I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors

Gr 10 Up—Author/illustrator Bernice Eisenstein narrates a taut rendition of her book (Riverhead, 2006) in this animated adaptation. As a child of Holocaust survivors, Eisenstein struggles to understand the inhumanity of World War II, now with multi-generational trauma as part of the discourse. She claims that the Holocaust is her drug, an addiction that can never be satisfied. Her parents now live in a Jewish neighborhood of Toronto, Canada, along with a small cadre of family and friends who are also survivors. Yiddish expressions and Jewish emotion underscore the group's gatherings and the author's childhood. Her youth is a struggle for family connections and finding her own identity, neither of which fully materializes. Her father is distant and prone to impatient outbrursts, while fantasizing that he's a cinematic cowboy hero rescuing concentration camp prisoners. The book's illustrations are animated, evoking artistic comparisons to Rodin, Matisse, Chagall, Munsch, and even the spiral scene from Hitchcock's film, Vertigo. The overall effect is surrealistic but compelling. Interviews with the author and film's director provide fascinating vignettes into the creative process and the psychology of Eisenstein's yen to bring her difficult truths into focus. A mature and thoughtful resource for creative arts students and those who seek an expanded view of Holocaust studies.—Robin Levin, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher/Fellow, WY