Book overview
--ABRIDGED EDITION of the True Story of the Rescue of a Holocaust Death Train in World War II-- SUITABLE FOR Grades 9-12 and Beyond
AS A YOUNG TEEN living a comfortable life with family, what do you do when the Germans march into your town to persecute you, and your neighbors and your friends turn their backs? As life turns upside-down and you are now a young prisoner--fighting for survival in a concentration camp and FORCED TO BOARD A DEATH TRAIN to nowhere--how do you go on as people are dying all around you?
AS A YOUNG AMERICAN SOLDIER in World War II, fighting brutal battles across Europe--having been shot at and shelled, having seen your friends killed, and no longer even able to remember what your own mother looks like--what is the plan when you STUMBLE ACROSS A HOLOCAUST TRAIN full of suffering families that shocks you to your core, even after you think you have seen it all?
Jewish children on a death train. Nazi murderers. American soldiers. A teacher turned detective, solving a historical mystery, two generations later. It's not a novel. It's not 'based on a true story.' It really happened, and teenagers were there to tell about surviving the horrors of the Holocaust--and living to thank their liberators, just a few years older than themselves... in their own words.
And what happens when the SOLDIERS AND SURVIVORS again MEET FACE TO FACE, seven decades later?
"I survived because of many miracles. but for me to actually meet and cry together with my liberators--the 'angels of life' who literally gave me back my life--was just beyond imagination!" -Leslie Meisels, Teenage Holocaust survivor, 65 years after being freed by American soldiers in World War II
A recent study found that two-thirds of American millennials do not know what Auschwitz is. 22% are not sure they have heard of the Holocaust at all. Well, most adults my age don't know much about it, either. (And if you are an adult seeking to learn more about the Holocaust, you are in the right place, too, an abridged version of the 2016 bestseller of the same name.) The 'good news' is that most of those surveyed feel a need to learn about it, because 'something like it' could happen again. And I adapted this book with the hope that by the time you finish it, you will know more about the Holocaust than most people in your life--and maybe you'll be motivated to do something about that, and think more about the world we inherited from these survivors, their liberators, and the perpetrators and the bystanders. While it is true that some risked all to help their neighbors, when confronted with a moral choice, most people did nothing. But these young soldiers did.
I'll take you into the world of the Holocaust through the eyes of the teens who lived it, children and young adult survivors from all over Europe, and the world of the young soldiers who saved them, and you will be there as a teacher reunites them, 65 years later, as the old soldiers ponder whether their own lives made a difference. --MATTHEW ROZELL
"I was completely taken away by the book and I had to say something. The ending was incredibly insightful and clarifying, it was an amazing comparison between the Holocaust and our world today. I couldn't get over how thoughtful the questions that you asked the reader [to consider], and what you realized during your time in Jerusalem as it came to an end. It was by far my favorite ending to any book I have ever read and I can see myself looking back years from now on the last few pages, if I ever feel lost or if I ever question the world and humanity, and I will be able to find comfort in your words. "-TEEN READER
