Holocaust and Related Literature of World War II: Bibliography for Children & Young Adults

By Inez Ramsey

Welcome to the Internet School Library Media Center's Holocaust and World War II bibliography of books and other media for children and young adults. Related pages include: [The Holocaust], [Anne Frank Bibliography], [Elie Wiesel page] and [Jewish Children's Books].

Some possible goals:

1. Become familiar with Holocaust literature.
2. Acquire background information about the Holocaust.
3. Participate in directed class discussion.
4. Become acquainted with aspects of Jewish culture and community.
5. Contemplate the racism and discrimination that led to genocide.
6. Examine the relationship between victim and executioner.
7. Generate ideas concerning how we can prevent such
actions in the future.
8. Comparing individual rights.
9. Investigating issues associated with immigration and
asylum.

Possible activities:

1. Writing in journals and formal papers.
2. Discussing with each other about films we watched and books we read.

Possible writing assignments:

1. Use quotations as journal prompts.
"Someone who must always live in fear of being tormented and hunted must be very strong in his soul to remain and upright human being." Teacher Neudorf in Friedrich

Reference

From Teaching the Holocaust unit by Jerri Norris, Keystone Heights High School, Clay County, Florida.

Bibliography

Abells, Chana Byers. The Children We Remember. Greenwillow, 1986. A photoessay from the archives of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem of children who lived and died in the Holocaust.

Adler, David A. Child of the Warsaw Ghetto. Ill. by Karen Ritz. Pub. by Holiday, 1996. A 1996 Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies. Level: Intermediate. Reading level 9. Picture book which provides glimpse of life in the Warsaw ghetto from the eyes of a Polish boy.Booklist recommends grades 3-6

Adler, David. Hiding from the Nazis. Illustrated by Karen Ritz. Holiday House, 1998.

The true story of Lore Baer who as a four-year-old Jewish child was placed with a Christian family in the Dutch farm country to avoid persecution by the Nazis. Reviews at Barnes & Noble

Adler, David A. The Number on My Grandfather's Arm. Illustrated by Rose Eichenbaum. UAHC Press, 1995. Ages 7 to 10.

A little girl questions a number printed on her grandfather's arm and he explains how he received it in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Reviews at Barnes & Noble

Adler, David. A Picture Book of Anne Frank. Illustrated by Karen Ritz. Holiday House, 1994. Ages 4-8. Biography

A chronicle of the life of Anne Frank, a young Jewish Girl, who kept a diary during her family's attempts to hide from the Nazis in the 1940s. Review at Amazon

Altshuler, David. War Against the Jews; A Young Reader's Version of the War against the Jews, 1933-1945, by Lucy S. Dawidowicz. Behrman House, 1978.

Atlas of the Holocaust. By Martin Gilbert. New York: William Morrow and Company. 1993.

Boas, Jacob, ed. We Are Witnesses; The Diaries of Five Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust Ill. with photos. Pub. by Holt, 1996; pa. ed. Mass Market Paperback, 1996.

Grades 6 up; A 1996 Notable Children's Trade Books in the Social Studies. Words by five teenage diarists. Reviews at Barnes & Noble.

Chaikin, Miriam. A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945. Clarion. 1987. Grades 7 up.
Non-fictionShe defines what words like "storm troopers" and "roundups" mean; explains the rise of Hitler, the fears and anti-Semitic traditions he preyed upon and other historical material. She focuses on how children of the same age as potential readers were affected.

Classroom Classics Part I. [video] Anne Frank and A Separate Peace. Guidance Associates. Grades 9-12.
Uses clips from the film versions of these works; the narrator introduces the plot and characters and attempts to stimulate students to explore further. Includes teacher guides.

Czech, Danuta. Auschwitz Chronicle: 1939-1945. 1991. Holt. Grades 10-12.
Non-fictionStarkly graphic account of day-to-day occurrences at the camp. Not a book to read cover-to-cover but a valuable research tool. Includes b&w photos. Recommended for schools which include the Holocaust in their curricula.

Carmen Agra Deedy. The Yellow Star : The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark. Illustrated by Henri Sorensen. Peachtree, 2000. Ages 8 to 12.

Retells the story of King Christian X and the Danish resistance to the Nazis during World War II.

Diary of Anne Frank. [sound filmstrips] From Films Incorporated, 1144 Wilmette Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
Three cassettes and filmstrips made from the 20th Century Fox movie.

