Post #7: The Devil's Arithmetic
Post number seven is for The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. I was not even aware of this book until today, when I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing Amazon for books. I originally went on to look for Flowers for Algernon, and somehow stumbled upon this book, thanks to the "Customers who bought this book also bought" thing that Amazon so nicely supplies. And since I've always had an interest in the Holocaust, I decided I'd check it out from my local library and give it a read. It's a really short book, as far as these things go - only 170 pages - and I finished it just a few minutes ago.
What follows will contain spoilers, so please avoid if you're so inclined.
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I think this book is a good one to teach upper elementary kids about the Holocaust. While it is completely fictionalized from everything from the characters to the setting, it's written in a way that still shows the horrors of what the Nazis did in a way that's not so overwhelming for someone younger. Make no mistake - the book is sad - but it provides more of a message of hope and even warning than anything else.
One thing I didn't see coming was that Rivka, the girl who befriends Hannah in the camp (which was not a real camp but instead had elements from all the other concentration/death camps that really did exist), was actually Hannah's Aunt Eva. And that Grandpa Will, whose ravings and ramblings embarrassed Hannah, was actually a Sonderkommando, one of the many Jewish males who were responsible for taking the bodies of the dead (as well as those who were "chosen") to the crematorium. It has been said that Jewish survivors of the Holocaust often thought worse of the Sonderkommandos than they did even the Nazis, because they were Jews, and were helping the Nazis destroy their own people. This explanation helps the reader (and Hannah) understand why Grandpa Will has the most trouble dealing with the events of what happened even all these years later.
I will admit that the end, with Hannah telling Eva what the number on her arm stood for (J for Jew, 1 because you were alone, alone of the 8 who had been in your family, though 2 was the actual number of them alive.Your brother was a Kommando, so he thought he was a 0. You said, when things were over, you would be two again forever. J18202.), brought tears to my eyes. How the only people from Chaya's village to survive the camp were Gitl and Yitzchak, and how Gitl had started an adoption agency that she'd called Chaya, in honor of the girl - whose life Hannah had fallen into - who had given her life so that Rivka could live, and could carry on the memory of what had happened. The whole final bit was so bittersweet, but also poignant, and overall, a fitting ending to the story. I'm very glad I read this book. :)
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