Holocaust

 

 
   
Behind the bedroom wall. Laura E. Williams
In 1939, Korinna is a member of a Nazi Youth Group and believes Hitler's speeches that he is helping the world, but when Korinna discovers that her family is hiding a Jewish family behind her bedroom wall, she has to decide to whom she is truly loyal.

 
A coming evil. Vivian Vande Velde.
13 year old Lisette, a resident of Paris in 1940, is sent by her parents to live with an aunt in the French countryside. Not only does she find some other children staying with her aunt, but Lisette also meets a ghost who turns into a valiant ally at a crucial time.

 
The Devil's arithmetic. Jane Yolen.
Twelve year old Hannah opens the door one Passover for Elijah and suddenly finds herself transported back in time from her grandparents' seder in the Bronx in the 1980's to Poland of the 1940's. Hannah never enjoyed hearing the family speak about the Holocaust. Now she, herself, is part of the terrifying experience.

 
Friedrich. Hans Peter Richter.
The tragic story of a Jewish boy in Germany during the 1930's as told by his best friend, a German boy. The New York Times called this book, "superb, sensitive, honest and compelling."

 
Goodnight, Maman. Norma Fox Mazer.
Karin Levi and her oldest brother, Marc, survive the Holocaust by luck, eventually boarding the only refugee ship that makes it to the U.S. Karin tells her story about her new life in the Emergency Refugee Camp in Oswego, NY, and the feelings of love, guilt, and jealousy between herself and her brother.

 
If I should die before I wake. Han Nolan.
Sixteen year old Hilary, a neo-Nazi initiate, lies comatose in a Jewish hospital when she's inexplicably bombarded with memories of Chana, a Polish-Jewish girl, living fifty years earlier under the Nazis.

 
In my enemy's house. Carol Matas.
When German soldiers arrive in Zloczow during WWII, a young Jewish girl, Marisa, must decide whether to conceal her identity and work for a Nazi family in Germany in order to survive. Marisa's dilemma as a Jew living a lie in order to survive gives readers a new perspective on the nature of good and evil. Author Matas has six other Holocaust novels, all very well written.

 
The man from the other side. Uri Orlev
When fourteen- year- old Marek robs a Jew escaping from the Warsaw Ghetto, he learns about his own past, and he feels he must atone for his sin. Orlev's novels about the Holocaust are very good reading.

 
Shadow of the wall. Christa Laird.
Thirteen- year- old Misha Edelman lives in the Warsaw Ghetto at the Polish Orphan's Home operated by Dr. Janusz Korzcak. After Misha has smuggled his baby sister over to the Aryan side and after his mother has died and his other sister has been sent to Treblinka, Misha joins the Resistance.

 
Stones in water. Donna Jo Napoli.
After being taken from a local movie theatre--along with other Italian boys, including his Jewish friend--by German soldiers, Roberto is forced to work for the German war effort until he escapes into the Ukrainian winter, desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice. Roberto carried with him the gift stone given to him by the Jewish girl imprisoned in the camp he helped to build. Both a war story and a survival story, this is also the story of Roberto's refusal to give in to inhumanity and terror.

 
Torn thread. Anne Isaacs.
In this moving novel, Eva is a young teenage prisoner in a Nazi labor camp where every day is a struggle with hunger, disease, cold and hard labor. The focus of this story is Eva's bond with her fragile older sister, Rachel, and family love as a fact of survival.

 

 

Nonfiction titles about the Holocaust

"I turned out more courageous than I had supposed."
-Friedl Dicker-Brandeis

 

 

