Holocaust Remembrance

It is 1939 in Berlin, Germany, and twelve-year-old Lillian and her Papa are on the run from Nazi soldiers. Because they are Jewish, they are in danger of being arrested and put in prison. Lillian's father is blind and it seems no one is willing to help them, until they meet Otto Weidt. Mr. Weidt runs a factory that makes brushes for the Nazi army, and his secret is that he employs blind Jewish workers. Lillian learns that Otto Weidt is determined to keep her, Papa, and all the Jewish workers safe. But will he be able to? Inspired by a true story.

During World War II, Hendrik, the son of a fisherman, notices his Jewish friends being ostracized. When he realizes the danger that Hitler's policies ultimately mean for his friends and their families, he hatches a plan to smuggle them out of the country by boat.

Danah's eating disorder has a personality — it's a demon she calls Ed, the voice in her head that undermines her self-esteem and her perception of the world. How can she explain that even when she tries to develop healthier eating habits, there is a demon wriggling inside her mind, determining her every step? The eighteen-year-old author of this novel for teens brings her own journal entries to life, revealing the mental anguish of a teen suffering with anorexia and the terrifying grip the disorder holds on her.

Do young people today find meaning in the Holocaust? That's the question that prompted a writing project across North America, Italy, and Australia asking young people to share their ideas about this time in history. Some students wrote short stories. Some discussed the impact of books they had read and wrote about the messages that they understood from these books. Several interviewed survivors and recorded their impressions. Many talked about how they have tried to make sense of this history in the world in which they now live. Others created works of art. Children wrote from their hearts with sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and great insight. Their teachers saw this opportunity as a gift, and it proves to all that young people can make a meaningful connection to the Holocaust. Their contributions give hope for a more peaceful and tolerant future, as in this excerpt from one grade 8 student's letter to Otto Frank, after visiting the Anne Frank house: "I cannot imagine what it would have been like for you and your family not to stand on green grass or smell fresh air — not to do the simple things that I take for granted. ... I am writing you this letter now, not because my teacher, mother, friends, or family told me to, but because my heart did. ... You were able to live the unimaginable and then move forward. For that I would like to say thank you."

Walter is a young child when his parents decide to leave their home in Germany and start a new life in the Netherlands. As Jews, they know they are not safe under the Nazi regime. From one day to the next, Walter's world goes from safe and predictable to full of uncertainty. Walter is at first too young to appreciate the danger that he is in, and everything seems like a great adventure. But as the years pass and the war progresses, his family is forced to move again and again, from city to countryside to, eventually, a hidden village deep in the Dutch woods. As the danger of being discovered increases, they are forced to rely on strangers for their safety. Walter's eyes are opened to the threat that surrounds them every day, and to the network of people who are risking their lives to help them stay hidden. Told through a combination of narrative and Walter's letters to his grandmother and, later, his granddaughter, the novel shines a light on a little-known part of WWII history and the heroes of the Dutch resistance-without whose protection, Walter, his family, and hundreds of others would not have survived. The book ends with a photograph of the author and the real-life Walter, on whose experiences this book is based.

Laura has just three weeks to go before her Jewish "coming of age" ceremony, called a Bat Mitzvah, when she is assigned a special project. She is to read the diary of Sara Gittler, a young girl her own age who was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Sara never had the chance to celebrate her coming of age, so Laura is to learn about Sara's life and then share her Bat Mitzvah with her "twin" by speaking of her at the ceremony. Reluctant to undertake the project at first, Laura quickly becomes caught up by Sara's struggle to survive. Sara's diary unfolds with the details of her daily life in the Ghetto, a world full of fear, confusion, tragedy and above all, courage. From Sara's brave story in the past, Laura learns how to find the courage to confront the possibility of a friend's current involvement in the desecration of a Jewish cemetery.

In Budejovice, a quiet village in Czechoslovakia, laws and rules were introduced to restrict the freedom of Jewish people during the dark days of World War II. A small plot of land by the river was allocated to the village's Jewish youth. While almost all areas of the village were off limits to the children, here they were able to meet and play. A small shack on this land became the community center--a place to escape from persecution and discrimination. And it was here that some brave young people decided to create a newspaper, a magazine that would prove to themselves and their community that they were still creative, energetic, and adventurous. The magazine, Klepy (which means Gossip), was born on August 30, 1940, and over the next two years, twenty-two issues were created and circulated. The magazine included simple type-written stories, elaborate paintings, and editorials, all created in the midst of war. The Underground Reporters chronicles the lives of the young people who contributed to the newspaper. The story is full of adventure, mystery and excitement. With drawings, poems, stories and jokes, The Underground Reporters looks at life with as much optimism as possible, providing hope for a peaceful world to come.

