HOLOCAUST SERIES
21st Century Books

Author: Ted Gottfried
Illustrator: Stephen Alcorn
Editor: Jean Reynolds
Age Range: Young Adult
Publisher:Millbrook Press; 2000

ABOUT THE BOOKS

The Holocaust is filled with true tales of treachery and brutality. So heinous and pervasive were the crimes of the Holocaust that this period of history could arguably be used to prove that evil can and does ultimately win out over good in the souls of human beings. But a closer look at the Holocaust reveals a different understanding. For every crime against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis and their followers, it seems there is an amazing act of heroism and bravery carried out by someone else. Some German citizens sheltered Jews and other would-be victims from Nazi thugs. Entire countries, under the leadership of rulers like King Christian X of Denmark, adopted a position of resistance to Nazi policies. Underground groups, spurred by religious and political organizations, staged daring rescues and provided assistance to the vulnerable. Government officials working far from home wielded their power to usher victims to safety. Individual citizens risked and even gave their lives in an effort to save other human beings from the waves of hatred and genocide that swept Europe during World War II. The Jews, the most numerous of the Nazis' victims, did not sit idly by and watch the Holocaust unfold. Stories of heroism from the ghettoes, and of sabotage of the Nazi war effort and rebellion from the concentration camps show that the six million victims the Nazis did succeed in taking did not go quietly. All of these heroes performed their amazing feats at incredible risk to themselves and their loved ones. Indeed, it is the very goodness of human nature suggested by the heroes of the Holocaust that is perhaps our best hope that such atrocities will not happen again.

-From the Publisher