Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry

1989

A simple, yet beautiful, story about the saving of a Jewish family from Nazi Forces as told from the point of view of ten year old, Annemarie Johansen.

I learned a few new things in this book...

Danish fishermen hid Jews in secret compartments on their boats and ferried them across the water to Sweden.

Danish scientists invented a substance that temporarily disabled a dog's sense of smell so they would be unable to smell people hidden away.

The ingenuity people used to save Jewish friends, neighbors and strangers inspires me.


What initially drew me to this book is that Number the Stars won the John Newbery Medal in 1990.


The John Newbery Medal?

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the most distinguished American children’s book published in the previous year.

The Medal has existed since 1922 and, according to the web, is the best known and most discussed book award in the United States.

Personally, I think winning the Newbery Medal is what every author dreams of.

One day I'd like to collect and read all the winners. For a complete list see here.

Reading on…  

Lest We Forget

April 7 was Holocaust Remembrance Day, so I decided to focus my reading around the topic.

The words were often hard to read.

The Diary of a Young Girl

by Anne Frank

1947

I am sure you have at least heard the name, Anne Frank, but have you read her diary?

I read it years ago, but this time round gave me a new perspective.

Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager in Nazi-occupied Holland. Her family, along with the Van Daan [Van Pels] family and Mr. Dussel [Mr. Pfeffer], went into hiding in order to escape deportation and certain death. (Names had been changed for the book, at least according to the Anne Frank Museum website.)

This diverse group hid for 25 months in the upper floors of a warehouse before they were betrayed and sent to various concentration camps.

Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was the only one to survive.

The Diary of a Young Girl is Anne’s journal.

Full of teenage angst, Anne's entries document this time of secrecy.

This time of eight people in close-quarters with little to do, limited food, and the constant fear of discovery.

On Tuesday, April 4, 1944 Anne wrote,

“I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me.”

Anne got her wish.

Making Bombs for Hitler

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

2012

This middle grade novel is about a young girl, Lida, who is forced into slave labor at a munitions factory in Nazi Germany.

The one piece of advice Lida was given, as she was transported to the labour camp was, “make yourself useful”.

So she did.

When other children her age were deemed useless and expendable, Lida lied to make herself older and was permitted to put her skills, and her small steady hands, to work.

Some of this work included making bombs.

Some of this work included sabotaging bombs.

Making Bombs for Hitler captivated my interest as it explored the slave labour side of Nazi Germany.

Osterbeiter was the name.

A few facts:

Non-Jews were picked up off the street and sent to labour camps to work.Most Osterbeiter’s were Ukranian and had to wear “OST” on their sleeves.

They were regarded as subhuman and were killed if they tried to escape.
Others died from over-work or when the factories they were working in were bombed by the Allies.

Making Bombs for Hitler is actually a sequel to the novel, Stolen Child, which tells the story of Lida’s sister, Larissa, a victim of the Nazi Lebensborn program.

I have yet to read it. 

The Hiding Place

by Corrie Ten Boom

1971

A classic in Christian literature, this book was amazing.

What a story of faith.

Corrie Ten Boom was a non-Jew living in Nazi-occupied Holland when she allowed herself to be used by God to save many of His people – the Dutch Jews.

Corrie became very involved in “The Underground”, which involved stolen ration cards, hiding Jews and various other clandestine activities.

Eventually the Ten Booms were discovered and Corrie, along with her older sister, Betsie, and their elderly father, were imprisoned.

Corrie was the only one to survive.

There are two distinct stories that stand out to me in The Hiding Place.

The first:

Betsie was an example of true thankfulness to all those around her.

She genuinely lived out 1 Thessalonians 5:18,

“Give thanks in all circumstances…”

She even gave thanks for the fleas in their barracks at concentration camp, Ravensbruck.

In the end, it was these fleas that kept the guards away so Betsie and Corrie could freely lead Bible studies.

The second:
Betsie prayed for the Nazi soldiers and guards – the enemy. 

Matthew 5:44, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you.”

It’s easy to pray for our friends and loved ones, but how easy is it to pray for the

enemy?

Corrie Ten Boom was released from Ravensbruck on, what she later discovered, a technical error. All women of her age were actually assigned to be killed.

Corrie's story didn't end the day she walked out of Ravensbruck.
Until she was quite elderly, Corrie travelled the world sharing the Gospel and the free gift of God’s grace.

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust

by Doreen Rappaport
2012

Full of amazing pictures and stories of bravery, this book was a privilege to read.
I had no idea.

Reading on…

My Enemy's Cradle

by Sara Young
2008

 

My Enemy's Cradle has been on my “must read” list for almost five years now.

Why?  

I attended a writer’s conference in Los Angeles and listened to a session given by author, Sara Young (aka Sara Pennypacker). I thought the book, as she described it, sounded interesting.


Interesting it was.

Set in the early 1940’s, this novel explores the Nazi Lebensborn program.

The main character is sent to a Lebensborn maternity home under false pretence and things heat up when someone from her past shows up.

Someone that knows her secret.

 

 

My Enemy's Cradle opened my eyes to a little known part of history.

 

I had never heard of Lebensborn.

 

Have you?

