Psalms

by Hirsch Grunstein

The villagers all felt sorry for fourteen-year-old Henri and little with their mother "in an asylum" and a "philandering" father, back in Antwerp, the two brothers had come to Belsele, in the Flemish countryside, "for a much needed fresh-air break." In fact, the intricate story of an unhappy family was spun to protect the two Jewish boys, Hirsch and Salomon, from deportation while they were waiting out the German occupation of Belgium. Hirsch Grunstein's memoir chronicles the events leading up to the boys' escape from Antwerp, his long stretch in hiding (much of it alone, in silence), his eventual capture by the Flemish SS, and the dramatic operation by the Belgian resistance that saved him and scores of other children from certain death. Woven into the riveting account of how he, his family and their rescuers survived, are the teenager's wrenching interpretations of the Psalms.

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Sherida · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It combines the innocence of a young man coming of age with the terrible risks and threat of the Holocaust. With sensitivity, Grunstein writes about hiding in rural Belgium under the assumed identity of a Catholic boy. But he had to stay quiet all day so he began reading the psalms and thinking about how they applied to his own life. This book is both an adventure story, a thrilling and frightening account of facing danger, and a spiritual autobiography. I read this a year ago and am still haunted (and inspired) by it.

[Usain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Grunsteins are an ordinary Jewish family in Antwerp during the Second World War. Increasing pressure from the Nazis and stories of deportations lead them to leave their family home in the Jewish quarter and go into hiding with safe families outside the city. The two sons end up at the Van Damme's in rural Belsele. Henri (Hirsch) Grunstein describes in Psalms his stay in this village between Antwerp and Ghent. He is a young teenager and his father has instructed him to maintain his Jewishness and to say the prayers with his younger brother Sylvain. He had given him a small book with the Psalms. Young Henri reads this daily and finds inspiration to make sense of his situation. His temporary 'parents' take very good care of the two boys.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the occupation they are betrayed by Flemish SS men and the Germans tear the families apart. Adrienne, his temporary mother, ends up in Ravensbrück, Henri avoids deportation and ends up in shelters of the Judenrat where under 16 year olds were taken care of through the intercession of Queen Elisabeth.
Belgium is liberated in September 1944 and Henri is found by both his parents who also survived the war in hiding. The family is fully reunited and it withstands the V1 and V2 bombings in the Antwerp borough Deurne without much damage. Adrienne survives Ravensbrück and returns scarred to Belsele.
Hirsch Grunstein turns all this into a compelling story in which he accurately depicts the many recognizable places and situations in wartime Flemish Antwerp. A very educational book for those who try to understand the Jewish soul and motives and their terrible suffering during the Nazi occupation