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Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust
As a four-year-old in Nowy Targ, Poland, Gustawa Singer lived an idyllic life. Her parents doted on her, and she was always surrounded by loving relatives. Her father worked in the hardware store owned by her grandfather, and the family prospered. Then, in 1939, everything Hitler’s army invaded Poland, and Gustawa’s carefree childhood days of petting her dog, going to the candy store with Uncle Artur, and savoring her grandmother’s fresh-baked challah were gone forever. Ultimately, the Nazis killed 2,000 of the 2,200 Jews in her small hometown. Gustawa’s mother was transported to the death camp at Belzec, her father was assigned to forced labor, and Gustawa became separated from everyone she had ever known.Amidst the Nazis’ vile hatred and appalling savagery, a compassionate stranger spotted Gustawa after her “caretaker” cousin abandoned her in Krakow. This kindhearted woman took her in and fed, clothed, and loved her at terrible risk to her own family. For Gustawa’s protection, her name had to be changed several times. She survived the seemingly endless ordeal of the Holocaust and was eventually reunited with her father, who had never stopped searching for her. They emigrated to the United States where Janet grew up. Believing that the world must never forget the horrors unleashed by Hitler’s regime, the woman who was now Janet Singer Applefield began a series of talks to middle- and high-school students, telling them the moving story of all she had endured, teaching them the power of courage and resilience in the face of bigotry and hate, and encouraging them to stand up to every kind of discrimination and injustice.
180 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2024
16 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Janet Singer Applefield
1 book5 followersJanet Singer Applefield holds a Master of Social Work from Boston University. Working with the nonprofit, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, she speaks to 4,000 students a year about her experiences as a child hidden during the Holocaust and the importance of standing up to bigotry and hate. Over the past 40 years, she has presented her story at hundreds of venues including the Massachusetts State House, Faneuil Hall in Boston, Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, Westminster Synagogue in London, and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland.
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August 8, 2024
5 inspirational stars for Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust by Janet Singer Applefield. The author of this incredibly compelling memoir was encouraged by her own children to tell her story as a child survivor of the Holocaust. She was born Gustawa Singer and earned the nickname of Dzidzia (baby) in Polish from her entire extended family including her grandparents, aunts and uncles. Gustawa was born on June 4, 1935 in Nowy Targ, Poland. Her family was quite well off and respected. Her grandfather Emanuel owned The Singer Hardware Store which sold lumber, sewing machines, seeds, fertilizers, housewares, tools, and construction and farming equipment. Gustawa was an idyllic child who was often compared to Shirley Temple. She had blond ringlets, green eyes, a small button of a nose and a fair complexion. Gustawa lived in a very comfortable and spacious apartment with her parents and younger sister, Sarah. She led a charmed and carefree life. She was spoiled and doted on by her entire family. All that changed on September 1, 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland.
For the first few years of the Nazi occupation, Gustawa remained with her parents. Gustawa and her mother and baby sister had gone to live with her grandparents in Wadowice where it was believed to be safer until it wasn’t. From there there they sought refuge in Russia but were forced to return to Poland. On the trip from Russia back to Poland, Gustawa’s baby sister died. She was only eighteen months old. After that Gustawa’s family was forced to live in ghetto. Her family tried once again to escape but were forced back by the Polish police.
In the summer of 1942, Gustawa’s departure journey from her parents was about to begin. Out of unconditional parental love and devotion, Gustawa’s father and mother explained to her that she was not able to go with them but instead was going to go away with Maria, her cousin’s nanny. It was the most agonizing decision her parents had ever had to make. All Gustawa had left of her mother and father were her young memories and her mother’s handkerchief. Gustawa was all of seven years old when this occurred. Over the course of the war, her name changed several times. She was passed from person to person and was rarely shown love, affection or kindness. When Gustawa’s cousin took over caring for her, Gustawa Singer became Krystyna Antoszkiewicz, Krysta for short. Then in May 1943, Krysta finally was taken in by loving caregivers, the Golab family. Krysta stayed with them from 1943 to 1945 on their farm. She was safe and loved for the first time since leaving her parents.
When the war ended, one of Krysta’s cousins showed up at the farm to take her. His intentions were totally selfish and self serving. He left Krysta at the Jewish Committee Center’s third floor orphanage. Krysta was all alone again even though there were sixty-eight other Jewish children that lived there. The orphans ranged from six years old to fourteen years old. These children survivors suffered from coughs, lice, rickets and malnutrition. They all suffered from one form of emotional trauma or the other. These children were known as the sierota or the upstairs orphans. The future of these Jewish orphans was unclear until Lena Kuchler took charge of the orphanage. Lena changed these children’s lives for the better. It was there that Krysta’s father found her and was reunited with her. Alexander Singer, Gustawa’s father, had spent the years of the war in a forced labor camp.
The day Krysta was reunited with her father should have been the happiest day of her life. It had been so many years since she had last seen her father. The man that she was told was her father was a frail looking man with the hint of what had been red hair and very sunken gray eyes. He was a mal- nourished and sad looking man. It wasn’t until her father called her by her childhood nickname, Dzidzia, that memories came flooding back to her. Krystia or Gustawa was one of the lucky ones. She had survived and was reunited with her father. Her father got better and they returned to Nowy Targ together. Even though the war was over and the Nazis were long gone, they were still met with antisemitism, all the same. The Poles did not want Jews living in their towns. They were as bad as the Nazis had been or worse if that was possible. Gustawa and her father learned that only two hundred twenty four Jewish people survived the war from their town of Nowy Targ out of 2,762. Gustawa’s father had a brother that lived in America. Living in Poland was no longer safe. Jews were being attacked and even murdered. Dzidzia and her father had a choice to make. They could go to Palestine or to America to live. Both places were an option since they had family in each place. Dzidzia chose America without any hesitation. It was in America the Gustawa (Dzidzia) Singer became Janet Singer.
Currently, in her eighties, Janet Singer Applefield, tells her story to students at the Furnace Brook Junior High School every year. She does this so that the current generation can understand the atrocities that occurred during the war. Most of the students in the audience have been learning about the Holocaust but Janet’s mission has been to teach them “what can happen when a government gets so powerful that people stop thinking about what is right and what is wrong. What is logical and illogical. What is sane and insane.” Her hope was that by telling her story, it would educate these young students in a way that history books could not and prevent another Holocaust from ever happening again. She tells her captive audience of young and impressionable students that, “Everyone has a story. I share mine with you as a reminder that when you see prejudice or injustice or bullying, you have a choice to make. You can choose to do something, and that choice can have a ripple effect that changes your friends, your school, your community, and potentially the world. I hope that you will think about those who chose to show me kindness and how their actions changed my life and my children’s lives and their children’s lives. You all have that same power.”
Janet Singer Applefield’s words are so powerful and impactful. Not all Holocaust survivors were able to recount the atrocities they endured. I am imagining that it probably was not an easy task for Janet to relive those days with the students she addressed. The talks she delivered were so important, though. It was her intention to make an impactful impression on the students she was addressing. Her hope was that these students and the ones before them and the ones after them would use the powers they possess to exhibit kindness rather than hate, racism, prejudice, antisemitism or bullying. That was why Janet visited this junior high school year after year. Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust was about survival mostly, but it was also about resilience, making the best decisions at the time and the difference between hate and kindness and how those actions can change the outcome of life. It was inspired by the unconditional love Janet’s parents leaned on to save their daughter’s life, the love for her parents that Janet never forgot, the existence of kindness among a sea of hatred and the rare yet welcomed signs of compassion when most were ready and willing to point a finger to promote capture and hate. Becoming Janet was a moving memoir that I highly recommend.
