Extra Credit films and websites to further your study

The Holocaust: Fiction and Memoirs

Appleman-Jurman, Alicia. Alicia: My Story. New York: Bantam Books, 1988
ß Abstract: Alicia was thirteen when she escaped alone from a firing squad, and while hiding from the Nazis and collaborators, began saving he lives of strangers. She states, “I believe that the book will teach young people what enormous reserves of strength they possess within themselves.”

Bierman, John. The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust. New York, Viking Press, 1981.
ß Abstract: This is the story of one of the most famous rescuers, Raoul Wallenberg, whose fate remains a mystery to this day. He is credited with saving the lives of close to 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.

Boas, Jacob. We Were Witnesses. New York: Henry Holt, 1995.
ß Abstract: A touching diary of five teenage victims of the Holocaust.
Borowski, Tadeusz. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. New York: Penguin 1976.
ß Abstract: Stories of daily life in Auschwitz describe the relations among the inmates, their various duties within the camp, and the hardships they endured.
De Loo, Tessa. The Twins.

Fink, Ina. A Scrap of Time. New York: Schocken, 1989.
ß Abstract: This collection of short stores describes people that are placed in a variety of normal human situations that have been distorted by war.

Friedman, Carl. Nightfather
Friedman, Carl. The Shovel and the Loom
Friedman, Carl. Their Brothers’ Keepers. New York: Crown, 1957.
ß Abstract: The classic volume contains the first documented evidence of the Christian aid to the Jews during the Holocaust. Friedman has collected eyewitness accounts, personal letters, and diaries as source material. He also conducted interviews across Europe to discover and record stories of rescue.

Gies, Miep and Allison L. Gold. Anne Frank Remembered. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
ß Abstract: Miep Gies, along with her husband, were among those who helped the Frank family while they were in hiding. Her story is an important supplement to Anne Frank’s diary as it adds historical background as well as an outside perspective to Anne’s story. Gies enables the reader to understand what was happening both inside and outside the Annex.

Hersey, John. The Wall. New York: Knopf, 1950.
ß Abstract: This fiction describes the creation of the Warshaw Ghetto, the building of the “Wall” around it, and the uprising and eventual destruction of the ghetto.

Kahane, David. Lvov Ghetto Diary. Amherst: Univ. Of Massachusetts Press, 1990.
ß Abstract: This rabbi’s memoir sheds light on the relatively unknown ghetto Lvov. Kahane also investigates a still disputed Holocaust theme: the attitudes of Ukrainians towards European Jews.

Keneally, Thomas. Schindler’s List. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
ß Abstract: Thomas Kenally’s famous novel tells the story of a remarkable man, Oskar Schinder, who saved the lives of thousands of Jews by harboring them in his factory during the Holocaust.

Klein, Gerda Weissmann. All But My Life. New York: Hill and Wang, 1971.
ß Abstract: A true story that tells about Gerda’s experience as one of only 120 women who survieved a three-hundred-mile march from a labor camp in western Germany to Czechoslovakia.

Leitner, Isabella. Fragments o f Isabella: A Memoir of Auschwitz. New York: Dell, 1983.
ß Abstract: A survivor of Auschwitz recounts the ordeal of holding her family together after her mother is killed in the camp.

Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Collier, 1973.
ß Abstract: This memoir of a young Italian chemist describes life inside Auschwitz in a direct yet sophisticated manner.

Meed, Vladka. On Both Sides of the Wall. New York: Holocaust Publications, 1979.
ß Abstract: A young smuggler from the Warsaw ghetto maintains contact between the ghetto and the Aryan side of the city.

Miller, Arthur. Playing for Time. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
ß Abstract: This is the dramatic version of Fania Fenelon’s story of her days as a musician at Auschwitz.

Ozick , Cynthia. The Shawl. New York: Random House, 1990.
ß Abstract: A book of short stories. The title story tells of a mother witnessing her baby’s death at the hands of camp guards. Another story, “Rose,” that same mother thirty years later, still haunted by the event.

Sender, Ruth M. The Cage. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
ß Abstract: This novel begins just before the Nazi invasion of Poland and continues through life in the Lodz ghetto and finally, at Auschwitz.

Siegal, Aranka. Upon the Head of a Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-44. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1981
ß Abstract: In this award-winning book, Aranka Siegal tells the story of her family and her life in Hungary as a child. In 1944 she and her family were taken to Auschwitz.

Steiner, Jean-Francois. Treblinka. New York: Brad/Avon, 1975.
ß Abstract: A powerful novel about the Treblinka extermination camp and a revolt by the prisoners there.

Wiesel, Elie. The Gates of the Forest. New York: Schocken, 1982.
ß A young Hungarian Jew escapes to the forest during the Nazi occupation, and assumes various roles in order to stay alive. He later joins a partisan group who fight against the Nazis.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam, 1982.
ß Abstract: Wiesel, one of the most eloquent writers of the Holocaust, is known best for this novel. A compelling narrative, Night describes Wiesel’s own experiences in Auschwitz.

Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower.

Zar, Rose. In the Mouth of the Wolf. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1983.
ß Abstract: A young girl in Poland during the Holocaust secures a job working in the household of an SS officer and his wife, using her false papers.