THE CHILDREN WE REMEMBER

by Chana Byers Abells ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 1986

A heart-rendingly simple text outlining the Holocaust experience, from the happy, nurtured children before the Nazis to the survivors, accompanies a series of photographs from the Archives of Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, where the author is director of the Photo and Film Divison. "". . .the Nazis came. . . They made the Jews sew patches on their clothes. . . they closed Jewish. . .schools. . .burned synagogues. . .families were forced to live in the streets. . .cold, they wrapped themselves in rags. . .they shared the little food they had. . . The Nazis hated the children because they were Jews. . . and sent them far from home."" Relentlessly, the falling cadence echoes the Jews' inexorable doom. The beautifully selected and reproduced black-and-white photographs emphasize the humanity and individuality of the children; the Nazis are shown as a saluting, swastika-bedecked mob or faceless army. There are no death-camp scenes; the one truly frightening picture shows a soldier with rifle pointed at a mother with a child in her arms: ""Sometimes they put children to death."" As a coda, there is a series of tender portraits of lost children and finally of a few who survived. This eloquent testimony should be universally available, though adults should take care not to force it on children too young to deal with the terror that may be evoked by this remembered nightmare.

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Greenwillow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1986

Categories: CHILDREN'S