Child of the Holocaust: Penguin Modern Classics Edition

by Jack Kuper

Book Overview

The harrowing true story of a young boy struggling to survive in World War II Poland, this memoir has been hailed as a quintessential classic, as powerful as Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, and celebrated for its rare beauty.

Jack Kuper was only nine years old when he came home to find everyone in his family gone. The night before, Germans had come to his village in rural Poland and removed all the Jews. Now alone in the world,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735236704
• ISBN13: 9780735236707
• Release Date: January 2019
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Child of the Holocaust

I haven't read this book in probably 25 years, but it is a part of who I am today just the same. I still vividly remember certain events and even remember parts of some sentences from it. Having always loved books, I read the first addition of Jack Kuper's memoir when I was about 10 years old, after picking it up from a used book dealer. It made lasting impacts on my young mind. This book was part of how I came about rejecting the racist views held by my family. I'm grateful to Mr. Kuper for having shared such painful but powerful memories.

Child of the Holocaust - A Great Read

"Child of the Holocaust" offers an insightful look into the life of a young Jewish boy trying to keep his identity hidden in a war-torn Poland during World War One. It is deeply emotional and frighteningly realistic. When the main character, originally called Jenkele, is hiding from the Gastapo in a haystack with his uncle, you almost feel as though you are there beside them, living through the freezing temperatures, the lice, vermin, and constant threat of being discovered. Not only does the book offer the point of view of that of a young Jewish boy, it also offers an insight into German and Russian soldiers, young men called to honour by their countries, but whom would rather be at home with their families. Its perspective is refreshingly different from the usual cold-blooded murderer portrayal of German soldiers.I definatly recommend this book for anybody, even if the Holocaust isn't a subject that normally appeals to them.

Child of the Holocaust

I read Child of the Holocaust and thought it was an intresting portrayal of a young Jewish boy running from the Gestapo in Poland. I found myself immersed in a book filled with fear, hardship, and luck. The boy, originally named Jenkele, was a clever boy who I thought was more courageous than anyone I had ever seen. Plus the author described the story so well, that I thought I was part of the action. The book incorporates suspense, sadness, and the harsh reality of Hitler's Holocaust. Although the book was great, there were it's moments I didn't like. One of the moments I didn't like was when Jenkele and his friends were told to beat some sick kittens to death with sticks. There were also parts that were unrealistic. An example of an unrealistic part in the book is when a militia who turns over Jews to the Gestapo let Jenkele go not once but twice. Overall the book was great, and I recommend it to all people interested in the Holocaust.

Personal thoughts on Jack Kuper's Child of the Holocaust

While in the bookstore of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, I purchased Child of the Holocaust. Four years later I finally read it last week. I could not put it down. My heart bled for the danger and sufferings for young Jankele. This is one of the fastest paced books about survival that I have read of late. I believe that it is important for the youth of today to read such works and should be put into high school libraries. My only criticism is that further information about Jankele and his family was not included. I was hoping for a sequel to come from Jack Kuper. I can see this being made into a Spielburg masterpiece because this story should be told and what appeals to our youth now are only tales where they play a significant part.

Moving story of one Jewish child's tortured survival/WWII.

Jack's mother sends him to live with a Polish family, away from German occupied Warsaw. When he comes back to visit he finds that his family has been taken away by the Germans. In vivid, realistic prose, the author recounts his wanderings from one family to another, often having to escape for his life from neighbors and even from the people who had previously befriended him. This is a fast paced book that reads like a novel. It also ends like one, leaving you uncertain as to whether it is a work of literature or a true story. Having read many other accounts of this kind, it has the ring of truth and captures in all its heart-wrending detail themisfortunes of Jews in Poland during the Second World War. /subm