My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto [Paperback]

Frank Dabba Smith (Author), Mendel Grossman (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2008 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Mendel Grossman was a prisoner in Poland's Lodz Ghetto for more than four years. His job was to take photographs for work permits, but he also secretly used his camera to record the daily lives of his fellow Jewish residents. These images speak with devastating poignancy of cultural devastation but also of the indomitable spirit of these people. Unrivalled in historical importance and emotional impact, the pictures show grim tableaux of a child clutching a wire fence, soldiers marching through empty streets, crowds moving uneasily toward what is surely deportation. In contrast, there are also intimate scenes of workers smiling as they bake Passover matzoh, and teenagers sharing a private joke. Of the thousands of photographs taken by Grossman, only a small number survived: this book features 17 of the most resonant. Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith provides simple, heartfelt text in the voice of Mendel Grossman; it reminds readers not simply of the horrors of the time but also of the hope and courage that kept humanity going. An appendix tells the fascinating story of how these photographs survived.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grossman, a Polish Jew, was forced into the Lodz ghetto at its inception in May 1940. For the next four years, until the ghetto was destroyed, Grossman used his privileges as a photographer for the ghetto administration to covertly take thousands of pictures documenting life in the ghetto. The 17 photographs on these pages show the suffering so copiously described by historians and survivorsAsoldiers march through emptied streets; freighted with bundles and rucksacks, heavily dressed people head toward what is surely deportation; a solitary child clutches a wire fence. They are heartbreaking. But even more wrenching are the photos of less iconic scenes. Readers see a team of workers smiling as they bake Passover matzoh and teenagers laughing at some delicious joke. Unfortunately, Smith, a rabbi and a photographer, is not content to let the photos speak for themselves, and he scripts a brief narrative, delivered as if by Grossman. It is numbingly formulaic ("My own pain does not matter. I must show what the Nazis are doing to my people. My pictures will tell the real story, even if I die"), and although he explains how the photographs survived despite Grossman's death, nowhere does he comment on how he arrived at his text, for instance, if the names he assigns some figures are real. For all his piety, his commentary underserves Grossman's work. Ages 8-up. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-This remarkable photo-essay about the Lodz Ghetto in Poland poignantly introduces Holocaust horrors. Grossman was a prisoner there for more than four years, and while his "job" was to take photographs for work permits, he secretly used his camera to record the daily lives of his fellow Jewish residents. The text, written as though Grossman himself were explaining how he took the pictures and commenting on the emotions of his subjects, is simple and lets each picture speak for itself. This technique works well and makes the subject accessible to children. The 17 haunting images are not graphic or physically gruesome, but they do show young boys harnessed to carts, men lining up for bread, and families saying horrible good-byes through chain-link fences. They also show people relaxing on the grass, smiling, and singing-a testament to the undying spirit of some prisoners. As these are personal, secret photographs and not the propaganda pictures so often repeated in history books, their significance is great and they are historically fascinating. The incredible story of how the photos have survived is recounted in an appended note. A truly powerful book.
Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, IL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845078926
• ISBN-13: 978-1845078928
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 10.2 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > History & Historical Fiction > Holocaust
  • #28 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Holocaust
  • #49 in Books > Children's Books > History > Holocaust

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for schools, May 6, 2000

By 

Ruth Minsky Sender (Commack, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Secret Camera (Hardcover)

Tha little boy on the cover of the book is my brother, Moishele Minski. Standing behind him is my mother, Nacha Minska. They perished in the Nazi gas chambers. I was there in Lodz ghetto. That book is a painfilled reminder of what hate, prejudice and indifference lead to. Ruth Minsky Sender Author of THE CAGE. TO LIFE. THE HOLOCAUST LADY. Survivor of LODZ GHETTO.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Secret Camera By: Frank Dubba Smith, November 18, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: My Secret Camera (Hardcover)

My Secret Camera By: Frank Dubba Smith gives the reader a great insight on how Jews were dehumanized by {...] army. The reader gets a true feel for how tragic it is when someone is treated with little or no respect at all by all of the graphic and detailed pictures in this book. One of these pictures is one that has two young boys hauling an enormous bowl packed full of filthy clothes worn for months or weeks with no wash.

The pictures in this book were amazingly detailed considering the circumstances the photographer was placed in. I thought that the epilogue gave a great story about the way the pictures actually came to be published. My secret Camera may possibly be the best book I've ever read on this specific subject, Nazi terrorism. This book was terrific!

I really enjoyed reading My Secret Camera but I would only recommend it to children or even adults that have little or no feel for how badly some people were/are treated in a few places around the world. This book would really "wakes up the reader" to how terrible people can be even in today's societies. This book had phenomenal wording, terrific and detailed pictures which gives the whole book a great overall summary. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for all of the reasons above. READ IT TODAY! Please! Thank You, AJ.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important photographic document, May 6, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Secret Camera (Hardcover)

"My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto" combines the photographs of Mendel Grossman with a simple text by Frank Dabba Smith. Grossman was one of the many individuals who suffered under Nazi rule before and during World War II. Using his camera, he carefully documented the lives of the Jews who were confined by the Nazis to the Lodz ghetto.

Grossman's photographs in this book capture many haunting images: the despairing faces of the trapped people, two children harnessed like animals to a cart, people waiting on a bread line. But the fact that Grossman's stark visual testament survived the Holocaust is ultimately inspiring. This is an important book for teachers and parents to share with young readers.