Douglas, Kirk. The Broken Mirror. Simon & Schuster, 1997. Fiction Ages 9-12

1997 Honoree/Children's Literature/National Jewish Book Award. At the end of World War II, young Moishe is the only one of his family still alive and is left broken by his experiences, so he chosses not to be seen as a Jew and tells people his a gypsy, until the light of a Sabbath candle begins to change his thoughts and warm his heart once more. Review at Amazon

Elkins, Michael. Forged in Fury. New York: Ballantine. 1971.
How a group of Jewish resistance fighters continued their hunt for Nazis after the war ended.

Epstein, Helen. Children of the Holocaust; Conversations with Sons and Daughters of Survivors.

Fanelow, Fania. Playing for Time New York: Atheneum, 1977.

Forma, James. My Enemy, My Brother Scholastic, 1972.
A novel of how a teenage survivor of a Nazi prison decides to find a new life in Israel.

Frank, Anne. Tales from the Secret Annex New York: Doubleday, 1984.

Friedlander, Albert, ed. Out of the Whirlwind; A Reader of Holocaust Literature. New York: Schocken Books, 1976.

Friedman, Ina. The Other Victims; First-Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis. Houghton, 1990. Grades 7 up.
Non-fiction Contains information not easily found in other sources, including information on religious, racial and sexual persecution. [Subtitles misleading in the case of homosexuals and blacks.} Short chapters contain facts about fate of persecuted groups and personal narratives. Writing style is erratic.

Friedman, Ina. Flying Against the Wind; The Story of a Young Woman Who Defied the Nazis Ill. with photos. Pub. by Lodgepole, 1996. A 1996 Notable Children's Trade Book in the Social Studies. Level: Adult. True story of a non-Jewish girl who paid a terrible price for her convictions.

Gies, Miep. Anne Frank Remembered

Gestapo: A Game of the Holocaust. By Raymond Zwerin et al. Denver, CO: Alternatives in Religious Education, 1976.
No review available. Would need to preview for appropriateness to age level. Held in Carrier Library, James Madison University.

Gottfried, Ted. Children of the Slaughter: Young People of the Holocaust. Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 2001.

Grades 6 up; discusses the young Jewish victims of the Holocaust, German children and the Hitler Youth and the children of survivors. Reviews at Barnes & Noble

Gottfried, Ted. Displaced Persons: The Liberation and Abuse of Holocaust Survivors. Twenty-First Century Books, 2001.

127pp., grades 6 up

Gottfried, Ted. Martyrs to Madness: The Victims of the Holocaust. Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.

Ages 12 up; Discusses how the Nazis came to power in Germany and the systematic brutalization they perpetrated on such groups as the Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, homosexuals and others. Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn Review at Barnes & Noble

Gottfried, Ted. Nazi Germany: The Face of Tyranny. Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.

Ages 12 up; Describes the Nazis' rise to power in Germany and their efforts to conquer Europe, as well as their full-scale war against Jews and others. Review at Barnes & Noble.

Green, Bette. Summer of My German Soldier. Laureleaf paper, 1994. Young Adult Fiction

A 12-year-old Jewish girl, mistreated by her parents, helps a young German prisoner of war escape with tragic consequences. Setting is American South during WW II.

Hausner, Gideon. Justice in Jerusalem New York: 1978.
Concerns the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Hersey, John. The Wall New York: Knopf, 1950. Adult book. Grades 10-12.
Fictional account of the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. For mature teens who are good readers. See also: The Wall; A Play in Two Acts. Based on the Hersey novel. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1961. Adult.

Heller, Fanya Gottesfeld. Strange and Unexpected Love; A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memories. Hoboken, NJ: Ktav Pub. House, 1993. Adult.
No review available. Held at JMU's Carrier Library.

Hurwitz, Johanna. Anne Frank; Life in Hiding. Illustrated by Vera Rosenberry. Jewish Publication Society, 1989. Ages 9-12. Nonfiction

A biography of a young Jewish girl made famous after her death in the Holocaust by the publishing of her diary detailing the two years her family hid from the Nazis during World War II. [No review]

Jackson, Livia Bitton. I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust. pa. ed. Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Grade 7 up; The author describes her experiences as she and her family are sent to the Auschwitz death camp. Reviews at Barnes & Noble.

Joseph, Jeremy. Swastika over Paris. 1989. Little Brown/ Arcade. Grade 7 up.
Chronicles the fate of the Jews during the Nazi occupation of France. Traces the lives of a wealthy banker and the teenage daughter of a working class family. Epilogue tells what happened to the families. Refers to anti-Semitism existing in France before WWII. The 1989 video Road to War: France from Coronet/MTI gives a good historical overview of this ear.

