Category:Holocaust Children's Memoirs (subject)

Holocaust Children's Memoirs

1960s

1967

Milayl Habedolah Ve'ad Laylot Hakrav [From Kristallnacht to the Nights of Battle] (Jerusalem: Masada Press, 1967) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Beni Virtzberg (1928-1968). Translated into English: From Death to Battle: Auschwitz Survivor and Palmach Fighter (2017).

"When Beni Virtzberg was 9 years old, Kristallnacht destroyed his carefree childhood in his home town of Hamburg. Along with his parents, he was transported to Sosnowiec. Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the family shared the fate of many other Jews: internment in a ghetto, followed by deportation to Auschwitz. Beni's mother was murdered upon arrival. The young boy bravely fought to save his father's life, but he ultimately lost him as well. Beni's own fight for survival led him from Auschwitz, where he was forced to assist Joseph Mengele, to the death marches and to the notorious camps of Mauthausen and Melk. Upon liberation, Beni immigrated to Eretz Israel, joined the Palmach, and fought in some of the fiercest battles during Israel's War of Independence. During the Eichmann Trial, Beni decided to bear witness by writing his painful memoirs. The work on the book and the constant reminders of his agonizing past and losses took a great toll on him. On August 4, 1968, Beni Virtzberg took his own life."--Publisher description.

Beni Virtzberg (1928-1968) was born in Germany. In 1939 the family moved to Poland, but only to find themselves under German occupation. After living in the Sosnowiec and Środula ghetto, they were deported to Auschwitz. Beni only survived serving as Mengele's personal servant and errand boy. Forced into a death march, he arrived to Mauthausen and Melk until liberation. He moved to Israel in November 1945. Served in the army during the Israel's War of Independence and then worked for the Jewish National Fund as a forester. In 1967 he published his memoir but plagued with depression, took his own life.

1967

Child of the Holocaust (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1967) is the memoir written by Holocaust survivor Jack Kuper (b.1932).

"Offers the true account of an eight-year-old boy who returned to his Polish town one day to find that all the Jews had been sent away and describes his young years traveling fearfully around the country in the hopes of finding his people and a place to call home."--Publisher description.

Jack Kuper (Jankele Kuperblum; b.1932) survived the war alone as a street child, disguised for years as a Polish peasant and a Christian to escape the horrors of the Holocaust. After liberation he was placed in a Jewish orphanage in Lublin, Poland. He had to learn how to be a Jew again. During the years in hiding he had forgotten his language, culture and religion. In 1947, he was brought to Halifax by Canada’s Jewish community. He ended up settling in Toronto and working at the CBC.

• Winter in the Morning: a young girl's life in the Warsaw ghetto and beyond (1986 Bauman), book

Janina Bauman was a year older than Anne Frank when the Second World War began but, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this is a story of survival. When Hitler's decree forced her family into the Warsaw Ghetto, Janina, an intelligent, lively girl, suddenly found herself in a cramped flat, hiding with other Jewish families. At first even curfews and the casual cruelty meted out by the German occupiers could not dim her passion for books, boys and romance. Then came the raids, and Janina, with her sister and mother, had to keep on the move, hiding in the ruins of the ghetto to avoid being one of thousands rounded up every day and deported to the camps. Their escape to the 'Aryan' side was followed by two years in hiding, taking shelter with those willing to help them and living in constant fear of betrayal. Told through her teenage diaries, giving her story a rare immediacy, this is the extraordinary tale of a passionate young woman's courage and survival.

• Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale (1988 Schloss), book

2000s

2006

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).

"Sidney “Sevek” Finkel is the author of Sevek and the Holocaust, The Boy Who Refused to Die. This Holocaust memoir is told from the perspective of eight-year-old Sevek, capturing the emotions of a boy who loses his home, his family and ultimately his humanity by the time he reaches the age of fourteen. He lived in a cramped and disease-ridden ghetto, saw his family murdered, endured the horrors of the Treblinka death camp, ate grass for survival in the final days before reaching freedom, and, finally, resumed his education in a foreign country after a six-year lapse. This 2nd Edition includes a new chapter about Sevek's return to Buchenwald 66 years after liberation, as well as new-found information learned during this visit. This book has been used as part of the Holocaust curriculum in hundreds of middle schools across the country, and Finkel has shared his story with thousands of students, relaying a message of tolerance, hope and love. Sevek and the Holocaust, The Boy Who Refused to Die received positive reviews from the Kirkus Review and Writer’s Digest. Sidney Finkel received the Philip K Weiss Award for Storytelling for Peace and Human Rights in 2013."--Publisher description.

Sidney Finkel (b.1931)

• [[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-)