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Het kind in het Getto
September 1943, de joodse dorpsarts Hanna Mai woont met haar beide dochters, de 16-jarige Minna en de 7-jarige Malka, in Lawoczne, een dorp in het door de Duitsers bezette Polen dicht bij de Hongaarse grens. Tijdens een razzia van de nazi’s moeten ze halsoverkop en zonder enige voorbereiding huis en haard ontvluchten. Geteisterd door weer en wind trekken de drie vrouwen door de bergen richting Hongarije, waar het naar verwachting relatief veilig is. Maar nog vóór de grens, in Pilipiec, bezwijkt de 7-jarige Malka aan uitputting en hoge koorts, wat het voor de vrouwen onmogelijk maakt om verder te reizen.
Met bloedend hart besluit Hanna haar jongste dochter bij een onderduikgezin achter te laten; maar ook daar wordt de Duitse dreiging te groot en Malka wordt naar het getto gebracht, waar ze vanaf dat moment moederziel alleen moet zien te overleven, zonder eten, onderdak, of gezelschap. In de maanden die volgen – en tijdens de ijskoude Poolse winter die invalt – ontwikkelt Malka een primitief survivalsysteem, net als een paar andere achtergelaten joodse kinderen van haar leeftijd. Ze weet zichzelf ‘onzichtbaar’ te maken, de eenzaamheid en eeuwige honger te weerstaan…
Met bloedend hart besluit Hanna haar jongste dochter bij een onderduikgezin achter te laten; maar ook daar wordt de Duitse dreiging te groot en Malka wordt naar het getto gebracht, waar ze vanaf dat moment moederziel alleen moet zien te overleven, zonder eten, onderdak, of gezelschap. In de maanden die volgen – en tijdens de ijskoude Poolse winter die invalt – ontwikkelt Malka een primitief survivalsysteem, net als een paar andere achtergelaten joodse kinderen van haar leeftijd. Ze weet zichzelf ‘onzichtbaar’ te maken, de eenzaamheid en eeuwige honger te weerstaan…
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
21 people are currently reading
1092 people want to read
About the author
Mirjam Pressler
262 books38 followersGerman writer Mirjam Pressler is the author of several novels that have won awards in her native Germany and also received high praise from critics after being translated into English. In Malka and Halinka Pressler focuses on young Jewish protagonists who have been forced by fate to endure the Holocaust, while in Shylock's Daughter she returns readers to fifteenth-century Italy as she attempts to answer haunting questions surrounding the motivations of characters in a popular play by William Shakespeare. While receiving notice for her novels, Pressler is most well known for her work revising the diaries of Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and she is considered an expert on Franks's life and writings. In addition to translating Frank's famous diary from Dutch into German, Pressler has edited The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition and has also authored Anne Frank: A Hidden Life for younger readers. Winner of the 1994 German Youth Literature Prize for her work, Pressler divided her time between homes in Bavaria and Israel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
February 9, 2013
Hannah Mai and her two daughters, Minna and Malka, live in Lawoczne in Poland. It's 1943, life for Jews is becoming precarious and so Hannah takes the difficult decision to leave their home and escape over the mountains to the refuge of Hungary. On the journey, Malka, the youngest daughter, becomes separated from the others and it's from that point that the book splits into two separate narratives - the story of Malka, and the story of her mother and Minna.
Written originally in German and translated into English by Brian Murdoch,this is a book full of broken glass. It's written in a very precise manner that tends to avoid the great elaborate metaphor, but in doing so creates a story that is painfully acute. There are many many moments which are intensely moving but one in particular struck me. It is when two characters are picking a berry from a bush and one shares it with the other. I'll edit the names out in this quote so it's spoiler free:
"He opened his mouth without taking his eyes off her, and she put in the berry. [She] looked so strange, so different, as if she had no connection with the child she had once been. Embarrassed, [Different Character] turned away. She felt as if she'd been watching something that was nothing to do with her."
If there is a more subtle, beautiful way to describe that moment when you fall in love with somebody, I am yet to read it.
This is a story of survival and of love, and of the way your stomach turns in on itself after weeks of hunger.