Judgment at Nuremberg [Filmstrip] Larchmont, NY: Media Basics, 1979.
Includes book The Holocaust Years; Society on Trial. Edited by Roselle Chartock and Jack Spender. Based on the motion picture of the same title. Examines the nature of the Nazi Regime in the Hitler Era, the nature of war guilts and war crimes as they apply to individuals and nations and related fictional drama to actual historical events.

Kanfer, Stefan. The Eighth Sin. New York: Bantam, 1974.
Portrays the fate of the Gypsies under Hitler.

Keneally, Thomas.. Schindler's List New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982. Adult.

Kerr, M. E. Gentlehands. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.

Klein, Gerda Weissmann. All but My Life. New expanded ed. Hill & Wang, 1995. Young Adult.

Memoir of a young Polish Jewess's enslavement by the Nazis and liberation by American soldier. Basis for the Emmy-winning documentary One Survivor Remembers. Audiovile also available. Reviews at Amazon.

Kucher-Silberman, Lean. My Hundred Children. Dell, 1987. Grade 9 up.
Inspiring story of a woman who survived the Holocaust and later led 100 Jewish children out of Poland to safety in Israel.

Laird, Christa. Shadow of the Wall. Morrow/Greenwillow, 1990. Grades 7 up.
A work of historical fiction set in the Warsaw ghetto which focuses on Janusz Korczak, the heroic pediatrician who directed the Jewish children's orphanage in the ghetto. A compelling portrait of a mother who gives up her children to save them. Does a fine job of depicting everyday life in the ghetto. Postscript indicates many characters are based on real people. Recommended.

Lanzmann, Claude. Shoah. Pantheon, 1985. Grades 8 up.
Non-fictionComplete text of the 9 1/2 hour French film, Shoah. Book is an oral history of Holocaust survivors and other eyewitnesses such as Polish farmers who worked in the fields around the crematoriums. Gives reader a sense of the Holocaust in a way straight-forward history cannot.

Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America. Reissu ed. Athenuem, 1993, c1970. 150p. Fiction Ages 9-12

A Jewish family felling Nazi Germany in 1938 suffers many separations until they are finally united.

Lindwer, Willy. The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank. Random House, 1991. Grades 7-12.
Based on research done for a documentary film. Interviews with several women who knew Anne Frank after she and her family were arrested. One interviewee was Anne's best friend from the age of five and was with her at Bergen-Belsen. Includes b&w photos. Book is a must for anyone moved by the Diary of a Young Girl. Highly recommended.

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Newbery Award Winner.

10-year-old Annemarie and her family help a Jewish family escape from Denmark in WWII.

Matas, Carol. Daniel's Story. pa ed. Scholastic, 1993.

Ages 12 and up; A fictional account of 14-year-old Daniel's family as they are deported first to the Warsaw ghetto and then to Auschwitz. Reviews at Barnes & Noble.

Matas, Carol. After the War. Simon & Schuster, 1996. Young Adult Fiction

After World War II, Ruth, a 15-year-old survivor of Buchenwald has nowhere to turn. Recruited by Brichah, an underground organization that helps people get to Palestine, Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children there, using secret routes and forged documents. Readers comments at Amazon

Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission. Dell paper, 1994. Grades 4-6. Fiction In 1944, 15-yer-old Jack lies his way into the United States Air Force. His plane is shot down and Jack is a German prisoner of war.

Meltzer, Milton. Never to Forget; The Jews of the Holocaust Harper and Row, 1976. Juvenile.
Non-fiction Highly recommended juvenile title on the persecution of the Jews and underground movements during the Hitler years. (1939-1945).

Merti, Betty. The World of Anne Frank; Reading, Activities and Resources. Portland, Maine: J. Weston Walch, 1984.
A Teacher workbook full of reproducible student readings; student activities and sources. Includes activities to develop reading comprehension, discussion questions, short essays, etc.

Mochizuki, Ken. Passage to Freedom; The Sugihara Story. Lee & Low Books, 1997. Picture book/Fiction. Ages 4-8

1997 Honoree/Children's Literature/National Jewish Book Award. A portrait of Chinune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940, explains how he used his powers--against the orders of his own government--to assist thousands of Jews escape the Holocaust, actions that resulted in the imprisonment and disgrace of his entire family. Reviews at Amazon

Morpurgo, Michael. Waiting for Anya. Puffin paper, 1997. 176p.

Story of German occupation of France in WWII. Benjamin and Leah were sent to a concentration camp.

Nicholson, Michael. Raoul Wallenberg; the Swedish Diplomat Who Saved 100,000 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust Before Mysteriously Disappearing. Milwaukee: G. Stevens, 1989.
From the People Who Helped Save the World Series. Juvenile Biography.

