January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one-third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. It is a chance for people to remember and think about the Holocaust and the millions of people it affected. The library is choosing to honor this day by highlighting books in our collection by Jewish authors that tell stories of the holocaust.
There are many books in the library catalog that highlight the history of the Holocaust. This blog post will highlight some books in the library collection that are centered around holocaust history and stories.
The first book is The Unanswered Letter by Faris Cassell, this book is a recent addition to the Gleeson Library collection, and it is in the New Book Section. The Unanswered Letter follows the story of Alfred Berger, who mailed a desperate letter to an American stranger who happened to share his last name. He and his wife, Viennese Jews, had found escape routes for their daughters. After languishing in a California attic for decades, Alfred’s letter ended up in the hands of Faris Cassell, a journalist who couldn’t rest until she discovered the ending of the story. Traveling across the United States as well as to Austria, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and Israel, she uncovered an extraordinary story of heart-wrenching loss and unforgettable love that endures to this day.
The second book highlighted in the collection is Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. New York Times bestselling authors Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon have written the first authorized graphic biography of Anne Frank. The graphic novel details the lives of Anne’s parents, the Franks’ immigration to Amsterdam, war and occupation, Anne’s years in hiding, betrayal, arrest, and the publication of her diary.
The third book is Maus: A survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, it tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father’s terrifying story, and History itself. It is, as the New York Times Book Review has commented, “a remarkable feat of documentary detail and novelistic vividness…an unfolding literary event.”
The last book is The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is a memoir about Wiesenthal’s time in concentration camps dealing with a Nazi soldier. The book details Wiesenthal’s experience in the Lemberg concentration camp and discusses the moral ethics of the decisions he made. It is a great reading for self-reflection and critical thinking. It challenges the reader to think about the holocaust.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an extremely important day to remember and honor the survivors of the Holocaust. This day serves as the official commemoration of the victims of the Nazi regime and to promote Holocaust education.