“What should be in a Holocaust library for children? In the best of worlds there would be nothing, for in a child’s world a Holocaust would never happen… but the Holocaust occurred, and for the sake of the future, as well as to remember the past, we want to teach children about it, in the hope that in remembering horror and in searching for the wisdom to understand it, we may assure that it will not happen again.” –Claire Rudin, Librarian.
The booming popularity of historical fiction over the past few decades has given educators a powerful tool with which to teach history. Good historical fiction can transport a child from their desk into another world. Through these texts, children can live vicariously and ‘remember’ our past through a fictional character’s eyes. According to Kiefer et al, “Historical novels for children help a child to experience the past- to enter into the conflicts, the suffering, the joys, and the despair of those who lived before us”(542). This statement communicates how significant such texts can be for a child, but with this comes great responsibility: the author must express candid representations of the past, and the teacher must select poignant, meaningful texts to present to her students. As a result of the unspeakable crimes committed against humanity during World War II, authoring and sponsoring such literature for children dealing with this period can raise controversy. Parents and educators may decide that certain Holocaust novels are too graphic, which in turn will “hasten the end of innocence”(Rudin, 1). There is a great deal of Holocaust literature for children to choose from while helping students cope with this history. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is one such text. Winner of the Newbery award in 1990, it is widely used in classrooms as a teaching tool for this era. Contrary to the belief that Number the Stars reveals a clear picture of Denmark’s prevailing struggles throughout the Holocaust, Lowry censors specific components of the text, leaving the child reader with little understanding of essential truths concerning this tragic time in history.
According to Bosmajian, “the sparing, the protective censoring and intentional limiting of the reader’s understanding, becomes ever more problematical the more a narrative claims verisimilitude”(xiv). Clearly, we comprehend Number the Stars as fictional, and the history that is revealed within this novel is accurate. The problem lies, however, with what Lowry does not reveal. This book is intended for children ages ten through fourteen, many of which may have little background knowledge within the history of World War II. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, this text depicts the Danish resistance of occupying Nazis in 1943 and the smuggling of nearly 7,000 Jews to safety in Sweden. Fear and a constant threat of harm are running themes throughout the narrative, however, Lowry never fully develops the atrocities committed by Nazis or the sufferings of Jews.
It is clear how Annemarie’s life has changed since Denmark’s beloved King, Christian X, surrendered to Germany: food shortages and curfews have been inflicted upon the Danish, and cruel soldiers are often stationed at street corners. At one point, Annemarie notices that the button shop owned by Mrs. Hirsch is closed, and a German sign is displayed in the window. Lowry writes, “where was Mrs. Hirsch? The Hirsch family had gone somewhere. Why else would they close the shop?”(21). The only clarification given to Annemarie (and the reader), occurs when Peter tells her, “For some reason, they want to torment Jewish people. It has happened in other countries. They have taken their time here- have let us relax a little. But now it seems to be starting”(24). The mystery as to what happened to the Hirsch family is never resolved within this novel. In addition, the vague wording leaves the child reader mystified as to why and how Jewish people are ‘tormented,’ or what exactly has occurred in surrounding European countries.
This censorship occurs again, when Annemarie discovers that Ellen will be staying with her family while her parents go into hiding. Her father explains that the Nazis have taken the synagogue lists with the intent of arresting all of the Danish Jews. When Annemarie doesn’t understand, he goes on to say, “We don’t know where, and we don’t really know why. They call it ‘relocation.’ We don’t even know what that means. We only know that it is wrong, and it is dangerous, and we must help”(36). This is a lost opportunity for Lowry to communicate exactly what dangers are faced by the Rosens. In giving Annemarie’s father limited knowledge concerning the Holocaust, Lowry so limits the meaning gained by her readers. The ambiguity of the term “relocation” is amplified later in the novel when Mama uses it to describe Denmark’s loss of food supply to the Nazis. She and her daughters laughed as they “pictured a mound of frightened butter under military arrest”(69). This leads to little conclusive evidence of the actual ‘relocation’ of Jews, in which they were sent to concentration camps to become dehumanized, facing hard labor and death.
Lowry edits the full story of the Holocaust in Number the Stars in two ways: first, as shown in the previous examples, she keeps her characters ignorant of the happenings in their world- regardless of the underground newspaper and other communications with Peter of the Resistance. Her second form of censorship becomes more apparent towards the end of the novel, when characters knowingly restrict information on the pretenses of keeping each other safe. Annemarie suspects that she is lied to by her mother, father, and Uncle Henrik throughout this story. This is addressed when Uncle Henrik says, “You shouldn’t know this. You remember that I told you it was safer not to know…I will tell you just a little, because you were so very brave”(122). Lowry’s readers are learning about the Holocaust through Annemarie’s eyes. In telling her so little, the child reader comprehends little as well. According to MacLeod, “even highly respected authors snip away the less attractive pieces of the past to make their narratives meet current social and political preferences”(30). This is a narrative based soley on the experiences of the people of Denmark, including those who fought in resistance to the Nazis. Under such censorship, how can Annemarie Johansen or the reader fully comprehend the loss of Peter and Lise? Both of these characters lost their lives fighting for freedom and human rights, however, this can not be truly felt or appreciated as Lowry’s novel gives little evidence of Hitler’s murder campaign, which caused the deaths of over six million innocent people by the end of World War II. In her afterword, Lowry discusses the many truths illustrated throughout her work. She states, “Peter Neilsen, though he is fictional, represents those courageous and idealistic young people, so many of whom died at the hands of the enemy”(136). To the reader, this enemy is largely a hidden entity.
It is understandable that authors of Holocaust literature for children carefully pick and choose the information that their work will reveal. Keeping this in mind, Brabham notes, “the social and political conditions that led human beings to the Holocaust must be examined by present and future generations if intolerance is to be understood and controlled and if genocide is to be eliminated”(5). Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars is an eloquently written text for young readers, which does illuminate life in Denmark in 1943. Classroom teachers should remain cognizant, however, that this novel does not clearly illustrate the entire picture and therefore should not be used as the primary text in Holocaust studies. While the missing truths from Lowry’s work may be unpleasant and difficult for our students to grasp, it is vital that students do realize the full horror of the Holocaust. If we only provide historical fiction that presents this tragedy with a sunnier view, the meaning of it will be lost, and humanity will eventually forget… leaving us vulnerable to suffering the same mistakes again.
References
Brabham, Edna Greene. “Holocaust Education: Legislation, Practices, and Literature for Middle-School Students.” The Social Studies, v88. 139-142.
Bosmajian, Hamida. Sparing the Child: Grief and the Unspeakable in Youth Literature about Nazism and the Holocaust. London: Routledge, 2002.
Kiefer, Barbara, Hickman, Janet, and Hepler, Susan. Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature. McGraw-Hill Humanities, 9th Edition. 2006.
Macleod, Anne S. (1998). “Writing backward: Modern models in historical fiction.” The Horn Book Magazine, 74(1). 26-33.
Rudin, Claire. “Children’s Books about the Holocaust: A Selective Annotated Bibliography.” Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, Bayside, NY: 1998. http://www.holocaust-trc.org/chldbook.htm
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