Theme: Nazi

Jacob’s Rescue

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Once Jacob Gutgeld lived with his family in a beautiful house in Warsaw, Poland. He went to school and played hide-and-seek in the woods with his friends. But everything changed the day the Nazi soldiers invaded in 1939. Suddenly it wasn’t safe to be Jewish anymore.One afternoon, eight-year-old Jacob slipped through a hole in the [...]

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Poland, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Mozart Question

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Like any young boy, Paolo becomes obsessed with what he can’t have — in his case, a violin. Hidden away in his parents’ room, it beckons the boy to release the music inside it. The music leads Paolo to a family secret, a story of World War II that changed the course of his parents’ [...]

Descriptors: Germany, Historical Fiction, Italy, Poland, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

On August 4, 1940, an unassuming American journalist named Varian Fry made his way to Marseilles, France, carrying in his pockets the names of approximately two hundred artists and intellectuals – all enemies of the new Nazi regime. As a volunteer for the Emergency Rescue Committee, Fry’s mission was to help these refugees flee to [...]

Descriptors: Biography, France, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Portugal » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree: A Memoir of a Schindler’s List Survivor

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

In the spring of 1942 Hannelore received a letter from Mama at her school in Berlin, Germany–Papa had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Six weeks later he was sent home; ashes in an urn.Soon another letter arrived. “The Gestapo has notified your brothers and me that we are to be deported to [...]

Descriptors: Biography, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Damned Strong Love

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Based on a true story of forbidden wartime romance, Damned Strong Love is framed by a letter to the reader from the real Stefan, who cooperated with Lutz van Dijk in creating the book. Together they have crafted a book that shows how love can fight against hate; a book that reminds readers of the [...]

Descriptors: Europe, Germany, Historical Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

Along the Tracks

By Kathy G. Short | Published: March 14, 2007

When the train that he is on is bombed, Yankele, a young Polish refugee from the Nazi invasion, is separated from his mother and wanders along the tracks, braving hardship and danger, as he searches for his family.

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Poland, Russia, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Comments closed

Malka

By Kathy G. Short | Published: March 14, 2007

In the winter of 1943, a Polish physician and her older daughter make a dangerous and arduous trek to Hungary while seven-year-old Malka, who they were forced to leave behind when she became ill, fends for herself in a ghetto.

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Hungary, Poland, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Comments closed