October 7, 2016 Hello ,
Jews around the world will be praying and fasting next Tuesday sundown to Wednesday sundown for Yom Kippur, which I became more familiar with
while writing Irena's Children. Psst! I told you the book's for sale now, right?
Please do me a favor and forward this e-mail to friends and family you think would be interested in how amazing courage flourished during one of the darkest eras of history.
The Nazis actually
chose Jewish holy days for effect when introducing anti-Semitic policies. They toyed with people before moving on to genocide.
Yom Kippur: Warsaw, 1939, 1940 |
When the Nazis attacked Warsaw September, 1939, it didn't matter if you were Jewish or Catholic or atheist, everyone worked together for weeks, hoping to hold the city against
the Germans. The Polish Army understood that Yom Kippur was the most holy day of the year for Jews and excused them that day from the crucial work of digging defensive trenches.
But German
bombs had destroyed many synagogues and homes in Jewish neighborhoods so all able males, including children and old men rallied at the city’s barricades, praying the prayers for the Day of Atonement while they worked to protect their city, even as air attacks continued. Photo courtesy Polish National Digital Archive https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4139293
From Irena's Children, Young Readers Edition, a year later, Oct. 12, 1940. "Already there was tension. The Germans had forbidden all public worship and a number of Jews had decided they would defy the order. As many were rising from sleep, loudspeakers squawked outside their windows. Jewish leaders, the
Judenräte, heard the news from city officials, but ordinary people, Irena’s friends, heard it blaring in the street. It was the most sweeping edict yet. Every Jew in Warsaw must move into one small section of the city. They had two weeks. There would be no exceptions." Photo courtesy Library of Congress, European Jew
blows Sabbath shofar, circa 1935 A long blast of the shofar marked nightfall and the close of Yom Kippur in Warsaw’s Jewish neighborhood. Panic gripped the Jewish community at news of the Nazi’s latest command. The Germans wasted none of their orderly methods on a system
to help the nearly one in four Warsaw families ordered to pick up household and move.They looked on as a master might watch his dogs fight for table scraps. This photo is variously identified as Jews moving into the ghettos in Warsaw and Krakow.
People feverishly sought apartments. Quarrels erupted about the exact dividing lines of the Jewish quarter. Poles haggled for their businesses and industrial plants to be exempt. Christians did not want to give up this street or that street because of a church or school. People tried to trade apartments, but in truth there was a shortage everywhere due to buildings destroyed by bombs and the Germans moving in. Ghetto boundaries shrank, even as more people poured in
looking for shelter for their families.
Sending a heartfelt to thank you to those of you taking a few moments to post online reviews of Irena's Children. They really do make a difference.
Claire Rudolf Murphy posted this on Goodreads:
"This riveting true story of bravery reads like a novel...[the] lyrical telling is so well written with vivid setting details and a clear sense of narrative as the story unfolds. I was on the edge of my seat, every time Irena rescued another child. Would they
get out? Would she get arrested?"
From Karrie Zyltra Myton on Goodreads:
"Because of the brutality and because this well-researched story rang so true, Irena’s Children was anything but an easy read. The
narrative, however, pulled me through as I marveled each time Irena, her courageous friends, and the sweet children managed to survive...This is a book that paints a devastating reality alongside a triumph of humanity." Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know.
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