The Girls of Room 28

July 27, 2009
Brenner, a Berlin-based journalist, focuses on 10 former child survivors, women in their late 70s, who went through the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust. She notes that 12,000 children entered the camp from 1942 to 1944, but only a few hundred survived to war's end, and a handful of women of Room 28 in the camp's Girls' Home, now scattered around the world, reunited for the first time in 1991. The insights of the survivors and stories of the camp's victims are unforgettable and full of poignant humanity, conveyed through letters, photos, diaries and remembrances. Forced into exile and almost certain death under the Nazi regime, the children confronted hunger, cold, terror and the soul's endurance as many of the girls of Room 28 were slowly eliminated; the small band of survivors is committed to keeping their memory alive. Well-detailed and inspiring, Brenner's book, especially her heartfelt epilogue, pays glowing tribute to these heroic survivors. B&w photos.

July 15, 2009
A deeply sympathetic account of a group of concentration-camp dorm mates who stayed in touch years after their release.

Of the 50 or so girls who met in Room 28, only 15 survived, and ten tell their affecting stories here. Located just north of Prague, Theresienstadt (Terezin) was used by the invading Nazi forces primarily as a transit station for prisoners headed for extermination farther east, as well as a so-called model camp with a self-governing Council of Elders that the Nazis could show the outside world as evidence of their fair treatment of the Jews. In fact, the SS ran it, easily duping the outsiders. The Jewish girls, ages 11 to 14, were wrenched from their family from various parts of what the Wehrmacht had set up as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Often sickly and traumatized, they were grouped in Room 28, and soon began a difficult work routine and endured an unappetizing diet, bedbugs and epidemics such as typhoid and encephalitis. However, the youthful spirit of hope could not be extinguished even in the cruelest conditions. Through the diaries and notebooks the girls kept, as well as later personal accounts, Berlin-based journalist Brenner reveals the extraordinary means the girls and their caretakers took to share food and comfort and help each other. The author also chronicles the remarkable artistic experiments undertaken by the girls, especially their enthusiastic production of the children's opera Brundibár.

An inspiring story of courage rendered through impressive personal and historical detail.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2009
For nearly 15 years, a group of elderly women have gathered at a resort in the Czech Republic. This annual reunion represents a solidarity few can comprehend; although these women now hail from across the globe, they share the unbreakable bond of occupying the same room in Theresienstadt internment camp near Prague as adolescents during the Holocaust. As a waypoint to the death camps, Theresienstadt's prisoners included an array of intellectuals, artists, writers, and musicians (most of whom did not survive the war) who were dedicated to educating the resident children. Many of the girls performed in the renowned children's play "Brundibar", presented during their internment. Through interviews, firsthand accounts, and illustrations, Berlin-based journalist Brenner effectively captures their stories, beginning with prior carefree lives and recounting the joys and despair of daily life in the camp and the eventual deportation of many of the girls and their loved ones to death camps. VERDICT These moving memoirs should appeal to anyone with an interest in Theresienstadt or Nazi Germany. Strongly recommended for Holocaust-related studies.Judy Brink-Drescher, Dowling Coll., Oakdale, NY

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