Hello Bookworms!
Today is Yom HaShoah, or Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is a day in which the nation of Israel and the rest of the world remembers the atrocities that occurred during World War II. The events that took place during this era forever altered the history of the entire world.
With these things in mind, I wanted to post a few book recommendations that are related to this time in history. Each of the following books is either entirely focused on the subject of the Holocaust or have a significant portion of the work dedicated to it. I have read each of these volumes and thoroughly enjoyed them all. There is no particular order in which I recommend that these books be read, but I do feel that if you choose to read any or all of them, you will be glad you did.
Here are links to each book on Amazon and the publisher's book summaries:
Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank – Nonfiction
"Among the most powerful accounts of the Nazi occupation, "The Diary of Anne Frank" chronicles the life of Anne Frank, a thirteen-year old girl fleeing her home in Amsterdam to go into hiding. Anne reveals the relationships between eight people living under miserable conditions: facing hunger, threat of discovery and the worst horrors the modern world had seen. In these pages, she grows up to be a young woman and a wise observer of human nature. She shares an unparalleled bond with her diary, which holds a detailed account of Anne's close relationship with her father, the lack of daughterly love for her mother, admiration for her sister's intelligence and closeness with her friend Peter. Anne Frank's account offers a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman who turns thoughtful and learns of the many terrors of the world."
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom – Nonfiction
"It's World War II. Darkness has fallen over Europe as the Nazis spread hatred, fear and war across the globe. But on a quiet city corner in the Netherlands, one woman fights against the darkness.
In her quiet watchmaking shop, she and her family risk their lives to hide Jews, and others hunted by the Nazis, in a secret room, a "hiding place" that they built in the old building.
One day, however, Corrie and her family are betrayed. They're captured and sent to the notorious Nazi concentration camps to die. Yet even in that darkest of places, Corrie still fights.
This is her story--and the story of how faith, hope and love ultimately triumphed over unthinkable evil."
Obsessed by Ted Dekker – Fiction
"Stephen Friedman is making a good living in good times. He's just an ordinary guy. Or so he thinks.
But one day an extraordinary piece of information tells him differently. It's a clue from the grave of a Holocaust survivor. A clue that makes him heir to an incredible fortune . . . a clue that only he and one other man can possibly understand.
That man is Roth Braun, a serial killer who has been waiting for Stephen for thirty years. Roth was stopped once before. This time nothing will get in his way.
Known worldwide for page-turning, adrenaline-laced thrillers, Dekker raises the stakes in this story of passion, revenge, and an all-consuming obsession for the ultimate treasure."
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas – Nonfiction
"As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer—a pastor and author. In this New York Times best-selling biography, Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life—the theologian and the spy—and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching decision to leave the safe haven of America to return to Hitler’s Germany, and sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer's life and theology never before seen."
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss – Fiction (based on a true story)
"This is the true story of a girl's extraordinary survival during the German occupation of Holland of World War II. Annie was only ten years old, but because she was Jewish, she was forced to leave her family, her home, and everything she knew.
Annie was taken in, far from home, by complete strangers who risked everything to help her. They showed Annie where she had to stay - the cramped upstairs room of their farmhouse. she would remain there while Nazis, who were ever vigilant, patrolled the streets outside. If Annie made even a sound from upstairs, or if a nosy neighbor caught sight of her in the window, it would surely mean a death sentence for her and the family that took her in. Elie Wiesel writes, “This admirable account is as important in every aspect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank." A Newbery Medal Honor Book, ALA Notable Book, and winner of the Jewish Book Council Children’s Book Award."
Night by Elie Wiesel – Nonfiction
NOTE: This book does contain some strong language.
"Night is Elie Wiesel's masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie's wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author's original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man's capacity for inhumanity to man.
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be."
To read more about the Holocaust, see the following Wikipedia articles:
The Holocaust | Holocaust Remembrance Day | World War II | International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Keep on reading!
-JD
J.D. Sutter is the producer and host of the Bookworm Banquet podcast and editor of the blog. He is the founder of Porchlight Family Media.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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