Review - Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust

Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust
by Ruth Thomson
Candlewick Press 2011
Rating: Recommend* grades 5 and up

Review by Marie-Anne Harkness

Middle School and high school students studying the Holocaust will find this book enlightening to understand daily life in the Nazi’s showcase transit camp using diary entries, photographs, drawings and paintings throughout. Terezin was a fortified city in northern Czech Republic, transformed into the Theresienstadt Transit Camp in Oct. 1941 by the Nazis during World War II..

The privileged Jews deported from all over Europe were told they were going to a spa-like Ghetto for artists, intellectuals and the wealthy. It was to be a holding camp where none would be harmed. Allowed to pack only 2 suitcases, they were forced to sign away their homes and furniture to be redistributed to Germans. They packed their suitcases with their nicest clothes, and belongings only to have them confiscated immediately upon arrival.

The reality was that the people were on their way on regular transports to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, if they had not died from starvation and disease at Theresienstadt.
Through documentation secretly recorded by artists, writers and diaries of children and adults, the reader experiences the true heartbreak of the camp.

When Jews from Denmark were deported to the “Spa” at Terezin in April 1943, the King of Denmark sent a delegation from the Danish Red Cross to inspect the living conditions of the Danish Jews. A sham “family camp” was erected on a carefully laid out route just before the delegation arrived. They did not see the real camp for what it was, only café’s, schools, theatre, neatly planted gardens and freshly painted houses as they were escorted by SS officers. The deception worked because the delegation reported back to the King that the Danish Jews were being well treated.

The layout of the book is attractive, including sidebars that expand on the text, index, glossary and a very interesting timeline. The material is well documented with source notes. A useful primary source website is listed: http://www.azrielifoundation.org/memoirs/.

Children of Willesden Lane

The Children of Willesden Lane is the true story of Lisa Jura, a young girl who escapes Nazi persecution on the eve of World War II. This Web site offers resources to help you teach the book to middle and high school students.

"I like it because it provides so much for the beginning and seasoned teacher. The book is an easy read and tells a great story. The website is layered with lesson plans, videos, and great material. My students really like this book and always find something to connect them to the personal crisis of the Holocaust. I like it because it is a true story!!" - Teacher, Tacoma

http://www.learner.org/series/cowl/

Movie review: Into the Arms of Strangers

Although made in 2000, I just recently watched the film Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport refers to the rescue operation of 10,000 Jewish children in 1938-1939. These children that were facing Hitler's persecution were allowed to leave German-occupied territories and travel by train to Great Britain. There, they were placed in foster homes or hostels.

Into the Arms of Strangers interviews a few of these child survivors. They recount their memories of being separated from their parents and welcomed into a foreign country. Poignant moments are when the survivors recall the joy of knowing that non-Jewish peers would play with them, feeling love from their foster parents, or being reunited with their families. Of course, many of the parents who could not leave Germany perished in concentration camps and the film shows the sadness of the children who, only after years of separation, realized that they would never see their parents again.

Into the Arms of Strangers won a 2000 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and it is easy to understand why. The archival footage alone makes the film worth seeing. A free study guide to the film can be found at http://www.intothearmsofstrangers.com/studyguide. This DVD is available in the Holocaust Center's library.

-Lauren Bianchi, Office Manager & Speakers Bureau Coordinator