Thank you to Cypress House for allowing me to read Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust by Janet Singer Applefield through Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
For the first few years of the Nazi occupation, Gustawa remained with her parents. Gustawa and her mother and baby sister had gone to live with her grandparents in Wadowice where it was believed to be safer until it wasn’t. From there there they sought refuge in Russia but were forced to return to Poland. On the trip from Russia back to Poland, Gustawa’s baby sister died. She was only eighteen months old. After that Gustawa’s family was forced to live in ghetto. Her family tried once again to escape but were forced back by the Polish police.
In the summer of 1942, Gustawa’s departure journey from her parents was about to begin. Out of unconditional parental love and devotion, Gustawa’s father and mother explained to her that she was not able to go with them but instead was going to go away with Maria, her cousin’s nanny. It was the most agonizing decision her parents had ever had to make. All Gustawa had left of her mother and father were her young memories and her mother’s handkerchief. Gustawa was all of seven years old when this occurred. Over the course of the war, her name changed several times. She was passed from person to person and was rarely shown love, affection or kindness. When Gustawa’s cousin took over caring for her, Gustawa Singer became Krystyna Antoszkiewicz, Krysta for short. Then in May 1943, Krysta finally was taken in by loving caregivers, the Golab family. Krysta stayed with them from 1943 to 1945 on their farm. She was safe and loved for the first time since leaving her parents.
When the war ended, one of Krysta’s cousins showed up at the farm to take her. His intentions were totally selfish and self serving. He left Krysta at the Jewish Committee Center’s third floor orphanage. Krysta was all alone again even though there were sixty-eight other Jewish children that lived there. The orphans ranged from six years old to fourteen years old. These children survivors suffered from coughs, lice, rickets and malnutrition. They all suffered from one form of emotional trauma or the other. These children were known as the sierota or the upstairs orphans. The future of these Jewish orphans was unclear until Lena Kuchler took charge of the orphanage. Lena changed these children’s lives for the better. It was there that Krysta’s father found her and was reunited with her. Alexander Singer, Gustawa’s father, had spent the years of the war in a forced labor camp.
The day Krysta was reunited with her father should have been the happiest day of her life. It had been so many years since she had last seen her father. The man that she was told was her father was a frail looking man with the hint of what had been red hair and very sunken gray eyes. He was a mal- nourished and sad looking man. It wasn’t until her father called her by her childhood nickname, Dzidzia, that memories came flooding back to her. Krystia or Gustawa was one of the lucky ones. She had survived and was reunited with her father. Her father got better and they returned to Nowy Targ together. Even though the war was over and the Nazis were long gone, they were still met with antisemitism, all the same. The Poles did not want Jews living in their towns. They were as bad as the Nazis had been or worse if that was possible. Gustawa and her father learned that only two hundred twenty four Jewish people survived the war from their town of Nowy Targ out of 2,762. Gustawa’s father had a brother that lived in America. Living in Poland was no longer safe. Jews were being attacked and even murdered. Dzidzia and her father had a choice to make. They could go to Palestine or to America to live. Both places were an option since they had family in each place. Dzidzia chose America without any hesitation. It was in America the Gustawa (Dzidzia) Singer became Janet Singer.
Currently, in her eighties, Janet Singer Applefield, tells her story to students at the Furnace Brook Junior High School every year. She does this so that the current generation can understand the atrocities that occurred during the war. Most of the students in the audience have been learning about the Holocaust but Janet’s mission has been to teach them “what can happen when a government gets so powerful that people stop thinking about what is right and what is wrong. What is logical and illogical. What is sane and insane.” Her hope was that by telling her story, it would educate these young students in a way that history books could not and prevent another Holocaust from ever happening again. She tells her captive audience of young and impressionable students that, “Everyone has a story. I share mine with you as a reminder that when you see prejudice or injustice or bullying, you have a choice to make. You can choose to do something, and that choice can have a ripple effect that changes your friends, your school, your community, and potentially the world. I hope that you will think about those who chose to show me kindness and how their actions changed my life and my children’s lives and their children’s lives. You all have that same power.”
Janet Singer Applefield’s words are so powerful and impactful. Not all Holocaust survivors were able to recount the atrocities they endured. I am imagining that it probably was not an easy task for Janet to relive those days with the students she addressed. The talks she delivered were so important, though. It was her intention to make an impactful impression on the students she was addressing. Her hope was that these students and the ones before them and the ones after them would use the powers they possess to exhibit kindness rather than hate, racism, prejudice, antisemitism or bullying. That was why Janet visited this junior high school year after year. Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust was about survival mostly, but it was also about resilience, making the best decisions at the time and the difference between hate and kindness and how those actions can change the outcome of life. It was inspired by the unconditional love Janet’s parents leaned on to save their daughter’s life, the love for her parents that Janet never forgot, the existence of kindness among a sea of hatred and the rare yet welcomed signs of compassion when most were ready and willing to point a finger to promote capture and hate. Becoming Janet was a moving memoir that I highly recommend.
Thank you to Cypress House for allowing me to read Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust by Janet Singer Applefield through Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
May 12, 2024
What a wonderful book…
True story of a Holocaust survivor from Poland. The woman who would become Janet was born into a loving, doting family. Everything changed for her and her family when Adolph Hitler invaded Poland and unleashed his plans to eliminate Jews. This child was bumped around to different people from the age of seven in an attempt to save her, but not everyone had her best interests at heart. Her own adult cousin was downright evil, in fact. Through everything, “Janet” survived, mainly by keeping her head down and being a good girl, as her mother had taught her. Now in her eighties, this brave , resilient lady visits schools to deliver her message about the terrible damage that hate can cause, to young people. She has assembled her story into book form now, and I think it needs to be in all classrooms, everywhere.
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*
Memorable Quotes:
“Many students have only recently learned about the Holocaust during their schooling, and until now it was merely a few chapters of a reading assignment in their history books. I want them to know what can happen when a government gets so powerful that people stop thinking what is right and wrong. What is logical and illogical. What is sane and insane.”
True story of a Holocaust survivor from Poland. The woman who would become Janet was born into a loving, doting family. Everything changed for her and her family when Adolph Hitler invaded Poland and unleashed his plans to eliminate Jews. This child was bumped around to different people from the age of seven in an attempt to save her, but not everyone had her best interests at heart. Her own adult cousin was downright evil, in fact. Through everything, “Janet” survived, mainly by keeping her head down and being a good girl, as her mother had taught her. Now in her eighties, this brave , resilient lady visits schools to deliver her message about the terrible damage that hate can cause, to young people. She has assembled her story into book form now, and I think it needs to be in all classrooms, everywhere.
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*
Memorable Quotes:
“Many students have only recently learned about the Holocaust during their schooling, and until now it was merely a few chapters of a reading assignment in their history books. I want them to know what can happen when a government gets so powerful that people stop thinking what is right and wrong. What is logical and illogical. What is sane and insane.”
June 9, 2024
"Becoming Janet" by Janet Singer Applefield is a memoir of the author's experience as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Growing up in a small town in Poland surrounded by her extended family, the book opens with vignettes from the few years of idyllic happiness before Hitler's invasion in 1939 when she was just 4 years old. The book goes on to chronicle her experiences through the duration of the war including how her parents made the difficult decision to leave her in the care of a Polish nanny while they split up to try to ensure at least one parent would survive to find her after the war. Her fair complexion allowed her to pass convincingly as non-Jewish, and there were a number of different families that cared for her over the years while she kept her true identity a secret. After the war ended she was placed in an orphanage for Jewish children that was frequently attacked and forced to change locations. Eventually her father was miraculously reunited with her and found a way to immigrate to America and begin a new chapter of their lives together.
