CBL reads and remembers

I have been reading Holocaust literature for decades, starting with Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place. I think I was in college when I read this. I spent he summer between my junior and senior year of college in Europe and visited Dachau while I was there. I still remember the oppressive weight I felt there. Within the next month, I was back in college. On the first day of class, as one of my professors introduced himself to us, he talked about being an army chaplain during WWII and being present at the liberation of Dachau. Tears streamed down my face as he described his experience, and I have tears streaming now as I remember listening to it.

I'll list here some of the books I've read in the last few years, and add to this thread as I continue reading.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I read this at the height of its popularity. Here's my review:

Sarah's Key explores the tragic history of the arrest, detention, and execution of thousands of French Jews from the perspective of a fictional 10-year-old Jewish girl named Sarah. Sixty years after the Jews of Paris were rounded up by the French police in July of 1942, American ex-patriot Julia Jarmond is assigned to write a piece on this event by the editor of a publication for Americans living in France. Although Julia has lived in Paris for several decades and is married to a Frenchman, she had never heard of this event. As she learns more about the French government's role in the round-up of the Jews, she is increasingly horrified by the silence of the French people, including members of her own family, who witnessed this event but act as if it never happened. When Julia discovers a connection between Sarah and her husband's family, she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Sarah after her arrest. Is it possible that Sarah was one of the few children who escaped death at Auschwitz?

I had high expectations for this novel because of things I had read and heard about it, but the book didn't quite meet my expectations. Like several other novels I've read recently, this author used alternate chapters to tell Sarah's and Julia's stories, but only for the first half of the book. This technique didn't work well for this book, and I think the story would have been served better if it had been told in a different manner. Also, for some reason Sarah is referred to as “the girl” until about a third of the way through the book. I'm not sure what sort of effect the author was trying to produce by doing this, but I felt like it distanced me from Sarah's story. I was never fully drawn into the story to the point that I felt what Sarah felt; rather, I was always aware that I was reading a fictional account of a horrific episode in the history of France and the Hitler era. Nevertheless, the author has done us all a service by giving voice to some of the forgotten victims of the Holocaust.

3.5 stars

The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn

I read this about 10 years ago. I'd still place it in my top five Holocaust books. Here's my review:

My interest in family history came from listening to my paternal grandmother's stories, which were often sparked by one of the objects that belonged to one of the relatives – a plate, a piece of jewelry, a photo album, a scrapbook, a diary. Daniel Mendelsohn's interest in his family's history seems to have developed in much the same way. His maternal grandfather told stories of the Jäger relatives who had emigrated from Bolechow, at the time a Polish town, to the U.S. His grandfather treasured the pictures and letters that were the only reminders left of his oldest brother, Shmiel, and Shmiel's wife and four daughters. While the rest of the family made new lives in the U.S., Shmiel decided to stay in Bolechow, where he was a “big fish in a little pond”. Shmiel and his family perished in the Holocaust along with almost all of Bolechow's Jewish residents.

Years of research allowed Mendelsohn to fill in many details on his family tree. As he filled in more and more details about other family members, Mendelsohn began to feel that he needed to learn more about his great-uncle Shmiel to complete the family tree. In order to find what could still be known about Shmiel's family and their fate, Mendelsohn needed to talk with the surviving remnant of Bolechow's Jews who were old enough to remember the Jäger family from before the war. Accompanied most of the way by his photographer brother Matt, Mendelsohn traveled to Australia, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, and Ukraine to meet people who had been there and to find out what they knew and what stories they had heard.

I was particularly struck by this passage:
It's different to write the story of people who survived, because there's someone to interview, and they can tell you these amazing stories. As I said these words, I thought of Mrs. Begley, who had once looked coldly at me and said, 'If you didn't have an amazing story, you didn't survive.'

My problem, I went on..., is that I want to write the story of people who didn't survive. People who had no story, anymore.

That passage sums up how this book differs from other books I've read about the Holocaust. It's not a survival account. It's about six individuals who didn't survive.

This is an inspirational book despite the grim subject matter. Mendelsohn frames his journey with meditation and commentary on weekly Torah readings (parashat) from Genesis. Along the way, he develops a stronger bond with his brother, forms new friendships, and discovers long-lost relatives. The journey is as meaningful as the destination. Highly recommended for readers with an interest in family history, Jewish genealogy, the Holocaust, and the history of Ukraine (formerly eastern Poland), particularly the town of Bolechow/Bolekhiv.

5 stars

Dissonance by Lisa Lenard-Cook

I read this one in 2009 on the recommendation of pbadeer. It's a lovely book, and worth the effort of seeking out. My review:

"To the pianist Anna Holtz Kramer, of Los Alamos, New Mexico, I do give, devise, and bequeath my journals and my original music scores, to use as she shall see fit." Anna is surprised when she learns that she is one of the heirs of Hana Weissova, a woman she cannot remember. Why would a stranger leave her so personal a legacy? As she discovers Hana through her journals, Anna also discovers new truths about herself.

I suspect that this book reflects some of the tensions of life in New Mexico, the home of both the nuclear research laboratory in Los Alamos and the artists' mecca of Taos. These tensions are internal for Anna, whose mother was a gifted pianist and whose father was the nuclear physicist who made the decision to target Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic weapons in World War II. Anna's life mirrors her mother's, as Anna's husband, Paul, is also a nuclear physicist. Anna's language is music, and her reflections on her life are wrapped up in music theory and psychology.

I readily identified with Anna since my mother, a talented pianist, began teaching me to play when I was four. I think other musicians would enjoy this novel, but I'm not sure how well people without some musical education will like it. I can't remember a time when music wasn't a part of my life, so it's difficult for me to view the book from a different perspective. The book will also appeal to readers of Holocaust literature since Hana was a survivor of the Terezin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

4 stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

I read this one in 2010. Here's my review:

Ten-year-old Annemarie learns about bravery as she helps to save her Jewish best friend, Ellen, in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Many children's authors try to blend education with entertainment, but the resulting works are often predictable and filled with stereotypical characters. This book shows how well it can be done. Lois Lowry skillfully weaves history, geography, and moral education into a story that will both thrill and inspire young readers. Highly recommended to readers of all ages.

5 stars

Defiance by Nechama Tec

This was another 2010 read. My review:

Nechama Tec's Defiance was on my shortlist for my Belarus book for the Europe Endless Challenge. After watching an episode of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? a couple of of weeks ago that featured actress Lisa Kudrow's family, I was eager to get hold of and read this book. Ms. Kudrow's great-grandmother was one of thousands of Jews executed by the Nazis in what is now Belarus. Defiance is the story of a group of more than 1,200 Jews who survived the Nazi terror in the forests of Belarus.

Tuvia Bielski was the second son of a large Jewish family from a village in what is now Belarus. When the Germans began forcing Jews into ghettos in the larger cities, Tuvia and two of his younger brothers, Asael and Zus, were determined to stay out of the ghettos. They tried to persuade family members to join them. Soon their group enlarged to include family friends and their relatives. As the group grew, it formally became one of many partisan groups under Soviet direction. As the oldest brother in the group, Tuvia became its leader.

Most of the Soviet partisan groups accepted only able-bodied men with weapons who were able to fight. In contrast, the Bielski group accepted all Jews, including unarmed men, women, older people, and children. Everyone who reached the Bielski group was assured of food and protection. Tuvia's main goal was to save Jewish lives rather than to fight the Germans. He sent scouts into the ghettos and the forests to invite all Jews who were willing to come. Although other Soviet partisan groups thought the Bielski group was too large and consumed too much hard-to-get food, Tuvia was able to overcome objections to the group's existence by providing some fighters for joint partisan missions, and especially by supplying support to other partisan groups in the form of goods and supplies. Among the Bielski group there were people with skills to repair weapons, to tan leather for shoes, to repair and make clothing, and to provide medical care for the sick and wounded.

The Bielski partisans were not saints. They were survivors who did what they had to do to survive. This included making armed raids on inhabitants of the surrounding countryside. The food parties tried to take food only from those they believed had food to spare. They mostly took items that were considered necessities and mostly avoided taking luxury items. Many women chose to improve their situations by becoming the mistress of a valuable member of the group, such as a fighter or someone in a position of authority. Interestingly, many of these relationships survived not just during the war years, but for decades afterward.

There are other books available on the Bielski group and the Jews who survived in the forests. I chose this one because of the publisher's reputation, and I am pleased with my choice. The book shows evidence of careful and thorough research, including the use of archival sources and the author's own interviews of surviving members of the Bielski group. The author notes that her interviews were recorded, and both the original recordings and the transcriptions are available to other researchers. Where recollections or opinions differ, the author attempts to reconcile these differences and notes the reasons for her interpretation in the end notes. The accompanying material includes eight pages of black and white photographs, a map of the settlement the group built in the Nalibocka Forest, a biographical appendix listing individuals who appear frequently in the book with a brief summary of their lives after the war, an organizational list of officers and heads of workshops, a short glossary, and 56 pages of end notes. Although many sources are listed in the end notes, I would have liked a separate bibliography or selected reading list.

