Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport [Paperback]

Anne Fox (Author), Eva Abraham-Podietz (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Tells the true stories of children who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, a rescue mission led by concerned British to save Jewish children from the Holocaust.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 5^-8. The Kindertransport was a rescue operation that saved 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe between December 1938 and September 1939 and found homes for them in England. Only 1,000 of them ever saw their families again. Olga Levy Drucker's Kindertransport (1992) is one survivor's detailed story. The authors of this book were also Kinder who got away to England, and they have written a profoundly moving, accessible account that combines the history of the time with the first-person testimonies of 21 survivors. Each chapter begins with the big picture--life under Hitler, Kristallnacht, preparing to leave, the journey, life in England through the war years and afterward--and then includes brief vignettes by Kinder who remember how it was for them; finally, a brief note summarizes what happened to each child afterward. The design is like an open scrapbook, with different size typefaces, snapshots, news photos, and marginal notes; and the combination of the general overview with personal memories will bring readers, from middle grades through adult, close to the experience. These people escaped; the brutality is offstage, but the anguish is in the childhood details. What was it like to say good-bye to your parents, knowing you might never see them again? To arrive in a new country, learn a new language, and live with strangers? To discover after the war that your family was gone? Or to find your parents, leave your foster home, and try to be a family again? The authors' quiet final note is rooted in the survivors' stories: the Kinder have learned, among other things, to appreciate people's differences and to remember the kindness of strangers. Hazel Rochman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Behrman House (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874416485
• ISBN-13: 978-0874416480
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Children's Books > History > Holocaust

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War through a child's eyes, November 24, 2000

By 

Karyn Gomez (Mesquite, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport (Paperback)

As the generation of World War II survivors is all-too quickly disappearing, today's children are running out of opportunities to connect with those who survived the war. Ten Thousand Children is a series of true anecdotes told by the children who escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport. The stories of the evacuated children come to life with emotion and clarity. Readers will be amazed at the courage of the children involved and the hardships they faced as they were separated from their families and sent to live in a foreign land. Each child tells his or her story in first person narrative, then the story is followed by an update which tells about the child's life after the war. Captioned photographs illustrate every story. The book is divided into seven chapters, each beginning with a news-like article giving background information to support the stories included in the chapter. The stories and articles are short enough to be read easily by children, and relevant vocabulary words are defined in reader-friendly terms in the margins. This book will help children understand the lessons which must not be forgotten from World War II. The cruel realities of war and intolerance leap from the pages of each story. Readers will be touched by those children from long ago. All those who read this book will walk away with a deeper understanding of the Kindertransport children and an appreciation for the freedoms we must cherish today.

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling accounts of the Kindertransport children, January 17, 2012

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport (Paperback)

Ten Thousand Children is a credible and compelling book which compiles first-hand accounts by children who escaped the Holocaust through a rescue mission known as the Kindertransport. Compiled by real-life survivors who also escaped via the Kindertransport, this book makes a great educational resource for social studies, language arts, and history teachers who would like to integrate the topic of the Holocaust into their curriculum.

The book begins with an overview of what life was like during the Nazi years, followed by the Night of the Broken Glass or Kristallnacht where Jewish-owned businesses in Germany were vandalized on a massive scale by the Nazis and their collaborators. But what makes this account even more compelling are the true accounts by various children who had lived through these tumultuous times. For example, in the chapter on Hitler and the Nazi years, there's an account of a Jewish girl named Sylvia who recounts her experiences during that time, of the fear of being Jewish and knowing that this placed her and her family in danger, of the ever-present need to be careful in case they were recognized and beaten up. Sylvia and her sister Ruth both managed to escape via the Kindertransport but their parents are murdered in a concentration camp.

There are many such accounts - similar stories of being uprooted and sent off to a strange land, of the yearning for their families, the ever niggling doubts as to how their parents and relatives were faring, all of which make for a heartbreaking read. Students in the upper elementary and up will find these stories, true accounts by children around their age, highly interesting and engaging. Recommended for use in the classroom, and for collections in libraries.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FASCINATING HISTORY, April 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport (Paperback)

This was an illuminating and evocative book. Anyone interested in this topic should also read "Escape Via Siberia" and "The Uprooted" by Dorit Whiteman. Whiteman's books -- which expertly weave gripping personal accounts with historical context -- explore how survivors of the kindertransport and other Holocaust horrors coped with the legacy of their harrowing ordeals as adults. Whiteman is an expert in the field and some of her material was used in the movie, "Into the Arms of Strangers."