Witnesses to War

by Michael Leapman

Book Overview

Eight children who grew up during the Second World War tell their stories. Chapters include growing up in the Warsaw Ghetto, hiding in a convent, being stolen from one's country for Germanization, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439180368
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Best book ever!

When I read the book "Witnesses To War" I couldn't put the book down. I was disgusted by the true Nazi persecution. The book is about collections of the true life stories during the holocaust and the Nazi persecution . One of the stories I liked the best was about the Polish children being tested for Germanization because it was twisted that the Nazi's could capture a child .The parents were helpless. I liked this book a lot because I am interested in the holocaust . It's well written and makes you want to read more aobut the holocaust.

A fuller picture of persecution in WWII

I was impressed by this book because it presents the suffering of people in WWII without staying completely focused on the Jews. The Nazis were willing to murder anybody, who, for any reason, did not fit in to their ideology or view of the world. With this book, there is a more clear demonstration of that - yes, a couple of the stories are about Jewish children, there is also a story concerning the plight of a Polish child, one about a gypsy girl, and a child's view of the horrendous occurence at Lidice, Czechoslovakia. The stories about the Jewish children are also varied; one escaped via the Kindertransport, one story was about girls hidden in a convent, and another whose father was featured in a very famous photo that made it out of Germany to tip people off to the kinds of things happening there. My main gripe about the book is fairly minor. I enjoyed the pictures and the background given to each story, but every once in awhile I felt that the text was patronising. Mind you, this is targeted towards a juvenile audience, but if one believes that the children that will be reading this book are mature enough to deal with this type of material, they probably are not in too terrible need of some of the simpler explanations, and I found these a bit distracting from the focus of the text. Overall, it is a very good book that serves a subject that is often neglected.

Witnesses to War

The book I read was Witness to War by Michael Leapman. This book was about eight true-life stories of children that were sent to concentration camps, and others who the Germans tried to make into German citizens. The German police and army shipped off some kids to different places so they did not get caught. A lot of the Jewish people that got sent to camps were well-respected people in a society of German. Most of the people in this book are Jewish but one of the kids is a gypsy. I think this book was very good. It is very odd that people can treat others so cruel.

History through the eyes of those who were there as children

I picked this book up from my local book store with great curiosity. I am doing a History GCSE and am especially interested in WW2, and how it affected everyday people like myself. This book looks at the war through the eyes of children. Not only Jewish children but Polish and Gypsy children too. Some parts of the book drew tears to my eyes. I was shocked at some of the horrific things these children endured. I noticed when reading the details about this book, that it is supposed to be suitable for children aged 9-12 years old. I my self am 15 and the other review writer is in college. I have a younger brother aged 11 and I do not think that this book would be appropriate for him! Some of the text would be too difficult for someone his age and a lot of the things mentoined he would not understand (I doubt if he even knows what a concentration camp is! ). Also some of the things talked about are a little too advanced for his peer group. To say I thouroughly enjoyed the book makes me sound slightly morbid, but it was a deeply touching book. Poeple who have read THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK will most likely find this of interest also.

Victims Who Are Seldom Heard

I read this book and I thought it was quite interesting... I'm a History major in college and one of my fields of expertise is World War II. I really appreciated this book because it covered some things I've always been curious about, such as Germanization and victims who were not Jewish, but victimized because they were "physically unfit" or "racially impure." You hear very little about the terror of Germanization because until recently, almost non of the Germanized children spoke about it at all. Non-Jewish victims had trouble too because either they were employed in jobs that were censored (art and religion to name a few) or because they were handicapped or because they were members of little-known cultures. The Holocaust should never be forgotten! Never! I am a quarter Polish. My grandma was born in Poland but came to America in 1922. I've always been glad that we got out of Europe long before the war ever started. What would've happened to us?