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My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto Paperback – June 1, 2008

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

17 customer reviews

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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.

My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto

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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.

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Product details

Age Range: 7 and up
Grade Level: 1 - 6
Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books; Reprint edition (June 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1845078926
ISBN-13: 978-1845078928
Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 17 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,739,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #215 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > History > Holocaust
- #227 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Holocaust

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Five Stars

ByLisaon January 30, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Great purchasing experience.

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Another amaznig book on Mendel Grosman

ByRichard Kazn Youngon December 21, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is another important book on Mendel Grosman the photographer of Lodz the quality of printing in this book is better than the other book on him "Camera in the Ghetto" as some pictures are reprinted here, but still its very good, even if you havent heard about this great human being and hero!

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Strong subject matter wonderfully captured

ByMichael Jimenezon December 16, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This was a difficult read for my 10yo due to the subject matter not the writing. He says liked the book but it was too sad for him.

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Three Stars

ByDeeon July 10, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I was expecting more. I did not realize it was written as children's literature.

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A grim visual reminder but very weak text...

ByTanglemaniaon August 13, 2002

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Mendel Grossman did humanity a great service in risking his life to bring the world visual proof of the horrific tragedies within the Lodz ghetto during the holocaust. Unfortunately the text of this book is written in such an over-simplified style that the publisher's targeted age range; 3rd thorough 5th graders are easily bored by it.
Aside from a few weak descriptions of these powerful images, I felt besieged by Frank Smith's one-sided listing of war facts. Smith's prose melodramatically recites the war's background from a narrow perspective that seems designed to inflame young readers about the suffering of only one race. With so many other races alongside the Jewish people targeted for Nazi genocide, I felt that a more sober and complete narrative about this tragic time in history would have provide the book with the necessary facts to place it among the best of it's genre.
My Secret Camera deprives its readers of a powerful chance to merge the photography of this Jewish ghetto and a first-hand historical account of this terrible time in history. After reading and owning so many incredible and moving Jewish and non-Jewish authored books about the holocaust, I can only recommend you purchase this book for it's pictures - it's not worth reading.

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Five Stars

ByTiffon December 14, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This was real.

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important subject, awful text

ByNatan Avramon February 19, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The pictures are interesting but too few. The text is of appallingly bad taste - mawkish and over-interpreted. The author doesn't know how to write about tragedy, but kitsch he knows - so he daubs schmaltz galore.