Category:Holocaust Children's Memoirs (subject)

Holocaust Children's Memoirs

• Holocaust Children -- Holocaust Children's Biographies -- Holocaust Children's Diaries -- Holocaust Children's Movies

1990s

1990

• Solomon Perel, Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon (Berlin : Nicolai, 1990). French ed. Europa, Europa (Paris : Ramsay, 1990). Hebre ed. My Name Is Shlomo Perel (Tel Aviv: Yedi'ot Ah aronot: Sifre Hemed, 1991). Polish ed. Hitlerowiec Szlomo (Warsaw: Graffiti, 1991). English ed. Europa, Europa (1997).

1991

• Annette Muller (F / France, 1933), La Petite Fille Du Vel d'Hiv (Paris: Denoël, 1991). German ed. Die Razzia Erzählung (Berlin: Nicolai, 1998).

• Jerzy Feliks Urman (M / Poland, 1932-1943), I'm Not Even a Grown-Up: The Diary of Jerzy Feliks Urman (London: Menard Press, 1991) / 2nd ed. Bristol: Shearsman Books, 2016.

1992

• Ruth Klüger (F / Austria, 1931). Weiter Leben: eine Jugend <German> (1992). English trans. Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered (New York, NY: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2001)

1993

• Shlomo Breznitz (M / Slovakia, 1936). Sedot ha-zikaron (Tel Aviv : `Am `oved, 1993). English ed. Memory Fields: The Legacy of a Wartime Childhood in Czechoslovakia (New York: Knopf, 1993). Also translated into German.

• Harry Goldman (M / Germany, 1931-1948). -- See Louis Goldman (1925-1996). Amici per la vita (Firenze : Ed. Sp44, 1993). English ed. Friends for Life: The Story of a Holocaust Survivor and His Rescuers (New York : Paulist Press, 2008)

• Emanuele Pacifici, «Non ti voltare». Autobiografia di un ebreo (Firenze: Giuntina, 1993)

• Nelly S. Toll (F / Poland, 1935). Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood during World War Two (New York: Dial Books, 1993).

1994

• Schoschana Rabinovici (F / Lithuania, 1932-2019). Dank meiner Mutter <German> (Frankfurt am Main: Alibaba, 1994). English trans. Thanks to My Mother (New York, NY: Puffin, 1998).

• Ruth Kapp Hartz (F / Frence, 1937). Your Name Is Renée: Ruth Kapp Hartz's Story as a Hidden Child in Nazi-Occupied France (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), by Stacy Cretzmeyer.

1995

• Miriam Akavia (F / Poland, 1927-2015). An End to Childhood (1995).

• Solly Ganor (M / Lithuania, 1928). Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem (1995) is a memoir written by Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor (b.1928).

• Aldo Zargani, Per violino solo: La mia infanzia nell'Aldiqua, 1938-1945 (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1995). English ed. For Solo Violin: A Jewish Childhood in Fascist Italy (2002)

1996

• Ruth David (F / Germany, 1929). Ein Kind unserer Zeit (Frankfurt am Main: dipa-Verl., 1996). English ed. Child of Our Time: A Young Girl's Flight from the Holocaust (London: Tauris, 2002).

• Marion Blumenthal Lazan (F / Netherlands, 1934). Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story (New York: Greenwillow Books, 1996), with Lila Perl.

1997

• Magda Denes (F / Hungary, 1934-1996). Castles Burning: A Child's Life in War (New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 1997) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Magda Denes (1934-1996). Also published in German, Czech, Hungaria & Spanish.

• David Faber (M / Poland, 1928-2015). Because of Romek: A Holocaust Survivor's Memoir (El Cajon, CA: Granite Hills Press, 1997). Also published in German.

• Miriam Winter (F / Poland, 1933-2014). Trains: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood During and After World War 2 (Jackson, MI: Kelton Press, 1997).

1998

• Michal Glowinski (M / Poland, 1934). Czarne sezony (1998). English ed. The Black Seasons (Evanston, Il: Northwestern University Press, 2005).

• Arek Hersh (M / Poland, 1928). A Detail of History: The Harrowing True Story of a Boy Who Survived the Nazi Holocaust (Laxton : Beth Shalom, 1998). Repr. Malmesbury, UK: Apostrophe Books, 2015.

