Trying to escape the horrors awaiting for Jews in Germany, a middle-class Jewish family run to Amsterdam shortly before The Netherlands are occupied by the Nazis. In this novel based on a personal story of the Lichtenstern family, the main voice belongs to Ruth Lichtenstern aka Tutti born in 1935 in Cologne, Germany, a little girl at the time of the war.
As many of the kids growing up this time, she grew up faster, learning to cope with human cruelty, discrimination and the urge to find food and give comfort and support to the parents. They are children assuming from a very small age adults' responsibilities. For the parents the pain is even bigger, as they should see how powerless they are to save their children from the daily nightmare.
Through her, we are introduced to the daily life of Jews in the Netherlands during the war, many of them, similarly with Tutti's family, trying to run from the German horrors. Every day is a test of survival and an effort to trick with the destiny. It is a terrible fight for survival taking place and once in a while, good people - although only a few - are appearing in the life of the characters, including from the top of the establishment. For few months, the Lichtenstern family is able to stay away from the death camps, together with other Jews, by working at the Westerbork camp, trying to sell and buy scrap metal. But this chance is short-lived and they will be transferred to Theresienstadt where they will be liberated. The family starts the journey back, but the scars of those times remain deeply inscribed in the story of everyone's life. But there is also a promise, Tutti's promise, to refuse to give up hope and aim at making the world a better place. It is a promise that the reader too could take it.
The story is well written, accompanied by a dictionary of words in German and Dutch and explaining various terms used in the book, with vivid dialogues and in an attractive way that may keep the reader interested. Documents are inserted in to the text, offering the proof of authenticity of various episodes told in the story. The book can be used in middle schools to teach about Shoah and it offers to the reader the chance to learn something about Jews in Amsterdam and Shoah in The Netherlands and Europe in general. The episodes of life at the Theresienstadt concentration camp are also relevant for documenting this period.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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