Hidden Like Anne Frank

Starred review from February 17, 2014
Kindled by his mother’s own story and drawing from original interviews, Prins and co-author Steenhuis compile 14 accounts from Dutch-born individuals who lived in hiding as children during WWII. Rita Degen (Prins’s mother) was yanked from school and sent to a foster family where she was forced to change her name and pretend to be age five to avoid having to wear a yellow star. Jaap Sitters was harassed at school after friends’ parents became members of the National Socialist Movement; he chillingly recalls the claustrophobic crawlspace where he lay hidden in silent darkness. Auschwitz prisoner Bloeme Emden describes surviving deplorable conditions and the aftershocks of trauma after returning home: “I was bald and emaciated. He didn’t recognize me until I spoke. Everything about you can change, but voices stay the same.” These first-person stories of heroism and inhumanity explore the true scope of Holocaust atrocities, while also serving as a testament to resilience. Maps, footnotes, past and current photographs of the interviewees, and a glossary are included; additional resources are available on a companion Web site. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from January 15, 2014
Dutch survivors of the Holocaust remember their years as hidden children. During Hitler's reign of terror, paths to survival for Jews were few and involved secrecy, danger, vigilance, and the kindness and bravery of strangers. Fourteen men and women recall their experiences with amazing clarity, detail and honesty. There are several commonalities in the accounts. Most began their ordeal at very young ages and had to take on heavy responsibilities and new identities, enduring frequent moves, incidents of near discovery, and unending fear and uncertainty. Some found compassion and love among their rescuers, and others were treated callously by sponsors who accepted them only for the stipend that the resistance organizations paid. After the war, most of them found that nearly all their family members had been killed, relationships with surviving parents were awkward, their homes had been given to other people, and postwar authorities were slow to help them resettle. The accounts are told in a matter-of-fact tone, with no attempt at sentimentality or self-pity. Photos of the survivors before the war and of some of their temporary homes and families accompany the text, and photos as they are now are shown at the end. Each memoir is poignant and heartrending on its own, and the compilation gives the reader a stunning sense of the horror of the Holocaust. Terrifying, haunting and powerful. (foreword, glossary) (Collective memoir. 12 & up)

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Starred review from May 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-While Anne Frank may have been the most famous of those who went into hiding during World War II, there were hundreds of others who did just about anything they could to escape the Nazis. Though most did not survive, this compilation of 14 stories describes those who did live to tell their tale. Inspired by his mother's account of hiding when she was just six years old, Prins interviewed other survivors. The tales are all horrifying and harrowing in their own ways yet are marked by an unvarnished tone that conveys an immediacy that sweeps readers into the narrative, making this tragic episode of history real and dramatic. One survivor had as many as 42 different addresses, while another describes hiding under floorboards for hours while German officers walked overhead. The threat of exposure by collaborators was ever present, and the trauma didn't end after the war, as most lost many family members or had their homes given away and all traces of their former lives were gone. Photographs of the contributors, both now and then, as well as a glossary are included. An accompanying website with excerpts, maps, animations, and other material is quite engaging and worth perusing. This moving and powerful title is an important addition to any history collection.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 First published in the Netherlands in 2011, this powerful book has personal origins; Prins' mother was a Jewish child hidden with a Christian family during WWII. Hers is among the 14 first-person narratives representing a breadth of experience not always so similar to the famous story referenced in the title. Some of the children were hidden in plain sight because they did not look Jewish; others barely identified themselves as Jewish until the war forced it upon them. Each life was at the mercy of neighbors, and the contradiction between the enormous bravery of ordinary people and the callousness of informers is always potent. Places like Hollandsche Schouwburg, Westerbork, and Auschwitz appear in each successive story, as civil liberties and livelihoods are stripped away. Photographs and original documents complement the narratives. A glossary of terms appears at the end of the book and definitions of terms appear as footnotes when first appearing in the text. This is a powerful read where survivalnot happinessis the goal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)