Daniel's Story
By Carol Matas
"Perhaps happiness would come later." -Daniel
Lodz
A place in Germany where Jews were sent to work for the German war effort. Often sent off people who were unable to work.
Aushwitz
A camp where Germans sent Jews and other groups to work and had very little food. Killed people who were sick, couldn't work, or just for their entertainment.
Buchen-wald
A camp where Germans sent Jews and other groups. Better place that had more food and cleaner clothes. Sent Jews to work for their specialty, like photography, factoires, sewing, etc.
Ghetto
Section of a city in Europe in which all Jews are required to live and work there.
Conflict
The conflict is that Nazis are against the Jews and are trying to demolish that certain religious group. Another conflict is that Rosa and Daniel are separated in Lodz.
Yiddish
High German language with a mixture of vocabulary from Hebrew and Slavic. Spoke mostly by Jews.
Erika
Daniel's sister. Was a really shy girl in the beginning, but became more outgoing and started giving inspirational speeches to people to give them hope. Loves her violin, but that was taken away by the Nazis.
Peter
Daniel's best friend. Met him while walking out of Auschwitz and to Buchenwald. Daniel helped support Peter because Peter's feet had blisters. Was beaten up on train badly.
Rosa
Daniel's lover. Met Rosa in his underwear while picking lice out of their clothing. He had a crush on Rosa, and Rosa knew it. The got separated in Lodz and after the war, met once again in Lodz. Daniel asked Rosa to marriage and she agreed.
"We are alive. We are human with good and bad in us. That's all we know for sure. We can't create a new world. That's been done. Now we have to live within the boundaries." -Erika
"Why have we fought so hard to survive all these years? So we could go to our deaths in despair? We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place. And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in destiny." -Erika
"They [Germans] had always believed that our lives had been worthless and that they were not murderers, just simple folks carrying out orders to wipe out a subhuman species." -Daniel
Theme
Fight for your life.
"What kind of God could allow such things to happen? I was angry. Angry at the world." -Daniel
Synagogue
A Jewish house of worship.
The Holocaust: History in an Hour, by Jemma J. Saunders, read by Jonathan Keeble by HarperAudio
And to remember those of us who were destroyed by the worst humanity, by its hate. You must choose love. Always choose love." -Erika
Recommendation?
If you like this book, I suggest reading The Boy In the Striped Pajamas. The emotional book is about a Jewish boy in a concentration camp.