28 Days

Safier, David. 28 Days. 2020. 416p. ISBN 9781250237149.

Mia and her family are prosperous Poles who, though nominally Jewish, are not practicing. As a young girl, Mia watched with indifference as Hitler took power in Germany, but grew increasingly concerned at the rhetoric and the actions of the Nazis. Then in September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the West, quickly followed by the Soviet Union from the East, effectively ending that country's independence. At first not much changed, but then strict laws controlling the lives of Jews were put in place. Soon, Mia and her family found themselves forced into Warsaw's ghetto, a small space where hundreds of thousands of Jews were crammed, with very small possibility of employment and never enough food to eat.

Mia, who looks Aryan, the Nazis' standard for the perfect race, is able to smuggle herself out of the ghetto to go and acquire food she can bring back and sell at a large profit. On one particular instance in 1942, she is stopped by bounty hunters, but is saved by a man she does not know, and who kisses her to make it seem she is his girlfriend. This was Mia's first kiss. Over the next weeks, life in the ghetto becomes worse, and there are rumors that it will soon be emptied and everyone will be forced into concentration camps out east, or suffer an even worst fate.

Then Mia runs into the boy again, who is Jewish and works for the resistance. Mia quickly joins and begins to fight back against the Germans. Her mother and younger sisters are killed during German raids to empty the ghetto, and with nothing to lose Mia throws herself into a deadly fight where the only triumph is surviving one more day ..

Armed with small-caliber guns and homemade petrol bombs against the Germans' superior weapons, armored vehicle, and training, the Warsaw ghetto Jews nevertheless manage to repulse their assault to destroy the ghetto for 28 days, marking the longest and most violent resistance against German occupation in the history of the Second World War.

Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children

Shackleton, Kath, editor. Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children. 2019. 96p. ISBN 9781492688921. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

The Holocaust was the most tragic event of the 20th century. As individuals who survived the Holocaust become older and pass on, the memories of what happened are dimming, becoming only a fact of history for most people. Such a tragedy must never occur again however, and it is important to listen to the voices of those who lived through it. In this short illustrated graphic novel, six people talk about their experiences during the Holocaust. Five of them were able to get on the Kindertrains that ran from Germany to England just before the war, and they therefore survived. One of them was sent to concentration camps to die, but lived to tell his experiences.

The illustrations are haunting, and represent a child's point of view on the events that happened during the 1930s and 1940s. For most of them, they didn't understand what was happening around them, or why Germans were so opposed to Jews. They suffered the applications of genocidal policies designed to eliminate an entire group of humans. A summary at the end of the book discusses the lives that these six children had after the war, but all of them remained haunted by what they saw. 

Out of Hiding: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey to America

Gruener, Ruth. Out of Hiding: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey to America. 2020. 194p. ISBN 978-1-338-62745-9. Available at FIC GRU on the library shelves.

Luncia was an only child born in Poland to a Jewish family, and when the Nazis invaded the country, she and her family found themselves the target of violent antisemitic attacks. Soon forced into a ghetto, Luncia escaped and was housed by a family friend of her father, before being reunited with her family. With her mother and father hiding from the Germans, they managed to avoid capture and emerged in 1945 with a defeated Germany.

With the world around them in rubble, and with people still hostile to Jews, Luncia and her family soon became part of the largest movement of displaced persons in history. After applying for American visas and being granted access, the family left on a ship in 1948 and crossed the Atlantic, where they were reunited with her father's siblings, who had left Poland before the war. 

Settling in New York, Luncia, who changed her name to Ruth, was also reunited in New York with Jack Gruener, a fellow Polish Jew who had also survived the war and whom she had met in Europe. Jack had come to the United States only to go to Korea to fight in the Korean War, and when he returned the two of them were soon married. They never forgot the Holocaust, however, and even today Ruth continues to talk with people who believe it didn't happen.

Though the first part of the book is focused on surviving the Holocaust, the rest of the book powerfully describes the impacts the Holocaust had on Ruth's life and that of her family. Pictures at the end of the book help provide context to some of the situations described.

Clutch

Camlot, Heather. Clutch. 2017. 2017. 240p. ISBN 978-0-88995-548-6. Available at FIC CAM on the library shelves.

It is 1946, and Joseph Grosser’s father has just died, leaving his family behind to run his small grocery store, their only asset and source of income. Unfortunately, this tragedy is compounded by his father’s largesses. As a real mensch, he provided credit to many and therefore the store is owed lots of money. At 12, Joseph now needs to be the man of the house, so that his mother and his six-year-old little brother David don’t go without. He needs to operate the store and start collecting money. He’s also facing his upcoming bar mitzvah, and his religious studies are not going so well. And, above all else, Joseph cannot wait to move west of Park Avenue in Montreal, to find a better house for his family, something his father was never able to do.

At the same time Jackie Robinson, the first professional black baseball player, is playing for the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ AAA farm team. Jackie is also facing challenges, but he’s ready to meet them. David loves Jackie Robinson and religiously follows all of his exploits. Ben, Joseph’s best friend, spends a lot of time at the store, but both he and David wishes Joseph had more time to play and be a kid. Joseph, however, just wants to make money. When Ben’s father, Mr. Wolfe, approaches Joseph and offers an intriguing business opportunity, Joseph is faced with a stark choice: Do the responsible thing, or try to cut corners to accumulate wealth? As Joseph’s summer passes by, he makes connections in the unlikeliest places and he learns getting rich for being rich’s sake is not worth anything unless you are able to enjoy it with a loving family and friends. Can Joseph and Jackie Robinson triumph over their naysayers and accomplish their goals?