Synopsis
Personal narratives of Christians, Gypsies, deaf people, homosexuals, and blacks who suffered at the hands of the Nazis before and during World War II
Reviews
Grade 5-9-- The pervasiveness of Hitler's attack on civilization is the focus of this informative and involving account of the non-Jewish victims of Nazism. Against the backdrop of mass murder, Friedman has compiled first-person narratives of survival and heroism, each of which is set into historical context by a short preface. She shows how Hitler's diabolical war machine singled out for persecution ethnic, racial, religious, and lifestyle groups such as gypsies, blacks, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals--all of whom Hitler viewed as outsiders to his "master race." Friedman emphasizes the experiences of political opponents of Nazism in Germany and of those who fought to defend their homeland against Nazi invasion (Poles, Czechs, and the Dutch). These moving stories bear witness to these victims (and to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust). Some of the same weaknesses in Friedman's Escape or Die (Lippincott, 1982) appear also here: fictionalized dialogue, a sameness in narrative style, and a failure to fill in key details. However, this book is more successful in communicating the drama and tragedy of the survivors. Friedman ends with a sound and sobering warning to her young readers about the dangers of totalitarianism and about the responsibility we all have not to let this happen again. --Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The author of Escape or Die sought survivors of other groups deemed undesirable by Hitler, including blacks, clergy, Jehovah's Witnesses, Poles, political prisoners, Gypsies (the only other group Hitler wanted to eliminate entirely) and homosexuals (very few survive and none could be found to interview). Suspenseful vignettes are enlivened by historical background, dialogue, and a not-always happy yet satisfying afterword, telling what eventually happened to each individual. Valiant efforts in the face of total degradation are nothing short of inspiring, and many of these stories are not widely known, such as the underground medical schools where cadavers were corpses picked up from the street. Each moving chapter points up complexities readers may not have thought about: shortened lifespans resulting from harsh treatment; the shock of escaping to an American cousin only to find he is part of the Bund; the ingenious devices by which people strove to survive, from inventing coded language to hiding in graves. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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