Holocaust Memorial Day
Madelyn Travis discusses some literary depictions of the Holocaust, both old and new.
Each year, a day of remembrance is held in the UK on 27 January to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to relate the Holocaust to more recent atrocities such as the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.
This year's theme (2007 ed), Same. But Different, aims to strengthen British society's respect for diversity and to emphasise the benefits of multiculturalism in Britain.
Teaching children about the Holocaust requires considerable thought as well as sensitivity. By reading literature about the Holocaust, children can see beyond the almost incomprehensible numbers and begin to understand the Holocaust from the perspective of individual victims.
When introducing the subject to a child it is important to decide the age at which he or she is able to cope with such a harrowing topic. Books about the Holocaust tend to be written for children not younger than around eight or nine.
Picture books have been written about the subject, for example Roberto Innocenti's Rose Blanche, but adults should not be fooled by the format into thinking that it, or any other picture book about the Holocaust, is suitable for very young children.
The most famous work of Holocaust literature is undoubtedly Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, which has been read by millions of children and adults worldwide. Anne's diary is among a growing body of published testimonies to survive the war when its author did not.
Books about the war years by those who lived through them often take the form of fictionalised memoir. Some of the best-known books are memoirs of child refugees, such as Judith Kerr's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit trilogy. Hans Peter Richter's memoir Friedrich gives his account of his friendship with a Jewish boy in Germany.
More recent books address the subject from a number of perspectives. Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed is about life in the Warsaw Ghetto. Jane Yolen turns the story of Sleeping Beauty into an allegory of the Holocaust in the young adult novel Briar Rose. Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal winner, Number the Stars, is the story of a family's efforts to save a Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Denmark.
Last year (2006 ed), two high profile books about the Holocaust were published. John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the story of the friendship between the naïve son of a Nazi officer and a Jewish boy imprisoned in Auschwitz, had a mixed reception, while Morris Gleitzman's Once, which tells of a Jewish boy travelling through Nazi-occupied Poland in search of his parents, was highly acclaimed.
This year (2007 ed), publishers are again issuing titles to tie in with Holocaust Memorial Day. Random House is publishing The Book Thief by Australian author Markus Zusak. The book, which is narrated by the voice of Death, was on the New York Times bestseller list and is being published for the teenage market in the UK.
Macmillan is publishing The Life of Anne Frank in association with Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. With a foreword by Jacqueline Wilson, the book includes some entries from Anne's diary, historical information, and many photographs of Anne, her friends and family and the annexe in which they hid.
Finally, Emil and Karl, the story of the friendship between a Jewish boy and a Gentile boy in Nazi-occupied Vienna, is published by Scholastic. The book was written in 1934 and published in Yiddish in 1940, early in the Second World War. This is the first time it has been translated into English.
See our booklist of children's books inspired by the Holocaust
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