The story of her wartime experiences are bookended by a first and last chapter describing her experience giving talks to students at middle/high schools. Since this is an expanded version of the author's school presentation, it is suitable reading for older middle schoolers or high school age teens, as well as worthwhile reading for any adult audience. I read the whole book in one day because I found the story so gripping and powerfully told.
As the years run out on having living Holocaust survivors, it is so important that their stories are recorded for future generations in books like this for future generations to read and learn from. Now more than ever it is critical that the insidious lies of anti-semitism are exposed and dismantled.
*DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC of this book from Cypress House/Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) through NetGalley for the purposes of providing an unbiased review.*
The story of her wartime experiences are bookended by a first and last chapter describing her experience giving talks to students at middle/high schools. Since this is an expanded version of the author's school presentation, it is suitable reading for older middle schoolers or high school age teens, as well as worthwhile reading for any adult audience. I read the whole book in one day because I found the story so gripping and powerfully told.
As the years run out on having living Holocaust survivors, it is so important that their stories are recorded for future generations in books like this for future generations to read and learn from. Now more than ever it is critical that the insidious lies of anti-semitism are exposed and dismantled.
*DISCLAIMER: I received an eARC of this book from Cypress House/Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) through NetGalley for the purposes of providing an unbiased review.*
April 26, 2024
The millions who lost their lives in the Holocaust no longer have a voice, so I am committed to speaking for them.
Rating: 5 ⭐
Janet Singer Applefield's story is a tale of resilience against adversities: growing up Jewish in pre-WWII Poland, she didn't know that her life and the life of her family would be upended by the events to come. Janet's parents leave her to the care of their relatives, having the reassurance that her looks will protect her in plain sight. She is in fact blond with fair skin, physical traits prised by the Nazi regime. By a mix of favourable odds and the bravery and generosity of neighbours and strangers, Janet will survive the horrible tragedy that rocked Europe.
Written with such an empathetic and gentle voice, which doesn't diminish the brutality of the events, it is no surprise that Janet Singer Applefield is an educator who shares her Holocaust testimony in schools. This is how we find her at the very beginning of Becoming Janet: ready to speak to the next generation. Because to prevent history from repeating itself, we must never forget.
Spanning from her earliest memories with her family just before the outbreak of war in Europe to the aftermath of WWII and her new future, Applefield shades light on a topic that is not often discussed: the loved ones left behind.
Moving from the care of different relatives and strangers, Janet will forget what stability and safety felt like. Once her ordeal will be over and she is reunited with her dad, she will need time to heal from the trauma of the war.
Even when the traumatic events seem to be over, life is far from returning to normal. Just because the occupation of her country has ended, hatred has not disappeared. She will be constantly faced with a sense of insecurity and alienation in a country that stripped her of everything she had.
My Thoughts
Even though the story of this young and brave survivor may seem purely traumatic, there are uplifting moments that give us a sense of hope and faith in humankind. The entire book revolves around brave people who made courageous choices: no matter how dangerous and life-threatening choosing the right thing to do might be, it can make all the difference. It did for Janet, and many others. Applefield brings her experience to young people not just to give voice to those who don't have one, but also to let the next generation know that they have a choice: stand up to discrimination and injustice, or be complicit.
Something else that I found particularly interesting in this book is the description of life for Jewish people after WWII: just because the war is over, hatred will not stop overnight. This sad reality is apparent, but it's also rarely discussed. Of the few testimony that I read, not many delve into the details of how life changed, especially for those who continued to be persecuted just for their "diversity", and the remnants of the Nazi agenda.
In line with the book's goals and origins, at the end of it, readers will find questions designed to stimulate reflection and discussion, whether individually or in a classroom setting.
Dzidzia, jesteśmy w domu. Teraz możemy żyć w spokoju.
(Baby, we are home. Now we will live in peace.)
They laughed and cried, and when their bodies parted, their smiles were wide and their faces were streaked with tears that were a mixture of joy and torment.
All those who should have been standing beside us gripped our hearts tightly.
“I want them to know what can happen when a government gets so powerful that people stop thinking about what is right and what is wrong. What is logical and illogical. What is sane and insane.”
“Everyone has a story,” I say, breaking the silence. “I share mine with you as a reminder that when you see prejudice or injustice or bullying, you have a choice to make. You can choose to do something or say something, and that choice can have a ripple effect that changes your friends, your school, your community, and potentially the world. I hope you will think about those who chose to show me kindness and how their actions changed my life and my children’s lives and their children’s lives. You all have that same power.”
“The millions who lost their lives in the Holocaust no longer have a voice, so I am committed to speaking for them. I speak for my mom and for my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and my grandparents. I was a witness to the Holocaust, and now that you have heard me speak, you too are witnesses. When there are no more Holocaust survivors to tell our stories, I hope you will carry the torch for me. You are the ones who will help make sure this never happens again. I also tell my story to encourage you to learn about where you come from. We all have our own stories that are worth sharing.”
“Just as there are good Americans and bad Americans, there were good Poles and bad Poles, good Germans and bad Germans. Remember, if it weren’t for Maria, Alicja Gołąb, Aunt Eugenia, Janina, and so many other good non-Jewish people, I wouldn’t be here today. Those righteous gentiles changed generations to come and are true heroes.”
***Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.***
December 13, 2025
Janet Singer Applefield (born Gustawa Singer in Krakow, Poland, in 1935) is a nonagenarian Holocaust survivor who, for decades, has shared her story of resilience with younger generations. Her 2024 memoir Becoming Janet recounts 1939-1947, when the author was around 4 years old to around 12 years old, from the time she was separated from her parents, her years bouncing around various precarious living situations, and miraculously reuniting with her father (who survived hard labor in various concentration camps), realizing they couldn't rebuild their lives among economic collapse and pervasive antisemitism in postwar Poland, and immigrating to the United States to start over.
Singer's memoir is largely told through the eyes of her child self, whose childhood effectively ended in 1939 as her sense of stability and safety disintegrated and she was left to cope on her own with a situation that around 90% of Polish Jews didn't survive. Singer was placed in the care of various relatives who, for complex reasons, were abusive toward Singer and often chose their own survival over Singer's needs. Singer's survival was predicated for years on assuming the identity of a young Catholic girl named Krystyna -- a real girl who tragically died with her family as collateral damage in the war -- and Singer was able to pull off this disguise based on her fair complexion and blond hair, similar to the fictional Ellen in Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. Singer was also helped by many kind-hearted strangers along the way, including members of the Polish resistance, and a caretaker at a center for Jewish orphans after the war managed to reunite her with her father.
The final chapters of the book detail Singer's transition to life in the United States, where she took on her third name, Janet (a relic of 1940s America where many immigrants changed their names to assume more Americanized identities). Later in life, Singer learned more details about what happened to her mother, her grandfather, and other close family members who did not survive the war, with the help of a researcher who did some amazing investigative work to help bring closure to Singer's family.
This is a powerful book that seems largely based on the talks Singer gives to elementary and junior high students. I do wish she had reflected more about her and her father's lives after the war, and how they coped, like in other Holocaust survivor memoirs like Edith Eger's The Choice: Embrace the Possible.
Reading this book also reminded me of the story of my late grandmother, who was born in 1927 in Poland, and whose life was also irrevocably altered by the war. She was one of the thousands of non-Jewish Poles who were conscripted into wartime labor by the Nazis - she ended up working for no pay on a German family's farm, escaping to France at the end of the war where she met an American soldier and found a ticket to a new life through becoming a teenage war bride. My grandmother was devoutly Catholic all of her life but was also extremely sympathetic to the plight of Polish Jews - I'm sure there were many atrocities she witnessed during the war. Decades later an ancestry DNA test revealed that my grandmother was around 10% Ashkenazi Jewish herself -- not entirely surprising given the large Jewish population around her family's home -- though it's unclear to me whether my grandmother and her family knew of this or not. I think a lot about the generation of European war children whose childhoods (and often families) were prematurely terminated - a group that's rapidly dwindling but have much wisdom and life lessons to teach us all.