Noble, Iris. Nazi Hunter; Simon Wiesenthal. New York: Messner, 1979.
Presents an account of the activities of Simon Wiesenthal who was instrumental in locating and prosecuting members of the Nazi SS.

Orgil, Doris. Devil in Vienna. Viking paper, 1988. 246p. Fiction

A Jewish girl and her friend who is the daughter of a Nazi struggle to remain friends prior to the Anschluss in Austria.

Orlev, Uri. The Island on Bird Street. Translated from the Hebrew. Houghton Mifflin paper, 1992.

During WWII, a Jewish boy survives alone in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Orlev, Uri. The Man From the Other Side. Puffin paper, 1995. 186p.

14-year-old Marek who lives on the outskirts of the Warsaw Gehtto and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man.

Papanek, Ernst. Out of the Fire. New York: Morrow, 1975.
The story of a man who saved thousands of Jewish children from the Holocaust.

Plays of the Holocaust; an International Anthology. Edited by Elinor Fuchs. New York: Theatre Communication Group, 1987. Adult.

No reviews available. Preview. Available in Carrier Library.

Rabinowitz, Dorothy. New Lives; Survivors of the Holocaust Living in America. 1976.

Ramati, Alexander. And the Violins Stopped Playing. Watts, 1987. High School level.
There is little literature on the Gypsy Holocaust. Based on the true story of Roman Mirga, one of two surviving members of a Polish Gypsy family, it traces the family's lives in Poland and Auschwitz. Book is well written and tells a fascinating story. Highly recommended for secondary. Can be considered for a middle school collection.

Reiss, Johanna. The Upstairs Room. Trophy Pr. paper, 1990. Young Adult

Recounts the trials of the author's family in hiding for two-and-a-half years in an upstairs room during WWII.

Richter, Hans Peter. Friedrich. Translated from the German. Viking paper, 1987. 149p. YA Fiction

Two friends, one Jewish, are caught up in the maelstrom of Nazi anti-Jewish campaigns of the 1930's. Tragic in its conclusion.

Rol, Ruud van der and Verhoeven, Rian. Anne Frank, Beyond the Diary; a Photographic Remembrance. Translated by Tony Langham and Plym Peters. New York: Viking, 1993.
Photographs, illustrations and maps accompany historical essays, diary excerpts, and interviews, providing an insight to Anne Frank and the massive upheaval which tore her world apart. A must title if you are reading the diary.

Roth, John K. A Consuming Fire; Encounters with Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust. Prologue by Elie Wiesel. Christianity and anti-semitism. No review available. Held by Carrier Library. Possible teacher reference.

Roth-Hano, Renee. Touch Wood; A Girlhood in Occupied France. Viking paper, 1989. Fiction

Autobiographical novel of a young Jewish girl and her family's attempts to flee from their home in Alsace in WW II.

Rubin, Arnold P. The Evil That Men Do; The Story of the Nazis. New York: Julian Messner, 1981.

Rubinstein, Erna F. The Survivor in Us All; Four Young Sisters in the Holocaust. Reissue ed. Archon, 1986, c1962.185p.

Story of Rubinstein and her sisters in Auschwitz.

Rubinstein, Erna F. After the Holocaust; The Long Road to Freedom. pa. Archon, 1995. 186p.

Rubinstein, a Polish Jew, continues the story of her and her sisters after their liberation from Auschwitz in 1945. Review at Amazon

Sachs, Marilyn. A Pocket Full of Seeds. Puffin paper, 1994. 137p. Fiction

During WW II, a young Jewish girl in France returns home to find her family has disappeared without a trace.

Schur, Maxine Rose. Sacred Shadows. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997. Fiction. Ages 9-12

1997 Honoree/Children's Literature/National Jewish Book Award. Against a pre-Hitler backdrop, Lena Katz suddenly learns that the Germany for which her father died is now considered part of Poland. She grows up torn between her desire to leave and her allegiance to her mother, who ignores the country's growing anti-Semitism. Then Janusz, a handsome young idealist, enters Lena's world and her life changes forever.

Sender, Ruth Minsky. The Cage. pa ed. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Grades 8 to 12; An autobiographical account of the author's experiences as a young girl in the Warsaw ghetto, Auschwitz and Mittlesteine camps. Reviews at Barnes & Noble.

Senesh, Hannah. Hannah Senesh; Her Life and Her Diary. New York: Schocken Books, 1973.
One of Israel's greatest heroines was a Jewish teenager who became a paratrooper during World War II and died trying to help Jewish victims of the Nazis.

