Hidden on the Mountain

Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle write children's books. In 2002 the pair took at trip to France where they visited a small museum in the south of France. This visit would result in years of research and personal interviews during which Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon was born. I am finding it very difficult to review this important book because each chapter, which contains the story of one child, could be, and also has been, written as a book unto itself. As an avid reader of Holocaust memoirs, I must confess that I had never heard of this refuge for Jewish children. The authors confirm that no children's book has ever been written on this topic.

To assist others who might not be aware of this small area of France, I would like to spend some time on the third chapter entitled "An Isolated Haven: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and La Montagne Protestante" before going on to the meat of the book. The geographic area in question is an isolated mountain plateau in South-central France. Hundreds of years before the Second World War, this area had been a hiding place and refuge for French Huguenots who were persecuted by French Catholics. Ancestors of these Protestants still lived in this area and had a special understanding of the hardships of religious persecution. Fiercely independent, the Huguenot Protestants had a strong sense of right and wrong. They valued their own freedom and respected the freedom of others. They were modest and humble. They beoieved in tolerance and in sharing what they had with others. Every day they read the Bible. and they were committed to living their lives according to what they read. They didn't blindly accept the authority of the government if it contradicted their religious beliefs. (p. 12). After the Germans overtook France, the country was divided into occupied France and unoccupied France which, under the Vichy government, collaborated with the Nazis. In both areas of the country, Jews were rounded up and sent to holding camps and then on to their deaths. And so these often poor farmers and villagers were ready to hide Jews, especially young children, in their homes until they could be relocated to Switzerland or until the war was over. This entire French community of Le Chambon cooperated to keep these children safe, with some offering warnings if a round-up was coming so that the children could be hidden high in the mountains for a day. Today, this beautiful story has been told by one of the Jewish children who was born there - Pierre Sauvage made the documentary film Weapons of the Spirit (the name comes from a speech by Protestant pastor Andre Trocme who urged the parishoners to stand up against injustice in non-violent ways, using "weapons of the spirit" (p. 14)).

And stand up they did, with several thousand children hidden in these mountains. DeSaix and Ruelle interviewed many of these survivors and include their stories as first person narratives in the book. To provide a broader picture of the area and the times, the authors also include chapters, written in third person, of non-Jewish people who lived in the area or helped the children in some special way (many of whom were no longer alive). Each child's story jumps from the pages, with memories often in conflict with that of another child who lived in the mountains during the same time. The authors observe that both memories are correct. Some of the children traveled across countries to arrive in this haven. They traveled without parents or friends. Some came from the nearby camp at Gurs. One thing they all found in Le Chambon was a sense of normalcy - schools, hard work, fun, friendships that continue to this day. What amazing bravery of both the children and their protectors. These stories gave me hope that within us all we have weapons of the spirit and are capable of standing up for what is right.

The history of the area and war, along with the individual histories and memories of the children are enhanced by photographs of the children in their daily activities, maps, a glossary, timeline, and recommended readings. To learn more about this topic, visit The Chambon Foundation and the authors' website for the book.

This review is crossposted at Holocaust Resources which is my blog for Holocaust materials for children and young adults.

TITLE: Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon
AUTHOR: Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle
COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 275
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I thought this was a hopeful book - people did what they needed to do to save the lives of these children.

Dogs, Books, and things

My sweet Sugar Pie Then:
My sweet Sugar Pie Now:

















I am so excited! I am going to be off from work for the next three weeks. Can you even imagine? The way the holidays fall and my need to use up some leave before I lose it created this little holiday miracle. So I have a few things in mind for my vacation:

• I really want to work on my Holocaust Resources blog by reading and reviewing as many children and young people Holocaust books. If you have a personal favorite that you have read or used for teaching about the Holocaust, please leave me a comment so I can try to locate a copy here at the University or nearby bookstore.
• For once, I would like to complete reviews of ALL of the books I have read this year. With my husband at work for the first week I am off, maybe I will have some success.
• Spend time with Sugar Pie and my sweet Annie and Lulu. Best dogs in the world, with Sugar Pie possibly the smallest dog in the world.
• Crochet some scarves for all of the females in the family - sorry boys, working on a pattern for you! It's not like I am coordinated or anything.
  

I wish you all happy holidays and hope to hear from you!