My statistics:
Book 367 for 2025
Book 2293 cumulatively
Singer's memoir is largely told through the eyes of her child self, whose childhood effectively ended in 1939 as her sense of stability and safety disintegrated and she was left to cope on her own with a situation that around 90% of Polish Jews didn't survive. Singer was placed in the care of various relatives who, for complex reasons, were abusive toward Singer and often chose their own survival over Singer's needs. Singer's survival was predicated for years on assuming the identity of a young Catholic girl named Krystyna -- a real girl who tragically died with her family as collateral damage in the war -- and Singer was able to pull off this disguise based on her fair complexion and blond hair, similar to the fictional Ellen in Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. Singer was also helped by many kind-hearted strangers along the way, including members of the Polish resistance, and a caretaker at a center for Jewish orphans after the war managed to reunite her with her father.
The final chapters of the book detail Singer's transition to life in the United States, where she took on her third name, Janet (a relic of 1940s America where many immigrants changed their names to assume more Americanized identities). Later in life, Singer learned more details about what happened to her mother, her grandfather, and other close family members who did not survive the war, with the help of a researcher who did some amazing investigative work to help bring closure to Singer's family.
This is a powerful book that seems largely based on the talks Singer gives to elementary and junior high students. I do wish she had reflected more about her and her father's lives after the war, and how they coped, like in other Holocaust survivor memoirs like Edith Eger's The Choice: Embrace the Possible.
Reading this book also reminded me of the story of my late grandmother, who was born in 1927 in Poland, and whose life was also irrevocably altered by the war. She was one of the thousands of non-Jewish Poles who were conscripted into wartime labor by the Nazis - she ended up working for no pay on a German family's farm, escaping to France at the end of the war where she met an American soldier and found a ticket to a new life through becoming a teenage war bride. My grandmother was devoutly Catholic all of her life but was also extremely sympathetic to the plight of Polish Jews - I'm sure there were many atrocities she witnessed during the war. Decades later an ancestry DNA test revealed that my grandmother was around 10% Ashkenazi Jewish herself -- not entirely surprising given the large Jewish population around her family's home -- though it's unclear to me whether my grandmother and her family knew of this or not. I think a lot about the generation of European war children whose childhoods (and often families) were prematurely terminated - a group that's rapidly dwindling but have much wisdom and life lessons to teach us all.
My statistics:
Book 367 for 2025
Book 2293 cumulatively
March 3, 2025
Janet’s experiences is another heartbreaking story of tragic events to remind us to make sure we don’t repeat history. A breathtaking recalling of a young girls amazing resilience, strength and courage during her time hidden throughout the War and Holocaust. Her fight for survival as she fought for her life to stay hidden from the Nazi's but from the cruel and selfishness of ordinary people she was hoping for help and safety from. Janet became a triumph during her own fight.
February 22, 2025
Great read. Appropriate for middle and high school students. At times, I wish that there was more detail but imagine where pieces are left out it may be due to age of experience or pain of the memories.
July 27, 2024
[I received a review copy of this book via Netgalley from the publisher.]
In the opening pages of Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust , Janet Singer Applefield, born Gustawa Singer, recalls her feelings looking out into an auditorium of students waiting to hear her speak about her experience during the Holocaust:
"The auditorium is a sea of bobbing heads, full of life and delightful adolescent energy. I absorb the healthy chatter of the kids. Sometimes I try to put myself in heir shoes, to imagine what it would be like to have lived a childhood like theirs, but I can never quite do it. Instead I see the 1,500,000 children whose lives were snuffed out, who were never able to know what it means to become an adult, to fall in love, to have families of their own. Every time I speak, it's like those children come back to listen."
What follows--what Janet tells the students and all of us reading her newly published written memoir--is a sweetened blissful childhood that soon becomes swiped away with the sudden impact of Hitler's invasion of Poland. The family flees time and time again, and soon finds themselves living in a world where they can never be sure of security, housing, belongings, food--or even life.
As time passes, members of the family begin to be wiped out. Two uncles are told to report for a work detail and marched, with countless other men, to a field where they are shot into an open pit. Other family members remain in or flee various refuges, with each decision often meaning the difference between life and death.
Eventually, Janet's parents decide it is no longer safe for everyone to stay together. The young Janet is shifted from caregiver to caregiver, all of whom risk their lives to help her yet do not always act with kindness or love. One of her caregivers viciously beats her and tells her that her mother is dead. Another leaves her alone for hours at night. She does find solace in a loving family who keeps her until the end of the war, but afterward, she is once again shuffled into a new situation: an orphanage.
Yet even the orphanage is not safe. The orphanage is targeted by Antisemitic Polish groups that threaten to kill the children and adults living inside. The orphanage is forced to relocate to the countryside where again, the children living inside are threatened with execution by locals who don't want Jewish people living in their own.
Miraculously, Janet is reunited with her father, now emaciated and ill from his time spent imprisoned in a concentration camp. The experience, Janet tells us, left her feeling conflicted and confused. Her memories of her father were vague. She had been forced to change identities in hiding several times, forced herself to forget her old "her," in order to survive. And here she was, again, being expected to take on a different identity--one that, through war and suffering, did not exist in the same way it once did.
The section describing her experience in the orphanage and her reunion with her father were painful to read, but they describe something I think is often swept aside when it comes to the popular imagination of surviving the Holocaust. Survival is not the ending, nor was it a happy fairy tale.
The children who were forced into hiding, who lived for years under floorboards, who were beaten or abused by their caretakers, who had to learn to be silent for days to avoid being killed; who joined with partisans and saw death firsthand, who endured and escaped camps; who, in many cases, were the sole survivors of their family... they suffered physical and emotional damage that did not vanish the instant that the war was declared over.
This part of the memoir contains harrowing descriptions of children who curl into balls and hide under tables, or who find themselves terrified of change as it always meant new risks and terror, or who cling to any adults who give them attention due to years of neglect.
Life after the war is no easier, and I think this may be the section of the memoir that is most critical for readers, young and old alike. Antisemitism did not vanish with the defeat of Nazi Germany, nor was Antisemitism only present in ardent German Nazis.
Janet and her father, the only surviving members of her primary family, were not welcomed home with open arms. Instead, they found their apartment ransacked of everything--furniture, appliances, sentimental items, and even wiring. They found the family business cruelly sold by a neighbor that had once been on good terms with them. They find threats of 'HITLER DIDN'T FINISH THE JOB' pinned to their door. Threats were not just threats: Jewish people began to be targeted and murdered.
Eventually, Janet and her father decided to leave for America; they were able to stay with an uncle (who tells her that his American name is "Jack") and her father soon decides to marry an American woman in order to keep his family in America.
The book ends by recounting questions commonly asked by students at her presentations, including following up on acclimating to America, thoughts about her stepmother, what happened to her mother, and more. Janet's recounting of the search to find out what really happened to her mother gives emotional depth to the years-long research required to uncover what happened to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust.
Telling the stories of those who survived the Holocaust is more essential than ever. Becoming Janet is a thoughtful, moving account of what happened to one of the millions of children impacted by the Holocaust, and its publication will ensure that her story--and the story of the family members she recalls in her memoir--will be remembered.
I would recommend this book if you are looking to add to your knowledge of Holocaust survival stories; if you are looking for books that younger readers can benefit from; or if you are simply interested in this time period and want to read an emotional, thoughtful account written by someone who has bravely decided to share her story with the world.