What I will acknowledge is that this isn't going to be a book for everyone. The ending's not quite what I expected. There are long periods where 'nothing' overt happens. There's a lot of quietness which I appreciate is ironic in a wartime book but that's the best way to describe it.
But I think, in a way, that's what makes it great as well. This is a book where we see the best and worst of people, and we see it in a peculiarly graceful manner. The way it's almost underwritten at points forces the reader to absorb some of the tension Malka and her family are feeling. You reach out, pulling cues in from the wider story, to understand how you should read these pages - and it's unbearable because you start picking up on the clues, the surroundings, and become as closely embroiled in it as the protagonists are.
Malka left me breathless at the end of it. I am impressed at Pressler's skill, and the afterword (which I urge you to read *after* you've read the book) left me in tears. This is a very graceful, painful and important book.
Written originally in German and translated into English by Brian Murdoch,this is a book full of broken glass. It's written in a very precise manner that tends to avoid the great elaborate metaphor, but in doing so creates a story that is painfully acute. There are many many moments which are intensely moving but one in particular struck me. It is when two characters are picking a berry from a bush and one shares it with the other. I'll edit the names out in this quote so it's spoiler free:
"He opened his mouth without taking his eyes off her, and she put in the berry. [She] looked so strange, so different, as if she had no connection with the child she had once been. Embarrassed, [Different Character] turned away. She felt as if she'd been watching something that was nothing to do with her."
If there is a more subtle, beautiful way to describe that moment when you fall in love with somebody, I am yet to read it.
This is a story of survival and of love, and of the way your stomach turns in on itself after weeks of hunger.
What I will acknowledge is that this isn't going to be a book for everyone. The ending's not quite what I expected. There are long periods where 'nothing' overt happens. There's a lot of quietness which I appreciate is ironic in a wartime book but that's the best way to describe it.
But I think, in a way, that's what makes it great as well. This is a book where we see the best and worst of people, and we see it in a peculiarly graceful manner. The way it's almost underwritten at points forces the reader to absorb some of the tension Malka and her family are feeling. You reach out, pulling cues in from the wider story, to understand how you should read these pages - and it's unbearable because you start picking up on the clues, the surroundings, and become as closely embroiled in it as the protagonists are.
Malka left me breathless at the end of it. I am impressed at Pressler's skill, and the afterword (which I urge you to read *after* you've read the book) left me in tears. This is a very graceful, painful and important book.
August 27, 2016
This book was so incredible, but it was heartbreaking to watch Malka lose her childhood.
July 15, 2017
Van het lezen van dit boek kreeg ik buikpijn. Zo dichtbij komt het aangrijpende waargebeurde verhaal van Malka Mai, een joods Pools meisje dat met haar moeder en zus naar Hongarije vlucht. Omdat ze ziek is, laat haar moeder haar achter bij een familie die belooft haar na te zullen brengen. Die belofte wordt niet nagekomen. Malka Mai komt in het getto van een nabijgelegen Poolse stad, waar ze uiteindelijk het in haar eentje moet zien te redden.
Presser vertelt het verhaal vanuit twee perspectieven, dat van de zevenjarige Malka Mai en dat van haar moeder Hanna, die verscheurd wordt door schuldgevoelens omdat ze haar dochter heeft achtergelaten.
Presser vertelt het verhaal vanuit twee perspectieven, dat van de zevenjarige Malka Mai en dat van haar moeder Hanna, die verscheurd wordt door schuldgevoelens omdat ze haar dochter heeft achtergelaten.
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March 8, 2019When the Nazi's began to invade Poland a Doctor alongside with her daughters must escape the Germans and flee to Hungary. Malka which is the youngest daughter of the Doctor gets sick along the way must be held behind. While being in a foreign country Malka learns that she mustn't rely on others but on her own determination.
The novel Malka by Mirjam Pressler is suspenseful and intriguing because of the quality of it's imagery. In the novel the way it describes the conditions where they are crossing the border from Poland to Hungary in some ways it's relating to the conditions my mother alongside with my sisters had to cross the border from Mexico to the United States through similar conditions and the way the imagery was used it made me feel and connect to my mothers experience. Realistic diction was used when Malka got injured you could understand and sense her pain and in some ways could also see her injury. The book is a good book to read especially if you enjoy reading about the Holocaust or World War 2.
