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Here in the US, our Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in observing the National Days of Remembrance around the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
I have long been fascinated by Holocaust Literature, so I’ve decided to host a Holocaust Remembrance Week here on my blog May 1-8.
I’m planning to post some reviews of Holocaust-related books and some other things as well.
I hope you’ll join me. Post one day or all eight. You can review a book–fiction, non-fiction, adult, young adult, graphic novel. Or you could review a movie, write a post about the importance of remembering the Holocaust, or tell us about a trip to the Holocaust Museum. In short, anything you want to write about that pertains to the theme of Holocaust remembrance.
I did this as a personal event last year, and several of you kindly pitched in with your book recommendations. Here they are.
- The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman–Polish Outlander
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne–Little Black Marks
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr–Little Black Marks
- Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally (also known as Schindler’s Ark)–Little Black Marks
- Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose–Reading on a Rainy Day
- Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz by Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel–Bookish Hobbit
- Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli–The Reading Life
- Heidegger’s Glasses by Thaisa Frank–Escapism Through Books
- An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorján–Indie Reader Houston
- Briar Rose by Jane Yolen–Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing
- Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri–Recommended by author Mike Mullin
- Five Chimneys: A Woman’s True Story of Auschwitz by Olga Lengyel–Notes of Life
My book recommendations:
- Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
- Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (packaged together as The Complete Maus)
- The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
- Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
- The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Annexed by Sharon Dogar
- Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie and Rita Lurie
I’ve been blessed to see Baruck Goldstein, author of For Decades I Was Silent: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey Back to Faith, speak. I haven’t read his book, but he is a powerful speaker.
Your screen recommendations:
- The Pianist–My aunt Pat
- Life is Beautiful–My aunt Pat
- Band of Brothers (series)–Reading on a Rainy Day
- Masterpiece Classics: The Diary of Anne Frank—Alison’s Bookmarks
My movie recommendations:
So grab the button and make plans to join in if you’d like. If you have any recommendations to add, please post them in the comments and I’ll add them to this post. Thanks! If you’d like to post about this event on your blog, you can link those on Mr. Linky. I used photos in the public domain of the entrance to Auschwitz (reading “Work Makes You Free”) and a Star of David to make the button.
| 1. Violette 2. Alex @ The Children’s War 3. Anna | 4. JP @ Elle-Lit 5. Basically Amazing Ashley 6. Backseat Reader | 7. JP @ Elle-Lit (Those Who Save Us Review) |
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14 Comments
You should definitely check out the movie SWING KIDS, which talks about the crackdown on the young people who listened to swing music and went to dancing clubs. It also shows how friends change allegiances when Hitler's Youth infiltrates their lives–some choose to join Hitler and others don't.
Awesome and I look forward to recommendations of film and books. I have been to the holocaust museum in D.C. and it was a powerful experience. The savagery that humans are capable of was almost too much to absorb. We learn from human history and thank you for creating a forum for that week of remembrance.
Another suggestion: Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Kor from Tanglewood Press
This is an absolutely beautiful and important idea. I'm just finishing up a huge event on my blog right now, so I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute, especially on short notice, but I definitely want to do something!
Beautiful idea Jen, beautiful idea.
(One more book recommendation- Briar Rose by Jane Yolen)
I had no idea this was going on next week, thanks so much for the reminder.
I own a copy of but have never read The Book Thief, so I will try really hard to read it before the end of next week and post a review.
This sounds great! I'll definitely post a book review during this week… I have a few on my TBR list 🙂 Such a wonderful reminder to us all.
I have tons of Holocaust books on my shelf, so I'll have something to review that week. Thanks for hosting this event. It's so important that we do not forget.
I was planning on doing something, so this is perfect. My blog is about children and YA books with a World War II setting, so this is a natural.
Thanks for doing it.
Thank you for hosting this. The WWII era is something that I've always been fascinated by, and I'm definitely going to be participating. I've already got it blocked off on my calendar. I plan on discussing a lot of things, from Band of Brothers to Night to different books/memoirs I've collected over the years from various sources.
Just a quick comment on the Band of Brothers series: Part 9 ("Why We Fight") of the HBO series is really the only one that actually touches on the Holocaust; the rest of the series is mostly about fighting a war.
I have never seen Schindler's List because I knew how sad it would be. However, I think it's time I watched it so I will do so. I have a poetry anthology that consists of only poetry from Holocaust survivors that I would like to blog about. I can't find it right now so I am unable to give the name of it.
I will try to find a way to participate in this event-a book I totally loved set in the Warsaw Ghetto is Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli-it is a YA book-it has received very little notice in the book blog world-I totally love it-it is from the point of view of a teenage boy caught up in the madness of the Warsaw Ghetto-the ending is sort of a happy one-
Oh, I forgot to add something. Have you read Children of the Flames? It's about Josef Mengele and the twins who survived from Auschwitz. I thought it was a good book.
I may consider joining this event too. It would give me an excuse to reread The Book Thief so I can post a review of it on my blog. And look into getting some more books or movies around the subject.
This is something I'm going to consider. I'm not committing right now because I have a full and busy April and May, but I'm going to try and arrange my reads around a bit and do some Holocaust reading too. (You know I love Holocaust lit and flicks!)