This book is highly recommended to readers interested in the Holocaust, World War II in Eastern Europe, and the Soviet-German conflict. Readers with an interest in leadership studies might find useful material in the author's analysis of Tuvia Bielski's charismatic leadership style.

4 stars

We Were Europeans by Werner Loval

This was a 2010 Early Reviewers win. My review:

Holocaust survivor Werner Loval (originally Löbl) recounts his life beginning with his family's rise to prosperity in Bamberg, Germany, through the rise of Hitler and the destruction of Germany's Jewish community, his escape to England as a young teen, the reunification of his family in Ecuador, their immigration to the U.S., and his eventual decision to immigrate to Israel. His life story is amply illustrated with photographs and reproductions of newspaper articles, certificates, and other documents. He supplements his own memories with excerpts from the World War I diary of one of his uncles, his sister's diaries, and his wife's letters to her parents written during the Six Day War.

The book's size and weight (about 4 pounds), as well as its organization in 1-3 page segments, suit it more for reading in short snatches than for periods of intensive reading. I developed a great respect for the author as the book progressed. He cultivated relationships with family, acquaintances, and colleagues, and used his negotiation skills in diplomatic service, in establishing a private business, in building communities, and in establishing Reform Judaism in Israel. I was especially moved by his stories of reconciliation between post-Hitler Germans and Holocaust survivors and descendants of Holocaust victims.

In the preface, Loval informs his readers that “this book does not claim to be a history or a scientific account of a period or process. Nor should it be seen as a reference book or as a source of political, economic, religious, or geographic data...Therefore, by and large I do not give source notes, nor is there a bibliography.” I regret that he made this decision, because this will limit the potential audience for this book. It is best suited for libraries that collect Holocaust survivors' stories or that have extensive holdings in the history of modern Israel, and for descendants of Bamberg's Jewish community.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

3.5 stars

The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister

I read this one in 2014. My review:

I tend to forget that there were groups and individuals who weren't Jewish who were persecuted by the Nazis during the Holocaust years. Nonna Bannister was one of those individuals. Nonna's father was Polish (possibly of Jewish background) and her mother was Russian. She spent her childhood in Russia, and her immediate family was living with her grandmother in Ukraine at the beginning of the war. Most of the Russians left their town before the Germans reached it. Nonna's father had long been attempting to move his family westward, so he chose to stay put, not realizing what his family would suffer under the Germans. Eventually Nonna and her mother were sent to labor camps in Germany. Nonna was the only one in her family to survive until the end of the war. She trained as a nurse and eventually emigrated to the United States.

Nonna married within a couple of years of her arrival in the U.S., She didn't tell her husband and children about her childhood experiences. A few years before her death, she finally showed her husband the English transcriptions she had made of the diaries she kept during those years. After her death, Nonna's family made contact with a publisher, and a writing team compiled her transcriptions into a book. Nonna's diary transcriptions form the main body of the book, with occasional comments inserted by the compilers to clarify passages that call for additional explanation. This format gives the book an unfinished feel. Usually the professional writer will polish the subject's material to enhance its readability and appeal, and the finished product will read as if it has been written by the subject rather than by multiple authors. I think footnotes might have been a better method for adding comments to what Nonna had written. Recommended for readers interested in non-Jewish Holocaust memoirs who are prepared to tolerate the unusual presentation.

3.5 stars

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

I read this in 2015. My review:

Unlike her older sisters, twenty-something Becca has always loved the story of Briar Rose as it was told by her grandmother “Gemma”. Just before Gemma died, she told Becca “I am Briar Rose.” Gemma extracted Becca's promise to find the castle and the prince. After Gemma's death, her family realized how little they knew about her background before she arrived in the United States. They weren't even sure of her name. With the encouragement of her editor, Becca puts her journalistic skills to work as she tries to discover Gemma's origins. Her search takes Becca to some surprising places and uncovers some harsh truths.

Although the subject matter is heavy, Yolen doesn't lose sight of her YA audience. The “light at the end of the tunnel” is in view even in the darkest parts of the story. It wouldn't be a fairy tale without the possibility of “happily ever after”! The novel loses its momentum during Josef's story. It takes 3 ½ chapters to get to the point where he met Gemma. I had grown impatient by then. While the Nazi persecution of groups other than Jews (Josef was homosexual) will be of interest to many, that isn't Gemma's story. The shift in focus seems out of place.

3.5 stars

Night by Elie Wiesel

I listened to this one in 2012. My review:

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel recalls the horrors of life in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. If you've read other Holocaust memoirs, many of the details will be familiar, yet each survivor's story is unique and each tragedy is personal. One of the themes of Night is God's silence in the face of extreme suffering, a theme echoed in Shusako Endo's Silence. Wiesel experienced a crisis of faith due to the unspeakable things he witnessed and the suffering he endured. This is probably the most widely known Holocaust memoir, and it should be on everyone's “books to read before you die” list. As the number of Holocaust survivors shrinks with the passage of time, books such as this will be increasingly important for preserving the memory of this great tragedy and making sure that it never happens again.

4.5 stars

The Search for Major Plagge by Michael Good

I read this one in 2012. My review:

After examining many survivors' stories, I came to a new realization: that each Holocaust survivor represents a miracle of life and that almost all survivors owe their lives in small or large part to someone else's kindness, bravery, or courage. Thus, for many survivors of the holocaust and their descendants, an examination of the war does not necessarily lead only to the bloody horrors that mankind is capable of: it can also point to the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

Dr. Michael Good's book started out with a family trip to Vilnius, Lithuania, with his parents, wife, and children. Both of Dr. Good's parents were among the few Vilnius Jews who survived the Holocaust. During the trip, Dr. Good's father was reunited with two local families who gave him shelter during the war at great personal risk. When Dr. Good's mother told her story, she attributed her survival and that of her parents to a Nazi officer in the German army who made an effort to protect the Jews in his work camp. Major Plagge is credited with the survival of 250 Jews, almost 25% of those assigned to his work group. Overall, less than 2% of Vilnius’s Jews survived the Holocaust.

Dr. Good became intrigued by this German army officer who was spoken of so highly by his mother, grandfather, and other Holocaust survivors. What happened to this man after the war? Did his descendants know of his actions that resulted in the survival of so many Jews? After returning home, Dr. Good began making e-mail inquiries to archives, genealogical groups, and other organizations that might be able to answer some of his questions. As his e-mails spread to a wider network of colleagues and acquaintances of the original recipients, Dr. Good began to receive offers of assistance. Eventually, an official working group was formed, consisting of both survivors of Major Plagge's work group and Germans with archival skills or specialized knowledge of the German army and the post-war denazification process.

Once I started reading this book, I didn't want to stop. Major Plagge's story is revealed little by little in the same order that the research group made its discoveries. It's both a deeply moving and an inspiring account. By insisting on the humane treatment of the Jews, Poles, and other defenseless prisoners under his care, Major Plagge didn't just save many of them from certain death. He also restrained the Germans serving under him from committing acts of cruelty that would surely have haunted at least some of them for the rest of their lives. Although I pray that we'll never again see anything like the Holocaust, it's impossible to know what the future might hold. Stories like that of Major Plagge are important to remember as an example and an encouragement to choose good and resist evil.

4.5 stars

The Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek

I read this one in 2019. My review:

Lisa Jura’s dream of becoming a concert pianist seemed to be out of reach when Hitler’s forces occupied Vienna. Because she was Jewish, 14-year-old Lisa was no longer permitted to take lessons. Lisa’s parents were able to place her on the Kindertransport to England. Lisa eventually ended up in a group home on Willesden Lane in Northwest London. Here she found a support group among the other Jewish teens who lived in the home, the home’s guardian, Mrs. Cohen, and the neighbors. With the encouragement of her friends, Lisa found a way to fulfill her dream of studying piano performance. The book is filled with suspense as Lisa awaits news of the family she left behind in Vienna and as she prepares for an audition that could change her life.

The author, Lisa’s daughter, supplemented her mother’s memories of this time with additional research. An author’s note explains that a couple of the characters are amalgamations of several individuals. While this isn’t uncommon in memoirs, it’s a practice I dislike as it makes it difficult for researchers to separate fact from fiction. This would otherwise have been a 5-star read for me.