In the opening pages of Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust , Janet Singer Applefield, born Gustawa Singer, recalls her feelings looking out into an auditorium of students waiting to hear her speak about her experience during the Holocaust:
"The auditorium is a sea of bobbing heads, full of life and delightful adolescent energy. I absorb the healthy chatter of the kids. Sometimes I try to put myself in heir shoes, to imagine what it would be like to have lived a childhood like theirs, but I can never quite do it. Instead I see the 1,500,000 children whose lives were snuffed out, who were never able to know what it means to become an adult, to fall in love, to have families of their own. Every time I speak, it's like those children come back to listen."
What follows--what Janet tells the students and all of us reading her newly published written memoir--is a sweetened blissful childhood that soon becomes swiped away with the sudden impact of Hitler's invasion of Poland. The family flees time and time again, and soon finds themselves living in a world where they can never be sure of security, housing, belongings, food--or even life.
As time passes, members of the family begin to be wiped out. Two uncles are told to report for a work detail and marched, with countless other men, to a field where they are shot into an open pit. Other family members remain in or flee various refuges, with each decision often meaning the difference between life and death.
Eventually, Janet's parents decide it is no longer safe for everyone to stay together. The young Janet is shifted from caregiver to caregiver, all of whom risk their lives to help her yet do not always act with kindness or love. One of her caregivers viciously beats her and tells her that her mother is dead. Another leaves her alone for hours at night. She does find solace in a loving family who keeps her until the end of the war, but afterward, she is once again shuffled into a new situation: an orphanage.
Yet even the orphanage is not safe. The orphanage is targeted by Antisemitic Polish groups that threaten to kill the children and adults living inside. The orphanage is forced to relocate to the countryside where again, the children living inside are threatened with execution by locals who don't want Jewish people living in their own.
Miraculously, Janet is reunited with her father, now emaciated and ill from his time spent imprisoned in a concentration camp. The experience, Janet tells us, left her feeling conflicted and confused. Her memories of her father were vague. She had been forced to change identities in hiding several times, forced herself to forget her old "her," in order to survive. And here she was, again, being expected to take on a different identity--one that, through war and suffering, did not exist in the same way it once did.
The section describing her experience in the orphanage and her reunion with her father were painful to read, but they describe something I think is often swept aside when it comes to the popular imagination of surviving the Holocaust. Survival is not the ending, nor was it a happy fairy tale.
The children who were forced into hiding, who lived for years under floorboards, who were beaten or abused by their caretakers, who had to learn to be silent for days to avoid being killed; who joined with partisans and saw death firsthand, who endured and escaped camps; who, in many cases, were the sole survivors of their family... they suffered physical and emotional damage that did not vanish the instant that the war was declared over.
This part of the memoir contains harrowing descriptions of children who curl into balls and hide under tables, or who find themselves terrified of change as it always meant new risks and terror, or who cling to any adults who give them attention due to years of neglect.
Life after the war is no easier, and I think this may be the section of the memoir that is most critical for readers, young and old alike. Antisemitism did not vanish with the defeat of Nazi Germany, nor was Antisemitism only present in ardent German Nazis.
Janet and her father, the only surviving members of her primary family, were not welcomed home with open arms. Instead, they found their apartment ransacked of everything--furniture, appliances, sentimental items, and even wiring. They found the family business cruelly sold by a neighbor that had once been on good terms with them. They find threats of 'HITLER DIDN'T FINISH THE JOB' pinned to their door. Threats were not just threats: Jewish people began to be targeted and murdered.
Eventually, Janet and her father decided to leave for America; they were able to stay with an uncle (who tells her that his American name is "Jack") and her father soon decides to marry an American woman in order to keep his family in America.
The book ends by recounting questions commonly asked by students at her presentations, including following up on acclimating to America, thoughts about her stepmother, what happened to her mother, and more. Janet's recounting of the search to find out what really happened to her mother gives emotional depth to the years-long research required to uncover what happened to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust.
Telling the stories of those who survived the Holocaust is more essential than ever. Becoming Janet is a thoughtful, moving account of what happened to one of the millions of children impacted by the Holocaust, and its publication will ensure that her story--and the story of the family members she recalls in her memoir--will be remembered.
I would recommend this book if you are looking to add to your knowledge of Holocaust survival stories; if you are looking for books that younger readers can benefit from; or if you are simply interested in this time period and want to read an emotional, thoughtful account written by someone who has bravely decided to share her story with the world.
May 21, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Reading about children who have survived the Holocaust is difficult and this book is no different. But the message is so important.
While I enjoyed this book over, the writing seemed choppy to me. Some parts flowed but others felt too stilted.
Reading about children who have survived the Holocaust is difficult and this book is no different. But the message is so important.
While I enjoyed this book over, the writing seemed choppy to me. Some parts flowed but others felt too stilted.
January 23, 2025
5 ⭐️
First of all, the timing of me picking this book up just days before a Nazi salute was given at a US presidential inauguration is the most insane and saddest of ironies. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that happening at all, let alone while in the midst of reading this beautiful and heartbreaking story of a child who survived the Holocaust.
Janet is one of the bravest people I’ve heard of. At just 4 years old, her parents made the decision to hand her off to extended family to help protect her during WWII. She was shuffled from one person and place to the next for 6 years, enduring hardships no child should ever have to face. As an adult, she has been dedicated to telling her story, to preserving the memories of her family, and to impress upon the next generation how critical it is to remember what happened during the Holocaust and actively fight against it happening again.
I’m honored to have read Janet’s story; I will carry it with me, along with the many other survivor stories I’ve heard, through my fight against oppression. We can never allow this to happen again.
Thank you to NetGalley and Cypress House | Independent Book Publishers Association for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
First of all, the timing of me picking this book up just days before a Nazi salute was given at a US presidential inauguration is the most insane and saddest of ironies. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that happening at all, let alone while in the midst of reading this beautiful and heartbreaking story of a child who survived the Holocaust.
Janet is one of the bravest people I’ve heard of. At just 4 years old, her parents made the decision to hand her off to extended family to help protect her during WWII. She was shuffled from one person and place to the next for 6 years, enduring hardships no child should ever have to face. As an adult, she has been dedicated to telling her story, to preserving the memories of her family, and to impress upon the next generation how critical it is to remember what happened during the Holocaust and actively fight against it happening again.
I’m honored to have read Janet’s story; I will carry it with me, along with the many other survivor stories I’ve heard, through my fight against oppression. We can never allow this to happen again.
Thank you to NetGalley and Cypress House | Independent Book Publishers Association for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
July 26, 2024
I’ve read so many books about the Holocaust yet this one was heart wrenching. I think mostly because sure it was told from the authors memories from being a list frightened 4 year old who saw and experienced so many things a child should never have to experience. Her journey was sad, yet so brave and really glad she lived to tell her story.
I was managing ok right up until the last sentence and it just grabbed me and stopped my breath 🥲
Very well written and thank you 🙏
I was managing ok right up until the last sentence and it just grabbed me and stopped my breath 🥲
Very well written and thank you 🙏
December 28, 2024
I feel extremely thankful that I was able to meet Janet last month especially after reading her story. This was definitely my favorite read of the year!
May 13, 2024
Absolutely amazing my memoir written by none other than my close friend Janet Singer Applefield. Truly an inspiring story of resilience and strength. Honored to know this author and to be able to carry on this story!
August 20, 2025
August book club!
August 24, 2025
Sibling book club - devastating but a new perspective on what it meant to survive the war.
December 3, 2025
The book, written for middle school students, tells the remarkable story of a young Jewish girl who somehow survives the Holocaust, moves to the US, and tells her tale. This remarkable woman tells her story in a relatable, factual and heartbreaking manner. She spoke at my daughter's school a few years ago and a few other parents and I read the book as part of a book club. We recently learned that the author will return to the school to meet with our small book group. I cannot wait. This book should be mandatory reading for all middle school kids, but it's a great read for everyone. Wish I could give it more than five stars.
