miriam's parents arrange for her to go live in the country with a non-Jewish family. Although Miriam is very frightened, she finds some comfort in her friendship with Nello, the young son of the Gentile family. Nello allows Miriam to select a rabbit to care for on her own. The family tells Miriam that if they warn her that the Germans are coming by whistling Frere Jacques she must go hide in the cupboard which had a lily on its front. She will be safe in the cupboard. Miriam does go hide from the German soldiers. She takes her rabbit with her and vows to keep him safe just as her Jewish family and her Gentile family will keep her safe.

The open-ended nature of the book allows for as much discussion as is desired or needed by the children who read it. Was Miriam reunited with her family? How many children were hidden with other non-Jewish families? Why did brave Dutch families take in Jewish children? Why did the children, and adults, have to hide?

The book was awarded the Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. Here is an excellent lesson plan, created by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.

TITLE: The Lily Cupboard: A Story of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Shulamith Levey Oppenheim
ILLUSTRATOR: Ronald Himler
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 32
TYPE: fiction, Holocaust
RECOMMEND: The Lily Cupboard is a very short book that seems to be perfectly suited to introduce that while a great many Jewish people did not survive the Holocaust, some did survive with the help of brave friends.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

2009-12-28T09:38:00.000-08:00

I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp 1942-1944 is a compilation of poems and drawings by children who were imprisoned at the camp during World War II. Originally edited by Hana Volavkov, the second edition was expanded by the United States Holocaust Mermorial Museum. This newer edition also includes a foreword by Chiam Potok and an afterword by Slovak president Vaclav Havel.

According to Volavkov, approximately 15,00 children under the age of fifteen came to Terezin during the war years. Only approximately 100 of these children survived the war. Many of the children who lived in this prison, called a ghetto, spent part of their days creating art and poetry under the teaching of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. Just like most of her students, Ms. Dicker-Brandeis died at Auschwitz.

The editor has matched the children's drawings with poems and diary entries to provide the reader with a rich experience of the lives of these children. At the end of the book, the biography of each writer or artist is provided. For most of the children, the end came at Auschwitz - leaving only their work behind to tell their stories. Here is the title poem:

The Butterfly

The last, the very last,

So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.

Perhgaps if the sun's tears would sing

against a white stone.

Such, such a yellow

Is carried lightly 'way up high.

It went away I'm sure because it wished to

kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,

Penned up inside this ghetto.

But I have found what I love here.

The dandelions call to me

And the white chestnut branches in the court.

Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.

Butterflies don't live in here,

in the ghetto.

4.6.1942 Pavel Friedmann (p. 39)

Here is a link to a lesson plan which can be used with the reading of these poems and provides information for the Houston Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project. It is also possible for students to visit the Terezin Memorial Mueum for a virtual tour.

TITLE: I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp 1942-1944

AUTHOR: Hana Volavkova, editor

PAGES: 106

TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust

RECOMMEND: I think each person can read each poem and get a different picture of the lives of these children and gain a high appreciation for the artist who dedicated herself to children who needed an outlet of expression.

I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust

2009-12-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson is her personal narrative of her life during the Holocaust. In the summer of 1943, Elli was thirteen years old and lived with her family in a small farming town near Budapest. The Jewish population was ordered to stop attending school or going about their daily business - they were to wear the yellow star. Finally in April 1944, Elli and her family were sent first to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz. After an awful time in the death camp, Elli and her mother were sent to Augsburg as part of a work force. Although the experience in Augsburg was better than the death camp, it was short and Elli and her mother were transported to Dachau where they were reunited with Elli's brother Bubi. Finally the family was liberated from cattle cars by the Americans on April 30, 1945. The soldier who spoke with Elli thought she was sixty-two years old when she was only fourteen. Elli writes, I am fourteen years old, and I have lived a thousand years. (p. 205) In 1951, the family immigrated to America.

Each Holocaust narrative has something special to give to the reader. In this case, I believe that Ms. Bitton-Jackson has answered a question I frequently hear - People ask why I am drawn so strongly to the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. In the foreward to her book, the author writes:

My hope is that learning about past evils will help us to avoid them in the future. My hope is that learning what horrors can result from prejudice and intolerance, we can cultivate a commitment to fight prejudice and intolerance. It is for this reason that I wrote my recollections of the horror. Only one who was there can truly tell the tale. And I was there. My stories are of gas chambers, shootings, electrified fences, torture, scorching sun, mental abuse, and constant threat of death. But they are also stories of faith, hope, triumph, and love. They are stories of perseverance, loyalty, courage in the face of overwhelming odds, and of never giving up. My story is my message: Never give up. (p. 11)

I think this is why I am drawn to the Holocaust narratives - the universal ideas of hope and survival, the intimate relationships that sustained people through horrible times.