31 & 32: Two Holocaust narratives

The author who compiled these diaries states that this is the first book of this type from this time period. She introduces the diaries with a rather difficult statement:

Perhaps it is so painful to think about the impact of the war on children - particularly their mass executions - that we have not wanted to read about it, even when that has meant refusing to hear from the children themselves. Maybe it was as much as we could bear to designate Anne Frank the representative child of the Holocaust and to think, then, only of her when we thought about children in World War II. But, in some ways, Anne Frank was not representative of children in the war and the Holocaust. Because she was in hiding, she did not experience life in the streets, the ghettos, the concentration camps, as it was lived by millions of children throughout Europe. (p.xiv)

The diaries, written by children from age 10 to age 18, are arranged chronologically by the age of the child youngest to oldest. The countries represented are Poland, Holland, German, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Lithuania, Russia, Belgium, Englan, Hungary, Israel, and Denmark. The children wrote these diaries from many different locations and situations. Many wrote from the time they moved from their loving homes to a ghetto or a hiding spot. One young boy hid in a cupboard for five year, while another lived and died much like Anne Frank. Many of the children died at the hands of the Nazis in concentration camps, with only these written words somehow surviving to tell their stories. Others survived and published their stories so the world would know.

Selected by the School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults 1995, this book is a phenomenal resource for those interested in Holocaust history. Because it covers such a wide range of experiences, I think it could be used in middle and high school as a teaching aid with individual children, or small groups, reading the passage and providing their own expression of the child's experience. Some may argue that middle school age children are too young to read these diaries. The author addresses that beautifully:

To turn our eyes away and refuse to see, or to let children see, what prejudice and hatred lead to is truly to warp our collective psyche...The children teach us, by sharing their own direct experience of oppression, that nothing is more valuable than human freedom. This lesson alone is reason enough to read, and to encourage children to read, these diaries. (p. xx)

TITLE: Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries
AUTHOR: Laurel Holliday
COPYRIGHT: 1995
PAGES: 401
TYPE: compilation of Holocaust diaries
RECOMMEND: Excellent book


The second book that I read containing Holocaust narratives Anthology of Holocaust Literature edited by Jacob Glatstein, Israel Knox, and Samuel Margoshes is probably for the young adult or adult student of the Holocaust. Many of these writing have never been translated to English or published in the English language. Therefore, for many of us, this would be the first time to read these personal experiences. The book is arranged by topic: Occupations, Actions, Selections; Life in the Ghettos; Children; Concentration and Death Camps; Resistance; and The Non-Jews. It is possible to read the experiences of multiple people who found themselves in each situation. While some author's names may be familiar, such as Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, and Primo Levi, other authors' names are representative of the people who did not live and shared the same past during the War.

In the Introduction, the editors provide the reader with many definitions of anthology and the various reasons why they have collected these specific Holocaust writings. For me, the most important reason is as follows:
There are many faces to courage, and the will to hope, to maintain the simple dignity of daily existence on a human and humane level, to forge the chain of cultural and spiritual continuity from generation to generation, to cherish children by handing on to them the legacy of their people - to do all of this in the midst of peril and deprivation and omnipresent enmity, is a species of fortitude that borders on the sublime. (p. xx)

To be so strong in faith and hope - to continue in the face of darkness. This is what I tried to glean from each person's personal journey as they were translated in this book. Many of the readings begin and end out of the blue, no real beginnings and no sure end. Often I found that I had to read the entry more than once to grasp the setting and events. Again the editors remind us to consider the following as we read:

One can imagine what it must have cost them to tell their story, to recall the facts and details, the total and terrible drama. Yet it is a story that they could not reporess and relegate to the archives of their own private memory - not for history's sake, nor for their own. (p. xxiii)

This book reminded me of a unique and humbling experiene I had as a graduate student. A friend of mine knew a woman who was hospitalized with congestive heart failure. She was able to come home but was very afraid that she would soon die. She had been at Auschwitz and had never told anyone her story. She did not want to die without telling someone and my friend mentioned that I had an interest in studying Holocaust narratives. I went to her home and she told me her story. The impact hearing her, reliving her fear through her words, and knowing the strength it took for her to say them to me - it is something I will never forget. She did not have to share her story with me, a virtual stranger, but she did and I will be forever grateful.

The following words were found inscribed on the walls of a cellar in Germany where Jews hid from the Nazis:

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.

I believe in love even when feeling it not.

I believe in God even when He is silent. (p. 340)

Next time I sing that song at my Catholic Church, it will hold far more meaning for me. I thank the editors of this volume for bringing it, and the other readings, to my attention.

TITLE: Anthology of Holocaust Literature
AUTHOR: Jacob Glatstein, Israel Knox & Samuel Margoshes eds.
COPYRIGHT: 1977
PAGES: 395
TYPE: compilation of original source materials from the Holocaust
RECOMMEND: Excellent book

28. The Smell of Humans: A Memoir of the Holocaust in Hungary

The Smell of Humans: A Memoir of the Holocaust in Hungary by Erno Szep and translated by John Batki covers only one small period of time and life as it was lived by only one man of fifty. The war was nearing its end and the bulk of Hungarian Jews had already been deported. In October 1944, Szep , a sixty year old Hungarian Jewish poet, and 49 other older men were rounded up by young Arrow Cross Youths. Just days before Governor Horthy declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities - for which he was deposed. The Germans and their Hungarian allies used these last Jewish men to dig and build an earthworks around their city of Budapest to protect the city from the oncoming Russians. Szep was released on November 6 when the Russians reached the perimeter of the city and managed to live while many others did not. This is a story of only 19 days. But we learn many things from the attitudes of the author, his eye for details, and the brilliance of his thoughts. I would like to share a few passages that struck me as very important to the understanding of his writings:

