TOP TEN BOOKS ABOUT WWII AND THE HOLOCAUST
Today’s official topic is TOP TEN WORLDS I’D NEVER WANT TO LIVE IN. Instead of crafting a list featuring every dystopian novel I’ve ever read, I decided instead to focus on a real-life dystopia: World War II and Nazi Germany. While Hitler was orating on the dominance of his country and the Aryan Race, his fascist regime sought to eliminate anyone and everyone who he deigned impure. Nazi Germany, and the surrounding European countries, was not a pleasant place for anyone in the late 1930s and 1940s, and even the ethnic Germans had to live under fear and shortages. Europe in World War II is a world I am glad I never lived in, so I have focused on books from this era for this week’s TTT (I’ve read a lot of WWII books this year).
[heartbreaking.]
Links go to my reviews of each.
1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The German son of the Auschwitz Commandant befriends a Jewish prisoner in the camp.
The German son of the Auschwitz Commandant befriends a Jewish prisoner in the camp.
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Liesel Memminger learns the power of words and love in her foster family in Nazi Germany.
Liesel Memminger learns the power of words and love in her foster family in Nazi Germany.
3. Maus by Art Speigelman
A graphic novel memoir of an Auschwitz survivor, as told to his son years later.
A graphic novel memoir of an Auschwitz survivor, as told to his son years later.
4. Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz
Based on a true story, this fictional novel tells the story of one Polish Jew who survived ten different concentration camps.
Based on a true story, this fictional novel tells the story of one Polish Jew who survived ten different concentration camps.
5. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
An American pilot is captured by the Nazis and forced into Ravensbruck, the notorious all-female concentration camp in Northern Germany
An American pilot is captured by the Nazis and forced into Ravensbruck, the notorious all-female concentration camp in Northern Germany
6. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
A family from the Lithuanian Intellgensia is sent by the Soviets to a work camp in Siberia.
A family from the Lithuanian Intellgensia is sent by the Soviets to a work camp in Siberia.
7. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A Danish girl’s family must hide their daughter’s Jewish friend in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen.
A Danish girl’s family must hide their daughter’s Jewish friend in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen.
8. Surviving The Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor
A memoir of a survivor of the Mengele twin experiments in Auschwitz.
A memoir of a survivor of the Mengele twin experiments in Auschwitz.
9. Night by Elie Wiesel
A Hungarian Jew’s tale of the horrors he witnessed in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
A Hungarian Jew’s tale of the horrors he witnessed in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
10. Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
A murder mystery set in 1930′s Germany, and the protagonist is Adolf Hitler’s niece. An incredible debut novel!
A murder mystery set in 1930′s Germany, and the protagonist is Adolf Hitler’s niece. An incredible debut novel!
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