A Voice from the Holocaust (Voices of Twentieth Century Conflict) - Hardcover

Soumerai, Eve Nussbaum; Schulz, Carol D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313323585 ISBN 13: 9780313323584

Publisher: Greenwood, 2003

Synopsis

Eve Soumerai recounts her childhood as a Jewish girl growing up in Nazi Berlin, as a teenaged refugee in the United Kingdom, and later as a young adult searching for answers in postwar Germany. This first-person memoir helps students understand the Holocaust and its effects by chronicling the life of an individual who lived through it. Eve's story engages readers as she retells chapters of her life, including memories of a birthday party, Crystal Night, life in England, and losing family and friends. The historical context of the Holocaust and the author's life unifies and clarifies events.

This is the first book in the new Voices of Twentieth Century Conflict series for middle and high school students. A series foreword, timeline, glossary, and questions for discussion and reflection pertaining to each chapter are included. Primary documents and original photographs help students to experience being in someone else's shoes, making this book the perfect teaching tool for helping students understand important aspects of the Holocaust.

About this title

About the Author

EVE NUSSBAUM SOUMERAI is an author, lecturer, teacher, and Holocaust survivor. She is the author of many publications including Human Rights: The Struggle for Freedom, Dignity and Equality (1998) and Daily Life During the Holocaust (Greenwood, 1998), both of which she coauthored with Carol Schulz.

CAROL D. SCHULZ has been a teacher of history and English for 24 years. She currently serves as the Language Arts Coordinator for a regional school district in Connecticut.

Reviews

Grade 6-9-Soumerai and her friend, writer Schulz, tell Soumerai's story in snapshots-literally and figuratively-as she moved from an idyllic early childhood as the beloved daughter of a close Jewish family in privileged Berlin to a frightened adolescent on the Kindertransport to an elderly woman seeking answers and spreading optimism. The story, told in four parts, is preceded by extensive introductory material, including a note to teachers, background information and a time line of Nazi history, and comments by the authors. Readers will get to know Soumerai's family through photos and vivid personal anecdotes and understand her reaction to being considered an "enemy alien" in England when war broke out. The sections written by Soumerai on her childhood are in the form of diary entries and are accompanied by small, black-and-white photos and reproductions of letters and documents. While many of them lack contrast, they are effective in giving a personal feeling to the book. Schulz's italicized chapters intersperse historical and contextual information throughout. Personal postscripts and extensive discussion questions and endnotes round out this memorable title.-Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313323585
• ISBN 13: 9780313323584
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160