July 30, 2024
✨ Becoming Janet: Finding Myself In The Holocaust ✨
Author: @janetapplefield
Publisher: Cypress House
Release Date: May 7th
⁉️: As a child, what was one of your favorite memories growing up?
Children’s stories always tend to leave the most impact for me, especially testimonies and survivor stories. Reading Janet Applefield’s memoir reminded me of Clementine Warmariya’s The Girl Who Smiles Beads and Zlata’s Diary. Children who face unimaginable traumatic situations at such a tender age give us an insight into how political conflicts often render human beings to become monsters. Yet, children will view the world with a lens that is not colored with hate or prejudice.
Born as Gustawa Singer in Poland with blond hair and green eyes, she was 4 years old when her life was shattered after the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. As circumstances became dire and unforgiving, her parents made an unimaginable choice to give their daughter to a reluctant nanny while they parted ways to ensure the highest possibilities of survival. For the next few years, Gustawa became Janet and learned to live a clandestine life harboring a secret that she was Jewish as she hid in plaint sight.
In this powerful account, Becoming Janet shares an account of a young girl who has to learn to survive as she faces terrifying situations with only the identity papers of a dead Polish girl and a well-rehearsed cover story as her support. Paradoxically, not her relatives but strangers came to her aid during the most scary time of her life. It was only after the war that her father who had been imprisoned in Theresienstadt emerged and found her as she became his only reason to survive. Ultimately, the family found itself in America.
Having grown up in MA, it was so good to feel connected with Janet through this book! I love that the message her testimony has is to combat hate and prejudice. Testimonies such as hers give us an insight into the complexities and nuances of survivorship and how it operates. For instance, like Janet who was forced to change and find a new identity to survive, Henry Oster (from Stable Boy of Auschwitz) had a hard time believing that the war was over because he had become so accustomed to the cruelty and hatred he experienced during the Holocaust.
Thank you cypress press for the gifted arc.
#BecomingJanet #JanetSingerApplefield #CypressPress #shnidhi
Author: @janetapplefield
Publisher: Cypress House
Release Date: May 7th
⁉️: As a child, what was one of your favorite memories growing up?
Children’s stories always tend to leave the most impact for me, especially testimonies and survivor stories. Reading Janet Applefield’s memoir reminded me of Clementine Warmariya’s The Girl Who Smiles Beads and Zlata’s Diary. Children who face unimaginable traumatic situations at such a tender age give us an insight into how political conflicts often render human beings to become monsters. Yet, children will view the world with a lens that is not colored with hate or prejudice.
Born as Gustawa Singer in Poland with blond hair and green eyes, she was 4 years old when her life was shattered after the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. As circumstances became dire and unforgiving, her parents made an unimaginable choice to give their daughter to a reluctant nanny while they parted ways to ensure the highest possibilities of survival. For the next few years, Gustawa became Janet and learned to live a clandestine life harboring a secret that she was Jewish as she hid in plaint sight.
In this powerful account, Becoming Janet shares an account of a young girl who has to learn to survive as she faces terrifying situations with only the identity papers of a dead Polish girl and a well-rehearsed cover story as her support. Paradoxically, not her relatives but strangers came to her aid during the most scary time of her life. It was only after the war that her father who had been imprisoned in Theresienstadt emerged and found her as she became his only reason to survive. Ultimately, the family found itself in America.
Having grown up in MA, it was so good to feel connected with Janet through this book! I love that the message her testimony has is to combat hate and prejudice. Testimonies such as hers give us an insight into the complexities and nuances of survivorship and how it operates. For instance, like Janet who was forced to change and find a new identity to survive, Henry Oster (from Stable Boy of Auschwitz) had a hard time believing that the war was over because he had become so accustomed to the cruelty and hatred he experienced during the Holocaust.
Thank you cypress press for the gifted arc.
#BecomingJanet #JanetSingerApplefield #CypressPress #shnidhi
August 14, 2024
I had the pleasure of meeting Janet and her daughter Deb over the summer of 2024 through the course Facing History and Ourselves. Before the meeting, I purchased her memoir to learn about her story — which I felt gravitated towards. A child Holocaust survivor, Janet details the horrors of growing up in Poland during World War II, and the reality of being a Jewish child in a time of rampant antisemitism.
Janet, born Gustawa, grew up in a traditional Jewish household in Poland during the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. One of her earliest memories was making challah with her mother for Jewish holidays. With Hitler’s and the Nazi’s rise in the 1930s, antisemitism rose throughout mainland Europe. Janet’s family, owners of the Singer store, faced taunting protesters attempting to get customers to take their business elsewhere. By September 1, 1939, when Hitler and the Germans invaded Poland and WWII broke out, Janet’s family began to move around, trying to escape death.
Janet describes herself as having “Aryan” characteristics; although her family was Jewish, she was a blonde-headed girl with green eyes. In her memoir, she believed these physical characteristics helped her survive the Holocaust. Additionally, her parents made the fateful decision to split up and give Janet to a cousin — a decision that was made in the hopes that it would increase the odds of someone living through the war and returning to Janet.
This book details the multiple caretakers Janet had during the Holocaust, the feeling of loneliness and terror of being subject to abuse and abandonment, and the eventual reuniting of Janet and her father. Janet does not hold back in this memoir — there are horrific details that will leave your jaw dropped. But that’s history, isn’t it? The grueling history that needs to be discussed and learned from; those horrifying details need to be said.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a nonfiction account of the Holocaust. Memoirs such as this is what motivates me to not only learn more about history, but to teach about it.
Janet, born Gustawa, grew up in a traditional Jewish household in Poland during the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. One of her earliest memories was making challah with her mother for Jewish holidays. With Hitler’s and the Nazi’s rise in the 1930s, antisemitism rose throughout mainland Europe. Janet’s family, owners of the Singer store, faced taunting protesters attempting to get customers to take their business elsewhere. By September 1, 1939, when Hitler and the Germans invaded Poland and WWII broke out, Janet’s family began to move around, trying to escape death.
Janet describes herself as having “Aryan” characteristics; although her family was Jewish, she was a blonde-headed girl with green eyes. In her memoir, she believed these physical characteristics helped her survive the Holocaust. Additionally, her parents made the fateful decision to split up and give Janet to a cousin — a decision that was made in the hopes that it would increase the odds of someone living through the war and returning to Janet.
This book details the multiple caretakers Janet had during the Holocaust, the feeling of loneliness and terror of being subject to abuse and abandonment, and the eventual reuniting of Janet and her father. Janet does not hold back in this memoir — there are horrific details that will leave your jaw dropped. But that’s history, isn’t it? The grueling history that needs to be discussed and learned from; those horrifying details need to be said.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a nonfiction account of the Holocaust. Memoirs such as this is what motivates me to not only learn more about history, but to teach about it.
May 8, 2025
A book everyone should read, absolutely. It never ceases to amaze me how every single holocaust survivor story haunts and shocks me, because it's hard to believe you can hear anything new and more shocking than everything else you've already learned and heard about this horrible and tragic treatment of human beings.
Becoming Janet though, is so raw and honest and you feel her anxiety, confusion, uncertainty and strength, as just a child, as you go on her personal journey with her. Many points reading, I had to stop and take breaks. Not because it wasn't written well, but because it's written so well, and so honest, that it is upsetting, as it should be. I needed to take a moment to process the horrible realities this little girl was facing with such bravery despite circumstances that any child would be entitled to shutdown in. But Janet perceivers.
A child passed around to her parents wishes as they desperately sought to protect her from antisemitism. She took on identities assigned to her with grace at only 7! By the time she arrived in America, she adapted her final name, Janet. To give up your name and identity so many times growing up, to survive, and to hide who you are to avoid baseless hate is an astounding feat and maturity and awareness for a child to have.