Siegal, Aranka. Upon the Head of the Goat; A Childhood in Hungary, 1939-1944 New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981. Grades 7-up.

Newbery Honor Book, 1982. Recounts the bewilderment of being a Jewish child in Hungary between 1939 and 1944 and relates the ordeal of survival in the ghetto. Fictionalized autobiography of Piri Davidowitz, which follows her life as a young Hungarian, Jewish girl up to the point when she and her family enter a concentration camp.

Siegal, Aranka. Grace in the Wilderness Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
Continues story of Piri Davidowitz after the period from the liberation of the concentration camps to her emigration to the U.S. Relearning simple activities like eating become the focus of Piri's life.

St. John, Robert. Ben-Gurion, A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1971.

Stadtler, Bea. The Holocaust; A History of Courage and Resistance.
New York: Behrman House. Juvenile.
Describes the experiences of Jews in Germany and other European countries during the twelve years of the Third Reich.

Szajkowski, Zosa. An Illustrated Sourcebook of the Holocaust. New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1977-79. Adult.
A pictorial work on antisemitism, ethnic relations and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Held by JMU Carrier Library. Need to preview for appropriateness to high school audiences.

Understanding Prejudice For purchase from Anti-Defamation League of N'nai B'rith, 823 U.N. Plaza, New York: NY 10017.

Vos, Ida. Anna Is Still Here. Translated by Terese Edelstein and Inca Smidt. Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Ages 9-12. Fiction

Anna, a "hidden child" during World War II, struggles to adjust to freedom and overcome her fears in Holland after the Holocaust. Reviews available at Amazon

Wannsee Conference A Co-Production of Infafilm GMBH Munich, Austrian Television-O.R.F. and Bavarian Broadcasting Corp. [videorecording]. Los Angeles: Prism Entertainment. 1988. Adult.
In German with English subtitles. Recreates the conference at Wannsee in Berlin, January 2, 1942, attended by Nazi leaders to determine the fate of the Jewish people.

Warsaw Ghetto; Holocaust and Resistance Available for purchase from Jewish Labor Committee, 25 E. 78th St., New York, NY 10021.
A filmstrip and cassette that portray the formation of and life in the Warsaw ghetto but concentrates on resistance--both passive and armed.

Wiesel, Elie. Night Translated from the French. Bantam, 1960.

Wild, Margaret. Let the Celebrations Begin!. Illustrated by Julie Vivas. Orchard Books, 1996. Ages 4-8

A child, who remembers life at home before life in a concentration camp, makes toys with the women to give to the other children at the very special party they are going to have when the soldiers arrive to liberate the camp. Inspired by a collection of stuffed toys made by the Polish women in Belsen for the first children's party held after the liberation.

Yolen, Jane. The Devil's Arithmetic. pa. ed. Penguin USA, 1990.

Grades 4 to 8; Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland. Reviews at Barnes & Noble

The Young Reader's Encyclopedia of Jewish History. 1987. Viking, Grades 7 up.
Non-fiction Translation of an Israeli children's encyclopedia. Covers main events, time periods and important people in Israel and the Diaspora over 7,000 years. Includes color photographs, maps, charts, and a timeline of key historical events.

Zyskind, Eliezer. Maavako Shel Naar [Struggle. Minneapolis: Lerner Pub. 1989. Juvenile.
Personal narrative of the Jewish Holocaust; Brzezing (Lodz) Poland. (Biography)

Plays with a Holocaust Theme

No reviews of these works are available. Preview for appropriateness to secondary students.

The Diary of Anne Frank by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett.

Review of adaptation of the play by Vincent Canby,

A New 'Anne Frank' Still Stuck in the 50s

The Investigation by Peter Weiss. Much of the play is actual court testimony. Internationally successful. Weiss biography available from encyclopedia.com

The Man in the Glass Booth by Robert Shaw. Centers on the theme of the postwar response to the Holocaust survivor. Information available from nytheatre.com

Incident at Vichy by Arthur Miller. Set in occupied France. Portrays how Jewish victims refused to believe what was really happening. Review available for Colony Theatre production

Doctor Korczak and the Children by Erwin Sylvannus. Concentrates on the responsibility of the German people for the Holocaust.

The Deputy by Rolf Hochhuth. Deals with the response of the Church to the Holocaust. Indicted Pope Pius XII for complicity. Excerpts of reviews available from JHU Press. Recipient of 1965 Frederic G. Melcher Book Award

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Site Administrator: Inez Ramsey, James Madison University
E-mail: ramseyil@jmu.edu