Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by Alison Leslie Gold

Reviewed by Miss Dewey at Orenda

Five paw prints!  Most people have heard the story about Anne Frank.  She was a Jewish girl living in hiding from the Nazis during World War II, but her life was cut short after her family was discovered and they were sent to concentration camps where only her father survived.  The world knows of her experiences while in hiding because Anne kept a diary that was published after the war ended.  This story is about one of Anne's best friends who managed to survive the war.  Hannah Goslar and Anne were best friends, and Hannah was one of the only friends mentioned in Anne's diary.  Hannah's story is just as facinating as Anne's, but with a slightly better ending.  Instead of hiding from the Nazis (like Anne's family), Hannah's family tried to leave the country.  Hannah's father had been a government official in Germany before the war so he was able to use some of his connections to get visas to Paraguay, and the family was included on a wait list to be moved to Palastine.  Unfortuantely, the family was deported to a concentration camp before they could take advantage of the visas or the wait list.  But, because of these documents, the family was treated slightly better than families who had been arrested after having been caught hiding.  This didn't help everyone in Hannah's family, but it did buy Hannah enough time to survive and tell her story.  This story was so moving.  It was interesting learning about Anne from a different point of view.  This story was so well written that even though I had an idea about how the story would end I was still in tears over what might happen to Hannah's family members.  There was only one thing I would change about Hannah's story...I want to know MORE.  To learn more about Hannah and Anne's experiences, find an adult and visit http://www.ushmm.org/.
Fic Gol

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