Reviews

I had never heard of Terezin (Theresienstadt) before until I attended a workshop that gave an overview of a how this concentration camp/ghetto/transit camp was used as propaganda that it was a clean, beautiful, artist camp to dispel the true horrors Jewish people were facing there and in other camps at the hands of the Nazis (one particular ruse that fooled the International Red Cross was deemed “Operation Embellishment” and there was also a feature film made). There were children there. Only about 100 out of 15,000 survived. This book is a collection of poems, writings, diary entries, and artwork from the children of Terezin. Drawing classes were taught by Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who also was killed, like many of her students, in Auschwitz after being transported there. The artwork is a mix of drawings, mixed paper collages, and self portraits/scenes of life in Terezin. It is a haunting and heartbreaking read and the artwork is experimental, emotional, and enthralling. Remembering them through their art is an honor that also makes me highly recommend this work (though have tissue handy as you feel the weight of such tragic loss as well as the pain and hope of children during the Holocaust is incredibly heavy and hard to read at times).