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3GNY is an educational non-profit organization founded by grandchildren of Holocaust survivors ("3Gs"). As a living link, we preserve the legacies and the lessons of the Holocaust. Our mission is to educate diverse communities about the perils of intolerance and to provide a supportive forum for the descendants of survivors. Through our flagship initiative, the WEDU ("We Educate") program, 3Gs share their family Holocaust stories in classrooms and community settings, making history personal and inspiring students to combat antisemitism and hate with courage and compassion.
This list highlights a range of suggested titles for exploring the history and impact of the Holocaust, though it is by no means exhaustive
Rebekkah's Journey: A World War II Refugee Story
Author: Ann E. Burg
Illustrator: Joel Iskowitz
Grades 2 - 5
In 1944 a vacant army base in upstate New York became the temporary home of over 900 men, women and children who had fled Europe towards the end of World War II. With little more than the clothing on their backs, Rebekkah and her mother are just two of the many refugees who come to live in the camp. Adjusting to a strange new world and a new language, Rebekkah puts aside her own fears to try and recreate tiny bits of home for her mother. A fictional story based on the real-life experiences of surviving refugees, "Rebekkah's Journey" shares the illuminating story of one refugee's arrival on America's shores.
Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust
Author: Loic Dauvillier
Illustrator: Marc Lizano
Inker: Greg Salsedo
Grades 2 - 5
In this gentle, poetic young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the Nazis by a series of neighbors and friends who risked their lives to keep her alive when her parents had been taken to concentration camps.
Hidden ends on a tender note, with Dounia and her mother rediscovering each other as World War II ends . . . and a young girl in present-day France becoming closer to her grandmother, who can finally, after all those years, tell her story. With words by Loïc Dauvillier and art by Marc Lizano and Greg Salsedo, this picture book-style comic for young readers is a touching read.
The Whispering Town
Author: Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren
Grades 2 - 5
The dramatic story of neighbors in a small Danish fishing village who, during the Holocaust, shelter a Jewish family waiting to be ferried to safety in Sweden.
It is 1943 in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Anett and her parents are hiding a Jewish woman and her son, Carl, in their cellar until a fishing boat can take them across the sound to neutral Sweden. The soldiers patrolling their street are growing suspicious, so Carl and his mama must make their way to the harbor despite a cloudy sky with no moon to guide them. Worried about their safety, Anett devises a clever and unusual plan for their safe passage to the harbor.
Based on a true story.
The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs
Author: Chana Stiefel
Grades 2 - 5
A moving biography of the woman who created the Tower of Faces, a powerful exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Gold Medal)
There once was a girl named Yaffa. She loved her family, her home, and her beautiful Polish town that brimmed with light and laughter. She also loved helping her Grandma Alte in her photography studio. There, shopkeepers, brides, babies, and bar mitzvah boys posed while Grandma Alte captured their most joyous moments on film. And before the Jewish New Year, they sent their precious photographs to relatives overseas with wishes for good health and happiness.
But one dark day, Nazi soldiers invaded the town. Nearly 3,500 Jewish souls ― including family, friends, and neighbors of Yaffa ― were erased.
This is the stunning true story of how Yaffa made it her life’s mission to recover thousands of her town’s photographs from around the world. Using these photos, she built her amazing TOWER OF FACES, a permanent exhibit in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, to restore the soaring spirit of Eishyshok.
Books are a valuable way to initiate conversations about the Holocaust. The following recommendations may serve as useful resources for this purpose. This list highlights a range of suggested titles for exploring the history and impact of the Holocaust, though it is by no means exhaustive. However, it’s important to read each book beforehand to ensure it is appropriate for your child(ren)'s age and maturity level.
The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window
Author: Jeff Gottesfeld, Illustrator: Peter McCarty
Grades K–3
A picture book told from the perspective of the tree outside Anne Frank's window—this book introduces her story to a young audience.
ABOUT THE BOOK The tragic and poignant story of Anne Frank has been the subject of books, plays, and films and has been translated into many different languages, but it has never been told as uniquely as in The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window. In this sad but lovely telling, readers learn Anne Frank’s story through the “eyes” and “voice” of the horse chestnut tree that stood silent watch over her during her two-year confinement. Through powerful, moving brown-ink images, readers are introduced to the quiet strength and resilience of a young girl who found beauty and hope under the direst of circumstances, and whose legacy continues to inspire people the world over.
Benino and the Night of Broken Glass
Author: Meg Wiviott
Grades K–3
A neighborhood cat is a witness to what occurs on the night of broken glass and the discrimination leading up to this night. This book is told in a way that is appropriate for young children.
Author: Jennifer Elvgren, Illustrator: Fabio Santomauro
Grades K–3
It’s the story of a little Danish girl named Anett who wakes up to learn that there are “new friends” hiding in the basement. Anett brings them breakfast (when she tells the baker, “We have new friends,” he gives her extra food and murmurs, “Stay safe”). After Annet learns that the little boy in the basement loves to read, she walks to the library and whispers to the librarian, “We have new friends.” The librarian whispers back, “Be careful” and gives her extra books. The entire town colludes to hide Jews from the Nazis and smuggle them out to Sweden. Annet not only shows bravery when the Nazis come to her door, but also comes up with a plan to guide her new friends to the harbor on a very cloudy night. (An afterword explains the Danish resistance movement, the fact that almost all the Jews from Denmark survived, and the true story of the town depicted in the book: Gilleleje, from which 1,700 Jews escaped.)
Hana’s Suitcase: The Quest to Solve a Holocaust Mystery
Author: Karen Levine
Grades 3–7
A Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner A National Jewish Book Award Winner A Yad Vashem Education Award Winner An IRA Teachers’ Choice and Notable Book for a Global Society.
ABOUT THE BOOK I In March 2000, Fumiko Ishioka, the curator of a small Holocaust education center in Tokyo, received an empty suitcase from the museum at Auschwitz. On the outside, in white paint, were the words “Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, Orphan.” Fumiko and the children at the center were determined to find out who Hana was and what happened to her all those years ago, leading them to a startling and emotional discovery. The dual narrative intertwines Fumiko’s international journey to find the truth about Hana Brady’s fate with Hana’s own compelling story of her life in a quiet Czech town, which is shattered by the arrival of the Nazis, tearing apart the family she loves. This suspense-filled work of investigative nonfiction draws in young readers and makes them active participants in the search for Hana’s identity.
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