• Anita Lobel (F / Poland, 1934). No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 1998).

1999

• Aharon Appelfeld (M / Poland, 1932-2018). סיפור חיים <Hebrew> (Jerusalem: Keter, 1999). English ed. The Story of a Life (New York: Schocken Books, 2004).

• Shalom Eilati (M / Lithuania, 1933). ‏לחצות את הנהר <Hebrew> (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1999). English ed. Crossing the River (Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2008).

2000s

2000

• Naomi Samson (F / Poland, 1933). Hide: A Child's View of the Holocaust (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).

• Roma Ligocka (b.1938). Das Mädchen im roten Mantel (München: Droemer, 2000). English edition: The Girl in the Red Coat (New York : St. Martin's Press, 2002). Also translated into Polish (2001)

2001

• Andrew S. Grove / Andris Grof (M / Hungary, 1936-2016). Swimming Across (New York, NY: Warner Books, 2001).

• Jack Mandelbaum (M / Poland, 1927). Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001), by Andrea Warren <juvenile audience>.

• Edith Velmans (F / Netherlands, 1925). Edith's Story: The True Story of a Young Girl's Courage and Survival During World War II (New York : Bantam, 2001).

2002

• Hana Brady / Hanička Bradyová (F / Czechia, 1931-1944). See Hana's Suitcase (2002), by Karen Levine

• Sophia Richman (F / Poland, 1941). A Wolf in the Attic: The Legacy of a Hidden Child of the Holocaust (New York: Haworth Press, 2002).

2003

• Stephen Nasser (M / Hungary, 1931). My Brother's Voice: How a Young Hungarian Boy Survived the Holocaust (Las Vegas, Nev. : Stephens Press, 2003).

2004

• Ursula Bacon (F / Germany, 1927). Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China (Milwaukie, Or. : M Press, 2004).

2005

• Albert Bigielman (M / France, 1932-2011), J’ai eu douze ans à Bergen Belsen (Paris: Le Manuscrit, 2005).

• Isaac Millman (M / France, 1933). Hidden Child (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).

• Edith Milton / Edith Cohn (F / Germany, 1932). The Tiger in the Attic: Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005).

• Renzo Modiano, Di razza ebraica (Milano: Libri Scheiwiller, 2005). English. ed. Of Jewish Race (Vagabond Voices, 2013).

• Esther Nisenthal Krinitz and daughter Bernice Steinhardt, Memories of survival (New York: Hyperion books for Children, 2005).

• Jack Terry / Jakub Szabmacher (M / Poland, 1930), with writer Alicia Nitecki. Jakub's World: A Boy's Story of Loss and Survival in the Holocaust (Albany : State University of New York Press, 2005).

2006

• Sidney Finkel (M / Poland, 1931). Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die (Matteson, Ill. : Sidney Finkel, 2006) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Sidney Finkel (Sevek Finkel; b.1931).

• Syvia Rozines, and niece Jennifer Roy. Yellow Star (Tarrytown, NY : Marshall Cavendish, 2006).

• Zoltan Zinn-Collis (M / Slovakia, 1940-2012), Final Witness: My Journey from the Holocaust to Ireland (Dunshaughlin: Maverick House, 2006).

2006

De Drancy à Bergen-Belsen, 1944-45 <French> (Paris: Le Manuscrit, 2006) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Jacques Saurel (b.1933).

English ed. From Paris to Bergen-Belsen, 1944-1945: Memories of a Deported Child (Paris : Le Manuscrit : Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah, 2010).

2006

• Ela Weissberger (F / Czechia, 1930-2018). The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin (New York, NY: Holiday House, 2006).

2007

• Thomas Buergenthal (M / Slovakia, Poland, 1934). A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy (2007).

2007

• Petr Ginz, The Diary of Petr Ginz (New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007).

• Elly Gross, Elly: My True Story Of The Holocaust (New York: Scholastic, 2007) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Elly Gross (b.1929).

2007

The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood (New York : Viking, 2007) is the story of Holocaust survivor Alex Kurzem (b.1936), narrated by his son Mark Kurzem.