The novel Malka by Mirjam Pressler is suspenseful and intriguing because of the quality of it's imagery. In the novel the way it describes the conditions where they are crossing the border from Poland to Hungary in some ways it's relating to the conditions my mother alongside with my sisters had to cross the border from Mexico to the United States through similar conditions and the way the imagery was used it made me feel and connect to my mothers experience. Realistic diction was used when Malka got injured you could understand and sense her pain and in some ways could also see her injury. The book is a good book to read especially if you enjoy reading about the Holocaust or World War 2.
November 23, 2023
Ondanks de heftige thematiek en dat het verhaal gebaseerd is op een waargebeurd leven, voelde ik me niet erg betrokken. Door de schrijfstijl werd ik erg op een afstand gehouden en voelde ik me niet in het verhaal zitten.
April 10, 2020
Enorm graag gelezen, al vond ik het einde van het boek wat plots en te toevallig (ik hou niet van plotwendingen die in één zin worden uitgelegd, met een vreemde vanzelfsprekendheid). Neemt niet weg dat ik Malka een warm hart toedraag; een bijzonder personage, met een krachtige vertelstem. Wil ik meer lezen van Pressler? Absoluut. Al denk ik wel dat het dan in het Duits zal moeten...
June 25, 2017
Wow. This book was everything and more. I have always been interested in the history of the Holocaust, but this book really expressed the fear of the Jews during that time, specifically through the eyes of a 7-year-old girl, Malka Mai.
Pressler wrote this book after speaking to Malka Mai (a real individual) about her childhood experience, though she mentions that many fictional details were added. In the book, Malka lives with her mother, Hannah, and older sister, Minna. They receive warnings saying the Germans are coming to town to raid the Jews out. Upon hearing this news, Hannah plans to escape with her daughters to Hungary. It's not until Hannah notices that Malka is struggling with restlessness and sickness during the escape journey that she decides to leave Malka with a family. Hannah plans for Malka to be sent back to her via train after her journey is completed.
I appreciated this book so much in that I realized how grateful I should be on a daily basis, for something as little as water. The word "hungry" is mentioned in the book quite a lot, and I felt heartbroken every time Malka had to scrounge around for food without knowing where she was or whether she would ever see her family again. In addition, though I am not a mother, the book really expressed a mother's love for her daughter. The ending was sorrowful to say the least, but I can definitely see that Hannah never meant to hurt Malka. The narration switches from both Hannah and Malka, so I liked that I was able to read the minds of two different characters.
"Malka" is an appropriate read for all ages, and I personally think elementary/middle/high school students learning about the Holocaust would benefit much from this book. Thank you Mirjam Pressler, for writing not only an eye-opening book, but also a story that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Pressler wrote this book after speaking to Malka Mai (a real individual) about her childhood experience, though she mentions that many fictional details were added. In the book, Malka lives with her mother, Hannah, and older sister, Minna. They receive warnings saying the Germans are coming to town to raid the Jews out. Upon hearing this news, Hannah plans to escape with her daughters to Hungary. It's not until Hannah notices that Malka is struggling with restlessness and sickness during the escape journey that she decides to leave Malka with a family. Hannah plans for Malka to be sent back to her via train after her journey is completed.
I appreciated this book so much in that I realized how grateful I should be on a daily basis, for something as little as water. The word "hungry" is mentioned in the book quite a lot, and I felt heartbroken every time Malka had to scrounge around for food without knowing where she was or whether she would ever see her family again. In addition, though I am not a mother, the book really expressed a mother's love for her daughter. The ending was sorrowful to say the least, but I can definitely see that Hannah never meant to hurt Malka. The narration switches from both Hannah and Malka, so I liked that I was able to read the minds of two different characters.
"Malka" is an appropriate read for all ages, and I personally think elementary/middle/high school students learning about the Holocaust would benefit much from this book. Thank you Mirjam Pressler, for writing not only an eye-opening book, but also a story that I will remember for the rest of my life.
September 12, 2016
this was a true story. some of the decisions malka's mother made i sure didn't understand and couldn't relate to. so much happened to the family and well, really to everyone who experienced this horrific event. this is supposed to be a children's book or young adult book but some of it was pretty graphic. some kids might have a hard time that. i enjoyed it though for the most part.
