WORLD HISTORY

Susan Strauss (left)and her mother neartheir home in Germany

SURVIVING

Seventy-five yearsago this month, theNazis attacked Jewishhomes, businesses,and synagogues,unleashing a wave ofterror across EuropeWORDS TO KNOW

• Nazi [n): a member of a politicalparty dedicated to Germandominance of Europe and thedestruction of the Jews

• Holocaust (n): the massextermination of Jews and othersby the Nazis from 1933 to 1945

• concentration camp (n): a prisonor place of forced labor; often ageneral term that includes deathcamps, where millions of peoplewere killed

Susan Strauss was 12 yearsold on November 10, 1938,when an angry mob wielding

shovels stormed into her apartmentin Frankfurt, Germany. Shewatched in fear as they smasheddishes, ripped books, and hurledfurniture. They "demolished thewhole apartment," recalls Strauss,now 87 and living in the U.S.

All over Frankfurt, crowdsof Nazi supporters were settingsynagogues on fire, breakingthe windows of Jewish-ownedbusinesses, and beating Jews in thestreets. At the same time, similarlyvicious attacks were taking placethroughout Germany and partsof German-occupied Austria andCzechoslovakia.

Anti-Semitism (discriminationagainst Jews) was common inEurope in the 1930s. But never

before hadit escalatedinto suchwidespreadviolence. By the timethe riots ended later thatevening, the Nazis had set fire tonearly 300 synagogues, destroyed7,500 businesses, killed 100 Jews,and beaten and tortured thousandsof others. In the aftermath of theattacks, the shattered windowsof Jewish homes and storefrontslittered the streets, giving rise tothe name Kristallnacht, or "Nightof Broken Glass."

Thé destruction was one of thefirst major events of the Holocaust.German dictator Adolf Hitlerand the Nazis would soon beginimplementing the "Final Solution,"their plan to systematically murderall the Jews of Europe.

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Left: A synagogue inNuremberg, Germany,destroyed during Kristaiinacht.Top: A man looks at avandalized Jewish shop.Above: A banner reading"Germans, do not buy fromJews" hangs from a synagoguein Berlin. Inset: The Nazisrequired Jews to wearyeilow stars on their clothing.

Nazi Rise to PowerBefore Hitler became chancellor

of Germany in 1933, Strauss lived

a normal, happy life. Her parents

owned a general store, and she

and her younger sister had many

friends. But "everything changed

very quickly in 1933," says Strauss.

Hitler hated Jews, whom he

blamed for Germany's defeat

in World War I (1914-1918). In

1935, he stripped German Jews of

citizenship and the right to vote.

Before long, Jews weren't allowed

to hold certain jobs or attend public

schools. Many Jewish businesses

were seized. Soon, Strauss's friends

stopped talking to her and she was

continued on p.

ustralian author Markus Zusak got the idea for hisbest-selling novel The Book Thief after hearing

Lstories from his mother, who grew up in NaziGermany. The book was recently made into a movie,which hits theaters this month. It tells the story ofLiesel, a girl who moves in with a foster family inGermany just before the start of the war. Liesel findscomfort in stealing books and sharing them with Max,the Jewish man her foster parents are hiding in theirbasement. JS recently caught up with Zusak.

Howdidyour mother's stories inspire the hook?

ÜSÜffiEBS She'd talked about things so vividly that I really knew theg y ytown she grew up in and many of the characters in i t . . . . I took all of thosestories and then started to imagine... what might have happened.

1 3 The hook is narrated hy Death. Why did you make that choice?E H There's the common expression that war and death are like bestfriends, so who better to tell a story set during wartime? After all, death iseverywhere during war. The idea interested me.

B3 A major theme in the hook is the power of words and language.How were words important to the Hazis?

E H Hitler cultivated the thoughts of a nation with words. He destroyedpeople with words, and Liesel is stealing the words back.... She's takingthem and writing her own story, and it's hopefully a beautiful story writtenamongst the ugly world that Hitler created around her.

1 3 How might reading a novel or watching a movie ahout theHolocaust he different from reading a texthook ahout it?E H it becomes more personal. You do get to experience it all through thelife of someone else Not to say that a textbook can't have feeling in it,but novels and films usually invite you into one person's experience.

BQWhat did you learn ahout the Holocaust while writing the hook?E H I learned that there are somany stories that come from thatperiod of history. It's almost awell that will never run dry. I alsolearned that as horrific as manyof the stories are, I'm gratefulthat people are still telling them,because it's somethingthatshould never be forgotten.

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NOVEMBER 25, 2013/JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 1 1

forced to transfer to an all-Jewishschool neariy two hours away.

In October 1938, Hitler begandeporting Polish Jews living inGermany. Herschel Grynszpan, a17-year-old Polish Jew studying inFrance, learned that his family hadbeen forced to leave their home.On November 7, he went to theGerman embassy in Paris lookingfor revenge and shot the Germanofficial assigned to his case.