 

Lebensborn, translated “wellspring of life” or “fountain of life”, was a program established by Heinrich Himmler - head of the SS and one of Hitler`s closest confidantes - in 1935 under the Nazi SS Race and Resettlement Office.

 

The official goal was to increase the population of the “Master Race”.

In brief,

Lebensborn consisted of three phases.

 

The first...
Incentives were given to German women to bear many children.  

With or without the benefit of marriage.

Maternity homes were set up all over Germany where "racially pure" women and

girls could spend their pregnancies in comfort, safety and secrecy. 

 

The second...
Lebensborn expanded into occupied territories and maternity homes for "suitably Aryan” girls, pregnant by occupying German forces, were established.

 

Children born in these homes were considered Nazi at birth and taken away

from their mothers to be raised in Nazi homes or institutions.

 

The third...

The kidnapping of “suitably Aryan” children from eastern occupied countries,
most never to be returned to their families after the war.

Those that did return were often ostracized.

 

Apparently, even today as adults, many Lebensborn children suffer from elevated rates of depression, alcoholism and suicide. 

 

To say Lebensborn is devastating is an understatement, but I remember God's

promises...

Jeremiah 29:11

            “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

Even the children born out of Lebensborn,  

God was,

and is,

still in control.

 

He knew each of these children intimately.

 

He loved them.

 

He had great plans for their lives.


He still does.

 

 

Reading on...

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

by John Boyne

2006

What an amazing and heartbreaking book.

This 216 page “fable” is about a nine year old boy in Nazi Germany, named Bruno.

Originally from Berlin, Bruno moves to just outside a concentration camp where his father serves as Commandant.
That is, he’s in charge.

Here, at his new home, Bruno lives his life on the outside looking in.

Bruno gazes out his bedroom window, across the fence, across the forest and into the countryside beyond.

He wonders why there are so many people over there.

Is there a village?

He wonders why the children have so many playmates.

Can he join them?

He wonders why everyone wears the same striped “pajamas”.

Don’t they have other clothes?

Bruno eventually makes friends with a boy named Shmuel, a resident of the camp.

Through the fence.

Every afternoon the boys meet and every afternoon Bruno complains about his dull life, his small home, his annoying older sister.
Shmuel just listens.

Bruno sometimes brings a snack for his new friend, but gets hungry along the way and eats it.
Shmuel just nods. 

Despite months and months of looking out the window and months and months of meeting with Shmuel, Bruno remains completely unaware about life on the other side of the fence.

Until the end.

 

For all its heartbreak, I truly loved this book.

Written in the first person, the author's voice is perfectly nine year old. How Bruno speaks, how Bruno thinks, how Bruno sees, how Bruno understands his surroundings.

Great writing.

For the sake of discussion,

I have often wondered why local German people didn't stand up to the concentration camps, the extermination camps, the endless transports.

When I asked this question the answer I was given was, “Nobody knew.”

Personally, I think the answer is more involved. Naivete, as demonstrated by Bruno, was only part of it.

But, people have been debating this answer for over 60 years so I won't pretend to answer it in the lines of this blog.

On another note, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was made into a movie in 2009. Staying true to the book, the movie was just as amazing and just as heartbreaking.

I would recommend both.

Reading on...   

Night - Addendum

Several years ago my husband and I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum  in Washington, D.C., of which Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, is the Founding Museum Chairman.

Further, Mr. Wiesel is the first recipient of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Award presented earlier this month.  The award will be forever named after him.

Anyway, visiting the museum was truly a moving experience...To step into a replica of the cattle cars that carried thousands of people to their deaths; to read walls listing the names of people who acted to save those targeted by the Nazis; to hear stories and experiences of survivors and of those speaking up from the grave.

It is a must visit museum.

There was a quote on our museum guide that I have kept posted on my bulletin board ever since and it seems appropriate to duplicate here,

First they came for the socialists,

And I did not speak out –

Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

And I did not speak out –

Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

And I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me –

And there was no one left to speak for me.

-          Attributed to Martin Niemöller (1892-1984),

anti-Nazi German pastor

While Martin Niemöller seems to be a somewhat controversial figure in his attitude towards those of Jewish descent during World War II, I do think this quote speaks for itself.

Night

By Elie Wiesel

Translated by Marion Wiesel

I had never heard of the book called “Night” by Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Elie Wiesel. It was part of my sister’s library and part of Oprah’s Club.

In case you haven’t heard of it either... Night is a short book that describes the author’s personal experiences during the Holocaust. Mr. Wiesel survived the ghetto, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, Gleiwitz, Buchenwald; deprivation, starvation, thirst; deportation, cattle cars, marches, labour; death; loneliness; guilt.

And how did Mr. Wiesel survive? Really, in my estimation it seems like luck and lots of it: Being in the right place at the right time, pretending to be the right age at the right time, having the right skill at the right time, listening to the right advice at the right time, the list goes on. But, for Mr. Wiesel, everything that happened seemed to happen at the right time.

Of course, I really don’t believe in luck. I do, however, believe in a sovereign God who works out even the horrible things in life according to His perfect plan.

Quite a relief to me, even in my comfortable Canadian life.

After reading Night I find that I cherish my husband and children a little bit more. I relish in my ability to live and eat and sleep and walk as I please.

I am thankful for my freedom from a life of fear.

Reading on...