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By Markus Zusak

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Children being hidden during the Holocaust

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Children being hidden during the Holocaust

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When World War II ended in 1945, six million European Jews were dead, killed in the Holocaust. More than one million of the victims were children.

Driven by a racist ideology that viewed Jews as "parasitic vermin" worthy only of eradication, the Nazis implemented genocide on an unprecedented scale. All of Europe's Jews were slated for destruction: the sick and the healthy, the rich and the poor, the religiously orthodox and converts to Christianity, the aged and the young, even infants.

Thousands of Jewish children survived this brutal carnage, however, many because they were hidden. With identities disguised, and often physically concealed from the outside world, these youngsters faced constant fear, dilemmas, and danger. Theirs was a life in shadows, where a careless remark, a denunciation, or the murmurings of inquisitive neighbors could lead to discovery and death.

Choices

The vast majority of Jews in German-occupied Europe never went into hiding, for many reasons. Hiding meant leaving behind relatives, risking immediate and severe punishment, and finding an individual or family willing to provide refuge. Many Jews, no doubt, held out the hope that the threat of death would pass or that they could survive until the Allied victory.

Sadly, the willingness or ability of the non-Jewish populations to rescue Jewish lives never matched the Nazis' vehement desire to destroy them. Even in countries where hatred for the German occupiers ran deep, anti-Nazism did not necessarily generate aid for Jews. The Nazis portrayed the Jews as carriers of contagion, as criminals, or as "Bolshevik" agents anxious to subvert European society. The Nazis further discouraged rescue by threatening severe penalties for those caught helping Jews.

Discovered

Life in hiding was always hazardous. Throughout German-occupied Europe, the Nazis made a concerted effort to locate Jews in hiding. German officials and their collaborators harshly penalized those who aided Jews and offered rewards to individuals willing to turn in Jews. Beginning in March 1943, the Gestapo (the German secret state police) granted some Jews in Germany reprieve from deportation in exchange for tracking down their co-religionists who had gone underground. By spring 1945, when the Nazi regime lay in ruins, these informers had turned in as many as 2,000 Jews. In other countries, neighbors betrayed others for money or out of support for the regime. In German-occupied Poland, blackmailers squeezed money or property from Jews by threatening to turn them in to the authorities.

Jews in hiding were discovered by chance during raids seeking conscripts for forced labor, resistance cells, black marketers, or by random searches of documents. A slip of the tongue, improperly prepared false documents, or gossip could lead to arrest and deportation.

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Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust

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When World War II ended in 1945, six million European Jews were dead, killed in the Holocaust. More than one million of the victims were children. Driven by a racist ideology that viewed Jews as "parasitic vermin" worthy only of eradication, the Nazis implemented genocide on an unprecedented scale.

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A letter written to her husband minutes before she was gassed.

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A letter written to her husband minutes before she was gassed.

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That Vilma Grunwald's letter even exists is extraordinary.

She penned it in the minutes before she was gassed at Auschwitz, addressed it to her husband, and handed it to a Nazi guard who did the improbable - he delivered it to the man, who was also imprisoned at the camp.

The Washington Post reports she accompanied her eldest child, a 16-year-old named John, who limped, to the gas chambers. The Indianapolis Star has the story of the July 11, 1944, letter, which has for the last four years resided at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

"I'm always reluctant to say it's the only such document ever created," says the museum's chief acquisitions curator, "but to the best of our knowledge" it is the only surviving letter written at the concentration camp prior to a gassing.

Grunwald's son, Misa (who now goes by Frank and lives northeast of Indianapolis) learned of the letter as an 11-year-old in 1946 but did not read it until after his father's 1967 death.

Frank tells the Starthat what he found most moving was the 11-sentence letter's tone: free of anger or resentment, and focused only on him and his father.

It reads in part: "The famous trucks are already here and we are waiting for it to begin. ... You - my only and dearest one, do not blame yourself for what happened, it was our destiny. We did what we could. ... Take care of the little golden boy and don't spoil him too much with your love. Both of you - stay healthy, my dear ones. I will be thinking of you and Misa. Have a fabulous life, we must board the trucks."
This article originally appeared on Newser: As She Headed to Auschwitz Gas Chamber, She Wrote This

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Auschwitz letter thought to be only one of its kind

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That Vilma Grunwald's letter even exists is extraordinary. She penned it in the minutes before she was gassed at Auschwitz, addressed it to her husband, and handed it to a Nazi guard who did the improbable - he delivered it to the man, who was also imprisoned at the camp.

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"Abeit Macht Frei" work will make you free

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People would hide in tunnels and basements

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People would hide in tunnels and basements

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The Standover Man written by a Jewish man in hiding.

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The Standover Man written by a Jewish man in hiding.

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US Holocaust Museum opens new research centre

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A Treasured Letter Written to a Daughter 75 Years ago is Part of a Digital Exhibition

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The most pivotal moment was when Herr Huberman gave bread to a jew in public. This changed the entire direction of the story. Without this scene, Max wouldn't have had to leave, and Herr Huberman wouldn't have had to join the party. 

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The most pivotal moment was when Herr Huberman gave bread to a jew in public. This changed the entire direction of the story. Without this scene, Max wouldn't have had to leave, and Herr Huberman wouldn't have had to join the party. 

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I definitely loved reading the book thief
and would recommend it to almost anyone. I think anyone can enjoy the humorous narrator that the author decided to employ to tell this amazing story. It was very well written and also made the reader more aware of a historical event with a lot of significance.

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My favorite moment in The Book Thief was when Death, the narrator, is guiding the main character's best friend who just died. His death wasn't surprising because Death had previously spoiled it, but that didn't stop it from being heartbreaking, and even Death admits that he cries over his death. "I carried [Rudy] softly through the broken street...with him I tried a little harder [at comforting]. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape. I saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It's his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry." This scene stood out to me because of how much it pulls at one's heartstrings. I think the author brought up all of Rudy's most memorable moments, to make the reader miss his antics and presence in the remainder of the novel even more.

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‘The Book Thief’ is a novel set in Germany during the Holocaust. It’s about a young German girl who has a love for books and steals them a few times. But it’s also about bravery, standing up for what you believe in, and caring for others wellbeing. This is demonstrated in multiple occasions, the biggest show of it being how Liesel and her family let a Jewish Fist Fighter called Max hide in their basement to hide from the Nazi’s. This is obviously extremely dangerous for them, yet they are willing to run the risk in order to help protect someone who is being persecuted unjustly. They provide him with food and shelter. This novel reminds me of a novel called ‘Number the Stars,’ by Lois Lowry, which I own and read when I was younger. In it, a girl from Denmark tells the story of how her family took in her Jewish best friend and helped her family and her escape along with other Jews to Sweden to avoid concentration camps since Denmark was being taken over by Germany. They are both similar since they tell the story of a family putting themselves at risk in order to help others who are being unjustly persecuted, and in order to stand up for what is right. In ‘The Book Thief,’ Liesel has already lost her Mother and Brother, and could have very well decided she didn’t want to put herself at risk of suffering the same fate. In ‘Number the Stars,’ Annemarie had already lost her older sister to the Nazi’s, since she had been part of the Danish Resistance, and even had a younger sister who she would have probably wanted to keep out of harm's way. But regardless of these losses, in both novels, they show selflessness and help save lives because of that. While they could have only thought of themselves and their safety, and their family’s well being, they did their best to help others who otherwise would have suffered a terrible fate.