Notes from the Levy Library

Remembering Prominent Holocaust Figures

– column updated 11/21/25

“The Librarian of Auschwitz” and five other survivors pass away

As Grace Gilson’s 11/13 article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, in October and November we lost six prominent survivors: Michael Smuss, last known Resistance fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto, 99: Selma van de Perre, Dutch Resistance fighter who survived Ravensbrück concentration camp, 103; Ruth Posner, acclaimed actress and dancer who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto, 96; Yehuda Friedman, member of a secret paramilitary group that sought revenge against the Nazis, 105; Manfred Goldberg, who secretly celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in Riga Ghetto, 95; and Dita Kraus, who formed a secret library for the children of Auschwitz, 96.

I draw your attention in particular to the story of Dita Kraus because the library has two gripping young adult books based on her life: a novel, The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated from the Spanish by Lilit Thwaites and winner of the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the young adult category; and a 2023 graphic novel version of Iturbe’s book adapted by Salva Rubio and illustrated by Loreto Aroca. You’ll find this graphic novel in the third-floor display case by the classrooms, along with many other intriguing graphic novels for teens and adults.

Hidden Lives: Stories from Child Survivors of the Holocaust

We are quickly losing the last of the survivors of the Shoah, so the opportunity to hear from them is precious. Reading their stories will soon be the only way to keep this connection. On Wednesday, 12/10 at 1:00 p.m. Echoes and Reflections, a professional development organization for Holocaust educators, hosts a free webinar with reflections from the following survivors: Rachelle Goldstein, Cordula Hahn, Dr. Robert Krell, and Abe Foxman. Though geared to educators, others are welcome too. Apparently U.S.-based webinar attendees will receive a free copy of Hidden Lives: Stories from Child Survivors of the Holocaust, the new book that recounts their stories. To register, go to: https://tinyurl.com/hiddenchildrenwebinar

Latest Recommendations from the Second Sunday Book Club

We met on November 16 and came up with quite an eclectic list. We also decided to each read a banned book in the new year. Here are a few of the books that we discussed….

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa is an international bestseller from Japan. This short novel has romance, soul-searching, interesting characters, and lots of books! Fugitive Pieces is the first of many fine novels by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. It’s a very moving story of the relationship between a Greek geologist and the Jewish boy he saves. You may know Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America from the HBO series – a timely look at an alternative history of the US.

Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams is a very personal pick for me. It’s a children’s biography of the woman who founded the International Youth Library in Munich, where I spent several months on a fellowship. This extraordinary woman – a Jew who had fled Germany with her two young children to work as a journalist in the UK – went back after the war as a major in the US Army to help German children repair their lives by giving them access to books. This proved to be an effective antidote to Nazi propaganda, which was all that they knew. A new release, the book is just waiting for you to borrow it from our library!

Our next book club meeting is Sunday, December 7, at 1:00 pm – the FIRST Sunday so as not to conflict with Hanukkah. Email me for the Zoom link if you’d like to join us to talk about your reading.

Shabbat Shalom, and happy reading and viewing!

Your Librarian, Annette

Do visit our online catalog http://stti.hl.scoolaid.net/bin/home. You can also get there via the Temple web site https://sephardictemple.org/ — click on the “Learning” tab and choose “Temple Library.” Get to know your Levy Library – there’s lots to discover!

Librarian: Annette Goldsmith. Email: library@sephardictemple.org