From award-winning author Kathy Kacer - Gabi, our heroine, recounts how as a young Jewish girl she lived on a family farm in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. She describes her community before the Nazi occupation and the events that unfolded afterwards. When the Nazis conducted house searches for Jewish children, Gabi successfully hid in the dining-room dresser. The only thing retrieved from the home after the war was the dresser that saved Gabi's life. It now sits in author Kathy Kacer's home in Toronto. Kacer is Gabi's daughter and has based the story on her mother's experiences. Part of the Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers.

Based on real events and real characters! It is the middle of World War II, and Gabi and her mother have been lucky so far, eluding the grasp of Nazi soldiers who are sending Jewish people away to unknown fates. But she, her mother and her young cousin, Max, realize that they will never be safe in their town. With the help of a trusted friend, a kind-hearted priest and a poor yet brave farming family, they go into hiding in a tiny mountain village. It takes great willpower and patience to endure months of fear in their cramped hiding space at the back of a barn. But one night, Gabi and Max can’t stand the confinement any longer, and they sneak out for the first of many secret nighttime walks. Deep in the forest, the children make a discovery that turns out to be very useful to the anti-Nazi partisan soldiers camped out nearby. Through their new roles as scouts for the partisans, Gabi and Max find strength and courage, and a renewed sense of hope in dark times.

Thirteen-year-old Jakob's family has hidden their true identity as Jews and are living as Catholics in Budapest during WWII. One day, in a burst of loyalty, Jakob decides to reveal that he is Jewish, a choice that will put his whole family in danger. Jakob hopes his best friend Ivan, a Christian with a high-ranking military father, will help keep his family safe, but he comes to believe that Ivan has abandoned them. Sent as a prisoner to Auschwitz, Jakob is kept alive by his passion for revenge against Ivan. When Jakob is finally freed, he discovers that Ivan too made a choice that fateful day, a choice that changes everything Jakob thought was true. The Choice is inspired by the experiences of Kathy Clark's father during the Holocaust.

Lily Toufar and her family arrive in Shanghai in 1938, having fled from Nazi-occupied Vienna and the persecution of Jewish families like theirs. Shanghai is a strange place for a young European girl, but it is one of the few places in the world to offer Jews refuge from the Holocaust. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and under pressure from Hitler, the Japanese government in Shanghai orders Jewish refugees to move into a ghetto in an area of Shanghai called Hongkew. Life changes for Lily and her family when they are forced to the ghetto. With little food to eat and poor sanitation, disease is rampant. Lily endures, but when rumors begin to circulate that the Japanese are going to open a camp like the ones where Jews are imprisoned in Europe, she fears for her and her family's safety. Based on a true story.

The remarkable true story of a young girl named Edith and the French village of Moissac that helped her and many other children during the Holocaust. The town's mayor and citizens concealed the presence of hundreds of Jewish children who lived in a safe house, risking their own safety by hiding the children from the Nazis in plain site, saving them from being captured and detained and most certainly saving their lives.

In the spring of 2000, Fumiko Ishioka, the curator of a small Holocaust education centre for children in Tokyo, received a special shipment of artifacts from the Auschwitz museum. Among the items was an empty suitcase. From the moment she saw it, Fumiko was captivated by the writing on the outside that identified its owner — Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, Waisenkind (the German word for orphan). Children visiting the centre were full of questions. Who was Hana Brady? Where did she come from? What happened to her? Fueled by the children's curiosity and her own need to know, Fumiko began a year of detective work, scouring the world for clues to the story of Hana Brady. Together with Fumiko, we learn of Hana's loving parents and older brother, George, and discover how the family's happy life in a small Czechoslovakian town was turned upside down by the invasion of the Nazis. Photographs and original wartime documents enhance this extraordinary story that bridges cultures, generations and time. This edition includes the original book as well as the full script of the play adaptation by Emil Sher.

Based on the true story of two sisters sheltered from the Nazis by a group of Catholic nuns during World War II. Mama had always told twelve-year-old Susan that there was no safe place for a Jew, especially in German-occupied Hungary in 1944. Susan is skeptical and afraid when she and her little sister, Vera, are sent to a convent to be kept "safe" from the Nazis. Susan and Vera find their lives transformed and soon discover the true nature of courage when they are sheltered by a group of nuns who risk their lives to protect them. Includes historical photographs and notes about the author's family and the Hungarian convent that became known as "Guardian Angel House."

From award-winning author Kathy Kacer - It's already a dangerous time for thirteen-year-old Clara and her family. They have just been imprisoned in Terezin (Terezinstadt), a ghetto in a medieval town near Prague - which was built to show the world how "w