The details and rawness of this story is admirable. To relive such trauma and tragedy in the name of keeping the truth alive and in her own way, reclaiming who she and her family whom she loved and lost were, is something I cannot imagine. We are blessed to have this story documented.
This will be, by far, the most impactful memoir I will ever read in my lifetime – and one I think everyone should read as well. It's the type of honest, heartbreaking story that lives inside and becomes part of your soul.
Thank you to NetGallery for the advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review.
Becoming Janet though, is so raw and honest and you feel her anxiety, confusion, uncertainty and strength, as just a child, as you go on her personal journey with her. Many points reading, I had to stop and take breaks. Not because it wasn't written well, but because it's written so well, and so honest, that it is upsetting, as it should be. I needed to take a moment to process the horrible realities this little girl was facing with such bravery despite circumstances that any child would be entitled to shutdown in. But Janet perceivers.
A child passed around to her parents wishes as they desperately sought to protect her from antisemitism. She took on identities assigned to her with grace at only 7! By the time she arrived in America, she adapted her final name, Janet. To give up your name and identity so many times growing up, to survive, and to hide who you are to avoid baseless hate is an astounding feat and maturity and awareness for a child to have.
The details and rawness of this story is admirable. To relive such trauma and tragedy in the name of keeping the truth alive and in her own way, reclaiming who she and her family whom she loved and lost were, is something I cannot imagine. We are blessed to have this story documented.
This will be, by far, the most impactful memoir I will ever read in my lifetime – and one I think everyone should read as well. It's the type of honest, heartbreaking story that lives inside and becomes part of your soul.
Thank you to NetGallery for the advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review.
July 29, 2024
Becoming Janet' is an incredibly powerful and riveting story about Janet Singer, a young child who survives the Holocaust in Poland by being passed from one place to another. When the war starts, Janet doesn't really understand why she's being taken away from her family, and this separation drags on for years. People tell her that Gustawa, is dead, which only adds to her confusion and heartbreak.
Despite the sadness, I couldn't put the book down. I read it in just two days, completely caught up in Janet's journey. Her resilience and the kindness (and not so kindness) of the strangers who help her are both inspiring and heartbreaking. The author does an amazing job of bringing her life experiences to the page, making you feel every bit of her fear, hope, and determination.
The story doesn't end with the war; it also explores Janet's psyche afterwards and how she slowly rebuilds relationships after such a long and terrible separation. It's fascinating to see how she heals and reconnects with her family and herself. As a history teacher, I was shocked to read about the treatment Janet and her family faced in Poland after the war. The war may have ended, but the hatred remained, and their struggles continued.
Even though it's a sad story, it's also a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the will to survive. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in personal stories of survival and history. Janet's story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, and it offers a deep and moving look at the lasting impact of war on a child's mind and heart.
*received from NetGalley
Despite the sadness, I couldn't put the book down. I read it in just two days, completely caught up in Janet's journey. Her resilience and the kindness (and not so kindness) of the strangers who help her are both inspiring and heartbreaking. The author does an amazing job of bringing her life experiences to the page, making you feel every bit of her fear, hope, and determination.
The story doesn't end with the war; it also explores Janet's psyche afterwards and how she slowly rebuilds relationships after such a long and terrible separation. It's fascinating to see how she heals and reconnects with her family and herself. As a history teacher, I was shocked to read about the treatment Janet and her family faced in Poland after the war. The war may have ended, but the hatred remained, and their struggles continued.
Even though it's a sad story, it's also a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the will to survive. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in personal stories of survival and history. Janet's story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, and it offers a deep and moving look at the lasting impact of war on a child's mind and heart.
*received from NetGalley
May 12, 2024
"Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust" is one of the most breathtaking books I've read in years.
It follows Gustawa, who is a small child in Poland at the outbreak of WWII. She manages to survive with her Jewish family until her parents have to do the unthinkable- send her away while they are forced into Jewish ghettos and worse. Gustawa the goes through many changes- and identities- through the duration and aftermath of WWII.
I've read many Holocaust memorial books, but none like this. Janet's story is unlike any I have ever heard and chronicles her time hiding under a new identity from the powers that want her dead. I really wasn't aware of the specific challenges Janet faced, but the way in which she tells her story is captivating. I couldn't put her story down and it has stayed with me even after reading. Images as simple as the importance of a torn up teddy bear and an old handkerchief mean the world to a little girl, and to see the journey of those items amongst the backdrop of pure hate is a mesmerizing lesson on life. It is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand the Holocaust from a different perspective.
The atrocities that happened before, during, and after WWII are the most devastating events humans have ever seen and done. Janet's story is essential to understanding how that happened and to ensure that none of it will ever happen again. Janet's story is powerful, relatable, and will absolutely make a lasting impact on your life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. #BECOMINGJANET #NetGalley
It follows Gustawa, who is a small child in Poland at the outbreak of WWII. She manages to survive with her Jewish family until her parents have to do the unthinkable- send her away while they are forced into Jewish ghettos and worse. Gustawa the goes through many changes- and identities- through the duration and aftermath of WWII.
I've read many Holocaust memorial books, but none like this. Janet's story is unlike any I have ever heard and chronicles her time hiding under a new identity from the powers that want her dead. I really wasn't aware of the specific challenges Janet faced, but the way in which she tells her story is captivating. I couldn't put her story down and it has stayed with me even after reading. Images as simple as the importance of a torn up teddy bear and an old handkerchief mean the world to a little girl, and to see the journey of those items amongst the backdrop of pure hate is a mesmerizing lesson on life. It is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand the Holocaust from a different perspective.
The atrocities that happened before, during, and after WWII are the most devastating events humans have ever seen and done. Janet's story is essential to understanding how that happened and to ensure that none of it will ever happen again. Janet's story is powerful, relatable, and will absolutely make a lasting impact on your life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. #BECOMINGJANET #NetGalley
April 29, 2024
I started reading this book in the evening and could not put it down until I reached the last page. It's that kind of book. Janet has storytelling down to a tee and it very artfully flows. So high points for readability and story.
But what a story this is. I've read books about the Holocaust and books from Holocaust survivors. This is a crucial genre because their stories simply can't be forgotten and are relevant to our current world. Janet practically casts a spell on her audience with this one and her story is so unusual. It gives us an entirely different point of view and even for those of us who are well read on the Holocaust, it brings up some new and different perspectives--that of a child who was hidden and passed around for her own safety, but not necessarily in a caring way. The reader can imagine the fear and the puzzlement she must have had. This is a story that children could potentially relate to in different ways and it is a story that should find its way into many many classrooms much as Janet herself has. One has to greatly admire what she has achieved in her life. It could have been so very different.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I want to see it on on the shelf in every school library.
But what a story this is. I've read books about the Holocaust and books from Holocaust survivors. This is a crucial genre because their stories simply can't be forgotten and are relevant to our current world. Janet practically casts a spell on her audience with this one and her story is so unusual. It gives us an entirely different point of view and even for those of us who are well read on the Holocaust, it brings up some new and different perspectives--that of a child who was hidden and passed around for her own safety, but not necessarily in a caring way. The reader can imagine the fear and the puzzlement she must have had. This is a story that children could potentially relate to in different ways and it is a story that should find its way into many many classrooms much as Janet herself has. One has to greatly admire what she has achieved in her life. It could have been so very different.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I want to see it on on the shelf in every school library.
May 23, 2024
A vitally important piece of literature that not only goes in depth into the story of one girls survival but also the crucial importance of witness testimony and the necessity of future generations to listen and absorb what is and has been shared. Time witnesses are precious and the work Janet Singer Applefield does is important both within and outside of the book.