A man's biography consists of his thoughts. Everything else that happens to me is something alien. As we slipped and slid around in that mud the work was slowed down, providing an occassion for more conscious reflection. We are always thinking about something, although we may not pay attention to our thoughts. Now, writing ten months after the events, I cannot recall a speck of what I had been thinking then. But I do remember trying to recall the thoughts of that day on the march back. And I was unable to recover a single snippet of what my mind had dug up during that day. Thoughts sink into forgetfulness as quickly as rain into the earth. (p. 130)

With bombs falling all around the area where the men slept and worked, Szep wrote about his feelings:

I saw, not for the first time, that one did not fear death in its immediate presence. Thinking stops at such times. Within seconds a process of shutting off takes over within the brain, so that the mind (and, we might say, the soul) rejects, refuses to acknowledge all the horrors accosting us. There is a beautiful wisdom in this built-in self-defence. (p. 142)

Much like shock perhaps. Or the disbelief that something so horrible could happen. I have often hoped that people faced with these tragic endings might believe to the end that there is truth and beauty just on the other side of the river or hill. And then be surprised by death, maybe bewildered. And sanctified. I have often said that while I do not want to die, I am in no way afraid of death. So many people have faced it before me and in less gentle ways perhaps, that I should follow them with delight in our spiritual reawakening.

TITLE: The Smell of Humans: A Memoir of the Holocaust in Hungary

AUTHOR: Erno Szep

COPYRIGHT: 1945 in Hungary, 1994 in English

TYPE: memoir Holocaust

RECOMMEND: a work of great interest

26. Saving What Remains

Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey Home to Reclaim her Ancestry by Livia Britton-Jackson is a remarkable voyage through the bureaucratic entanglements and emotional upheavals experienced by the author as she returned to post-war Communist Czechoslovakia to locate and retrieve the bodies of her Jewish grandparents who had died more than fifty years earlier. Her husband Len, who did not speak the languages of the country, stood by her side and helped as she navigated through all of the necessary bribes and steps to successfully taking their bodies to Israel. Her determination is remarkable and through her efforts a monument to the past shared lives has been created for all of her family. While this book only touches on the author's Holocaust experiences, the emotions of Britton-Jackson certainly remind us of the past and remind us to mind our futures.

TITLE: Saving What Remains: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey Home to Reclaim her Ancestry

AUTHOR: Livia Britton-Jackson

COPYRIGHT: 2009

PAGES: 196

TYPE: non-fiction, biographical

RECOMMEND: Read as a wonderful tribute to your own family

4. Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust

Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust (The Library of Famous Women series) is a wonderful companion book to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. With additional pictures and details from Anne's life, this book shows how Anne lived before and during the war. There are also historical highlights which firmly place Anne, her family, and her friends in the horrible place and time where their world was frightening and awful. Still the love of these family members and friends shines through in this short biogrpahy.

The book also includes a short glossary, a brief list of references, and an index. These make the book even more useful for research purposes.

TITLE: Anne Frank: Child of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Gene Brown
COPYRIGHT: 1991
PAGES: 64
TYPE: non-fiction, biography
AWARDS: Many different Best Books awards

Another short book reviewed on my Holocaust Resources blog is The Cats in Krasinski Square. Check it out!

1. The Cats in Krasinski Square

Dear Fellow Readers and Reviewers,

I am trying to get caught up with books that I read in November and December. We have just been so busy with puppies and children that I can barely find time to read much less post a review. But I am determined to share my thoughts with you as you share yours with me. Thanks for the daily inspiration.

This is a book about a girl; a picture book about a very brave Jewish girl passing as Aryan who helped to get food and supplies to the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. The tale focuses on one very small event where the young girl and her sister and friends trick the Nazi guards to smuggle needed supplies to the over-crowded Ghetto. The Nazi dogs trained to sniff out food are foiled when the resistance members release all the Ghetto cats! This book could be used with young children as a lesson in bravery. Because the author provides factual information in the back of the book, it could also be used with older children as a means of introducing the Resistance movements. Illustrator Wendy Watson did a beautiful job with conveying subtle meanings to enhance the story.

