Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival

by Marcel Prins, Peter Henk Steenhuis, Laura Watkinson (Illustrator)

Overview

For readers of The Boy Who Dared and Prisoner B-3087, a collection of unforgettable true stories of children hidden away during World War II.

Jaap Sitters was only eight years old when his mother cut the yellow stars off his clothes and sent him, alone, on a fifteen-mile walk to hide with relatives. It was a terrifying night, one he would never forget. Before the end of the war, he would hide in secret rooms and behind walls. He would suffer from hunger, sickness, and the looming threat of Nazi raids. But he would live.This is just one of the true stories told in Hidden Like Anne Frank, a collection of eye-opening first-person accounts that share the experience of going into hiding to escape the Holocaust. Some were just toddlers when they were hidden; some were teenagers. Some hid with neighbors or family, while many were with complete strangers. But all know the pain of losing their homes, their families, even their own names. They describe the secret network that kept them safe. And they share the coincidences and close calls that made all the difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545543637
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	306,271
File size:	69 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Peter Henk Steenhuis is a journalist and the philosophy editor for the TROUW daily newspaper in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Marcel Prins was inspired to create this project by his own mother, who went into hiding in 1942 to escape Nazi persecution. She was just six years old. Marcel Prins is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and cameraman. He lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Read an Excerpt

From HIDDEN LIKE ANNE FRANK, "Number 17"When Friesland was liberated at the end of April, they said, “You can tell us your name now.” I didn't say anything. “Go on. Tell us what you're really called. The war's over now.” But I'd promised my aunt in Haarlem that I would never say my name. They begged me, they hit me, they tried everything to make me tell them my name. “I don't know,” I kept on saying. “I can't remember what my name is.” But I thought to myself, “My name's Jacky Eljon. I know that perfectly well.” After liberation, the people in Westerbork, where my mother had been taken in February 1945, were given lists of children who had survived the war. But my name was never on those lists, of course, because no one knew what I was really called. The Red Cross knew by then that there was a little boy in Hommerts who couldn't remember his name. So they organized a meeting with women from Westerbork whose children had disappeared. Most of them had been murdered in concentration camps. Two days before my eighth birthday, a Red Cross nurse came to fetch me. She took me to Sneek. It was a really long way. I rode on the back of her bike for about ten miles. She took me to a school gym, where lots of stern-looking men and women were sitting around a table. There was also a line of twenty chairs in the gym, with bald-headed women seated on them. I spotted my mother immediately, but I wasn't allowed to go to her. I had to start at number 1. I walked past all of those women with their bristly scalps. The Germans had shaved their heads and now their hair was starting to grow back. Near the end of the line sat number seventeen: my mother. I jumped onto her lap. Finally, after four years, I was back with her again.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/01/2014
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

School Library Journal

…there's a tremendous range of emotion expressed here…Laura Watkinson's nuanced translation makes each storyteller's voice distinct, and the text is enhanced by photographs…These accessible stories, full of hard truths, are touching, thrilling and agonizing by turns. Be warned: Parents may find Hidden more painful to read than children will.

The New York Times Book Review - Elizabeth Wein

★ 02/17/2014
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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Hidden Like Anne FrankA Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2014"Like Anne Frank's, these few voices stand out and speak for the millions whose stories remain untold." — New York Times Book Review*"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." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review*"These first-person stories of heroism and inhumanity explore the true scope of Holocaust atrocities, while also serving as a testament to resilience." — Publishers Weekly, starred review*"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…. This moving and powerful title is an important addition to any history collection." — School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2014-01-04
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)

Kirkus Reviews