Hodge,
Deborah. Rescuing the Children. Tundra Books 60p $17.95 978-1-77049-256-9 2012 ms E-BN History
This insightful book presents primary-source information about
the Holocaust. Of the six million
Jews killed by the Nazis, more than 1.5 million were children. The Kindertransport
succeeded in rescuing nearly ten thousand children from the clutches of the
Nazis. It began after Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken
Glass, in
November 1938, and lasted until the formal start of the war. The idea of the Kindertransport was proposed by a
delegation of British Jewish leaders and members of the Society of Friends who
requested their government offer sanctuary to Jewish children under the age of
seventeen.
Well researched and well presented, Rescuing the Children provides an excellent look at one of mankind's darkest
periods. It begins with a brief
explanation of the rise of Hitler and his plans to annihilate the Jewish people
and discusses the Kindertransport through first-person accounts of eight
still-living children who escaped. The
difficulties and struggles that these children experienced in leaving their families and going to a strange place are not
minimized but explained in context. The
author continues with a description of the children’s trips by train and boat, their
lives in England during and after the war, and their ultimate discovery that
most of their families had perished in the concentration camps. The book also contains brief biographies of
several of the Righteous who helped these children. Hodge offers the information in a well-balanced, succinct,
and lucid manner. The writing is clear
and concise, presenting the topic through both primary sources and narrative
accounts. The text is enhanced by the
inclusion of black-and-white photographs and documents, colorful quilted
squares representing the children, and maps.
The book ends with a glossary, a timeline, a bibliography of books and
Internet addresses, and an index.
Kindertransport --Susan
Ogintz
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