Reviews

Hiding Edith

Rose Burkoff

Hiding Edith by Kathy Kacer (Second Story) is a novel for children based on the childhood of Edith Schwalb, who fled Austria with her family to escape the Nazis, and was only able to do so because her father had been a popular soccer star. The family relocated to Belgium and then France, where her father was arrested (he did not live through the war). The rest of the family went into hiding, Edith in a house in the town of Moissac that housed more than five hundred children over the course of the war. The story is told in an engaging style and manages to present this dark period of history in a clear, interesting manner for young readers. Perhaps most important, the story shows that ordinary citizens could and did make a difference during the Second World War. Every citizen in Moissac knew about the Jewish children living there and not one betrayed the secret to French or German authorities. This simple heroism sheds light on the complicity and inaction of many citizens across Europe who did nothing to help children like Edith.

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