Chil­dren’s

When We Were Shadows 

Janet Wees

  • Review
By – July 17, 2018

This book is about the brave Dutch peo­ple who risked their lives to save Jew­ish refugees who had escaped to the Nether­lands from Ger­many when the Nazis came to pow­er. It is also, equal­ly, about the Jews and their strug­gle to stay alive, dar­ing the curse of Hitler and his fol­low­ers. Chil­dren, too, have star­ring roles in this dra­ma, despite their par­ents’ efforts to pro­tect and shield them from the hor­rors of this ter­ri­ble time.

Based on a true sto­ry, the book is writ­ten as a series of let­ters from Wal­ter, the main char­ac­ter — as a boy to his grand­moth­er, and as an adult to his grand­daugh­ter. Through this unique nar­ra­tive struc­ture, the read­er sees the shift in his­tor­i­cal perspective.

Mar­cia W. Pos­ner, Ph.D., of the Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al and Tol­er­ance Cen­ter of Nas­sau Coun­ty, is the library and pro­gram direc­tor. An author and play­wright her­self, she loves review­ing for JBW and read­ing all the oth­er reviews and arti­cles in this mar­velous periodical.

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