The Girls of Room 28: Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt

by Hannelore Brenner

Book Overview

From 1942 to 1944, twelve thousand children passed through the Theresienstadt internment camp, near Prague, on their way to Auschwitz. Only a few hundred of them survived the war. In The Girls of Room... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805242449
• ISBN13: 9780805242447
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Schocken Books Inc
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent story of Theresienstadt

Having read hundreds of books on the holocaust, I initially thought this would be like all the others--it wasn't! The friendships of these girls and how they coped with unbelievable hardships was heartbreaking. The author did a wonderful job of portraying what really went on in the "model" ghetto.

Trying to keep childhood normal in a terrible time & place

I love this book. The diary and journal entries, drawings from these girls really reminds you that these are young , innocent people trying to be normal in a not-so-normal life. I only have one negative thing to say. I got confused with the children's names because so many of the girls had similar names. I had to keep looking back to see who I was reading about. I should have paid more attention to names. Great book! Love the fact that they studied art and music through such a tough time. I am sure this helped their spirits.

An inspirational and humbling story

The Girls of Room 28, by Hannelore Brenner, is an amazing story about 10 inspiring girls who lived in fear in Theresienstadt interment camp. Hannelore wrote this book with the help of the 10 women who lived in this horror of a camp. Their desire to write and publish this book was to recognize those who lost their lives in German Camps and to let their stories be heard. Brenner was intrigued by the stories of these women. She collected the diaries, nightmares, art, poetry and music all by the girls. Hannelore met with all 10 women at Spindermuhle. This is where she gathered the stories of these girls and what life was like for them in their darkest days. She explains their struggles and heart-ships during the war. Secret diary entries by the girls during their time in Theresienstadt were shared. Because of these entries, you can just picture in your mind what hell these women went through. The women shared how they were writing and learning music in the camps. Brenner tastefully repeats these stories for us to listen to. There are many other sources she referred to and listed in the back of her book. She used these sources for inspiration and further information about Theresienstadt. Within the books 2 covers are horrifying pictures of what life was like. There are also documents and officials records the women received. Maps of Theresienstadt are placed in the book as well. There are photographs of these 10 courageous women. Not only of themselves, but of their families, pre-war. Composing sheets of music and art work of the girls were also photographed for this shoot. The pictures added so much more clarity to the book. When she mentioned a name within a few pages their would be a picture or graphic having to do with that person. This made what she was describing in a way come to life. In my opinion this book is very well written, however in parts when she is describing a women's family, or birth place, the story got hard to follow. This book really brings you to the place of these women and really describes what a terror their life was. Brenner does a fantastic job of imaging this too. She allows you to enter into this world of these women and experience the darkest period of their lives. I believe the contents of this book are an important message to get out. I enjoyed reading this book and reading about the stories of 10 incredible women and their childhood. I would highly recommend this book to people of all ages but especially to children. This book will show them how good life really is for them. It is an important message that is given in this book especially with how spoiled children in this world are today. Overall, this was a truly inspiration and humbling book for me to read.

Girls in Room 28 - Reminder of Spirit

Ms. Wonschick's lovely book chronicles the story of children caught in the horror of Nazi Germany's internment camp at Theresienstadt near Prague. The story, of course is horrific, but told beautifully by the writer. The treasure of the book is the witness to the enormous spirit, love and courage by the children to keep pressing on in the midst of insanity, and to create a semblance of normalcy in their lives. The adults, in the face of death, devised an atmosphere where the hildren could think there was a life worth living. They sacrificed their gifts in music, art, drama, and poetry to distract their fellow captives from the daily threats deportation to Auschwitz. The story reminds us of what we are all called to create . . . love among our fellow men. The inmates at Theresienstadt overcame evil and fulfilled their destiny. Sadly, most of the children and adults did die at Auschwitz, but remarkably, some of the diaries, art and stories have all been salvaged. Hannelore has gathered all the stories with love and gentle care. Remarkably, due to the efforts of some of the artists at Thresienstadt, art therapy was created in the camp, and today is helping children overcome the travails in their lives today. Congratulations to Hannelore Wonschick for telling this important story with such love, gentleness and respect.

Fresh, compelling and ultimately both hearbreaking and inspiring

Growing up in Europe during the late 1960s and 1970s, World War II was an immediate reality, if not one I had any firsthand experience of. Still, everywhere around me there were people who had -- as combattants, as civilians who had suffered bombing and invasion and occupation. I visited Anne Frank's House for the first time at the age of 7, and read her diary in the car as we traveled from the Netherlands to Denmark. By the time we arrived at the German frontier, I was hysterical at the idea of visiting the country whose Nazi leaders had murdered Anne Frank, my parents tell me. Now, decades later, a lot more attention has been paid to the Holocaust. There have been histories of all kinds, from the straightforward ones by Martin Gilbert to Daniel Goldhagen's provocative analysis of the makeup of the extermination squads in Eastern Europe; there have been documentaries (Shoah) and dramas of all kinds (Sophie's Choice, Schindler's List) and innumerable memoirs. It sometimes feels as if there can be little left to say about the Holocaust and that the subject itself is in danger of becoming too ubiquitous to pack the same kind of powerful punch that it did when I first read Anne Frank's diary decades ago. And then I began to read this book. From the very first pages, I was gripped by the story of young Helga Pollak, the central character around whom journalist Brenner carefully structures the stories of the young girls (aged between 12 and 14) who at one point or another inhabited Room 28 of Theresienstadt's Girls' Home. When we meet Helga, she has said farewell to her mother, who has brought her to a town in Czechoslovakia where she hopes Helga will be safe from the growing anti-Jewish sentiment in Nazi-occupied Vienna. Helga, however, who doesn't speak Czech, is lost and bewildered - and it will be six long years before she sees her mother again. Brenner has drawn on diaries and notebooks written by the girls themselves, their families and their caretakers to supplement interviews she has conducted with the handful of those who survived. (Of the 12,000 or so children who entered Theresienstadt, only a few hundred survived; only about a dozen of those who went through Room 28 are still alive to reunite each year in Europe.) The approach works well, surprisingly, giving readers a way to break away from the main narrative -- a straightforward chronicle in time -- to read profiles of some of the main characters or poetry they wrote, or the lyrics of the music they sang, as well as excerpts from those diaries and notebooks. Throughout, it's the clarity and distinctive viewpoint of these adolescent girls that makes this such a startling and remarkably fresh book. Against an ominous background, these girls (like Anne Frank) go through the kinds of petty squabbles, reveries about their futures (Helga even asks her father if he would mind if she were baptized after the war, since she doesn't really feel an attachment to her Jewish identity), evolving s