TITLE: I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust

AUTHOR: Livia Bitton-Jackson

PAGES: 234

TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative

RECOMMEND: I think the author has shown a wide range of experiences during the later years of the war, from the ghetto to the transfer from camp to camp as the Allied forces came closer. Excellent book.

Escaping into the Night

2009-12-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Escaping into the Night by D. Dina Friedman is a fictionalized story of the experiences of some members of the Jewish resistance movement in the area of Belorussia. The author states that she tried to stay true to the actual events that occurred and I believe she did a wonderful job. In fact, I already knew a bit about the Bielski Brothers partisan movement and was surprised at the end to find that this book was fiction - I desperately wanted to know the fate of the characters who became very real to me while reading the book.

Halina Rudowski escapes from a Polish ghetto with her friend Batya and three brothers who are to serve as their protectors as they try to make it safely to the forests and the partisans who are living there. The experiences of these well-detailed characters can be rather brutal at times and may frighten some younger children. In the forest with the partisans, life is not much easier for the young people who live underground and must run from the Nazis more than once. In the end, the Russians do assist the Jews who have survived the forest.

One passage that moved me greatly was the following with one of the older women in the forest encampment speaking to Halina who has lost her father and mother and needs strength to go on:

"We don't talk about the past," Tante Rosa said quietly. "We must live for the present, for each day. At night sometimes, after the girls are asleep I lie awake and think about my husband and the time before the forest. But I can't speak of these things. When I see the sun rise in the morning, I put my hand on the trunk of a tree, and think only about what I have to do to stay alive for one more day." (p. 76)

I think this "not talking" about the past continued for the survivors for many, many years. I personally was priviledged to hear the Holocaust narrative of a sixty-five year old woman who had never shared her story with anyone, even her husband and children. Still, it is only in the sharing that we who were not there can know, can understand, can continue the fight.

On the author's website, you can read the background information that led her to write this book and find links to other information and teaching resources.

TITLE: Escaping into the Night

AUTHOR: D. Dina Friedman

PAGES: 195

TYPE: fiction, Holocaust

RECOMMEND: I liked this book and think it can be used very nicely with non-fiction accounts of life in the ghettos or partisan camps

The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark

2009-12-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

This is a lovely children's book, written by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Henri Sorensen. Deedy tells the story of King Christian X of Denmark who was instumental in protecting the majority of the Danish Jews during World War II. The story of the yellow star begins with the Nazi edict that all Jews must wear the star. The Danes considered themselves all Danish, not separated by religion or culture. They knew that in other parts of Europe Jews who wore the yellow star often disappeared and did not return. According to Deedy's book, the King wondered how to hide the stars.

"If you wished to hide a star," wondered the king to himself, "where would you place it?" His eyes searched the heavens. "Of course!" he thought. The answer was so simple. "You would hide it among its sisters." (p. n/a)

You can of course guess what his idea was - if everyone one, Jews and non-Jews, including the King wore the yellow star, how could the Nazis decide which people to take away? In a short author's note at the end of the book, the author tells us that this story of King Christian X is a legend which she has been unable to authenticate. Finally, the author asks us:

What if it had happened? What if every Dane, from shoemaker to priest, had worn the yellow Star of David? And what if we could follow that example today against violations of human rights? What if the good and strong people of the world stood shoulder to shoulder, crowding the streets and filling the squares, saying, "You cannot do this injustice to our sisters and brothers, or you must do it to us as well."

What if? (pp. n/a)

Peachtree Publishers provides a wonderful collection of resources for teaching using this book. You can access the pdf version of the resource here. The Holocaust Teacher Resource Center offers a good lesson plan for this short book and other books as well. You might like to check this out if you a planning a lesson. The book has won numerous awards and is an Accelerated Reader Level 3.7 book for children.

TITLE: The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark
AUTHOR: Carmen Agra Deedy
COPYRIGHT: 2000
PAGES: 32
TYPE: Holocaust fiction
RECOMMEND: Excellent book

Yellow Star

2009-12-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Roy first learned her Aunt Syvia's Holocaust story almost fifty years after Syvia had been liberated from a Nazi camp, one of only twelve Jewish children who survived the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. Ms. Roy knew immediately that she wanted to tell the story to others. After a number of attempts, she decided to write the story in first person verse. She states:

When my aunt recounted her childhood to me, she spoke as if looking through a child's eyes. She made her experiences feel real, immediate, urgent. In the poetry of a survivor's words, this is Syvia's story. (p. n/a)

This memoir in verse is divided into five distinct parts, based on time periods during the War. The author provides brief historical facts about the period as it pertains to her aunt's family and other Jews in Poland and all of Europe.

