World History Biographies: Anne Frank: The Young Writer Who Told The World Her Story (Ng World History Biographies)

Anne Frank takes young readers back to the dark days of World War II through the story of the famous young diarist. Like teenagers everywhere, Anne wrote about friends, family, movies, her greatest joys, and her deepest fears. Through her vivid, tender entries we experience Anne’s changing world, as persecution, hiding, and betrayal, become part of daily life in Nazi Europe. Ann Kramer’s superbly illustrated book also celebrates the enduring legacy of Anne Frank. Her story, now known to millions, is an inspiration for young readers, and writers, everywhere.

Tell No One Who You Are: The Hidden Childhood of Regine Miller

During the days of Nazi terror in Europe, many Jewish children were taken from their families and hidden. Régine Miller was one such child, who left her mother, father, and brother when she was 10 years old. Utterly alone as she is shunted from place to place, told to tell no one she is Jewish, she hears that her mother and brother have been taken by the SS, the German secret police. Only her desperate hope that her father will return sustains her. At war’s end she must learn to live with the terrible truth of “the final solution,” the Nazi’s extermination camps. The people who sheltered Régine cover a wide spectrum of human types, ranging from callous to kind, fearful to defiant, exploitive to caring. This is a story of a brave girl and an equally brave woman to tell the story so many years later.

Good-Bye Marianne: A Story Of Growing Up In Nazi Germany

A heartbreaking story of loss and love.As autumn turns toward winter in 1938 Berlin, life for Marianne Kohn, a young Jewish girl, begins to crumble. First there was the burning of the neighbourhood shops. Then her father, a mild-mannered bookseller, must leave the family and go into hiding. No longer allowed to go to school or even sit in a café, Marianne’s only comfort is her beloved mother. Things are bad, but could they get even worse? Based on true events, this fictional account of hatred and racism speaks volumes about both history and human nature.

The Good Liar

The year is 1940 and France has fallen to the German army. In the village of Mont-Saint-Martin, brothers Pierre, René, and Fat Marcel enjoy an idyllic childhood-stealing berry tarts, playing soldiers, and holding contests to determine who of the three is the biggest and best liar. As the small community, especially its Jewish members, begins to feel the effects of the war, René and Marcel form a warm but secret friendship with one of the German soldiers occupying their village. The boys know no good can come of this friendship, but they don’t realize the extent to which they have put the lives of their family and friends in jeopardy . . . until they discover that they are not the only experts at lying. This poignant and thoughtful story is told in the form of letters to a group of schoolchildren by the now-adult Marcel.  First published in Ireland.

Someone Named Eva

On the night Nazi soldiers come to her home in Czechoslovakia, Milada’s grandmother says, “Remember, Milada. Remember who you are. Always.” Milada promises, but she doesn’t understand her grandmother’s words. After all, she is Milada, who lives with her mama and papa, her brother and sister, and her beloved Babichka. Milada, eleven years old, the fastest runner in school. How could she ever forget?Then the Nazis take Milada away from her family and send her to a Lebensborn center in Poland. There, she is told she fits the Aryan ideal: her blond hair and blue eyes are the right color; her head and nose, the right size. She is given a new name, Eva, and trained to become the perfect German citizen, to be the hope of Germany’s future—and to forget she was ever a Czech girl named Milada.Inspired by real events, this fascinating novel sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Nazi agenda and movingly portrays a young girl’s struggle to hold on to her identity and her hope in the face of a regime intent on destroying both.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Johanna’s grandfather founded the largest clothing store in town and built up his wealth with his own hands–at least that’s the family legend. But when Johanna travels to Israel for a class project, she finds out that the family of Meta Levin originally owned the store. She learns that her grandfather legally acquired the company during the Nazi regime according to the anti-Semitic laws of the Third Reich. Johanna is worried: her family’s wealth is obviously founded on injustice. Should she keep silent, or should she wake the sleeping dogs?

Jacob’s Rescue

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 ghetto wall to meet Alex Roslan, a kind Christian man who agreed to be his new “uncle.” The Roslan family, at the risk of their own lives, kept Jacob’s identity as a Jew hidden.Every day of hiding meant a new danger and a threat of discovery. Jacob worried about his real family and longed to go to school and play outside like the Roslan children. Yet the fear, the hardships, and the hunger brought Jacob closer and closer to all the Roslans–until at last the time of hate and war came to an end and a new chapter began in all their lives.

Holocaust

Explaining the complex political and social backdrop that allowed the Holocaust to occur, as well as its progression and aftermath, this comprehensive volume contains first-hand testimony from survivors and enables readers to appreciate the impact of the Holocaust on real people and the lives they and their families have rebuilt today.

The Island on Bird Street

During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.

Thanks to My Mother

Susie Weksler was only eight in 1941 when Hitler’s forces invaded her Lithuanian city of Vilnius, a great center for Jewish learning and culture. Soon her family would face hunger and fear in the Jewish ghetto – but worse was to come. When the ghetto was liquidated, some Jews were selected for forced labor camps; the rest were killed. Susie would live – because of the courage and ingenuity of her mother. It was her mother who carried Susie, hidden in a backpack, to the group destined for the labor camps; who disguised her as an adult in makeup and turban to fool the camp guards; who fed her body and soul through gruesome conditions in three concentration camps and a winter “death march”; who showed her the power of the human spirit to endure.