What I really enjoyed was that this was written in a way that was very accessible and easy, never bloated or condescending. The horrors are obviously hard to read about but the way it’s written is captivating. The story is well structured and the part where she includes questions at the end is clever.
I really appreciate the amount of time that had gone into to making it clear that just because the war ended it did not mean antisemitism ended. The stories after the war speaks of immeasurable tragedy and pain - and I think that can easily be lost sight of in normal education about WW2 and the holocaust.
Applefield is skilled at telling her story, writing in a way that allows the reader to comprehend fully what happened and at showing how instability affects the body and mind.
Becoming Janet starts with a name. Stays with another. And ends on a third. A book I would absolutely recommend to others.
What I really enjoyed was that this was written in a way that was very accessible and easy, never bloated or condescending. The horrors are obviously hard to read about but the way it’s written is captivating. The story is well structured and the part where she includes questions at the end is clever.
I really appreciate the amount of time that had gone into to making it clear that just because the war ended it did not mean antisemitism ended. The stories after the war speaks of immeasurable tragedy and pain - and I think that can easily be lost sight of in normal education about WW2 and the holocaust.
Applefield is skilled at telling her story, writing in a way that allows the reader to comprehend fully what happened and at showing how instability affects the body and mind.
Becoming Janet starts with a name. Stays with another. And ends on a third. A book I would absolutely recommend to others.
May 5, 2025
My FAVORITE book this year. But, I finished it as I was walking into school, tears falling down my face. Don't do that. Read it at home.
Becoming Janet is a powerful, unflinching memoir that offers more than just another retelling of Holocaust survival—it’s a layered, deeply human story about identity, trauma, and the long shadow of hate. Janet's voice is clear and personal, inviting readers into both the horror of the Holocaust and the quieter but equally painful aftermath that followed.
What sets this memoir apart is its focus on what happened after liberation. Janet doesn't stop her story at survival; she confronts the years that followed, when anti-Semitism still lingered, and healing was far from linear. Her journey to reclaim her sense of self, in a world that was still hostile to her existence, is as gripping and vital as her account of wartime atrocities.
This book reminds us that the Holocaust didn’t end with the camps' liberation—it continued in the silence, the suspicion, and the rejection survivors faced even in supposed safe havens. Becoming Janet is both a personal odyssey and a historical reckoning, one that stays with you long after the final page.
Becoming Janet is a powerful, unflinching memoir that offers more than just another retelling of Holocaust survival—it’s a layered, deeply human story about identity, trauma, and the long shadow of hate. Janet's voice is clear and personal, inviting readers into both the horror of the Holocaust and the quieter but equally painful aftermath that followed.
What sets this memoir apart is its focus on what happened after liberation. Janet doesn't stop her story at survival; she confronts the years that followed, when anti-Semitism still lingered, and healing was far from linear. Her journey to reclaim her sense of self, in a world that was still hostile to her existence, is as gripping and vital as her account of wartime atrocities.
This book reminds us that the Holocaust didn’t end with the camps' liberation—it continued in the silence, the suspicion, and the rejection survivors faced even in supposed safe havens. Becoming Janet is both a personal odyssey and a historical reckoning, one that stays with you long after the final page.
January 21, 2025
This book gets 5 stars for the subject matter and for the author writing it down and sharing it orally with students. It is an important element in history, and must be remembered, understood, and kept in the front of history. I applaud her efforts to tell and preserve the stories of her family and millions of others who suffered through this atrocity.
That said, the writing of this book was poor. It was all 'telling' - of course the author is giving presentations to students, but there is a different way or sharing information on paper vs. orally in an auditorium. To transfer this rich information to a book format, the author needed a more more captivating, engaging approach. As it is presented, it is long and arduous, with little action, characters are flat and described to us, and the information is often repetitive. The reader is not asked to do much thinking, instead, everything is clearly spelled out and replayed.
That said, the writing of this book was poor. It was all 'telling' - of course the author is giving presentations to students, but there is a different way or sharing information on paper vs. orally in an auditorium. To transfer this rich information to a book format, the author needed a more more captivating, engaging approach. As it is presented, it is long and arduous, with little action, characters are flat and described to us, and the information is often repetitive. The reader is not asked to do much thinking, instead, everything is clearly spelled out and replayed.
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June 24, 2025I feel so grateful to have met Janet and listen to her share her story. The book begins with Janet talking at a middle school and ends this way as well. While I was reading I could hear Janet’s voice in my head.
Anytime I read a story about the Holocaust I am stunned by the amount of strength that so many people had. It took so much physical endurance to get through each day and took endless mental strength. Janet was in hiding for years but had to constantly move and although she had several people help her she was still physically and mentally alone for days at a time.
By the last line of her story I was in tears. It was an honor to have met Janet. I want to thank her for all she has done to educate the public. I ask everyone to please take the time to read Janet’s story.
Anytime I read a story about the Holocaust I am stunned by the amount of strength that so many people had. It took so much physical endurance to get through each day and took endless mental strength. Janet was in hiding for years but had to constantly move and although she had several people help her she was still physically and mentally alone for days at a time.
By the last line of her story I was in tears. It was an honor to have met Janet. I want to thank her for all she has done to educate the public. I ask everyone to please take the time to read Janet’s story.
November 10, 2025
I had the privilege of hearing Janet Applefield speak and found her story very moving. While I have grown up hearing the horrors of the concentration camps during WWII, this story is of a Jewish girl who avoided those camps, but had to deal with invasion of her native Poland, the loss of so many loved ones, and the fear and loneliness of a childhood in hiding. I felt in this story the anguish of parents giving up their child to save her, and the pain of a child who was put in terrible circumstances. She was able to see and be affected by both the best and the worst of people, and she came out on the other side. The book is an quick read, but very moving. I highly recommend it. As I listened to Janet speak at age 90, I hope her writings will live on to tell this necessary truth.
June 1, 2024
This is a superbly written firsthand account of the Holocaust as experienced by a child.
I appreciated that the author wrote her experiences in a way that made sense with regards to the age she was at the time she experienced them. It's common to look about on our life and allow our adult knowledge color our experiences - Janet didn't do that. It adds to the confusion/terror that the Holocaust brought upon her.
It's a book I'll have my daughter read soon.
(Thanks NetGalley for the ARC and thank you, Janet, for sharing your life with us.)
I appreciated that the author wrote her experiences in a way that made sense with regards to the age she was at the time she experienced them. It's common to look about on our life and allow our adult knowledge color our experiences - Janet didn't do that. It adds to the confusion/terror that the Holocaust brought upon her.
It's a book I'll have my daughter read soon.
(Thanks NetGalley for the ARC and thank you, Janet, for sharing your life with us.)
July 25, 2024
An amazing story of a young girl’s survival and resilience during the Holocaust in Poland.
I’m continually amazed at stories like this because of the hardship and trauma a child endured but now educates others.
Although Applefield was very fortunate her losses are still immeasurable. I felt so bad for the little girl being plunked from place to place and having to constantly adjust.
Her message is a powerful one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Cypress Press for the early copy.
I’m continually amazed at stories like this because of the hardship and trauma a child endured but now educates others.
Although Applefield was very fortunate her losses are still immeasurable. I felt so bad for the little girl being plunked from place to place and having to constantly adjust.
Her message is a powerful one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Cypress Press for the early copy.
September 26, 2024
This was a surprisingly uplifting book. The author was 4 years old when her parents made the difficult choice to give her to a non-Jewish family for protection, and then separate in hopes that one of them would survive the war and find her. Her father did just that. As an adult, Janet became a voice for those who perished as a guest speaker. For 40 years she's told her story to hundreds of thousands of people, especially children, with a message that comes mbats hate and prejudice.
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