Oregon Holocaust Memorial Resources
Biography
Atkinson, Linda. In Kindling Flames: The Story of Hanah Senesh 1921-1944. New York: William Morrow, 1992. (middle school +)
Atkinson combines history and biography in this story of the noted Jewish-Hungarian resistance fighter. The author includes an account of Senesh's capture and execution as well as the historical background for full understanding of her story.
Bierman, John. Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust. New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1981 (high school +)
The first half of the book is a biography of the well-known figure whom helped save at least 30,000 Jews in Hungary. The second part of the book describes the circumstances surrounding Wallenberg's disappearance and subsequent attempts to locate him or at least find out what happened to him. Later, it was revealed that he died in a Soviet prison, information not released by the USSR until the 1990s.
Breitman, Richard, and Walter Laqueur. Breaking the Silence: The Man Who Exposed the Final Solution. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1986. (high school +)
Eduard Schulte was a major German industrialist who abhorred Hitler and Nazism. He is the man credited with passing on to the Allies news not only of troop movements and weapon programs but of the Nazi plans for genocide. This biography relates Schulte's story from his childhood to his postwar years. The authors also describe the responses of Allied governments to the information he passed on to them.
Friedman, Ina R. Fighting Against the Wind: The Story of a Young Woman Who Defied the Nazis. Brookline, Mass.: Lodgepole Press, 1995.
This biography tells the little-known story of Cato Bjontes van Beek, a non-Jewish German executed at the age of 22 for writing and circulating anti-Nazi flyers. Before her arrest, Cato also had aided Jews in hiding, smuggled refugees over the Alps, and helped starving French prisoners of war.
Lifton, Betty Jean. The King of Children: A Portrait of Janusz Korczak. New York: Schocken, 1989. (high school +)
Much of the material in this biography is taken from Korczak's daries, but Lifton also interviewed many of his former charges and people who worked with Korczak. In addition to the personal portrait of Korczak, a distinguished physician, writer, and educator, she includes background material on the Warsaw ghetto based on Korczak's diary of other ghetto victims.
Marrin, Albert. Hitler: A Portrait of a Tyrant. New York: Viking, 1987. (middle school +)
Martin provides a detailed look at both the man himself and the war he orchestrated. While he makes no effort to be objective in his portrayal of Hitler, the author gives the most detailed account of Hitler and Nazism available in books for young people.
Nichholson, Michael, and David Winner. Raoul Wallenberg. Ridgefield, Conn.: Morehouse, 1990. (middle school +)
This biography contains information about one of the best known of those individuals who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust.
Scholl, Inge. The White Rose: Munich, 1942-43. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan , 1983. (high school +)
Inge Scholl was the sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, founders of trhe famous White Rose resistance movement in Germany. Originally written in 1952, this is the story of the Scholls and of the White Rose movement. It also includes original documents concerning their indictments and sentences. This book was previously publishe dunder the title, Students Against Tyranny.
Pettit, Jane. A Place to Hide: True Stories of Holocaust Rescues. New York: Scholastic, 1993. (middle school +)
A readable book for younger students, this collection includes the stories of Miep Gies, the Schindlers, and Denmark's rescue of its Jews.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York: Pantheon, 1991. (middle school +)
Spiegelman presents his parents' experiences during the Holocaust in a unique way; here cartoon characters represent people, with the Jews portrayed as mice and the Nazis as cats. In the first volume, the author relates the real-life trials of his parents at Auschwitz. The second volume continues their story from Auschwitz to America.
Van der Rol, Ruud, and Rian Verhoeven. Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance. New York: Scholastic, 1993.
Photographs from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and private collections provide a portrait of Anne Frank. Facts about Anne's life before and after her stay in the annex and the larger historical context constitute the text.