Unshed Tears

Edith Hofmann

A novel, but not a fiction.  Originally from Prague, Edith Hofmann was a schoolgirl survivor of Auschwitz and Belsen and is now known as an artist of the Holocaust.  It was more than 50 years before this novel describing her experience was discovered and published.  Filled with tragedy and extraordinary hope, it is eminently accessible to young people.

“It is a raw and aching testimony both to her survival, and to her bid to survive survival.  Although written in the third person, this is a personal account of the author's wartime experiences.”

Stephen D Smith, Founder and Director, The Holocaust Centre

468 pp., paperback

Price: £4.99

Imagination: Blessed Be, Cursed Be

Reminiscences from there

Batsheva Dagan

Translation by Anna Sotto; illustrations by Yaakov Guterman

Batsheva Dagan is a survivor of Auschwitz.  In this compilation she records in a cycle of original, documentary poems the experiences of a girl who reaches adolescence in the Nazi concentration camps.  It is a voyage into a unique past, written partly in rhyme and in direct, understated language which is meaningful to young people.  The design and illustrations by Yaakov Guterman add a special dimension to the text.

“Batsheva Dagan describes the existential issues in a concentration camp with which adolescents can identify and empathize.  In her straightforward poems about the life of a group of young inmates, their humanity and faith in the future is palpable throughout. A useful aid for teachers and their young students.”

Ziona Schaffer, Lecturer, Oranim College of Education, Kiryat Tivon, Israel

96 pp., paperback

Price: £3.95