We Are Witnesses: Five Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust - Jacob Boas

Powerful stories from young Holocaust victims.

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Common Sense rates it
4
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Book details
  • Author:Jacob Boas
  • # of pages: 196
  • Publisher:Marshall Cavendish Corp.
  • Original Publication Date: 01/01/1995
  • Genre: Non-Fiction - History
  • Paperback: $4.50
  • Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: Young Adult
  • Read Alone: 13+

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that the diary excerpts lack the power of a continuous narrative, though their cumulative effect is devastating. Only one photo of each diarist is provided; they range from muddy to riveting.

Families can talk about the teen writers. Teens: In what ways can you relate to them? How do their voices illuminate the Holocaust for you? Do you keep a diary?

Message

Social Behavior:

Persecution of the Jews.

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Violence

Not as graphic as some other Holocaust accounts, but does describe massacres and cold-blooded murders. Boas describes the circumstances of each teenager's death. All the diarists are haunted by the murders of friends; descriptions of particular moments--

Sex

Language

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Amy Brotman

Among the Holocaust's millions of victims were many children and adolescents. Here, in their own words, are some of their powerful stories: vivid excerpts from the diaries of five Jewish teenagers, with concise commentary by Holocaust survivor Jacob Boas. The diarists come from different parts of Europe, yet they share common themes of hope, ambition, fear, and resilience.



Is it any good?

4

Few Holocaust diaries are as finely observed, or offer the same narrative opportunities, as Anne Frank's. Yet reading excerpts from these five journals is a powerful reminder that every victim's story deserves to be known. Each of the teenage writers reveals emotions that will resonate with readers: David's tenderheartedness, Yitzhak's idealism, Moshe's ambition, Eva's longing for her mother, Anne's desire for independence. They speak and act as adolescents do, yet the day-to-day events they chronicle grow increasingly horrifying.

The diaries show how the Nazi terror blankets Europe, touching the home countries of each of the five teens. The records of the three who spend time in Jewish ghettos are especially harrowing, filled with reports of manhunts, Nazi brutality, forced labor, and wrenching separations. Though his comments may at first seem intrusive, Boas proves a trustworthy guide, filling in details that enrich the diaries and eloquently showing how the teens are united in life as well as in death.

Other choices

Tell Them We Remember is a compelling history drawn from the collection of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Eyewitness accounts by Holocaust survivors for readers age 13 and up include Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici, winner of the 1999 Batchelder Award for best translated work. And though Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is often children's first exposure to Holocaust literature, readers can learn more about her in Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, which provides not only diary excerpts but also photographs, maps, and commentary.

Parents and kids say

All Reviews

There are 1 reviews.

5

Posted on 01/17/07 by Anonymous Adult contributor

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5

Posted on 01/17/07 by Anonymous Adult contributor

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