Customer Reviews

The Other Victims: First-Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
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2 star:		(2)
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I read this book almost ten years ago when I was in the seventh grade. I found it and read it myself, no teacher help. I have to say this in defense of this book--it made a profound impact on me when I was 12 years old. It was the first time I realized that the Holocaust wasn't just about Jews. In retrospect, I think it was the first time I realized the ENTIRE horror of what really happened. These many years later, of course, this book doesn't mean the same thing. But it is a very powerful work for younger readers and it helps paint a complete picture of what Nazi Germany was like. I highly recommend it to show just how insane things were.

I think this book was so true to its title. One of the many stories was about a Jehovah Witness family who stayed strong in their religion. They sacrificed everything, even at the risk of dying. It was a true joy to read about them, and to almost get a feel of the religion. I think everyone should read this because I cried, and I rarely ever cry.

The Other Victims was a book of real life stories from the Holocaust. I liked this book because it tells how people had to go into hiding, how they had no freedom, and how they fought back. The book is mainly about people trying to escape from Germany to America or a safe country. My favorite chapter was Bubili: a young Gypsy's fight for survival. Once I started to read this book I couldn't put it down. The reason I couldn't put this book down was it was all true. I thought it was hard to believe it actually happened. The people were killed because of their religion, color, looks, and trying to stop the wrong that was going on.

I thought this was an amazing book. It talks about all the others out there who were affected by Hitler, showing it was not only the Jews who were affected and killed, but many others, like the homosexuals, gypsies, ect. The book offers many different opinions and people, and I thought it was an amazing and saddening book.

In "The Other Victims", Ina R. Friedman recounts the treatment of non-Jewish people during the Nazi occupation of Germany. From Blacks to Deaf people, the Nazis used sterilization, euthanasia, and even mass murder to stop apparent "defects." Each section includes a brief description and a first-hand account of an individual from each group.

One notable story is that of Fanny Schwarz. Fanny was born deaf to deaf parents. As such, the government decided that she was defective and tried her to determine whether she should be sterilized. During the ensuing years she was sterilized twice, the second time in addition to taking her reproductive capabilities, they also took the child she was carrying. Schwarz recounts her physical and emotional pain during this dark period. Other stories are equally moving.

This book is an excellent teaching resource! I would recommend it to both students and history teachers alike. Not only does it present narratives on people often overlooked during discussions of Nazi persecution, it also does so in small chunks, easy to read or take alone in specific teaching units. Definitely a worthwhile resource!

I really liked how this book showed the persecution of all people not only the Jews. In almost all other books I've read about WW2 they talk about the persecution of the Jews. This book made the Holocaust more real to me. It gave me a better perception of what the Nazis were really doing and to some extent why. I think we need to recognize the other groups that suffered also. To me this book is a monument to their suffering.

A book of this kind has long been needed. Friedman attempts to cover all the main victim groups although she was not successful in finding Survivors from all groups. Gay victims, for example, are mentioned but there is no account of an individual. Although the accounts are described as "first-person stories", they are all retold in Friedman's rather dull writing style which gives a sense of unity at the expense of expressing divergence. It would have been much more effective to have heard the Survivor's own accounts rather than Friedman's retellings of their stories. Overall, the book comes accross as a text book. Useful for teaching, but unlikely to be read without adult coercion.

While six million Jews were killed by the Nazi's, five million belonging to other groups were also killed. Blacks, clergy members, Jehovah's Witnesses, Poles, Gypsies and homosexuals are counted among that number. Their stories are not as widely known, yet just as powerful and moving as the stories of the Jews. Each chapter begins by giving a factual blurb about a particular group. Then an individual story is told. Quite moving, this is an interesting collection of stories of survival amidst horrible circumstances.

This book explored a side of the Holocaust that remains widely untold. "The Other Victims" describes situations of non-Jewish people who were terrorized by the Nazis. It includes homosexuals, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others.

I would really reccomend this book for any upper elementry or Junior High School teacher teaching students about the Holocaust. It gives a VERY GOOD over view of non-Jewish victims in the Holocaust that are usually left out of Holocuast Studies. It is a quick read and really connects with the reader.