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

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

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 28, ten of these childrenâ€”mothers and grandmothers today in their seventiesâ€”tell us how they did it.

The Jews deported to Theresienstadt from countries all over Europe were aware of the fate that awaited them, and they decided that it was the young people who had the best chance to survive. Keeping these adolescents alive, keeping them whole in body, mind, and spirit, became the priority. They were housed separately, in dormitory-like barracks, where they had a greater chance of staying healthy and better access to food, and where counselors (young men and women who had been teachers and youth workers) created a disciplined environment despite the surrounding horrors. The counselors also made available to the young people the talents of an amazing array of world-class artists, musicians, and playwrightsâ€“European Jews who were also on their way to Auschwitz. Under their instruction, the children produced art, poetry, and music, and they performed in theatrical productions, most notably Brundibar, the legendary â€œchildrenâ€™s operaâ€ that celebrates the triumph of good over evil.

In the mid-1990s, German journalist Hannelore Brenner met ten of these child survivorsâ€”women in their late-seventies today, who reunite every year at a resort in the Czech Republic. Weaving her interviews with the women together with excerpts from diaries that were kept secretly during the war and samples of the art, music, and poetry created at Theresienstadt, Brenner gives us an unprecedented picture of daily life there, and of the extraordinary strength, sacrifice, and indomitable will that combinedâ€”in the girls and in their caretakersâ€”to make survival possible.
Country USA
Brand Schocken
Manufacturer Schocken
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780805242447
ReleaseDate 2009-09-01
EANs 9780805242447

Country	USA
Brand	Schocken
Manufacturer	Schocken
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780805242447
ReleaseDate	2009-09-01
EANs	9780805242447

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

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