When people think of the Holocaust, they think of Auschwitz and Dachau. Not of Russia or the Ukraine, and certainly not a town called Kharkov. But in reality, the first war crime trial against the Nazis was in this tiny Ukrainian town, which is fitting, because it is where the Holocaust actually began. Judgment Before Nuremberg is also the story of Dawson’s personal journey to this place, to the scene of the crime, and the discovery of the trial which began the tortuous process of avenging...

A Sydney Taylor Book Award 2023 Middle Grade Notable!A Jewish Book Council Award Middle Grade Finalist!The moving true story of how young Ukrainian Jewish piano prodigies Zhanna (alias “Anna”) and her sister Frina outplayed their pursuers while hiding in plain sight during the Holocaust. A middle grade nonfiction novel-in-verse by award-winning author Susan Hood with Greg Dawson (Zhanna’s son).She wouldn’t be Zhanna. She’d use an alias. A for Anna. A for alive....

The moving true story of how young Ukrainian Jewish piano prodigies Zhanna (alias “Anna”) and her sister Frina outplayed their pursuers while hiding in plain sight during the Holocaust. A middle grade nonfiction novel-in-verse by award-winning author Susan Hood with Greg Dawson (Zhanna’s son).She wouldn’t be Zhanna. She’d use an alias. A for Anna. A for alive.

A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults FinalistNational Book Award winner M. T. Anderson delivers a brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony.In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history—almost three years of bombardment...

In this first Azrieli Foundation anthology, twenty-five women reflect on their experiences of survival – from the heart-stopping fears of hiding to the extreme risks of “passing” as non-Jews, and from the terrors of the Nazi camps to the treacheries of the Soviet Union. This powerful collection, woven together by the common thread of resistance, features a wide variety of narrative styles, including prose, poetry and diary excerpts.

A young boy who loved soccer as much as he loved to write, John Freund describes how his joyful childhood is shattered by the German invasion of his homeland, Czechoslovakia. Hoping at first that the conflict and persecution would soon blow over, John’s Jewish family suffers through the systematic erosion of their rights only to be deported to Theresienstadt – en route to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. John’s loss of innocence and suffering are made all the more poignant as his vivid w...

In 1944, twenty-year-old Leslie Vertes escapes from a forced labour detail in Budapest and miraculously survives by assuming a false identity. About to taste freedom as the end of the war nears, his liberation is shortlived when he is caught by the new Soviet regime and sent for two years of back-breaking labour and captivity. Years later, when he and his family flee to Canada, Leslie finally finds true freedom.

Experience the events that followed the Sobibor death camp prisoner's decision to escape. Readers will discover a powerful story of human courage and mankind's fierce will to live.

The Pulitzer Prize–nominated author recounts her Holocaust experience—her imprisonment at Auschwitz and her dramatic escape—in this book for young readers.As World War II rages in Europe, the fighting seems far away from Isabella Leitner and her family. Only rumors of Nazi horrors have reached them, and they feel safe in the small Hungarian town of Kisvarda. That is, until March 20, 1944 . . .Overnight, Isabella's whole world changes. Suddenly, she must wea...

Swept up in the Bolshevik revolution, Joseph Stalin’s Communist Party purges and World War II, the Rakitova family faces innumerable obstacles to survival. But young Maya knows only that her father is gone and that she must hide her Jewish identity. With what Maya calls “uncommon courage,” her mother fights to protect her, relying on the tenuous hope that Maya can keep her identity a secret.