They thought that “after the complete evacuation of the Jews, Terezin will, according to a perfect plan, be settled by Germans and become a center of German life…” Thus were the ultimate plans of the Nazis, who between 1941 and 1945, turned the small town of Terezin, Czechoslovakia into a ghetto, actually a transit camp — a halfway ste p to the hell of Auschwitz or another extermination camp. Yet, even the most desperate surroundings could not snuff out the genius and spirit of these Czech and later, German Jews. Terezin became a “show camp” where inmates were allowed, and at one point, encouraged, to use their enormous talents and intelligence. They held lectures, a library, theater, concerts, and art exhibits. The author metic ulously selected quotes from the diary accounts of inmates and excerpts from memoirs and recordings narrated after the war, and from the numerous books that have been written about the camp. Thomson’s talent, however, is in selecting just the right quotes; the most fitting photographs and reproductions, and in weaving these parts into a format and story that is both handsome— with full page/full col or illustrations and coherent explanations. This oversized book at 8 1÷2” x 11 3÷16” and a slim 64 pages, has to be shelved face out, but is a perfect book to introduce the Holocaust to a group of students from grades 5 – 9 (ages 10 – 14), or for any age. Illustrated with photographs and reproductions of art.
Marcia W. Posner, Ph.D., of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, is the library and program director. An author and playwright herself, she loves reviewing for JBW and reading all the other reviews and articles in this marvelous periodical.