Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust / Ruth Thomson 64 p.

The Jewish people tell their story of life in a transit Nazi ghetto established in Terezin, Czechoslovakia, a small fortress town built by the Austrian emperor Joseph II and named for his mother, Maria Theresa.  Terezin, renamed Theresienstadt, became the Nazi’s ‘model’ camp when the Danish king requested a Red Cross visit to view living conditions when Danish Jews were transported there since rumors were circulating about the killing of Jews.  Of course the visitors were carefully guided through after an intense beautification process.  Later, this was filmed by the inmates using inmate actors to further perpetuate how good the Nazis treated the Jews.  Ruth Thomson has the inmates speaking for themselves through their secret diaries, artwork, and excerpts from memoirs and recordings made after the war.   Period photographs, reproductions of menu cards, concert tickets, and posters appear with color photographs of the town as it is today are included.

2012 Notable Children's Books