Author's note- The review on the front of the book says;
"A shocking profoundly moving, and morally challenging story.... nothing short of miraculous. It will haunt you, it will complete you."
And it is all too true.
Imagine being woken in the middle of the night by an obnoxious pounding at the door. "Police, open up!" is what they shout. You don't know why they are there but you know that it isn't to help. You quickly stuff your brother in a closet and swiftly lock him in, promising you'll be back soon to get him, and run out to see what they want. The men are French officers and they tell you to pack a small bag of your things and come with them. You grab as much as you can then return to the door where the men are standing. "I'll be back tonight to get you," you had told your brother when you were leaving, and unknown to you, you won't be back tonight, or ever.
"A shocking profoundly moving, and morally challenging story.... nothing short of miraculous. It will haunt you, it will complete you."
And it is all too true.
Imagine being woken in the middle of the night by an obnoxious pounding at the door. "Police, open up!" is what they shout. You don't know why they are there but you know that it isn't to help. You quickly stuff your brother in a closet and swiftly lock him in, promising you'll be back soon to get him, and run out to see what they want. The men are French officers and they tell you to pack a small bag of your things and come with them. You grab as much as you can then return to the door where the men are standing. "I'll be back tonight to get you," you had told your brother when you were leaving, and unknown to you, you won't be back tonight, or ever.
Sarah is a young Jewish girl living in France during the time of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis'. The French police had agreed to round up the Jews by night and send them to the concentration camps by day. The Jews were widely disrespected and even a young girl of ten would have a great deal of trouble making it through a single school day without being spat upon or smirked at. This is a true event called The great Round-up of the Velodrome d'Hiver where the French Government stole over a thousand Jews from their houses overnight and locked them in a huge room with no food or drink whatsoever , where, it is said, nobody ever returned.
It really makes me wonder how much these people are willing to stand up for. The people in the building knew they would be captured sooner or later yet they brought up their children up in the Jewish belief and weren't afraid to how it to the world. Honestly I would have never been able to do that and put my child's life in danger just so I could show I was a certain religion. In fact, I can't see how anyone could. I really wish that, even though I look up to these people in their amazing bravery, people didn't have to do this. I wish people could just understand that you don’t always need things that don’t belong to you like, say, other people's life?!
This was a major event in history, not to mention a lesson well learned. I wish I could go back in time and change the course of history, but sadly that is impossible and, well, I wouldn't want to mess-up the wonderful life we all have today because of it.
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