Nazi leaders used the assas-sination as an excuse to launchthe Kristallnacht riots, orderingtheir supporters to attack Jews onNovember 9 and 10. In addition todestroying property, Nazis arrested30,000 Jewish men—includingStrauss's father—and sent them toconcentration camps.

In the weeks thatfollowed, thousands ofJews tried to flee Germanyfor other countries. Butmany had nowhere to go.Several nations, includingthe U.S., had set quotasthat limited the number ofimmigrants. Strauss and herfamily were trapped.

Hitler's WarKristallnacht was only

the beginning. In September 1939,Hitler set out to conquer Europe.He started by invading Poland.Within days, the continent eruptedinto World War II (1939-1945). Theweir eventually pitted the Allies(including the U.S., Great Britain,and the Soviet Union) against theAxis Powers (including Germany,Italy, and Japan).

By 1942, German forcesoccupied much of Europe. Asmore Jews came under Germany'scontrol, they were herded into

crowded ghettos in preparationfor deportations to concentrationcamps. In January 1942, Straussand her family were sent to theghetto in Riga, Latvia. She was 16.

Strauss and thousands of otherJews were forced to live in a tinyfenced-in area of the city and dobackbreaking work day after dayin the bitter cold. After neariytwo years, Strauss was sent to theKaiserwald concentration camp inLatvia, where she was separatedfrom her family. Eventually, shewas moved to Stutthof, a deathcamp in Poland. Strauss and theother prisoners lived in fllthy hutssurrounded by barbed wire. Theywere given little food or water.

"Most of the time we just ate

was sent to work on a Soviet farm.She was eventually forced to moveback to Poland, where she met herhusband, a fellow survivor.

Within months, the Alliesliberated the remaining camps.Germany surrendered on May 8,1945 (V-E Day, or Victory inEurope Day). In August, the U.S.dropped two atomic bombs onJapan, bringing an end to the warin the Paciflc.

Never Again

the grass from the ground andwhatever we could find," she says.

In January 1945, in the finalmonths of the war. Allied troopswere closing in on Germany. Naziguards forced Strauss and theother prisoners to march nearly100 miles in freezing temperaturesto the Lauenburg camp in Poland,away from approaching Alliedtroops. Many prisoners died alongthe way. Then, on March 10, 1945,Soviet forces liberated her camp.

With nowhere to go, Strauss

By the time Germanysurrendered, the Nazis had killedmore than 6 million EuropeanJews—two thirds of the continent'sJewish population—and 5 milhonothers, including Poles, Roma,

Communists, and thedisabled. Many had beenshot and thrown into massgraves or herded into gaschambers. Others died inthe camps from hunger ordisease. About 1 million ofthe victims were children.

Strauss says she can'tbelieve that she survived.She and her husband,Herman Taube, movedto the U.S. in 1947. Theysettled in Maryland, where

they reunited with Strauss'sfather, the only member of herfamily to survive.

Today, Strauss volunteersat the U.S. Holocaust MemorialMuseum in Washington, D.C. Shesays it's important to share herstory to ensure that the atrocitiescommitted during the Holocaustaren't repeated.

It was "one of the darkestchapters in man's history,"says Strauss. "It should neverhappen again. " —Rebecca Zissou

1 2 JUNI0RSCH0LASTIC/N0VEMBER25, 2013

Just hefore the start of WorldWar II, Hitler and Soviet dictatorJoseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact, agreeing notto go to war against each other.HNIer broke the agreement inJune 1941, when he invadedthe Soviet Union.

The U.S. joined the war after Japan bombedthe U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,on December 7,1941. The U.S. fought withthe Allies, including Great Britain, France,and the Soviet Union.

ATLANTICOCEAN

Germanysurrendered onMay 8,1945,known as V-E Day(Victory in EuropeDay). The waragainst Japanended in August,days after the U.S.dropped atomicbombs on theJapanese citiesof Hiroshima andNagasaki.

GERMANYFrankfurt

Greater Germanoccupied territoriesGerman alliance ordependent stateAllied nationor territory

Neutral nation Front LineJan. 1944

Concentration camp

O Capital city

' Present-day borderNote: Not ail concentration campsor capital cities are shown on map.

Mediterranean Sea

PORTUGAL

SOURCE: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

"H,o ao CD

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QUESTIONS1 . What is the capital of Germany? ^2 . When did Hitler invade the Soviet Union? '3 . Which countries bordered Germany in 1943-44? A4 . Which capital shown on the map is southeast of Rome?5 . About how many miles separate Kaiserwald and Stutthof?6 . Which body of water separates Great Britain and France?7 . Which countries alongthe North Sea did Germany occupy

in 1943-44?8 . The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on which two Japanese cities?9 . Which countries on the map were neutral in 1943-44?

1 0 . Which two Italian islands were controlled by theAllies in 1943-44?

<y Thousands of^Ss young Germans

' listen to AdolfHitlerf/e/cjataNazi rally inNuremberg,Germany, in 1937.

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