Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors [Hardcover]

Milton J. Nieuwsma (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Draws on interviews with three women who recount their experiences as child survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi death camp.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Relaying the first-person stories of three women incarcerated in Auschwitz as children, Nieuwsma, a freelance journalist, has done an impressive job of capturing their voices and presenting coherent accounts of their experiences. The women?respectively ages six, seven and 10 upon liberation in 1945?describe how they survived the decimation of their Jewish community in the Polish town of Tomaszow Mazowiecki, endured the unimaginable conditions at Auschwitz and came to be placed in that concentration camp's Kinderlager, or children's camp. They also identify the hardships these early experiences created for them in their adult lives. Many of the episodes are horrific. One girl is marched off to die: "So we're going to the crematorium. Doesn't everyone go to the crematorium? Don't all Jews go to the crematorium?" (When the children are sent back, the girl explains to her mother that there'd been a mix-up, adding, "They'll take us next time.") However, the information is not mediated in any way for young readers?for example, there is only scanty framework established for the events, nor much attempt, implicit or otherwise, to help readers absorb the shocks. Many of the horrors are gratuitous, as in a news photo of an aunt lying murdered in a jewelry-store robbery, after the war. Nor are obvious questions posed (What was the Germans' rationale in creating a children's barracks within a death camp?). See Anita Lobel's recent No Pretty Pictures for a work at least as frank as this book but that nonetheless transcends the terrors of its subject. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up-The stories of three Holocaust survivors, told in their own words. In many ways these are intertwined accounts; the girls were from the same town in Poland, their families crossed paths many times throughout their deportations, and as adults they have remained friends. Readers learn of their normal childhoods before the war and what they came to think of as "normal" as they struggled to survive the horrors of the Holocaust. Tova was 6, Frieda, 10, and Rachel, 7, at the time Auschwitz was liberated. However, their stories do not end here. Readers see their families' efforts to rebuild their lives and the rampant anti-Semitism in postwar Poland. The black-and-white photographs throughout are a testament to the people who became numbers during the war.
Yapha Nussbaum Mason, Brentwood Lower School, Los Angeles
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823413586
• ISBN-13: 978-0823413584
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A disturbing perspective on man's inhumanity, October 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors (Hardcover)

Kinderlager presents the adult recollections of three women's childhood experiences in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Dr. Nieuwsma has skillfully woven together three tragic stories into a disturbing perspective on man's ultimate inhumanity to his fellow man. Regardless of one's knowledge of the Holocaust, the reader cannot help but be moved by the horrific death camp experiences suffered by the inmates, as seen through the naive eyes of young children. Three girls were robbed of their families and their childhood, as were their entire generation, and they grew up surrounded by starvation, torture and death as their normality. Yet in the face of this ultimate adversity, these three children survived through a combination of fortitude and providence. Kinderlager forces us to ask ourselves very pointed and disagreeable questions. What kind of people could commit such atrocities against children? And how could the world let this happen?

The experiences of Tova, Frieda and Rachel serve as a grim reminder of what happened, and more importantly, what must never be allowed to happen again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary,sensitive look at the children of Auschwitz, August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors (Hardcover)

The author has given us an extraordinary and sensitive look into the lives of three children who were survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Afer reading the story of the first girl, I was compelled to continue reading each of the others. The reading is easy, and the author tied each of the child's stories together in such a way that I could not put the book down until I had read it all the way through! As I read it, I was struck, once again, by the inhumanity of the whole Auschwitz experience, but I was also encouraged by the incidents of kindness and strength that were skillfully woven into each child's story . This story of the experience and endurance of these young girls related to us at this point in their adult lives is a "must" reading for all of us who know who we must never forget........

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 Stories Written For All Ages., October 25, 2000

By 

"shani00" (Highland Park, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinderlager: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors (Hardcover)

This book is one of the few such non-fiction works thataccomplishes several goals while still reaching an audience that, inmy opinion, spans in age from the old to the very young. The graphicaccounts and descriptions may seem too harsh at first for youngreaders, however, the subtle tone and easy language turns a tragicstory into a recognizable tale of pain, perseverance, and ultimatestrength. I've been around these stories my whole life, and though Ifound it very hard as a child to read such accounts, I would recommendusing this book as a tool to teach children about the past so they canbetter direct their future...I hope you read my mother's story andhelp your children understand what happened, what can happen, and whatshould never happen again.