The author provides free downloads for educators. Pre-Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies, Art/Music, Math, and Discussion Questions. Although our library has the book listed as Grade 4-8, I think that most portions of the book could be read to or by even younger students. The free verse is beautiful and true to the young girl who lived this life from age four to ten. While the story is often horrifying, I believe it is a story we all need to hear. Here is just a small sample of the story:

Yellow

is the color of

the felt six-pointed star

that is sewn onto my coat.

It is the law

that all Jews have to wear the

Star of David

when they leave their house,

or else be arrested.

I wish I could

rip the star off

(carefully, stitch by stitch, so as not to ruin

my lovely coat),

because yellow is meant to be

a happy color,

not the color of

hate. (pp. 7-8)

Ultimately, the yellow stars on their coats help in the rescue of Syvia and her family. What a wonderful tribute to one child's Holocaust narrative.

TITLE: Yellow Star
AUTHOR: Jennifer Roy
COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 227
TYPE: poetry, Holocaust memoir
RECOMMEND: Excellent book

Children in the Holocaust and World War II

2009-10-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

The author who compiled these diaries states that this is the first book of this type from this time period. She introduces the diaries with a rather difficult statement:

Perhaps it is so painful to think about the impact of the war on children - particularly their mass executions - that we have not wanted to read about it, even when that has meant refusing to hear from the children themselves. Maybe it was as much as we could bear to designate Anne Frank the representative child of the Holocaust and to think, then, only of her when we thought about children in World War II. But, in some ways, Anne Frank was not representative of children in the war and the Holocaust. Because she was in hiding, she did not experience life in the streets, the ghettos, the concentration camps, as it was lived by millions of children throughout Europe. (p.xiv)

The diaries, written by children from age 10 to age 18, are arranged chronologically by the age of the child youngest to oldest. The countries represented are Poland, Holland, German, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Lithuania, Russia, Belgium, Englan, Hungary, Israel, and Denmark. The children wrote these diaries from many different locations and situations. Many wrote from the time they moved from their loving homes to a ghetto or a hiding spot. One young boy hid in a cupboard for five year, while another lived and died much like Anne Frank. Many of the children died at the hands of the Nazis in concentration camps, with only these written words somehow surviving to tell their stories. Others survived and published their stories so the world would know.

Selected by the School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults 1995, this book is a phenomenal resource for those interested in Holocaust history. Because it covers such a wide range of experiences, I think it could be used in middle and high school as a teaching aid with individual children, or small groups, reading the passage and providing their own expression of the child's experience. Some may argue that middle school age children are too young to read these diaries. The author addresses that beautifully:

To turn our eyes away and refuse to see, or to let children see, what prejudice and hatred lead to is truly to warp our collective psyche...The children teach us, by sharing their own direct experience of oppression, that nothing is more valuable than human freedom. This lesson alone is reason enough to rea, and to encourage children to read, these diaries. (p. xx)

TITLE: Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries
AUTHOR: Laurel Holliday
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 401
TYPE: compilation of Holocaust diaries
RECOMMEND: Excellent book

Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey Home to Reclaim her Ancestry

2009-09-26T07:02:00.001-07:00

Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey Home to Reclaim her Ancestry by Livia Britton-Jackson is a remarkable voyage through the bureaucratic entanglements and emotional upheavals experienced by the author as she returned to post-war Communist Czechoslovakia to locate and retrieve the bodies of her Jewish grandparents who had died more than fifty years earlier. Her husband, Len, who did not speak the languages of the country stood by her side and helped as she navigated through all of the necessary bribes and steps to successfully taking their bodies to Israel. Her determination is remarkable and through her efforts a monument to the past shared lives has been created for all of her family.

TITLE: Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey Home to Reclaim her Ancestry
AUTHOR: Livia Britton-Jackson
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 196
TYPE: non-fiction, biographical

While this book only touches on the author's Holocaust experiences, the emotions of Britton-Jackson certainly remind us of the past and remind us to mind our futures.

A Woman in Amber

2009-07-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

I think perhaps that I have owned this book for quite some time and if I have read it before, I don’t remember it – I find this highly unlikely. At any rate, I am honored to have read it now. A Woman in Amber by Agate Nesaule is a startling memoir of the author’s childhood experiences during the Russian and German occupation of her homeland of Latvia. While the horrors of the war were bad enough in her own country, her Lutheran father and mother, along with other family members, were forced to flee from the competing armies. Their journey was remarkable in complexity and perhaps luck.