KEYWORDS: <Latvia> <Errand Boys>

"When a Nazi death squad massacred his mother and fellow villagers, five-year-old Alex Kurzem escaped, hiding in the freezing Russian forest until he was picked up by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. Alex was able to hide his Jewish identity and win over the soldiers, becoming their mascot and an honorary "corporal" in the SS with his own uniform. But what began as a desperate bid for survival became a performance that delighted the highest ranks of the Nazi elite. And so a young Jewish boy ended up starring in a Nazi propaganda film ... After sixty-three years of silence, Alex revealed his terrible secret to his son Mark. With his son's help, Alex retraced his past in search of answers and vindication. His story is at once a terrifying account of survival and its psychological cost as well as a brutally honest examination of identity, complicity, and memory."--Publisher description.

Alex Kurzem (b.1936)

2008

• Amos Blas (M / Poland, 1935). חלום או מציאות <Hebrew> (Tel-Aviv: Ḥalonot, 2008). English ed. Dream or Reality (Tel-Aviv: Contento de Semrik, 2011).

2008

• Krystyna Chiger (F / Poland, 1935). The Girl in the Green Sweater (New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008). -- See also Robert Marshall, In the Sewers of Lvov: A Heroic Story of Survival from the Holocaust, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

• Clara Kramer (F / Poland, 1927-2018). Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival (London: Ebury Press, and New York, NY: Ecco Press, 2008).

2008

• Moyshe Rekhtman (M / Ukraine, 1927). Here My Home Once Stood (San Rafael, CA : Fourth Generation Pub., 2008) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Moyshe Rekhtman (b.1927).

2009

• Eva Mozes Kor (F / 1934-2019). Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz (Terre Haute, IN: Tanglewood Pub., 2009).

2009

• Alberto Sed (M / Italy, 1928-2019). Sono stato un numero <Italian> (Firenze: La Giuntina, 2009).

2009

• Leo Michel Abrami (M / France, 1931). Evading the Nazis: The Story of a Hidden Child in Normandy (Denver: Outskirts Press, 2009).

2010s

2010

Durch die Hölle von Auschwitz und Dachau: ein Junge erkämpft sein Uberleben (Zürich: Lit, 2010) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Leslie Schwartz (b.1930).

English ed. Surviving the Hell of Auschwitz and Dachau: A Teenage Struggle Toward Freedom from Hatred (Zürich: Lit, 2013).

KEYWORDS: <Hungary> <Auschwitz> <Dachau>

"Born in Hungary in 1930, Leslie Schwartz was a teenage survivor of the horrors of Auschwitz and Dachau who lost his entire immediate family in the Holocaust. His lifelong search for wholeness has led him back to Germany where his dream now is to leave a legacy of healing and conflict resolution. This book documents Leslie's experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. (In 2013, Schwartz was awarded Germany's highest civilian honor, the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.) (Series: Anpassung - Selbstbehauptung - Widerstand - Vol. 35)."--Publisher description.

Leslie Schwartz (Hungary, 1930), Holocaust survivor

2011

• Henri Borlant (M / France, 1927), Merci d’avoir survécu (Paris, Le Seuil, 2011).

• Yisrael Meir Lau (M / Poland, 1937). Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last (New York: Sterling Pub.: In conjunction with OU Press, 2011).

• Tomi Reichental (M / Slovakia, 1935). I Was a Boy in Belsen (Dublin [Ireland]: O'Brien, 2011).

2012

Gone to Pitchipoï : A Boy's Desperate Fight for Survival in Wartime (Boston : Academic Studies Press, 2012) is a memoir written by Holocaust survivor Rubin Katz (b.1931).