TITLE: The Cats in Krasinski Square
AUTHOR: Karen Hesse
COPYRIGHT: 2004
PAGES: 32
TYPE: fiction, based on historical events
AWARDS: Sydney Taylor Book Awards Honor Book 2004 Older Readers, ALA Noteable Book for Children 2005
RECOMMEND: This is a wonderful short book to introduce children to some of the events and emotions of the Holocaust

LibrarysCat

46. Sarah's Key

First, thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read the Advance Reader’s Edition of Tatiana de Rosnay's first novel written in her native language of English. This accomplished international writer chose a little known historical event as the basis for her novel, Sarah's Key. This was the Velodrome d’Hiver (more commonly known as Vel de Viv) roundup of Jews in occupied Paris on July 16, 1942. While I have spent years studying the Holocaust especially as it affected Eastern European Jews, I had never learned about the roundups in France. I am glad that I loved the book, but I would have been happy to have learned something new about the Holocaust even if I had not been driven to complete the book.

The story begins with young Sarah in her family’s apartment being rounded up by French policemen. Her mother is calling for her to hurry as the policemen were getting impatient. Sarah looks to bring her brother with them and decides instead to lock him in a secret closet in their bedroom. She plans to release him when she returns. Of course, like many who did not want to believe, Sarah thought she would be back home very soon. Her story of survival is emotional and the reader feels her pain as the story unfolds slowly through the length of the novel.

In alternating chapters, we are brought to the current age and introduced to Julia who is an American journalist married to a Frenchman. She is assigned to write a story on the 40th anniversary of the Vel de Viv. She discovers that her life and Sarah’s are intertwined. In the process of unraveling the mysteries of the past, Julia learns about strength and courage; pain and comfort.

In the end the author brings the idea of remembrance into the spotlight. This fits in nicely with my own philosophy. We must find ways to help people to remember or understand what happened during the Holocaust of World War II. Perhaps it will help us to understand the Holocausts we are ignoring in today’s world.

I found the writing to be very emotive and sound. While the following quotes may or may not appear in the final publication, here are two of my favorite lines:

Think of the things you love, of the things that make you happy. (p. 39, ARE)
Her mother had become like a child. (p. 71, ARE)

I enjoyed the alternating chapters and felt the story lines were neatly arranged. Perhaps the story is improbable, but the history behind the story is based in reality. Doing some research myself, I found Occupied France: Commemorating the Deportation which is a picture and text tutorial with more details about the Vel de Viv. Thank you again to Tatiana de Rosnay and St. Martin’s Press. This is a book I will loan to others and ask for it back so I can read it again.

TITLE: Sarah’s Key
AUTHOR: Tatiana de Rosnay
COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 293
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I could not put this book down.

LibrarysCat

42. The Butterfly

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco tells the true story of the author’s aunt who lived in France during the Nazi occupation in World War II. In a very touching and light-handed manner, Polacco introduces the harshness of the Jewish Holocaust. Monique was a young girl during this period and finds that her mother has been hiding French Jews in their basement. She and a little girl her age discover one another and share their thoughts and dreams. When the family is on the verge of discovery, Monique’s mother assists in the family’s attempt to escape. The papillon, or butterfly, is a symbol of the freedom that should be standard for each person in the world as well as the violence that crushes that freedom. Although this story is not all happy endings, the subject of the Holocaust is introduced in manner that would be acceptable for younger children.

Polacco’s website provides a number of interactive activities and video clips of the real life people in this beautiful story. Another interesting idea to go along with this book would be The Butterfly Project of the Holocaust Museum of Houston. They are hoping to collect 1.5 million hand made butterflies by 2012 to represent the “innocent children who perished in the Holocaust”. Although it will be just two little butterflies, I am sending mine off to the museum and hope that you will as well. If you are an educator, please consider having your students do the same.

TITLE: The Butterfly

AUTHOR: Patricia Polacco

COPYRIGHT: 2000

PAGES: 48

TYPE: non-fiction, historical

RECOMMEND: An excellent children's book for Holocaust education

8. My Enemy's Cradle

TITLE: My Enemy's Cradle
AUTHOR: Sara Young
COPYRIGHT: to be published Jan 2008
PAGES: 361
TYPE: Fiction
RECOMMEND: Yes, if for no other reason, it is a good story.

I read the uncorrected copy of this work by Sara Young, who has written a number of children's books undet the name of Sara Pennypacker. The copy I have has no cover picture, so I will not include one. I loved this book.

This is the story of a young Polish girl who was half Jewish. She was sent by her father to live with Dutch relatives, including a cousin she resembles in almost every way except perhaps temperment. It was her father's hope that she would stay safe during World War II. It is also the story of the Nazi machine and policies which encouraged young Aryan women to become pregnant, often by married soldiers, and give their babies to the Nazis to help populate Europe. The young girls' experiences and her understanding of how her safety and future were dictated by circumstances often beyond her control provide the reader with a somewhat different, and decidedly female, picture of the Holocaust.

I read this book very quickly and loved every minute of it. I think it would be appropriate for a wide age range and hope that it will be used in History classes at multiple levels. Thank you to the publisher for providing these copies at ALA.