- The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
- Night by Elie Wiesel (Biography 921/Wiesel)
- Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wien
- An American Heroine in the French Resistance: The Diary and Memoir of Virginia d'Albert-Lake by Virginia d'Albert-Lake (Biography 921/D'Albert-Lake)
The New York Times Bestseller by Heather Morris is a touching true story of a young man from Slovakia who volunteers to go to what he is told is a work camp to work for the Germans because he is told that this will keep his family safe. In April 1942, Lale Sokolov is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. At great risk to himself, he manages to use money and jewels passed to him from the belongs of murdered jews to get extra food and medicine for his fellow prisoners. If you are interested in life in the Nazi concentration camp, try these books from the Turner Ashby Library collections;
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Those who know me know that I like historical fiction. It must be good, accurate history, as well as a good story. Rita Sepetys does extensive research for her books. While researching Between Shades of Gray (nothing to do with Fifty Shades of Gray other than they were published about the same time), she visited surviving members of her own family in Lithuania. She was even able to stand inside one the the cattle cars that were used to transport native Lithuanians, Latvians, and other Baltic peoples to the gulags of Stalin in Siberia where everything was just a different shade of gray and survival was a constant battle. Author speaks about the true history of her family behind the book.
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Ms. Sepetys spent three years researching material for Salt to the Sea. I am always amazed when I read about an historical event of which I have never heard. I was never told in any history class about the Japanese Interment camps in the U.S. during World War II. I knew nothing about them until I read the book Farewell to Manzanar after I started teaching. The same thing was true of Salt to the Sea. I had never even heard of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustoff, the greatest maritime disaster in history. Everyone knows about the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of 1,517 lives. The Wilhelm Gustoff was built for about 1,700 passengers and crew, but was carrying about 10,000 civilians and German millitary personnel desperately trying to escape East Prussia before the Soviet army arrived. When the Wilhelm Gustoff was torpedoed by a Soviet sub, 9,000 lives were lost. Four other ships being used in the evacuation were also sunk that day with a total loss of 17,500 lives on those four ships. Salt to the Sea follows four of the people who were on the Wilhelm Gustoff. Author Introduction to book If you are interested in other books like this, try the following books from the TAHS library:
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AuthorI am a former high school English teacher and now a high school librarian. Archives
November 2019
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