KEYWORDS: <Poland> <Hidden Children> <Street Children> -- <Lublin Orphanage>

"Gone to Pitchipoi is the true and remarkable story of one Jewish boy's constant struggle for survival during the Holocaust in wartime Poland. Rubin Katz had just turned eight years old when the Second World War began and the outbreak of hostilities shattered his secure and idyllic childhood ... Katz vividly recalls his experience growing up in the turmoil of WWII, and his extraordinary escape from the constant threats of Nazi occupied Poland. Born in 1931 in the picturesque countryside of Ostrowiec Swietokrzyskie, wherein more than a third of the population was Jewish, Katz experienced a constant juxtaposition of traditional ways of life with the tragedies of those years. Deemed unfit for labor camps, Katz was marked for certain death and forced to live on the run in a daily quest for food, shelter, and friendship. He eventually reunited with his sister, Fela, together encountering a series of narrow escapes and forging on to see the day of liberation. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of the fate of Jews in small Polish towns during the Second World War."--Publisher description.

Rubin Katz (Poland, 1931), Holocaust survivor

2012

• Estelle Laughlin (F / Poland, 1929). Transcending Darkness: A Girl's Journey Out of the Holocaust (Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2012).

• Pavel Weiner (M / Czechia, 1931-2010), A Boy in Terezin: The Private Diary of Pavel Weiner, April 1944 - April 1945 (2012)

2013

• Leon Leyson (M / Poland, 1929-2013). The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible... on Schindler's List (New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Leon Leyson (1929-2013).

• Felix Weinberg (M / Czechia, 1928-2012). Boy 30529: A Memoir (London & New York: Verso, 2013).

• Helga Weiss / Helga Hošková-Weissová (F / Czechia, 1929), Helga's Diary: A Young Girl's Account of Life in a Concentration Camp (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013).

2013

My Silent Pledge: A Journey of Struggle, Survival and Remembrance (2013) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Sydney Zoltak (1931).

2014

• Rywka Lipszyc (F / Poland, 1929-1945), Rywka's Diary: The Writings of a Jewish Girl from the Lodz Ghetto (San Francisco: Jewish Family and Children's Services, 2014).

• Joseph Polak (M / Netherlands, 1942), After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring (Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2014).

• Arianna Szörényi, Una bambina ad Auschwitz, a cura di Mario Bernardi (Milano: Mursia, 2014).

2015

Eu Sobrevivi ao Holocausto (Universo dos Livros, 2015) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Nanette Blitz Konig (b.1929).

English ed. Holocaust Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen Survivor & Classmate of Anne Frank (Amsterdam Publishers, 2018).

KEYWORDS: <Bergen-Belsen>

"A monument to the indestructible nature of the human spirit ... In these compelling Holocaust memoirs, Nanette Blitz Konig relates her amazing story of survival during the Second World War when she, together with her family and millions of other Jews, was imprisoned by the Nazis with a minimum chance of survival ... Nanette (b. 1929) was a class mate of Anne Frank in the Jewish Lyceum of Amsterdam. They met again in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shortly before Anne died. During these emotional encounters, Anne Frank told her how the Frank family hid in the annex, talked about their deportation, and her experience in Auschwitz, and about her plans with her diary after the war ... This honest WW2 story describes the hourly battle for survival under the brutal conditions in the camp imposed by the Nazi regime. It continues with her struggle to recover from the effects of starvation and tuberculosis after the war, and how she was gradually able to restart her life, marry and build a family."--Publisher description.

Nanette Blitz Konig (Netherlands, 1929), Holocaust survivor

2015

• Nate Leipciger (M / Poland, 1928). The Weight of Freedom (Toronto: The Azrieli Foundation, 2015).

• Marguerite Mishkin / Marguerite Lederman (F / Belgium, 1941). See A Nazi Loved Me: The Story of Marguerite Mishkin, written by Maya Baker, illustrated by Erin McQuillen (2015)

• Arie Tamir (M / Poland, 1932), I Only Wanted to Live (2015)

2016

• Eva Lavi / Ewa Ratz (F / Poland, 1937). See A Miracle Child (2016), by S. Brindavani.

2017

• Michael Bornstein (M / Poland, 1940). Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz (New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017).

2019

• Rena Finder (F / Poland, 1929). My Survival: A Girl on Schindler's List (New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2019).

• Zuzana Růžičková (F / Chechia, 1927-2017)One Hundred Miracles: A Memoir of Music and Survival (London: Bloomsbury, 2019).

