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{en} Patricia Heberer. Children during the Holocaust (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2011).

Abstract

"This compelling book, from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes, and fates, of its youngest victims. Following the arc of the persecutory policies of the Nazis and their sympathizers and the impact these measures had on Jewish children and adolescents, the chapters begin with the years leading to the war, to the roundups, deportations, and emigrations, to hidden life and death in the ghettos and concentration camps, and to liberation and coping in the wake of war. This volume examines the reactions of children to discrimination, the loss of livelihood in Jewish homes, and the public humiliation at the hands of fellow citizens and explores the ways in which children's experiences paralleled and diverged from their adult counterparts. The author also reflects upon the role of non-Jewish children as victims, perpetrators, and bystanders ... The ten chapters follow the arc of the persecutory policies of the Nazis and their sympathizers and the impact these measures had on Jewish children and adolescents--from the years leading to the war, to the roundups, deportations, and emigrations, to hidden life and death in the ghettos and concentration camps, and to liberation and coping in the wake of war. This volume examines the reactions of children to discrimination, the loss of livelihood in Jewish homes, and the public humiliation at the hands of fellow citizens and explores the ways in which children's experiences paralleled and diverged from their adult counterparts."--Publisher description.

Content

Children in the early years of antisemitic persecution -- Children and the war -- Lives in the balance: escape and deportation -- Children in the world of the ghetto -- Children in the concentration camp universe -- Children in the web of racial hygiene policy -- The lives of others: "Aryan" children and the Nazi regime -- The world of the child -- Children and resistance and rescue -- Elsewhere, perhaps? Children and the end of the Holocaust.

Authorship

Patricia Heberer, PhD, museum historian, Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, is a specialist on medical crimes and eugenics policies in Nazi Germany.