January 16, 2022
Had to read this for school. Cannot recommend. Interesting topic, bad execution
May 6, 2020
I started this book a while ago and for some reason or another I just put it down and haven't picked it up till last night, and then I completed it...
Based on truth but fictionalised for the most part this story is set in Poland in 1943, the time of the second world war and the holocaust, Malka's mum takes her two daughters and begins a trying escape to freedom across the mountains to Hungary.
But Malka her youngest daughter is separated from Mum and Minna, the older daughter...
It is the journey of a mother, desperate and tortured with guilt, grief, fear, constant danger. A journey to find freedom, but to have to lose it to find her youngest daughter...
It is the journey of Malka, a young child and then a young teenager, who struggles to remain alive in a hostile, dangerous and brutal place, full of terrifying Nazis and Germans. Malka learns to become invisible and conceals herself both by day and by night barely managing to survive , but survive she does. She is eventually united with her mother whom she neither recognises nor feels akin to.
Malka is bewildered, her mind and the traumas suffered suppressed much of her early life and what happened to her, but she is able to eventually make her way to Israel and live on a Kibbutz.
Today she lives in a suburb of Tel-Aviv and has three children and two grandchildren.
"An extraordinary, shocking story of a child's fight to stay alive during one of the bleakest moments in human history"
"Malka saw a group of Jews coming towards her being moved along by German soldiers, with their guns at the ready. Suddenly she heard shots and turned round...the Jews raised their arms and fell down in the street, just like that, as quiet as rag dolls, and all that could be heard was the rattle of machine-guns."
Based on truth but fictionalised for the most part this story is set in Poland in 1943, the time of the second world war and the holocaust, Malka's mum takes her two daughters and begins a trying escape to freedom across the mountains to Hungary.
But Malka her youngest daughter is separated from Mum and Minna, the older daughter...
It is the journey of a mother, desperate and tortured with guilt, grief, fear, constant danger. A journey to find freedom, but to have to lose it to find her youngest daughter...
It is the journey of Malka, a young child and then a young teenager, who struggles to remain alive in a hostile, dangerous and brutal place, full of terrifying Nazis and Germans. Malka learns to become invisible and conceals herself both by day and by night barely managing to survive , but survive she does. She is eventually united with her mother whom she neither recognises nor feels akin to.
Malka is bewildered, her mind and the traumas suffered suppressed much of her early life and what happened to her, but she is able to eventually make her way to Israel and live on a Kibbutz.
Today she lives in a suburb of Tel-Aviv and has three children and two grandchildren.
"An extraordinary, shocking story of a child's fight to stay alive during one of the bleakest moments in human history"
"Malka saw a group of Jews coming towards her being moved along by German soldiers, with their guns at the ready. Suddenly she heard shots and turned round...the Jews raised their arms and fell down in the street, just like that, as quiet as rag dolls, and all that could be heard was the rattle of machine-guns."
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March 15, 2021Het is september 1943 wanneer de Poolse dorpsarts Hanna Mai na een Duitse razzia met haar twee dochters Minna van 16 en Malka van 7 halsoverkop het dorp uit vlucht. Een zware tocht door de bergen naar het relatief veilige Hongarije volgt.
Voor de kleine Malka wordt de tocht te zwaar, ze wordt ziek en krijgt hoge koorts. Met pijn in haar hart laat Hanna haar jongste dochter achter bij een onderduikgezin. Niet wetend of ze haar dochter ooit terug zal zien. Voor zowel Hanna als Malka volgt een zware tijd. Wanneer het beter met Malka gaat, wil het gezin haar vanwege het risico niet langer in huis hebben. Ze brengen haar niet naar een nieuw adres, maar laten haar alleen achter. 'Langzaam, heel langzaam drong het tot haar door. Ze was alleen. Alleen in een vreemd land, alleen op een vreemde weg.' Vanaf dat moment moet Malka zien te overleven, zonder warme kleren of eten. Maar met haar pop Liesje. Het overleven lukt. Schrijfster Mirjam Pressler ontmoette Malka in 1996 in Israël. Daar vertelde Malka haar verhaal.