Collections of memoirs

1993

• Marks, Jane. The Hidden Children: The Secret Survivors of the Holocaust (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993)

"Presents the stories of twenty-three men and women who survived the Holocaust as children in hiding. Describes the extreme measures they or their families took to survive and how they coped under circumstances of great danger and sacrifice. Also examines their post-war experiences, exploring how they dealt with their own survival and rebuilt their lives."--Publisher description.

1993

File:1993 Greenfeld

• Greenfeld, Howard. The Hidden Children (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1993)

"Over a million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust. From ten thousand to 100 thousand Jewish children were hidden with strangers and survived. In this powerful and compelling work, 25 people share their experiences as hidden children. Black-and-white photos."

"Relates the experiences of thirteen Jewish hidden children who survived, and came forward to tell their stories. Includes pictures, quotations, and a bibliography. Intended for younger readers."--Publisher description.

1994

• Stein, Andre. Hidden Children: Forgotten Survivors of the Holocaust (Toronto: Penguin Books, 1994)

"Compiles the first-person accounts of ten hidden children and relates their experiences during and after the war. Explores questions of identity, such as noticeable physical differences between adoptee and new parents and the postwar return to Jewish life."-- Publisher description.

1999

• Kustanowitz, Esther. The Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Teens Who Hid From the Nazis (New York: Rosen Publishing, 1999)

"Details, in their own words, the war-time experiences of Jewish teenagers hiding from the Nazis. Includes a bibliography, glossary and an extensive timeline of events. Intended for young adult readers."-- Publisher description.

2008

• Tománková, Magdalena. Ptaly se: proč? ukrývané děti vzpomínají = They asked: Why? Recollections of the Hidden Children (Pardubice: Batoš, 2008).

"Presents individual stories of hidden children from the Czech Republic. Includes endnotes. In both English and Czech."-- Publisher description.

• [[Helga Weiss (1929)

• Ana Novac (b.1929)

• Renata Calverley (b.1937c) wrote Let Me Tell You a Story: One Girl's Escape from the Nazis.

Eva Schloss (1929-)

Fictionalized Memoirs / Holocaust Novels

• Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991), The Painted Bird (1965)

Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication ... Kosinski really did spend his childhood in hiding from the Nazis in Poland, but he wrote a novel, not an autobiography. In 2019 the novel was adapted into a film.

• Aharon Appelfeld (1932-2018), Badenheim 1939 (1978) <Hebrew>

The novel is an allegorical satire that tells the story of a fictional Jewish town in Austria shortly before its residents are relocated to Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland ... Appelfeld was a Holocaust child survivor from Romania who escaped from a labor camp in Transnistria and survived in hiding.

• Markus Zusak (b.1975), The Book Thief (2005)

Written by an Austrian novelist. Adapted into a film in 2013.

• Aharon Appelfeld (1932-2018), Blooms of Darkness (2006)

• John Boyen (b.1971), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006)

Written by an Irish novelist. Adapted into a film in 2008.

Fake Memoirs

• Herman Rosenblat, Angel at the Fence

Rosenblat was indeed a Holocaust child survivor but he did not survive Buchenwald thanks to a girl who threw apples and bread to him over the camp fence—and then, years later, became his wife.

• Benjamin Wilkomirski (Bruno Grosjean), Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood

Wilkomirski, far from spending the war years in concentration camps in Poland, was actually a Swiss native named Bruno Grosjean, whose childhood was spent in a Swiss orphanage.

• Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years by Misha Defonseca (1997)

In her 1997 book, Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years, Belgian-born Misha Defonseca described how she set out alone, at age 7, to find her Jewish parents who had been deported by the Nazis. Walking 1,900 miles across Europe, over the course of five years, she spent time in the Warsaw Ghetto, lived with wolves and killed a German soldier in self-defense. The book had limited success in the United States but became a best-seller overseas and was translated into 18 languages and made into a French film.

In 2008, eleven years after the book’s publication, an American genealogist unearthed Defonseca’s baptismal certificate, indicating she was Catholic, as well as evidence that she had attended school in Brussels during the time she was supposedly on her trek. The Nazis had executed her parents who were members of the Belgian resistance. Defonseca confessed in a statement that “Ever since I can remember, I felt Jewish…. There are times when I find it difficult to differentiate between reality and my inner world.”