Love is in Da Blog: Tuesday Teaser
This is part of February Love is in Da Blog at Just fooling Around With Be said : “I dedicated Tuesdays to “Teaser Tuesday” over at “A Daily Rhythm” and books we love. Choose a book that you deeply love and read time and time again. Or actually, pick a book about love. Either follow the “Teaser Tuesday” Rules, do a book review, dedicate a sentence to the author or just write anything you please about that book you love.”
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This week I am writing about a book that truly touched me.
The Devil’s Arithmetic is a historical fiction novel written by American author Jane Yolen and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah Stern, a Jewish girl who lives in New Rochelle, New York. During a Passover Seder, Hannah is transported back in time to 1942 Poland, during World War II, where she is sent to a death camp thought to beAuschwitz and learns the importance of knowing about the past.
I am not Jewish but I know my history and this book tells the story of how an entire village is transported off to a death camp. Among them by magic or fate is young Hannah who has been transported there from the future.
Hannah is transported from the Passover Seder in her time to a time and place during WW2 there believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from cholera, the fever that killed Chaya’s parents a few months ago. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her “aunt” Gitl and “uncle” Shmuel are blamed on the fever.
At her “uncle’s” wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labor, and finally execution. She has to live the life of an intern in a death camp. Through this she learns who she is and why the Jewish Religion is so important to her and her family.
These are some of the parts of the book that made me sit up and think.
“But as the scissors snip-snapped through her hair and the razor shaved the rest, she realized with a sudden awful panic that she could no longer recall anything from the past. I cannot remember, she whispered to herself.”
willowdot21 
Feb 09, 2016 @ 05:12:46
Wow, that is an intense story. I am not sure I could read it. As a teenager I read some books about the Nazi time: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and The Diary of Anne Frank for example. That time is still pretty close to me because my grandmother told me about how it was to be a teenager in Nazi days and what she had to suffer. Hitler made everybody suffer even though what he has done in the camps is just unbelievable. I have visited Dachau because I was born relatively close by and we did it with school. I still remember the dread, despair and being so overpowered by what happened in the country I was born in. It still overpowers me, to be honest. That is something I do not want to stand for even though it is part of my past.
Feb 09, 2016 @ 05:56:33
Hi Bee, I do not know what to say,it is a hard book to read. All books on this subject are. It is hard to understand now a whole nation could be taken in by an evil mad man. Those who disagreed with him soon disappeared, the way it has always been with evil dictators and still is today. On one hand no one should carry the blame and yet on the other hand we all should. The world let it happen.
Let’s not get into this I was trying to reassure you but I fear my words are clumsy.
The book is important to me because the young Hannah was disinterested in her roots and her history and it is dangerous to forget we must never forget. I have not visited any of the camps but my husband has visit Auschwitz he was very touched by the place, Erie and full of pain.
Bee sorry to have disturbed you. xx
Feb 09, 2016 @ 06:32:32
Don’t worry you have not disturbed me. I am from Germany it is part of my history. I am very aware of this. I am not sure how much today’s youngsters in Germany are made aware of what happened in those days but when I was young we were very aware of the responsibility that comes with a history like that. I believe that is one reason why Angela Merkel opened Germany’s doors so freely to the refugees from Syria even though the country was in no way prepared for an onslaught like this and integrating so many all at once is a tough task. Just because it would be hard for me to read this book does not mean I don’t think it is important and I appreciate that you share such a book with us. It is easy to keep the lighter things on our blogs but the darker one’s need to have their place too.
Feb 09, 2016 @ 07:14:08
Yes it is a hard to carry history but you were in no way part of it. I hope all young people know their history where ever they come from.
There is no point going deeper on to this as there is so much evil in the world that we cannot fix it from our blogs.
I agree with what you say about Angela Merkel too. A move without too much thought.
Feb 09, 2016 @ 17:20:29
wow this sounds so sad and intense! Thanks for telling us about it!