In Het kind in het getto beschrijft Pressler hoe Malka haar oorlogstijd beleeft: als een grijze wolk waarin ze was opgenomen. 'Ze voelde geen grond meer onder haar voeten en alles leek oneindig lang. Dagen en nachten volgden elkaar op en verschilden nauwelijks van elkaar, omdat de honger haar niet losliet.' Door de ogen van het zevenjarige meisje maak je de Tweede Wereldoorlog van heel dichtbij mee. Je ziet haar lopen, het huis binnengaan waar ze sliep en je voelt haar verdriet wanneer ze ontdekt dat ze haar pop kwijt is.
Dit op waarheid gebaseerde verhaal biedt een verrassend perspectief op de oorlog. Een kind, moederziel alleen, dat de oorlog van zo dichtbij mee maakt. Het verhaal laat ook zien dat een kind, hoe jong ook, soms heel verstandig kan zijn.
May 14, 2017
I read this book when i was about 12 years old. Now I'm 14, and still love this book. I was always interested in History, and something about a Polish Girl living in WW2 is something so interesting for me, that i needed to read it. Yeah, it's very sad at some times, but the writing style and how she managed to write a Story just by some descriptions from the Real Life Girl is just Fascinating. For me it was just so great for me to have and read this book. It isn't one of your 500 pages stories, but it's enough to make you sucked into this book. I wouldn't recommend this for the Light-Hearted People out there, but i just love this story, and i hope you too! (Sorry if my English was bad, it's not my first language...)
October 11, 2018
Well let’s start from the beginning malka is probably a thirteen year old girl yet this was based of a true story so we really don’t know what here real age was at that time anyway she is a Jew ( and i pray that she does not get captured ). She has a mother and two sisters the father Is spending time with the other far from malka’s two sisters .
Let’s cut to the chase when she goes to her friends house she gets kicked out but the German mom she was nice though , when she walks home urkranian and Poland kids shout out JEW GIRL JEW GIRL ! She has to travel somewhere else because the Germans were few miles down from their house so they traveled to polizc I’m not sure how to pernounce or spell it but that’s were i think we should leave off to great book 10 out of 10 would read it again .
Let’s cut to the chase when she goes to her friends house she gets kicked out but the German mom she was nice though , when she walks home urkranian and Poland kids shout out JEW GIRL JEW GIRL ! She has to travel somewhere else because the Germans were few miles down from their house so they traveled to polizc I’m not sure how to pernounce or spell it but that’s were i think we should leave off to great book 10 out of 10 would read it again .
July 13, 2018
This is by far one of the best books I have read this year and there have been quiet a few. I loved every minute of reading this and would happily read it again.
The only thing that annoyed me, and its trivial really, was the language used regarding toileting. It just didnt fit with the tone of the story and was quite.. vulgar.. in a sense..
Apart from that I would highly recommend this book to everyone! It was a brilliant story of how children where left behind during the war, how rife illnesses were and how the times of 1943-45 changed families forever more.
The only thing that annoyed me, and its trivial really, was the language used regarding toileting. It just didnt fit with the tone of the story and was quite.. vulgar.. in a sense..
Apart from that I would highly recommend this book to everyone! It was a brilliant story of how children where left behind during the war, how rife illnesses were and how the times of 1943-45 changed families forever more.
July 28, 2020
Dies ist wohl mein letztes Buch von Mirjam Pressler. Die Geschichte war - obwohl mit Sicherheit der Zeit und seinen Schicksalen sehr genau entsprechend - zu düster, ohne Hoffnung und aufgrund seiner Grausamkeit schlichtweg kaum zu ertragen.
Ähnlich wie bei "Nathan und seine Kinder" hat mir das Ende gar nicht gefallen. Das Buch lässt mich mit einer tiefen Kälte im Herzen zurück, über welche ich nicht mehr nachdenken möchte.
Nicht zuletzt halte ich das Buch für junge Jugendliche für völlig ungeeignet.
Ähnlich wie bei "Nathan und seine Kinder" hat mir das Ende gar nicht gefallen. Das Buch lässt mich mit einer tiefen Kälte im Herzen zurück, über welche ich nicht mehr nachdenken möchte.