As I read her accounts of war, I wondered what the appropriate age level would be for this memoir. The scenes described are brutal and difficult to think about or discuss. The author solved my problem in two ways. First, as a new immigrant to the United States, she learned English by reading tremendous works of literature. Her teachers questioned whether she was old enough to read such works. Her life experiences and understanding of the beauty and sorrow of the world made her absolutely capable of reading Anna Karenina at 10 years old. Second, I would like to share some of her final words in the book:

But the world is full of pain. Anne Frank, Heidi, and Hilda are dead, but Kurds still freeze on the hillsides, Bosnian women have to live on after rape, Rwandan children stand waiting, too emaciated to beg….But then the sun touches the blossoms again. We have to believe that dreams are meaningful, we have to believe that even the briefest human connections can heal. Otherwise life is unbearable. (p. 280)

So I think any child interested in learning about human pain and human healing should be able to absorb the richness of the story that Nesaule was finally able to tell. She endured the war, shameful indignities at the hands of Americans, a disastrous marriage, and finally through therapy and trust, Nesaule has given us her story; a unique memoir of the horrors of World War II. The other part of her equation of survival and hope is education. Early in her life, she learned from poet Karlis Skalbe that, The riches of the heart do not rust. (p. 121) To the Latvians, this meant that even if you lost every material thing, family, and country – no one can take away that which has been learned. In spite of near constant fear and depression, Nesaule completed her Ph.D. in Women’s Literature and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

While you will need to read the book to understand my final comment, I am very happy that she reconciled with her mother, if only in a dream. Sometimes dreams represent more clearly our reality.

TITLE: A Woman in Amber: Healing the Trauma of War and Exile

AUTHOR: Agate Nesaule

PAGES: 280

TYPE: memoir, World War II

RECOMMEND: Stunningly beautiful book with so much we need to hear and learn.

Always Remember Me

2009-03-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II by Marisabina Russo is a lovely picture book that gently tells the stories of the author's family during the War. It begins:

Sunday is the most important day of the week in my family, the day we gather for dinner at my Oma's.

And so begins the story of a young girl, Rachel who visits with her grandmother and aunts each Sunday. One day Oma decides to show Rachel all of her family history - a history she has not shared before. It is the story of the Holocaust and how Oma and her three daughters survived to be reunited in the United States.

Russo provides the reader with a soft, gentle introduction to the horrors that were the Holocaust. As Rachel and Oma look at photo albums, the album ends as grandmother remembers the concentration camp and her eventual liberation. The story does not stop, but returns to the family after the war. Young Rachel will always remember.

On her website, the author shares that this book began with her painting small pictures from her grandmother's old photos. She realized that she wanted to write a book that went with the stories. The book contains images of both the original photos and the artist's renderings. There is also a brief historical note at the end of the book, as well as a small glossary

TITLE: Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II
AUTHOR: Marisabina Russo
COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 48
TYPE: non-fiction, biography

Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust

2009-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust (The Library of Famous Women series) is a wonderful companion book to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. With additional pictures and details from Anne's life, this book shows how Anne lived before and during the war. There are also historical highlights which firmly place Anne, her family, and her friends in the horrible place and time where their world was frightening and awful. Still the love of these family members and friends shines through in this short biogrpahy.

The book also includes a short glossary, a brief list of references, and an index. These make the book even more useful for research purposes.

TITLE: Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Gene Brown
COPYRIGHT: 1991
PAGES: 64
TYPE: non-fiction, biography
AWARDS: Many different Best Books awards

The Cats in Krasinski Square

2009-02-13T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is a book about a girl; a picture book about a very brave Jewish girl passing as Aryan who helped to get food and supplies to the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. The tale focuses on one very small event where the young girl and her sister and friends trick the Nazi guards to smuggle needed supplies to the over-crowded Ghetto. The Nazi dogs trained to sniff out food are foiled when the resistance members release all the Ghetto cats! This book could be used with young children as a lesson in bravery. Because the author provides factual information in the back of the book, it could also be used with older children as a means of introducing the Resistance movements. Illustrator Wendy Watson did a beautiful job with conveying subtle meanings to enhance the story.

TITLE: The Cats in Krasinski Square
AUTHOR: Karen Hesse
COPYRIGHT: 2004
PAGES: 32
TYPE: fiction, based on historical events
AWARDS: Sydney Taylor Book Awards Honor Book 2004 Older Readers, ALA Noteable Book for Children 2005

Four Perfect Pebbles

2008-12-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story

Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan

This is the story of Marion Blumenthal whose Jewish family fled from Germany during WWII. While waiting for immigration to the United States, the family was held at Westerbork, Auschwitz, sent on the death train, finally rescued, and spent time in a refuge camp. Marion was only 4 when this nightmare began. She hoped that her magical thinking about always finding four perfect pebbles, which represented her family members, would keep them safe. This book is intended for middle school readers and would serve as an excellent Holocaust narrative if students want to read beyond some of the classics.The author maintains her website at Four Perfect Pebbles.

TITLE: Four Perfet Pebbles
AUTHOR: Lila Perl and Marion Blumenthal Lazan
COPYRIGHT: 1996
PAGES: 130
TYPE: non-fiction, autobiographical Holocaust narrative
AWARDS: "Best of the Bunch" Sydney Taylor Award Committee/Association of Jewish Librarians

Memories of Anne Frank: Reflection of a Childhood Friend

2008-12-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

I have been to Amsterdam. I have walked from the center of town, along the canals, to visit the house where Anne Frank and her family hid. I walked through the small spaces and stood in front of Anne’s diary. It was a humbling and emotional moment. It brought the book Diary of a Young Girl to life; intensified the feelings I remembered from multiple readings of this classic Holocaust biography.

But Reflections of a Childhood Friend is more than the story of Anne Frank, it is the story of Hannah Goslar who was friends with Anne from age four until Anne died shortly after being reunited with Hannah in Bergen-Belsen. It was not until after the war that Hannah realized that Anne had not lived but had died shortly before the camp was liberated. I am grateful to Hannah for telling her story and for Alison Gold for recording it in a way that young people can read and appreciate.

Hannah’s story is equally compelling as she was separated from her family with only her younger sister to care for as they were “relocated” from Amsterdam to Westerbork to Bergen-Belsen. The courage of these women who were but young girls is inspiring and through Hannah’s memories, readers will gain a greater understanding of the hardships which were endured and the friendships which were held so close.

TITLE: Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend
AUTHOR: Alison Leslie Gold
COPYRIGHT: 1997
PAGES: 135
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I found this book, with photographs, to add to the Anne Frank story, as well as introducing me to another survivor.

LibrarysCat

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco

2008-11-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco tells the true story of the author’s aunt who lived in France during the Nazi occupation in World War II. In a very touching and light-handed manner, Polacco introduces the harshness of the Jewish Holocaust. Monique was a young girl during this period and finds that her mother has been hiding French Jews in their basement. She and a little girl her age discover one another and share their thoughts and dreams. When the family is on the verge of discovery, Monique’s mother assists in the family’s attempt to escape. The papillon, or butterfly, is a symbol of the freedom that should be standard for each person in the world as well as the violence that crushes that freedom. Although this story is not all happy endings, the subject of the Holocaust is introduced in manner that would be acceptable for younger children.

Polacco’s website provides a number of interactive activities and video clips of the real life people in this beautiful story. Another interesting idea to go along with this book would be The Butterfly Project of the Holocaust Museum of Houston. They are hoping to collect 1.5 million hand made butterflies by 2012 to represent the “innocent children who perished in the Holocaust”. Although it will be just two little butterflies, I am sending mine off to the museum and hope that you will as well. If you are an educator, please consider having your students do the same.

TITLE: The Butterfly
AUTHOR: Patricia Polacco
COPYRIGHT: 2000
PAGES: 48
TYPE: non-fiction, historical

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

2008-11-17T13:46:00.001-08:00

Hana’s Suitcase is the story of one woman’s successful attempts to bring the Holocaust alive for Japanese children. It is also the story of Czech Jew Hana Brady and her brother George, who survived the Holocaust without knowing his sister’s final fate. Fumiko Ishioka, Director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education and Resource Center, wanted to have just one item from the Holocaust that Japanese children could touch and relate to – so they would really understand the harsh reality of the Holocaust. Fumiko was given Hana’s suitcase. On behalf of the Japanese children who visited the museum, Fumiko worked tirelessly to find out more about Hana. The book tells this story. It is a wonderful testament to the good people of this world who make a difference in the lives of children everywhere. And in some ways, Fumiko’s quest reunited George with the memory of his sister.

The story was first told by Paul Lungen in an article in the Canadian Jewish News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio presented a documentary by the author, Karen Levine in January 2001. You can listen to it here. In addition, there are many remarkable links from this broadcast page. Another interesting development with this book is the production of a play: Holocaust story makes theatre debut, as it is reported in the Canadian Jewish News.

TITLE: Hana’s Suitcase
AUTHOR: Karen Levine
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 111
TYPE: non-fiction
AWARDS: 2002 Award for Older Readers, Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Awards