Anne Frank: a hidden life. Mirjam Pressler.
For the millions who know the Diary of Anne Frank, this book adds crucial background about the Nazi occupation of Holland, the family who hid in the Secret Annex, and their rescuers. Information as well about the publication of Anne's diary.
Beyond the yellow star to America. Inge Auerbacher.
Moving autobiographical account of life as a refugee and what it takes to step beyond pain and create a meaningful life -- a wonderful complement to Anne Frank's diary.
Darkness over Denmark: the Danish Resistance and the rescue of the Jews. Ellen Levine.
Because the vast majority of Danes were opposed to anti-Semitism and the Nazis, there were many Danish rescuers and resistance workers. Thousands of Jews were saved. This well-written book weaves together the events of the Holocaust with personal interviews of those who survived and those who risked their lives to serve their fellow countrymen.
Fireflies in the dark: the story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the children of Terezin.
Susan Goldman Rubin.
Although this book has the look of a picture book for younger children, the messages contained within are for older readers. Artist Dicker-Brandeis ran secret art classes for children at the Terezin Concentration Camp. She and nearly all of her pupils perished, but 5000 of the drawings and paintings were discovered hidden in a suitcase. Many of those works are found in this book.
The hidden children of the Holocaust: Teens who hid from the Nazis. Esther Kustanowitz.
Telling their stories in their own words, Jewish people, who survived by hiding during the Holocaust, relate their experiences.
I never saw another butterfly: children's drawings and poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. Hana Volavkova, ed.
A classic in the field, this is another book with the artwork of children imprisoned at Terezin. The poems contained within have been learned by several generations of teenagers and have been read at assembly programs. It's impossible to read these poems and look at these pictures with dry eyes.
In my hands: memories of a Holocaust rescuer. Irene Gut Opdyke with Jennifer Armstrong.
Polish teenager's Irene Gutowna's story--from happy eldest of four daughters to laborer in a German officer's mess hall to member of the Resistance. Makes for gripping reading.
Martyrs to madness: the victims of the Holocaust. Ted Gottfried.
Discusses how the Nazis came to power in Germany and the systematic brutalization they perpetrated on such groups as the Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, homosexuals, and others.
Maus: a survivor's tale. Art Spiegelman.
In this Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel, Spiegelman, the child of Holocaust survivors and a well-known cartoonist, addresses his family's plight in the frames of a comic strip in this dark and unusual work for more mature readers.
Nazi Germany: the face of tyranny. Ted Gottfried.
The emphasis in this title is on who the Nazis were, how they came to power, and what they did.
The Nazi Olympics: Berlin, 1936. Susan D. Bachrach
The author traces the troubled path of the 1936 Olympics, both in the United States and in Germany. Her comprehensive narrative provides political background.
No pretty pictures: a child of war. Anita Lobel.
The author, a well known author/illustrator of children's books, describes her experiences as a Polish Jew during WWII and for years in Sweden afterwards. She was barely five years old when the Nazis burst into her home in Krakow, changing her life forever. She spent the War in hiding with her brother and their nanny until finally the Nazis caught up with her and she was imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. Newbery Honor Book.
The other victims: first-person stories of non-Jews persecuted by the Nazis.
Ina Friedman.
Personal narratives of Christians, Gypsies, homosexuals, Blacks, and disabled persons who suffered at the hands of Nazis before and during World War II.
Rescue: the story of how Gentiles saved Jews in the Holocaust. Milton Meltzer.
A recounting drawn from historic source material of the many individual acts of heroism performed by righteous gentiles who sought to thwart the extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust.
Smoke and ashes: the story of the Holocaust. Barbara Rogasky.
Examines the causes, events, and legacies of the Holocaust which resulted in the extermination of six million Jews.
A special fate: Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust. Allison Gold.
Sugihara, Japanese consul in Lithuania, defied his government and personally wrote transit visas for about 6000 Jewish refugees. A great Holocaust rescue story.
The sunflower. Simon Wiesenthal.
This short and provocative book has been studied by a countless number of high school, college, and adult discussion groups as they explore the concept of forgiveness. Can you forgive someone who has committed such heinous crimes?

Movies about the Holocaust

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

 

Anne Frank remembered.
This video features vintage newsreels, photographs, and even home movies to look beyond the pages of Anne’s diary.
A call to remember.
Nearly 20 years after the Holocaust, a survivor’s new life in America is torn asunder when she learns that the son she thought a casualty of war is alive and anxious to see her.
The diary of Anne Frank.
This feature film dramatization depicts the life Anne and her family had during their two years in hiding in the Secret Annex.
Holocaust in memory of millions.
From the halls of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this Walter Cronkite documentary chronicles the story of the Holocaust from the rise of the Nazi party and their plans to exterminate the Jews to tales of incredible bravery among survivors and those who liberated the concentration camps. Combines original footage and personal photographs with oral histories by those who survived.
Miracle at Moreaux.
During World War II, three Jewish children fleeing France find refuge in a Catholic school run by Sister Gabrielle who, with her students, devises a dangerous plan to help the children reach the border and freedom. This movie tells their story.
Nightmare - the immigration of Joachim and Rachel.
A film that depicts the horrors of Nazi occupation and the nightmares of war through the story of two Jewish children and their escape from a concentration camp.
Schindler’s list.
A movie based on the true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, womanizer, and war profiteer, who saved the lives of more than 1100 Jews during the Holocaust.
Shoah.
This film includes interviews with victims, perpetrators, and bystanders and takes viewers to camps, towns, and railways that were part of the Holocaust. Strong material.

Websites about the Holocaust

"The first question that the Levite asked was,
'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?'
But then the good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question.
'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'
That is the question before you."
From the last speech of Martin Luther King Jr., Memphis, TN., April, 1968.

 

Anne Frank House.

Anne Frank Center USA

Remember.org

Simon Wisenthal Center

The History Place: Holocaust Timeline

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyr's and Heroes' Rememberance Authority