Nicht zuletzt halte ich das Buch für junge Jugendliche für völlig ungeeignet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2017
I ran out of books to read during a class so I picked a random one given to my class library by the district. This one won!
This book is going to haunt me. It's loosely based on a true story, possibly the scariest genre of all.
The mother is driven. I never did figure out if she was driven by ambition or fear. She mentions several times that she is unable to keep still. While her drive is admirable in a doctor, it's not an asset for her children or her family. They seem to frequently come in second place in her life. It's got to be rough on her family.
This book brings on some bleak decision-making. Who to save: the sick child who needs you or the healthy child who can be rescued? Heart-breaking!
This book is going to haunt me. It's loosely based on a true story, possibly the scariest genre of all.
The mother is driven. I never did figure out if she was driven by ambition or fear. She mentions several times that she is unable to keep still. While her drive is admirable in a doctor, it's not an asset for her children or her family. They seem to frequently come in second place in her life. It's got to be rough on her family.
This book brings on some bleak decision-making. Who to save: the sick child who needs you or the healthy child who can be rescued? Heart-breaking!
January 15, 2019
I really struggled with this book. There was far too much pointless description for me and after the first 90 pages I basically skim read the rest of it because I just couldn’t get into it and to be honest I found it boring. I know this story is largely based on the real life events of a lady named Malka and the fact she survived such a horrendous period of time is incredible. I just didn’t find the way this book told the story interesting
January 30, 2019
De rauwe realiteit maakt het lezen soms keihard. Wetende dat dit boek gebaseerd is op ware feiten maakt het nog treffender. En dat dit verhaal zich nog elke dag herhaalt onder vluchtende gezinnen met kinderen die gescheiden worden van hun ouders en op de dool geraken, opgejaagd worden, geen toekomst meer zien... Hartverscheurend.
Knap van Pressler om uit de schaarse herinneringen van de echte Malka dit boek te puren.
Knap van Pressler om uit de schaarse herinneringen van de echte Malka dit boek te puren.
February 25, 2024
I expected a little more from the ending, but its okay. The Story was really sad, being desperate and fake hope burning out. but eventually some good hope came out, i was a little confused about Malka getting into this Hospital and im guessing being in a new village or something. That kinda felt like a fever dream might be just me imo.
September 20, 2025
Dieses Buch habe ich als Jugendliche gelesen und fand es sehr bewegend. Aus der Sicht eines siebenjährigen Mädchens wird die geplante Flucht vor den nazis, das Überleben im Ghetto und der Kampf ums Überleben szenisch dargestellt. Subtil wird der Leser mit Bildern in die Geschichte gezogen und kann sich sein eigenes zur Situation machen. Ein ganz tolles Buch und großartiger erzählstil.
May 16, 2018
It was nice to read from a child's perspective. I don't always realize exactly how bad world war 2 was. Even the people who weren't in concentration camps had aged lives and the fact that this is partially true is heart wrenching...I LOVE IT!!
August 2, 2021
This may be marketed as YA, but it is one of the most interesting and well written YA Holocaust 'fiction' I have read. To watch through the eyes of a seven year old....and only for a few months!...was very powerful.
October 13, 2018
12 jaar geleden gelezen en is me altijd bijgebleven! Staat nog altijd op mijn boekenplank tussen mijn favoriete boeken :)
November 12, 2018
Als 12-Jährige war ich absolut gefesselt von dem Buch. Mittlerweile finde ich, dass Pressler mehr aus der Geschichte hätte machen können.
March 22, 2019
Gefühlvoll, traurig und nichts für schwache Nerven!
September 2, 2019
Beeindruckend und erschütternd, wie Mirjam Pressler diese Geschichte eines kleinen Mädchens erzählt.
May 6, 2021
Eine Geschichte der jüdischen Kämpf gegen die Wirklichkeit der Zeit, die von vielen Familien erlebt wurde. Das Buch beginnt entspannend aber wird leider langsamer und langweilieger.
May 17, 2021
A little slow and the writing was definitely old-fashioned. But it was a good story. The ending was very realistic but also heartbreaking. I did feel like there should have been more at the end.
June 11, 2021
Review is coming.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews