The Night of the Burning: Devorah's Story

by Linda Press Wulf

Devorah’s world is shattered by the tragedies of post–Great War gas poisoning, famine, typhoid, and influenza. Then comes the Night of the Burning, when Cossacks provoke Christian Poles to attack their Jewish neighbors. In 1920, eleven-year-old Devorah and her little sister, Nechama, are the sole survivors of their community. Salvation arrives in the form of a South African philanthropist named Isaac Ochberg, who invites Devorah and Nechama to join his group of two hundred orphans in their journey to safety in South Africa. Although reluctant to leave her homeland, and afraid to forget her family, Devorah follows her sister, who is determined to go to the new country. There Devorah is dealt the greatest blow – Nechama is adopted and taken away from her. In the end, though, Devorah realizes that she is not solely responsible for keeping the past alive, and that she will not betray her beloved parents when she is adopted herself – and finds happiness again.
 
This gripping first novel, inspired by and based closely on the childhood of the author’s mother-in-law, was recipient of the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award.   The Night of the Burning is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Africa, War, Death, Fiction, Historical

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2006

Reviews

[Clement Tsao · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Night Of The Burning" by Linda Press Wulf is similar to the book " A Long Walk to Water" in many ways. The book follows a girl called Devorah, who is a orphan in Poland and a Jew. Her story is about her losing her family and traveling to South Africa. This journey she go's through is like Salva's journey through Africa. Devorah trip is less dangerous then Salva's, but she is still dealing with not being with her parents, and traveling through the unknown. In this story Devorah also has a sister which she has to care for. A large part of the book differs from Salva's, that part of the story focuses on her life in South Africa. Devorah deals with a new life in South Africa and her sister slowly growing away from her. Overall this book is really good and is very enjoyable.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book is interesting, and brings to light an important element of how the authorities tried to help children during World War Two. The writing is quite simple, to suit its audience; I imagine that I would have enjoyed it far more as a child than I did as an adult. The differences between Christians and Jews are set out well, particularly with regard to the intended audience of the novel. It feels very informative, and I would highly recommend it for children or young adults who have an interest in history.

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story about South African Polish Business man who comes back to Poland during 1920's and recuses the children of who survived progroms due to fear of the Flu Epidemic and Communist Revolution in Poland.
Family, Friendship and desire to read English.
Orphans.

[Gwynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tenderly written historical fiction story.

Written by the daughter in law of Devorah Lehrman about the 200 hundred Jewish children who were taken from an orphanage in Poland to South Africa in 1921.

Devorah and her sister Nechama were orphaned when they first lost their father to a tumor and their mother to Typhoid. They were then cared for by their mothers sister until the pogrom arrived in their village.

They were saved by a neighbor and ended up in Pinsk from where their journey to Cape Town begins.

A beautiful story of courage, devotion and love.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

based in true events we follow 2 young Jewish girls from 1915 to 1924 as they face such unbelievable horrors and hardship as they try and survive the troubles that are wiping out their homeland.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little- known slice of history, told for children. Convincing main character, Devorah.

[Isa Beelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

prachtig verhaal en ook informatief, tis lang geleden dat ik m heb geleden maar ik weet nog dat ik een 9,7 voor mijn boekverslag had hihi

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Night of the Burning Linda Press Wulf

I love stories that take place in eastern Europe so it was a natural for me to pick up The Night of the Burning. This story begins in an orphanage in Poland but immediately the reader realizes the setting is about to change. Devorah Lerhman and her sister Nechama receive an invitation to move to a strange land – Africa.
Devorah is leery. Her life so far has been filled with loss. Why should she risk new attachments?
But there is the man with the funny hat. Mr. Ochberg has come to transport two hundred Jewish orphans to South Africa. In spite of herself Devorah is drawn to him.
And so she sets out on a journey, moving back in time even as she chooses a new future. She reflects on the early years with Mama and Papa – before typhoid fever robbed her of both parents. She relives the Night of the Burning when Aunt Friedka was killed during a pogram – an unprovoked senseless attack on the Jews in her village.
After that night, an orphanage becomes her home. It isn’t easy living in the orphanage but at least it is predictable. Traveling with Mr. Ochberg to South Africa is not. The trip is a risky one and it calls forth all of Devorah’s courage – courage to move emotionally as well as physically.
Author Linda Press Wulf snatches her readers up in the earliest pages and takes us on this journey too. We feel the forward movement as Devorah lets down her guard and learns to give and receive love again. Her ability to make us feel Devorah’s emotions is phenomenal.
Wulf is passionate about preserving stories. You feel this when Devorah says to her papa in the early part of her life – “I vow before God and before Papa that I will always remember our stories.” And again at the close of this book when she says “Mama, Papa, wake up. I need to tell you something important. It’s this: the stories won’t be forgotten….There is to be a book, a book that will tell it all.
Thanks to Linda Press Wulf for this book – The Night of the Burning - historical fiction which preserves and validates the story of Devorah Lehrman, the mother-in-law she never met.

[Judy Khalifa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This great book is about the life of an orphan, Devorah, that gets shipped to South Africa with 199 other orphans because her sister, Nechama, has agreed to go and Devorah wanted to protect her 9 year old sister. Throughout the journey, she has flashbacks to when they were little girls, when everything is OK. It is like two stories at the same time, except her flashbacks stop when they get to South Africa. There, Nechama gets adopted by a rich family, but Devorah gets adopted by a middle-class family. As Nechama grows up, she wants to become more independent, but Devorah is still stuck in the time when she had to protect her sister. This book is all about family relationships and how they can change overtime. I would recommend this book to people who like historical and realistic fiction. I really liked it because I kind of relate to it when she talks about her family and her relationships with them. I also understand the racism and how it affected her life. I wouldn't recommend this book to Romance lovers because in the middle you might think a romantic seed growing but nothing really happens (if you read the book you will understand what I mean). This book is the kind that has turns of events and sometimes you are surprised with the results and what the characters reactions are.

[Sheelagh]

This story is based on the life of the author's grandmother, who, with her little sister Nechama, were the sole survivors of a viscious pogrom in the Polish town around WWI. Their parents die before the pogrom of illness and extreme poverty and the girls are left with their beloved aunt, who has been widowed by the forced conscription of her husband into the Tzar's army. The aunt loves the girls very much and defends them against the pogrom, but is stabbed to death in the processes. A righteous gentile saves the girls and sends them to Warsaw, where they are chosen by Ochberg, a Jewish man who has been funded by Jews in South Africa to save Jewish orphans. Ochberg has the dreadful duty to pick 200 orphans of the hundreds of thousands in Europe to bring to South Africa to save. He chooses the main charactcer, Devorah and Nechama, and they go to a happy, safe existence in the South African Jewish orphanage.
I absolutely loved this book. read it together with my 10 year old daughter. It raised some questions about the treatment of Jews, but this was a really good way to discuss a difficult episode of history!

[Wisterious Woman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good YA book for a 5th or 6th grader. The main character Devorah somehow retains a shred of sweetness and innocence despite the horrors she lives through. Her fierce love and protection of her younger sister helps her survive even as she morns the loss of her parents. I learned so much from historical fiction from the many books I read as a child. This book covers historical events in Poland and South Africa that students may never learn about in a school textbook. There aren't too many orphanages in the US now but they played an important role in history in many parts of the world. The book shows the positive side of a home for orphans through the eyes of a child. We also see how difficult it is for Devorah to leave behind her sadness and adjust to living in a foster home especially since it means letting her sister find her own happiness with a different foster family. When bad things happen to kids there is always hope that they will overcome the challenges and feel loved again. That is one of the main themes of this book.

[Isobel Ramsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of two sisters, Devorah and Nechama, before and after the titular Night of the Burning. Narrated by Devorah, the story alternates between the present, which sees the sisters travelling from Poland to an orphanage in South Africa, and the past: when the girls lived with their Jewish parents in the village of Domachevo. It is a clever structure, which has a description of the terrible Night of the Burning at its heart. Set just after World War One, it shows the impact of the war on Polish society, from famine to typhoid to influenza. It is also an insight into anti-semitism in Eastern Europe before Hitler came to power. (For example, Devorah's father is restricted in which jobs he can do simply because he is a Jew.) It is simply told - the writing would be accessible to primary school children - but the themes are more suited to older (Year 7/Year 8) readers. The amazing story of the girls' rescue by the South African philanthropist, Isaac Ochberg, is based on true events and the author is a descendant of the real-life Devorah.

[F. Hanim · Rating 2 out of 5]

When i first read the back cover of the book, i promptly beared in my mind that this book is a story of a girl surviving herself through one terrible night that killed her parents, based on the real life event.

Jadi bacaan ini saya, suatu interprestasi penulis yang menyentuh soal kemanusiaan yang hilang pada zaman tersebut, meskipun latarnya ditulis berpasakkan bangsa Yahudi. Peperangan, penjajahan, anak-anak yatim piatu dan pasca perang penuh pengharapan itu sendiri sudah sangat menyentuh hati.

Sehinggalah pada mukasurat 218, penulis menggarap penghujung hidup bagi salah seorang tokoh dalam buku ini sebagai, "to work for the development of what was then Palestine (Israel)." Oh.

Lidah manusia bercabang, penuh putar-belit. The history might finds its way to repeat itself, kata mereka. Dahulunya dijajah, kini penjajah.

Buku pertama untuk tahun 2015.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was based on the true story of her husband's relatives. As with every story about Jewish pogroms and persecutions, it had its grim moments. Devorah's pain and frustration were palpable. She didn't accept the changes in her life easily, and the grown-ups around her didn't really understand what she was going through. It ends happily, however, and the author's historical notes at the end fill the reader in on what subsequently happened to the people in the book. A moving read, and highly recommended, especially for those who think persecution of the Jews started with the Holocaust.

[Hayley Webber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very poignant read, and rather traumatic considering it is first and foremost a childrens book. The book is based on a true story. It follows Devorah and her younger sister through their many struggles due to being Polish Jews, and how their lives change forever from the outcome of the polictical upheaval the first world war created. It's a very personal tale and well written. The main character is relatable and the hardship she witnesses is tactfully delt with, although even as an adult it distressed me! The only criticism I could give it is that younger readers would struggle with the names and Jewish words, but there is a small glossary at the back of the book to help.

[Nova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on a true events, this story is set in the 1920s. Two Jewish orphan sisters are transported to South Africa to begin a new life. After clinging to each other in an orphanage, they are adopted by different couples. The younger sister goes to a very rich couple where she is treated like a princess and given everything. Devorah lingers in the orphanage a while longer then is adopted by a couple who do their best to love her but aren't wealthy. The growing divide between the sisters is heartbreaking, but eventually Devorah realises she has got a 'home'.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think this book is quite a good book and it really explains how the writer feels about the tragedy. it is writen in first person and the girl telling the story through her point of view. the book gets a bit boring and it starts to lose me but as soon as that happens the suspence starts building up again. it gets really interesting because it goes back and forth to now (in the ophanage) and in the past to before the burning. i ended up really liking this book and i really suggest you read it.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young adult/older child book about persecution of the Jews in the early 20th century but before Hitlers Germany and in another part of Europe close to the Russian border. It is centred around two sisters and how their situation changes from before and after the Night of the Burning. Although the subject matter seems tragic and depressing the ending is ultimately uplifting and it is based on a true story.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it horrifying that the orphanage would split up two sisters after all they'd been through!

At first I was vaguely liking but not loving this but then I think it was the ending - that made me cry - that bumped it up from three stars to four. The blurb was very vague so I didn't quite realise what it was about at first. Interesting, though!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orphaned Devorah and her younger sister survive post-WWI Europe and travel to South Africa with a group of Jewish orphans to start a new life. Based on the author's mother-in-law's life. Interesting look at an overlooked part of history. Some anti-religous sentiments expressed by characters, but generally clean.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book faced issues of racism and family ties with the view of a child-turning-teenager. Devorah gets a tonne of things to deal with right after "The Night of the Burning". It has a sweet, sad plot with a half-twist at the end. The type of courage they advertise in the book is not at all what you'd expect.

[CRLS]

Devorah's story - Poland 1920

[Jaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book much as it would keep going back and forth beetwen bits. I found it really anyoing and did not like it much.

[Eman Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heartbreaking story

[Charli - To Another World · Rating 4 out of 5]

For school G+T. No review

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting book! I had no idea that Polish orphans were taken in by a group of Jewish folks living in South Africa, thus saving their lives.

[Lizamine5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I great book for a 6th grader. An easy read with an interesting and captivating plot

[Shamsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading anything about WW2, so this was nice. This time it was set in Poland, whereas I normally read stuff that where set in England or Germany, and the girl actually got her happy ending!