4 stars

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I read this one in 2013. My review:

If Death was anywhere during World War II, it was certainly active in Nazi Germany. What story would Death tell of life in Germany under the Nazis? Possibly this one – the story of a young girl driven by loss and grief to become a book thief. The protagonists in the book aren't Jews or Nazis. They're poor Germans whose strongest loyalties lie, not with government or party, but with family, friends, and neighbors. Their sense of decency and dignity drive some to quiet resistance to the Nazi regime. It's not a comfortable book to read, but it's an unforgettable one. Characters like Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner, the Hubermanns, Ilsa Hermann, and Max Vandenburg will haunt readers' memories just as they haunt Death's.

4.5 stars

Once by Morris Gleitzman

I listened to this one in 2014. My review:

Felix hasn't seen his parents in the three years since they left him at a Catholic orphanage in Poland, but he expects them any day. Meanwhile, he writes stories about them in the yellow notebook they gave him. Felix has a gift for storytelling. Gradually Felix learns about what the Nazis are doing to Jews in Poland, but in his innocence he often draws false conclusions. One day Felix slips away from the orphanage to search for his parents with no idea what dangers he will expose himself to in the process.

The Holocaust is a bleak subject for children's literature. Gleitzman handles the topic with sensitivity. Felix's stories fortify the spirits of those around him, and they serve the same purpose for readers. There's always a ray of hope that Felix will survive his ordeal. I listened to the audio version narrated by the author. Sometimes authors aren't the best readers for their works, but Gleitzman is better than many professional readers I've heard. Felix's story is continued in several more books, and these are high on my wish list.

4.5 stars

Then by Morris Gleitzman

A 2016 read. My review:

Then continues the story started in Once, beginning with 10-year-old Felix and 6-year-old Zelda's escape from the trainload of Jews bound for a Polish death camp. Felix and Zelda find a place to hide and assume new identities (thanks to Felix's love of Richmal Crompton's books). Although Zelda isn't Jewish, Felix is, and his presence endangers both Zelda and the woman sheltering them both. Zelda's uncontrollable temper doesn't help matters. A Polish boy in the village becomes Felix's enemy, but Felix and Zelda find friends in unexpected places.

Just as every chapter of Once starts with the word “once”, every chapter of Then starts with the word “then”. “Once” brings to mind stories and fairy tales. “Then” just seems awkward. “Once” puts a comfortable distance between the story and the reader. “Then” makes the story more immediate and personal. Felix witnesses some horrible things, and it's difficult to read about them without the repetitive use of “once” that keeps some space between the the terrible events and the reader. Finally, it's missing a very important “then”. The book ends with Felix in hiding in the hole he dug earlier in Genia's barn. There's no “then the war was over, and Felix came out of hiding.” Readers don't know if Felix survived the war, or if he was discovered in his hiding place. Even though this book fell short of my expectations, I plan to continue the series to find out what happened next.

3.5 stars

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

I chose the audio version for this 2014 reread. My review:

Corrie ten Boom was the youngest child in a family of Haarlem watchmakers. Corrie's brother became a pastor and one of her older sisters married a school teacher. Neither Corrie nor her oldest sister, Betsie, married, and Corrie went into the family business while Betsie took care of the housekeeping after their mother's death. For as long as Corrie could remember, their house had been home to more than just their immediate family. Several of her mother's sisters lived with the family until their deaths, and her father took in several foster children after his own children were grown. It was natural for the Ten Booms to offer hospitality and a place of refuge to Jews and to others who were sought by the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Their home became the nucleus of an underground network that funneled Jews to safety. When the network inevitably became known to the Germans, several family members were arrested, and Corrie and her sister, Betsie, eventually ended up in the concentration camp at Ravensbruck. Their strong Christian faith enabled them to endure much suffering during their imprisonment.

This was a re-read for me. Corrie has been one of my heroes since I first read this book as a young adult. What impressed me on the first reading was Corrie's encounter with one of her former guards at Ravensbruck who had come to hear her speak at a church in Germany. He sought her out after the meeting and asked for her forgiveness. This time through, I saw Betsie's influence in this encounter. In the concentration camp, Corrie was moved by the suffering of their fellow prisoners and dedicated herself to ministering to them. Betsie was moved by the spiritual poverty of the guards and other officials, and she dreamed of ministering to them after the war. It would seem that Betsie's dream motivated Corrie to speak of God's forgiveness in German churches in the years following the war.

I've learned much more about the war and the Holocaust in the years since I first read this book. There is no question that European Jews were persecuted for their faith, and I'm thankful for every Holocaust memoir that preserves the stories of individuals who suffered in the concentration camps and who witnessed the mass exterminations of Jews. Corrie ten Boom's account is a reminder that it wasn't only Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis. It seems that Christianity wasn't welcome in the camps either. The Ten Booms were arrested when they had gathered for a Bible study in their home. Corrie and Betsie smuggled Bibles into the prison and later into the concentration camp. They held Bible studies and prayer meetings with other prisoners in secret.

This time through I was struck by how well-written this book is. The authors take an episodic approach to Corrie's life, and each chapter tells a story. The audio production is outstanding, and the narrator tells Corrie's story as if she had lived it herself. This is a classic of Christian literature that probably hasn't been out of print since its publication. It will also appeal to readers interested in accounts of occupied territories and resistance movements in World War II.

5 stars

The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

In addition to the title short story, the audio recording I listened to includes the novella Rosa. The Shawl is set in a concentration camp, and Rosa is set in Miami several decades later. The events of The Shawl are difficult to hear, but it's mercifully short. Rosa is a character study of a Holocaust survivor. The narrator's voice had me picturing Rosa as Sophia on The Golden Girls. That's not as odd as it seemed to me at first since the actress who played Sophia, Estelle Getty, was Jewish, not Sicilian like her character!

4 stars

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

I listened to this in 2016. My review:

If you're familiar with Anne Frank's story and you've ever wondered what was happening on the outside while her family was in hiding in Amsterdam, Miep Gies's memoir provides the answer. Miep (her real nickname, but not her real name) tells of being sent from her home in Vienna to live with a Dutch family after World War I so that she could regain her health and strength. She recalls working with Otto Frank in a company that sold pectin for jam making. Miep became a friend of the whole family, and she shares her memories of her first meeting with Anne and of watching her grow up. When the Franks and another family went into hiding in the firm's storage area, Miep and a few other employees were their only connection to the outside world. Unknown to the Frank family, Miep and her husband also hid a Jewish man in their home. As the months passed, it became increasingly difficult for Miep to find enough food to feed so many people. After the Franks and the others were discovered and sent to concentration camps, Miep and her husband had to endure the “hunger winter” and its extreme shortage of food, fuel, and electricity.

It always made me sad that Anne Frank and her family were discovered just months before the end of the war and the Holocaust. I thought that if they hadn't been discovered, they could have remained in hiding until the end of the war and Anne could have published her diary herself. After hearing Miep's description of the “hunger winter” and how difficult it became to find any food at all, I'm not certain that the Franks and their companions would all have survived in hiding even if they hadn't been discovered. Miep probably couldn't have continued to feed that many people. It's a tragic, but important, story, and a good complement to the more famous Diary of Anne Frank.

5 stars

Now by Morris Gleitzman

I read this in 2020. My review:

The third book in Felix’s story finds Felix a retired doctor in Australia providing a home for his 11-year-old granddaughter. Zelda is named for Felix’s childhood friend who was his companion in hiding from the Nazis. Granddaughter Zelda is being bullied by older girls at her new school, but she is reluctant to confide in her grandfather. When disaster strikes, their shared danger and their love for each other bring grandfather and granddaughter even closer together.

Readers learn that Felix still has a caring nature, which he expressed through a successful career as a pediatric surgeon. He saved the lives of hundreds of children during his career. I just wish readers were told more about how Felix got from German-occupied Poland to caring for a grandchild. Who did he marry? How did he meet her? What kind of relationship does he have with his child? Originally this book was to have concluded a trilogy, but it seems that Felix had more to say and Gleitzman has obliged him.

4 stars

Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood by Dori Katz

I read this in 2018. My review:

Dori Katz was born in Belgium to Jewish parents during the Holocaust. After her father’s arrest and deportation to a concentration camp, Dori’s mother placed her with a Gentile family in a Belgian town. Dori was later placed in an orphanage for a couple of years before being reunited with her mother after the war. Several decades later, Dori saw a documentary featuring the woman who had taken her to her host family’s home. It awakened her curiosity about her surrogate Belgian family. Although the couple who gave her a home had both died by this time, she was able to reconnect with their children. The author had mixed feelings about the reunion. It is apparent from her narrative that she had unresolved psychological issues stemming from her experience. While I believe it’s important for all Holocaust survivors to tell their stories, each of which is unique, there are parts of Katz’s story that I think would have been better kept between the author and her therapist.

3 stars

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

The author of this memoir was a teenager when war broke out in Europe in the 1930s. Although Germany and the Soviet Union both wanted control of Poland, neither country nor their armies had any regard for the Polish people. Irene found herself separated from her family, and she had to grow up too quickly, first at the hands of the Russian army, then at the hands of the German. Irene was working in a hotel that housed German officers when she became aware of its proximity to the Jewish ghetto. She was appalled by what she could see and hear from the hotel. She didn't have the ability to help the Jews on a large scale, but the small acts of kindness in her power would make a difference to a few people. She started by leaving food under a hole in the fence. When she realized that the penalty was the same for leaving bits of food as for more daring acts, she did more and more to help as many Jews as she could. She was able to provide employment for several, and then found a place for them to hide when she learned of plans to kill all of the remaining Jews.

I have read quite a few Holocaust memoirs. Suffering is common to all of them, but each story of survival and escape is unique. Opdyke's story is a reminder that life is precious and that family and friends are to be cherished. The audio production is excellent, and it includes introductory comments by the author herself. Opdyke's voice adds an intimacy to the experience, and it serves as a reminder that she was a real person and not a character in a novel. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars

The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard

I listened to this one in 2018. My review:

Aron is a young boy, a Polish Jew, whose family is barely hanging on in Warsaw's Jewish ghetto. Aron spends as much time on the streets as he does with his family. He is part of a network of street children who smuggle goods into the ghetto's black market. He is gradually coerced into acting as an informant for the Jewish Police; by the time he realizes what is happening, it seems that he no longer has a choice.

Despite the grim subject matter, many Holocaust memoirs and novels have an undercurrent of hope since the author/protagonist survived to tell their story. This one progresses relentlessly toward tragedy. At the time I listened to this book, I wasn't aware that Janusz Korczak was a real person and not just a character created for this novel. His attitude toward children (at least, the attitude portrayed in the novel) reminded me of Mr. Rogers. I would like to know more about this man who devoted himself to the care and comfort of Jewish orphans at such a dark time in history. I am on the lookout for a good biography.

3.5 stars

The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy

I read this in 2018. My review:

Children's author Carmen Agra Deedy tells a story of how King Christian X of Denmark inspired his fellow Danes to resist the Nazis during the Second World War. Although the story may be legend rather than fact, it reveals the true affection and respect of Danes for their king. The story is all the more powerful for its simplicity.

4 stars

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

'What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” is the title story in this collection of 8 short stories. All of the stories speak to an aspect of Jewish life and experience, ranging from the legacy of the Holocaust for survivors or their children, the settlement of Israel, or questions of faith and ethics. I liked the final story best. “Free Fruit for Young Widows,” perhaps partly because it follows the weakest story in the collection, “The Reader.” It seems to be an allegory of the transaction between an author and his or her reader, but the use of third person and labels rather than names served to distance this reader from what should have been a more intimate experience.

3 stars

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer

I read this in 2018. My review:

The author of this memoir was a law student in Vienna when Austria was taken over by the Germans in 1938. Hahn's family were non-observant Jews, but this didn't matter to the Nazis. Edith had completed her studies except for final exams, and she was unable to finish her degree. Hahn spent a couple of years in a work camp doing farm labor and made her way back to Vienna after her release. (This was before the Jews were rounded up and sent to death camps.) Hahn managed to evade transport to Poland with other Viennese Jews. When it became too dangerous for her to continue to hide in Vienna, she assumed the identity of a non-Jewish friend and moved to Germany. She met and married a German man who was a member of the Nazi party. He cared more for his own interests than his country's, so when he found out Edith's true identity he did not turn her in. Many of the Holocaust biographies and memoirs I've read are about persons who survived the death camps. It was interesting to read a different kind of survival story. Edith survived probably because she was independent and had no other family members that she was trying to protect.

3.5 stars

We Followed Our Stars by Ida Cook

This was a 2018 reread. My review:

Mary Burchell was a popular Mills & Boon/Harlequin author in the mid-20th century. Mary Burchell was the pseudonym for Ida Cook, whose own story proves the old adage “truth is stranger than fiction.” Ida and her sister, Louise, came of age between the wars. Working girl Louise's purchase of a gramophone and opera recordings led to the sisters' lifelong love of opera. Their lives revolved around opera season. Ida began collecting snapshots of opera stars as she and Louise queued for gallery seats. This led to acquaintances and then friendships with many of the major opera stars of the early to mid-twentieth century, including Amelita Galli-Curci, Rosa Ponselle, Ezio Pinza, Elisabeth Rethberg, Maria Callas, and conductor Clemens Krauss and his wife, soprano Viorica Ursuleac. It was their friendship with Krauss and Ursuleac that led to the defining period of their lives, when they aided refugees escaping from Nazi Germany and other countries under their control.

The British government accepted refugees under a guarantee system whereby accepted refugees would not be a financial burden to the social system. Ida and Louise raised funds to provide guarantees for refugees, many of whom were Jewish. The sisters also smuggled valuables belonging to refugees out of German controlled areas, since the refugees weren't allowed to leave with money or valuables. Their love of opera provided a perfect cover for their clandestine activities. The authorities viewed them as eccentric but harmless opera aficionados. Cook's writing career took off just as their rescue work commenced, and most of her new-found wealth went to the rescue efforts. Ida and Louise Cook were honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations, and are credited with helping 29 Jews escape from Germany and Austria.

5 stars

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

I don't know how I managed to get this far in life without reading Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. I've even been to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam but I had not read the diary. I finally got around to it this summer. I listened to the audio recording of the definitive edition, which includes several pages that were purposely omitted from its initial publication. Anne went through puberty during her time in hiding. Her diary transcends the bounds of time and space, documenting the rites of passage of teens in every time and place. Anne writes of conflict with her mother and older sister, of the joys and despair of first love, of her dreams for her future and her life's work. Although her life was tragically short, she fulfilled one of her dreams. Through her diary, she achieved worldwide and lasting fame as an author. Like many readers before me, I grieve for what might have been and the many more books that were never written.

5 stars

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

I'm sorry to say that this book did not live up to my expectations. Perhaps it was because I listened to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas so soon after The Diary of Anne Frank. I felt as if the author was trying to manipulate the reader's emotions. There are so many true accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust that this seems like unnecessary exploitation of its millions of victims. I couldn't buy into Bruno's innocence at 10 years old (when the story began). By the end of the book's time line, he would have been nearly old enough to join the Hitler Youth. Given his father's position, it would have been expected. It seems I'm not alone in my reaction to this book, since the author felt it necessary to address such criticisms in an interview that was included at the end of the audiobook.

2.5 stars

Dancing with the Enemy: My Family's Holocaust Secret by Paul Glaser

I read this in 2018. My review:

The author of this biography was raised in the Catholic faith. He learned of his Jewish background as an adult, and of his aunt Rosie, who survived the Holocaust. Glaser did not have a relationship with his aunt because of a rift between his father and his aunt. However, he had access to her diaries and letters, and they form the basis for this biography.

Rosie was an unconventional woman. She was attractive and had a strong personality. She ignored the Jewish curfew and refused to wear a yellow star on her clothes, and she got away with this for quite some time. When she eventually ended up in work camps and concentration camps, she was able to negotiate with camp officials and with other prisoners to get what she needed, whether that was extra food, warmer clothing, or better living conditions. She didn't seem to have scruples about sleeping with officers if that's what it took to get what she most needed. Rosie survived.

I've read about the Dutch resistance and Dutch citizens like Corrie ten Boom and Miep Gies who hid Jews during the Holocaust. This book tells a different story of Dutch who betrayed Jews and the Dutch government's cooperation with the Germans.

For me, the saddest part of Rosie's story is the rift that grew between Rosie and her brother (the author's father). They both survived, but it seemed that neither could forgive the other for the way they survived.

3.5 stars

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman

I read this in 2018. My review:

Pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman was a Polish Jew who was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. As more and more Jews were transported from Warsaw's Ghetto to extermination camps, it was inevitable that Szpilman's family would be among them. At the last moment he was pulled from the train that took the rest of his family to their deaths. He spent the rest of the war in Warsaw and was perhaps the only Jew left in his sector of Warsaw at the end of the war. His survival came at a great cost. It was through this book that I discovered that Janusz Korczak, the champion of Warsaw's orphans who is a central figure in The Book of Aron, was a real person and not a fictional character. Most of the Holocaust memoirs I've read were written decades after the events, when their authors had some emotional distance from what must surely have been the most painful period of their lives. Szpilman's memoir was written shortly after the end of the war, when his emotions were still raw. As a result, it's much more intense than most of the other memoirs I've read. Highly recommended.

5 stars

Architects of Death: The Family Who Engineered the Death Camps by Karen Bartlett

I read this in 2018. My review:

This is a biography of the Topf family of Erfurt, Germany and the family firm, Topf and Sons. The company's primary business was manufacturing brewing equipment. However, a division within the company manufactured ovens for crematoria. This division supplied ovens for Auschwitz and other extermination camps during the Nazi era. Most of the focus is on brothers Ludwig Topf Jr and Ernst Wolfgang Topf, who headed the company during the Nazi era, as well as senior employees who were complicit in the design and manufacture of the crematoria ovens and the ventilation systems for the gas chambers. There is more focus on Topf cousin Hartmut Topf than perhaps there should be. While he shares the Topf name, his grandfather left the firm long before the Third Reich came to power. However, he has been outspoken about the Topf family and its legacy, so it probably would have been difficult to write this book without including him. This book would be a good choice for readers looking for information about support for the Nazis among the general populace.

This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3 stars

Jesus and the Holocaust: Reflections on Suffering and Hope by Joel Marcus

I read this in 2018. My review:

These homilies were first delivered at a Good Friday service in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust. The author is a New Testament scholar with a secular Jewish background, so the intersection of Christianity and the Holocaust is of special interest to him. Each homily is prefaced by an image (a painting or photograph) and a poem or prose excerpt with a theme related to the homily. A theme that runs throughout the collection is that of unjust suffering – of the millions of Jews who suffered and died because they were Jews, and of the innocent Christ who suffered and died on the cross. It would be a good collection for a Lenten reading list.

4 stars

My Brother's Keeper: Christians Who Risked All to Protect Jewish Targets of the Nazi Holocaust by Rod Gragg

I read this in 2018. My review:

This book is a collection of brief profiles of Christians who risked their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. Some of the subjects of the sketches are well known for their work during the Holocaust, such as the Ten Boom family. Some rescued hundreds or thousands, and others rescued one or two. Some are surprising, like Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip. All were motivated to act by their Christian faith, and all have been designated as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

I was glad to see one local man recognized. Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds was a local boy from Knoxville, Tennessee. As the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in a German POW camp, he used his position to protect the Jewish soldiers who were fellow POWs. When the Germans ordered the Jewish soldiers to report one morning, Edmonds feared that they would end up in an extermination camp. He ordered all of the American soldiers to report, and they followed his order. When questioned by the Germans, they claimed “We are all Jews.” The Germans backed down in the face of this, and the Jewish soldiers were spared. Roddie Edmonds was the first—and at this point the only—American soldier recognized by Yad Vashem.

4 stars

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

I read this in 2018. My review:

In the 1930s, Antonina and her husband Jan were the zookeepers of Warsaw’s zoo. Both the zoo and Jan were well respected in the international zoo community. The family’s idyllic life changed almost overnight with the German invasion of Warsaw. Some of the best specimens were removed to German zoos for “safekeeping” (i.e., looted), but many of the other animals perished as a result of the invasion and bombing raids. The Zabinskis were able to remain in the villa at the zoo during most of the war, and they used the house, some of the animal shelters, and the tunnels on the zoo property to shelter Jews. Most of the Jews were temporary guests and soon moved on to other safe houses. A few of the Jews were long-term guests who became part of the family. Yad Vashem has recognized the Zabinskis as Righteous Among the Nations.

Antonina’s diary and books provide the foundation for the book. Ackerman, who has Polish ancestry and extensive experience in nature writing, turned Antonina’s story into a bestseller. Antonina’s uncanny ability to understand and communicate with wild animals was essential to her family’s survival and their success in sheltering several hundred Jews during the Holocaust. It’s a fascinating story that can be recommended to readers of all ages and interests.

4 stars

The Thief of Auschwitz by Jon Clinch

I read this in 2019. My review:

Barber Jacob Rosen, his artist wife Eidel, and their children, Max and Lydia, live an idyllic life in a mountain town in Poland. It’s remote, but not remote enough to escape the Nazi drive to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The Rosens are transported to Auschwitz, where the men and women are immediately separated. Since Max looks older than his years, Jacob instructs him to lie about his age so that he doesn’t go straight to the gas chambers with the other children. On the women’s side of the camp, Eidel assumes that her son is dead. Eventually, word reaches Eidel that her husband and son are still alive, and Jacob learns that Eidel is still alive as well. This knowledge gives them hope, but it also increases the danger for all of them. Any one of them could make a mistake that will end all of their lives, since their connection is known to the guards.

Holocaust fiction often disappoints since it’s hard to find the right balance between credibility and sentimentality. Clinch strikes the right balance. It’s a grim story, yet it doesn’t leave the reader feeling hopeless. Clinch chose to publish this book independently, and as a result it’s not available in many public libraries. This book is well worth any extra effort to acquire it. Highly recommended.

5 stars

A Faraway Island by Annika Thor

I listened to this in 2018. My review:

Sisters Stephie (12) and Nellie (8) are among 500 Jewish children transported from Austria to Sweden in 1939. The sisters miss their parents very much, but they console themselves with the thought that their parents will be sending for them soon and the whole family will emigrate to America. The sisters end up on a remote island staying with different families. Nellie settles in fairly quickly with her host family, but Stephie has a hard time adjusting to the stern woman who has taken her in. She has trouble fitting in at school, where she is bullied by the other students.

This book has won multiple awards in both the original Swedish edition and the English translation. It has an Anne of Green Gables meets the Holocaust feel, but it's more melancholy. There's no “bosom friend” like Diana Barry, and readers will be aware that Stephie's misfortunes are bound to grow as Nazi persecution of the Jews increases. This book should also appeal to fans of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars.

4 stars

The Lily Pond by Annika Thor

I listened to this in 2019. My review:

The Lily Pond continues the story of Stephie Steiner, who was introduced in A Faraway Island. Stephie and her younger sister, Nellie, are Jewish children from Vienna who have been taken in by families on a Swedish island during World War II. As the second book in the series opens, Stephie is going to the mainland to continue her schooling since the island school only goes through sixth grade. Stephie has been offered a room in the apartment of the Soderberg family, who had rented Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert’s home on the island the previous summer. Stephie makes friends with another scholarship student, May. Stephie has a secret crush on 17-year-old Sven Soderberg. Not everyone is as welcoming as May and Sven. Stephie’s German teacher, Miss Krantz, is prejudiced against Jews, and a classmate, Alice, seems to hate her for no reason. And Stephie is worried about her parents, who are still in Vienna but hoping to get visas to emigrate to America. A secluded lily pond is Stephie’s retreat when things get to be too much for her.

The first book in the series reminded me of the Anne of Green Gables books. This one didn’t so much. This book rehashes several themes from the first book, with Stephie trying to fit in with a new family, a new group of children, and a new “city” culture. Stephie’s unrequited crush on Sven is the only really new theme. This book didn’t have enough of Nellie, Aunt Marta, and Uncle Evert to suit me. Even though I didn’t like this book as much as I did the first book in the series, I still want to finish the series to find out what happens to Stephie and Nellie. Will they be reunited with their parents in the end, or will they be among the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust?

3.5 stars

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

I read this in 2019. My review:

Cartoonist Art Spiegelman’s biography of his father might be unconventional in its graphic novel format, but it’s effective. It’s part memoir as well, since Spiegelman incorporates his interviews with his father and his writing process into the work. Both of Spiegelman’s parents survived Auschwitz, although many of their family members perished. The psychological effects of the Holocaust seem to have contributed to Spiegelman’s difficult relationship with his father. Maus seems to have been Spiegelman’s way of working through the complexities of their relationship and coming to an understanding of his father and the experiences that shaped him.

4.5 stars

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose

I read this one in 2020. My review:

The first section of this book looks at the life of Anne Frank. In part two, Prose takes a critical look at Frank as a writer and addresses the reception history of Frank’s diary. In part three, Prose examines the way that the diary has been taught at levels from elementary school through university. Prose concludes with her own experience teaching a seminar on Anne Frank at Bard College. The controversy over the play and film versions of the diary was new to me. Prose does a thorough job of analyzing the controversy and the personalities involved. This book belongs in all libraries that own a copy of Anne Frank’s diary. It should be background reading for instructors preparing to teach students of any level about Anne Frank and her diary.

4.5 stars

After by Morris Gleitzman

I read this one last year. My review:

As the next chapter in his story unfolds, Felix has been hiding for 2 ½ years in a hole in the horse’s stall in Gabriek’s barn. It’s Felix’s thirteenth birthday, and everything changes. When he hears Gabriek arguing with several strangers in the barn above him, Felix secretly follows the group when they leave. They appear to have kidnapped Gabriek, and Felix is determined to help him. As it turns out, the strangers are Polish partisans fighting against the Nazis. Felix must join the partisans in order to survive.

The author originally intended for this series to be a trilogy, but he discovered that Felix had more to say. I realized this when I reached the end of Then, and I’m glad the author listened to Felix. As a reader, I longed to know what happened After. How did Felix survive? What happened to his parents? This book answered many of my questions.

While I’ve read many Holocaust memoirs and biographies, I seldom read Holocaust fiction. It’s hard for me to shake the feeling that the author is manipulating my emotions. I don’t get that feeling from this series. The things that happen to Felix and Felix’s actions and reactions are consistent with the memoirs and histories I’ve read.

4.5 stars

I Belong to Vienna by Anna Goldenberg

This was a 2020 ER win. My review:

Journalist Anna Goldenberg followed in her grandparents’ footsteps when she went to graduate school in New York City. Like her grandparents, she didn’t stay in New York long. She missed her native Austria and her family. She recognizes that her family’s story is different from that of most European Jews. Why did Goldenberg’s family choose to stay in Vienna when the survivors of so many other Jewish families left Europe following World War II and the Holocaust? Goldenberg uses her late grandfather’s manuscripts, her still-living grandmother’s memories, and her journalistic skills to fill in the gaps in her family history.

I’ve read quite a few Holocaust biographies and memoirs, and each survivor has a unique story. Goldenberg’s grandmother and her immediate family all survived their time in the camps, but Goldenberg discovers that things could have turned out very differently at key points in their experience. Goldenberg’s grandfather was the only survivor from his immediate family. He spent several years hiding in plain sight with his mentor, a Gentile doctor who eventually adopted him. Her grandfather even attended the opera regularly while in hiding! The book could have used a bit more editing to remove some repetitive passages and tighten up the chronology, but overall it’s a welcome addition to the genre of Holocaust literature. Its young adult author and its focus on the author’s grandparents as young adults will recommend it to young adult readers.

This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.

4 stars

The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed by Wendy Lower

I read this last year. My review:

It all started in 2009, when Holocaust historian Lower was shown a photograph depicting the murder of a Jewish woman and a small boy in Ukraine. Lower notes that, while there are many photographs depicting victims of the Holocaust, very few of these photographs show their killers in the act of murder. Lower set out to do what she could to pinpoint the location of the mass shooting depicted in the photograph, identify the photographer, identify the German and Ukrainian killers, identify the victims, identify what was happening outside the borders of the photograph and who else was present at the time, and find out if the killers were still living to be prosecuted for their crime or if any of them were brought to justice before their deaths. In answering these questions, Lower also educates readers in the methodologies that she and other Holocaust researchers use in their work. The emphasis on methodology and the extensive notes section will be useful to scholars and students of the Holocaust.

This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

3.5 stars

Some terrific reading here. Lots being noted.

I read six of the Gleitzman books in the 'Once' series in one go and particularly didn't like his Maybe#6 which is set post war when Felix arrives in Australia, noting that it's too farfetched. I looked back at my comments and I rated most of them highly as I read them, apart from Maybe, that they were a good introduction for young children to the topic. My final criticism was that Felix rarely interacted with other Jews and those he met were victims or hoarders of valuables, and that there was nothing particularly Jewish mentioned in the books. I felt this absence of Jewishness grow as I read through them. Maybe it's appropriate because he's grown up in an assimilated family, but I felt it detracted from the books and in the end would not recommend the series to child readers.
There is a final book, Always (2017) where Felix is 87 yrs old and involves a boy refugee from a Middle East country.

>39 cbl_tn: This looks interesting. Anne Frank has become an industry.

>43 avatiakh: I've read the Once books far enough apart that I didn't notice Felix's lack of interaction with Jews. The way Felix's story unfolds, I suppose it makes sense since he starts out in a Catholic orphanage and leaves there alone.

Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright

I listened to this one in 2018. My review:

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright learned details about her Jewish heritage shortly after her appointment. Albright was born in Czechoslovakia, but spent the war years in England. Her father, Josef Korbel, was a diplomat. He spent the war years with the Czech government in exile preparing and giving daily broadcasts on BBC radio. Albright’s parents were secular Jews who celebrated Christmas, etc. Some time after their arrival in England, the Korbel family converted to Catholicism, and Albright was raised in the Catholic faith. In this memoir about her childhood, Albright explores her Jewish heritage and the fate of her relatives who died in the Holocaust, including three of her four grandparents. (The fourth grandparent died before the extermination of Czechoslovakia’s Jews began.)

Given Albright’s lifetime involvement in diplomacy, it’s perhaps not surprising that this book focuses as much on Czechoslovakia’s political and diplomatic history during the period covered in the book (1937-1948). I am not as interested in politics, diplomacy, and foreign relations as the author is, so those portions of the book dragged a bit for me.

I listened to the audio version narrated by the author. I discovered that Albright is a better writer than she is a narrator. She paused in the wrong places often enough that it’s noticeable. Listeners who are willing to overlook this minor flaw will be rewarded with a listening experience that’s like having a personal conversation with the author.

3.5 stars

By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream jumped to the top of my wishlist as soon as I heard about it. I grew up in Knoxville, home of the University of Tennessee, and I first became aware of UT basketball in elementary school when the Ernie & Bernie show was thrilling UT basketball fans. The Ernie of the duo is Ernie Grunfeld. His son Dan is a sportswriter, and this is his family's story.

Thank you for sharing. Some I've read, others will be added to my wish list. I too loved The Lost.

>47 labfs39: Thanks for starting the group!

Thank you so much for doing that, Carrie. Gives me plenty of food for thought. I have read a few of those but surprisingly not many of them.

>49 PaulCranswick: I like that there isn't a large amount of overlap in our reading. It gives us more to add to our reading lists!

I am looking ahead to February's Asian challenge and thinking there are probably several books by Israeli authors that address aspects of the Holocaust. I did some searching and came up with a graphic novel by Rutu Modan that sounds interesting, and I ordered The Property. The promised delivery date is a ways out (middle of February), so I'm glad I started looking now!

Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin

Last Train to Istanbul was slow to leave the station, but once it took off, what a ride it was! The first third of the book introduces various characters and their back stories. Older sister Sabiha and her diplomat husband, Macit, live in Ankara with their young daughter and Sabiha’s parents. Younger sister Selva married Rafael, a Jew, against her Muslim family’s wishes. Selva and Rafo found it more comfortable to live in Marseilles where they won’t have to face the disapproval from both families. Sabiha is the French tutor for Tarik, a young diplomat in her husband’s office, who develops an unrequited passion for Sabiha. His new language skills have him prepared when he’s promoted to a position in the Paris embassy.

The German occupation of France changes everything for Selva and Rafo. Their Turkish citizenship is the only thing keeping Rafo from being interred with the other Jews in France. As neutral Turkey faces pressure from both sides in the conflict, their diplomats in France don’t know how long they’ll be able to protect their Jewish citizens on French soil, so they begin to make plans for a train to take the Jews to Istanbul and out of German reach.

Although the characters in this novel are fictional, many are based on real people. The Turkish diplomats in France are said to have saved many Jews from the Holocaust. For instance, Necdet Kent, a Turkish consul in Marseilles during the war who died the year of this book’s release, claimed to have board a train filled with Jews (some Turkish) being deported to secure their release.

If I were a film producer, I’d option the film rights for this book. My film version would write out Sabiha, since I think the book would be stronger without her and her neuroses. Her diplomat husband, Macit, might become Selva’s brother, or maybe I’d have her father still working instead of retired. Tarik’s unrequited passion would be for Selva, who chose Rafo instead, and this love would inspire his actions to aid the Turkish Jews in fleeing France.

This is really a 3 ½ star book, but I’ve boosted it by half a star since I loved the last half so much.

4 stars

https://www.raoulwallenberg.net/highlights/turks-saved-jews-nazi/

>51 cbl_tn: Interesting, I had not heard about the Turkish diplomats. Thanks for the link too.

>52 labfs39: I would like to believe that the diplomats' claims are true, but it troubles me that Yad Vashem and other organizations haven't been able to verify them. If they really saved that many Jews during the Holocaust, surely some of those who were saved would have written or spoken about it.

I don't know how I would react in such circumstances. I would hope that I would act with moral courage. Reading and absorbing stories like this, even if the underlying claims prove false, still serves to build moral courage to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.

>53 cbl_tn: I don't know how I would react in such circumstances. I would hope that I would act with moral courage.

I wonder about that all the time. I also think about what moral courage might look like in our current times.

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

In 2000, the director of the newly-established Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center received a few artifacts belonging to children in response to appeals to museums around the world. One of the precious few artifacts loaned to her was a suitcase from Auschwitz with a polka dot lining and marked with the name Hanna Brady.

The director, Fumiko, and the center children wanted to know more about Hana. Where was she from? What did she look like? Did she survive the Holocaust? Fumiko wrote letters, made phone calls, and even traveled to Europe to find information.

By reassembling Hana’s life and recovering Hana’s voice, Fumiko and the center children have allowed her to speak to new generations of children to foster tolerance and peace so that the evils of the Holocaust will not be repeated. This book extends the center’s reach far beyond Tokyo, as all who read it will be inspired by Fumiko and the children she teaches as well as by Hana’s story.

4.5 stars

The Property by Rutu Modan

A couple of months after her father’s death, Mica accompanies her grandmother, Regina, to Warsaw to recover the property her great-grandparents owned before the Holocaust. This is Regina’s first visit to Warsaw since she emigrated to Israel as a young woman before the war. Once they arrive in Warsaw, Regina doesn’t seem to want to accompany Mica anywhere or to do anything about the lost property. Mica is attracted to a tour guide she meets on the first day of their visit, and Regina reconnects with someone from her past. And why is the cantor from her father’s funeral following Mica everywhere after they ran into him on the plane? This lovely graphic novel explores relationships, loss, and memory. Despite the underlying sadness and loss, the novel ends on a hopeful note as both Mica and Regina seem to have found what they sought from their journey.

4 stars

>56 cbl_tn: I first put this book on my wish list when Dan (dchaikin) reviewed it. I need to move it up the queue.

>57 labfs39: I think you'll probably like it. The Holocaust isn't the main theme of the book, but it's an undercurrent throughout.

The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb

Some fifteen years after the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official responsible for transporting millions of Jews to their deaths, was spotted in Argentina. After receiving a tip on Eichmann’s whereabouts, Israeli spies tried to confirm Eichmann’s identity. Their first attempt was inconclusive. Three years later, they tried again, and this time they positively identified the man as Eichmann. The Israelis then conceived of and launched a plan to kidnap Eichmann and take him to Israel to stand trial for his war crimes.

This is a revision of Bascomb’s Hunting Eichmann for a young adult audience. It’s a powerful, utterly absorbing account of the Israeli mission. The bibliography and notes provide evidence of Bascomb’s extensive archival research and interviews with participants. Photographs of documents and physical artifacts allow readers to view some of the physical evidence that eventually led to Eichmann’s conviction and execution. Bascomb successfully conveys the emotional impact of the Israeli mission. Unlike the operatives involved, many of whom suffered and lost close family members as result of Eichmann’s wartime actions, I can only claim a general feeling of loss to the extent that the Holocaust was a loss for all of humanity, and this account deeply stirred me.

4.5 stars

>59 cbl_tn: I'll have to look out for this one.

>60 avatiakh: It will be worth the effort to track down a copy.

>59 cbl_tn: Have you also read the adult version? I wonder which I would like better.

>62 labfs39: I have not. I don't know that I will read it now that I've read the YA version, since it's the same event. I would imagine that the adult version might be more academic, with more endnotes/footnotes, etc., so it would probably be worth browsing in the library.

>62 labfs39: I've read the adult version (though not the YA version) and can testify to it's (at least in my opinion) excellence. I believe there is also a movie (possibly of the "made for TV" variety) movie.

>64 rocketjk: It's a topic I've been meaning to read more about, and I have Hannah Arendt's book, Eichmann and the Holocaust, as well as Eichmann interrogated : transcripts from the archives of the Israeli police on my shelves. Hunting Eichmann might be a better one to start with, however, as it sounds more of a narrative than either of those are likely to be.

>64 rocketjk: Did the adult version include photographs? That was one of the features I really liked about the YA book. It talked about evidence the investigators found or tools they used as part of the operation, and also included photographs of some of the evidence and investigative tools.

>65 labfs39: I'm interested in reading more about this topic as well. It seems to have been a pivotal event for many Holocaust survivors. Bascomb mentioned that many survivors who had kept silent about their experiences up to that point began to speak out after the trial, started publishing memoirs, etc.

>66 cbl_tn: Yes, photographs and lots of details about all the elements you mention.

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege & Nikola Sellmair

Jennifer Teege spent her earliest years in a Catholic orphanage. Teege’s German mother had a brief relationship with Teege’s Nigerian father, but they were no longer together by the time Teege was born. At that time in Germany, it was common for single mothers who had to work to place their children in an orphanage. They still had visitation rights and often the children would spend weekends with their mothers or other family. When she was a toddler, Teege was taken in by a foster family. She still saw her mother and grandmother regularly until she was adopted by her foster family.

Teege’s sense of identity was upended at age 38 when she picked up a random book off of a library shelf. She found she was holding a book about her mother and her mother’s father, the Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth, the concentration camp commandant known to many from the film Schindler’s List. Teege sought out a therapist to help her deal with this new knowledge as well as the abandonment issues stemming from her relationships with her birth mother and grandmother. Also, Teege had lived and studied in Israel for several years in her twenties, and she didn’t know how to tell her Israeli friends that her grandfather had been a mass murderer of Jews.

This book is an odd mix of memoir and biography, with parts written by Teege interspersed with more objective commentary by her co-author, Nikola Sellmair. Teege contextualizes her individual psychological trauma with that of other descendants of Nazi war criminals, descendants of average Germans who sympathized with the Nazi party, and descendants of Holocaust survivors. She also reflects on generational differences between the children and the grandchildren of war criminals and Holocaust survivors. Teege’s personal journey is an example of how one reckons with one’s past and the weight of family secrets in order to contribute to a better future.

4 stars

>68 cbl_tn: Great review. That goes straight to my wishlist.

>69 labfs39: I think it will be a worthwhile read for you.

The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh

In the first decade of the 21st century, author Hirsh interviewed many of the surviving U.S. veterans who liberated concentration camps in Germany and other parts of Western Europe. Most of the interviewees were in their eighties and nineties at the time of the interviews. For some, it was the first time they had ever spoken about what they had witnessed. My takeaways from this book:

There were many more camps than I realized. The main camps like Dachau and Auschwitz had dozens of sub-camps.

Camps kept springing up through the final weeks of the war in Europe, as the Nazis were determined to exterminate the Jews and other “undesirable” populations in the camps rather than allow the Allies to liberate them.

Many veterans recalled smelling a terrible odor beginning several miles away from the camps and getting stronger the closer they approached. The veterans who spoke of the odor nearly to a person rejected claims of the local Germans who said that they had no idea what was going on in the camps. The stench made it impossible for them to believe those claims.

Most of the veterans still suffered from PTSD more than sixty years after these events. I agree with the author that the U.S. needs to provide more and better mental health services for veterans.

This book preserves eyewitness testimony from some of the first witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s not easy reading, but it’s important reading, and it should be widely available in libraries to keep these memories alive and prevent this evil from being repeated.

5 stars

>71 cbl_tn: Another worthy book. So great that he did this and got the testimony from the soldiers themselves even if it was much later in their lives.

>72 avatiakh: Yes. Many of them said that they had never told their family about what they saw, and many said they still had nightmares about it. I am glad that they finally opened up before those memories were gone.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

When Jewish teen Josef Kavalier needs to escape Prague in the 1930s, his training as an escape artist proves invaluable. He makes his way to the New York apartment of his grandmother, aunt, and cousin, Sam Klayman. Sam dreams of making it big in the world of comics, and Joe is a talented artist. Together they create an action hero who will shape their destiny.

This epic novel brings mid-twentieth century New York to life, as well as the early years of the comic book industry. However, I was most drawn to the first section of the book that describes Josef’s life in Prague, the increasing danger the Jews faced during Hitler’s ascent, and the legend of the Golem. Chabon is a masterful storyteller, and he’s at the top of his game here.

4 stars

Summer by Ali Smith

The final novel in Smith’s seasonal quartet unites and completes the set. Like the previous three novels in the set, its themes include politics, immigration, family, love, loss, language, and the visual arts. It’s the first fiction I’ve read that speaks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each novel in the quartet reflects on the work of a 20th-century female visual artist, with Italian filmmaker Lorenza Mazzetti as the featured artist in this book.

The elderly Daniel Gluck is a recurring character who first appeared in Autumn, and readers learn much more about his family and his personal history during World War II and the Holocaust. His young neighbor, Elisabeth, also reappears. Charlotte, Art, and Iris return from Winter. Summer introduces teen siblings Sacha and Robert Greenlaw and their mother, former actress Grace. A series of circumstances brings all of these characters together, yet Smith gives her readers the sense that their destinies were already intertwined.

4 stars

Adding to my review for this audience. Daniel's story includes the story of his sister Hannah, and it's evident from the circumstances, although not explicitly stated, that Hannah was in the resistance in France. Daniel and his German father were living in the UK during WWII and they were sent to internment camps during the war.

>75 cbl_tn: I loved Daniel and Elisabeth in Autumn, but didn't care for Winter and stopped reading the quartet. Do you think I could skip to Summer without losing too much?

>76 labfs39: Yes, I think so. I didn't notice many connections to Spring.

I received a couple of Holocaust-themed books for Christmas! I am looking forward to reading After the War and Address Unknown.

>78 cbl_tn: I read Address Unknown years ago, it is a haunting read. Also read several by Carol Matas including After the War.

>79 avatiakh: I think I might have added After the War to the WL after seeing it on your thread!

The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn

This collection of war reporting includes several pieces that address the Holocaust. Gellhorn visited Dachau very shortly after its liberation. This collection also includes a report on the Nuremberg trials, and several reports on the Six Day War. Gellhorn's view of Israel was shaped by her experience as an eyewitness of the attrocities of the Holocaust.

After the War by Carol Matas

After leaving a displaced persons camp, 15-year-old Ruth returns to Poland to search for any surviving members of her family. Believing herself to be the only survivor in her family, Ruth agrees to join the Brichah to help lead a group of Jewish children to Palestine. Palestine is still under the British Mandate, and the British were not allowing Jewish refugees to immigrate legally. Ruth and her travel companions must risk their lives to reach their dream of Eretz Israel.

While all the characters and events are fictional, the author modeled them on real characters and events. I’ve read a fair amount about the Holocaust, but I was less familiar with the continued post-war violence against Jews who returned to Poland and against Jews who attempted to enter Palestine illegally since the British severely limited the number of legal immigrants. I learned something from this inspirational story of a teenager’s transition from captivity and fear to freedom and joy.

4 stars

I think I picked up this recommendation from someone in this group. I've forgotten who, though. I am grateful to whoever it was for bringing it to my attention!

I posted this on the wrong thread. Sorry! Although I do have to say I was surprised by the WWII German invasion aspect of Bedknobs & Broomsticks.

Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford & Alfons Heck

When World War II began in 1939, Alfons was 11 years old and a member of the Hitler Youth. Helen was a young Jewish wife and mother living in the Netherlands. Helen and her husband had fled to the Netherlands from Germany as the Nazis rose to power, mistakenly believing that they would be safe in the Netherlands. When the war ended, 16-year-old Alfons had risen in the ranks of the Hitler Youth to an unbelievable status for a teenager, while Helen was barely alive in a concentration camp. Years later, Alfons and Helen would partner to tell their stories in hopes of keeping history from repeating itself.

Award-winning author Ayer tells Alfons and Helen’s stories in much the same way the pair told them in their joint public appearances, chronologically through the war in alternating voices, a “parallel journey.” Both Alfons and Helen have published memoirs, and Ayer blends excerpts from these memoirs with additional context. The result is difficult to put down. I’ve read quite a few accounts of Holocaust survivors. This is the first insider account of the Hitler Youth movement that I’ve read. I don’t think I can summarize it any better than the words a German Luftwaffe major spoke to Alfons near the end of the war. Upon learning that Alfons was not yet seventeen, the officer said “What have we done to our children?”

4.5 stars

>84 cbl_tn: Sounds phenomenal. I'm looking forward to getting a copy.

>85 labfs39: The only downside is that it's made up of excerpts from other books, but I think that was done to make those books more accessible to a YA audience.

>86 cbl_tn: I saw that each person had done their own memoir, but I like the idea of reading them in parallel like this.

Soon by Morris Gleitzman

The war is over, but you wouldn’t know it from the situation in Poland. 13-year-old Jewish Felix is still with Gabriek, the Polish man who hid Felix in his barn for two years. They live in a partially destroyed building and use Gabriek’s carpentry and mechanical skills and Felix’s medical skills to trade for food and other items. Felix’s life is in danger after he crosses a Polish nationalist. Felix and Gabriek might just survive with the help of Anya, a girl about Felix’s age.

In some ways this is the most difficult book yet in this series, even though Felix has survived the Holocaust. Although the war has ended, the violence driven by ethnic hatred continues in Poland. Felix rescues a Ukrainian baby from certain death at the hands of Polish nationalists, only to see the baby drown days later as Felix and Anya are driven into the river by a murderous mob. Will Felix ever find a home where he won’t have to live in fear for his life?

3.5 stars

>88 cbl_tn: I read Once/Then/Now several years ago and didn't realize the series continued.

>89 labfs39: I don't think it was meant to continue originally but Felix kept having more to say. There is one more after this one that tells how Felix ended up in Australia.

I read six in this series four years ago. I wasn't too fond of book #6, I went back to see what I'd written...'Also Felix has too much say in what happens to him, by book 6 he is still only just 14 yrs old. I'm certain that any Jewish boy as well known as Felix by the end of book 5, would have been picked up either in Poland or Australia by a Jewish charity or Zionist organisation as they were very active after the war and it would have been far more realistic for this to have happened rather than where Felix ended up. This book, Maybe is very weak, the plot is very disappointing even though action packed, I did not like it.
So these last couple of books spoil the series for me, the adult reader, now I've come to the end. I've read too many Holocaust books written by survivors, and they are so so much more worth reading.'
There is now a 7th book, Always, which is focused on Felix as an old man helping a young Muslim migrant to Australia.

>92 avatiakh: Thanks for that. It will temper my expectations from book #6! I hadn't heard about book #7. It seems like Felix keeps having more to say.

>93 cbl_tn: Have you read And the rat laughed by Nava Semel? It's quite different as it tangents out from a Holocaust experience into the future where by 2099 the story has evolved into myth.

>94 avatiakh: I haven't, but it sounds really good. I've started a list of books to buy for my Thingaversary in June and it's going on the list!

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

This sweeping novel, set in a German town on the banks of the Rhein, reckons with German history between World War I and World War II. Trudi Montag was different from the moment of her birth in 1915. Trudi is a Zwerge, a dwarf, and her birth seems to send her fragile mother over the edge of sanity. Trudi’s father, a disabled veteran who runs the town’s pay library, is sensitive to Trudi’s needs and finds creative and loving ways to accommodate them. Trudi and Leo run the library together, with Trudi taking over more of the responsibilities as her father ages.

Trudi has a gift – or perhaps a curse – of sensing others’ unexpressed thoughts and emotions, and this knowledge gives Trudi a feeling of power. She weaves her secrets into stories that both fascinate and repel her neighbors. The young Trudi is often cruel and manipulative, but as she matures, she learns to forgive and extend kindness. As the Nazi party gains a foothold in the town, Trudi uses her stories to protect her Jewish neighbors and others whose lives are endangered, and to force Nazi sympathizers to reckon with the truth.

The novel talks about the baby boom of 1946, following the soldiers’ return. Hegi was born in Germany in 1946, so she was part of that baby boom. She would have experienced the silence of the post-war years, and like Trudi, she uses story to bring truth to light.

They did not understand why Trudi Montag wanted to dig in the dirt, as they called it, didn’t understand that for her it had nothing to do with dirt but with the need to bring out the truth and never forget it. Not that she liked to remember any of it, but she understood that—whatever she knew about what had happened—would be with her from now on, and that no one could escape the responsibility of having lived in this time.

4.5 stars

Maybe by Morris Gleitzman

The war is over, and 14-year-old Felix, Gabriek, and 16-year-old Anya are on their way back to Gabriek’s farm to make a new home. Things don’t work out as planned, though, and soon Felix is making plans for a new home in Australia. Maybe things will be better there. Felix must keep looking over his shoulder for the murderous gangster, Zliv, who blames Felix for his brother’s death and is determined to make him pay.

I’ve grown to love Felix over the first six books in this series. He is a survivor, but not in a selfish way. Felix has a gift for friendship, and he surrounds himself with others who need his help who can also help him. This book is a reminder that, for many, suffering and hardship didn’t end with the defeat of the Nazis. Felix and his friends are better off than when they started, but they still have more challenges ahead of them. I look forward to reading the final book in the series to see what a new life in Australia has in store for Felix.

4 stars

Deep Sea by Annika Thor

It’s been four years since Stephie Steiner and her younger sister Nellie arrived from Vienna as Jewish refugees in Sweden. Stephie is in her final year of grammar school and boards in town with her friend May’s family, while Nellie still lives on the island with her host family. Stephie has many worries. She is in her last year of grammar school. Will the relief committee pay for her to continue her schooling, or will she be forced to leave school and get a job like almost all of the other girls her age? Why is her friend Vera behaving so strangely? Why has Nellie become sullen, angry, and distant? By far her biggest worry is the health and welfare of her parents, who are imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

I loved A Faraway Island, the first book in this quartet. It reminded me quite a bit of Anne of Green Gables. I became invested in then twelve-year-old Stephie’s story, and I want to see how her story ends. The books increasingly address more adult themes as Stephie ages, and this book includes themes that would be more appropriate for older teens, about the age that Stephie is in the book (15-16).

3.5 stars

>98 cbl_tn: Sounds right up my alley. I requested A Faraway Island through interlibrary loan.

>99 labfs39: I hope you don't have too long a wait for it! I really loved the first book, which I listened to on audio.