What Was the Holocaust?

What was...?

by Gail Herman, Who H.Q., Jerry Hoare (Illustrator)

A thoughtful and age-appropriate introduction to an unimaginable event--the Holocaust.
The Holocaust was a genocide on a scale never before seen, with as many as twelve million people killed in Nazi death camps--six million of them Jews. Gail Herman traces the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, whose rabid anti-Semitism led first to humiliating anti-Jewish laws, then to ghettos all over Eastern Europe, and ultimately to the Final Solution. She presents just enough information for an elementary-school audience in a readable, well-researched book that covers one of the most horrible times in history.
This entry in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty carefully chosen illustrations and sixteen pages of black and white photographs suitable for young readers. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, Childrens, Historical, Middle Grade, World War II

112 pages, Library Binding

Published June 19, 2018

About the author

Gail Herman, formerly a children's book editor in New York City, has written picture books, easy-to-reads, and chapter books, including many titles in the Who Was/What Was series. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A suitable and satisfactory overview of the Holocaust with just the right amount of information and explanation for this age group. My first read of any of the books in this popular series, but I will definitely pick up other titles of interest to me. They are quick reads that cover the high points, satisfy your curiosity, and answer your initial questions. A really nice series for young people, and quick reads for interested and time-crunched adults.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to the holocaust for elementary and early middle school readers.

And all books have a bibliography in the back for adults who want to go more indepth.

This is a great series.

[Readasaurus Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

This book is good but the author got 2 things wrong that I found. 1) it was stated that a method used to get people to hate the Jews was to spread lies that they caused the death of Jesus. While I don't doubt that this happened, Biblical history and record gives account that the Jews WERE the ones who demand the death of Jesus. So that's incorrect. Also, it's claimed that the Holocaust was over in May of 1945, but that's also false. The persecution of these people still continued long after concentration camps were liberated and WW2 was over.

[Joanne Eglon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read for me when I didn't have my physical book on me... Half an hour read.
I adore anything to do with history and the Holocaust has always fascinated me.
A heartbreaking read to say the least. Beautifully written with illustrations.
Tailored to a young age group but I enjoyed this story none the less..
Tells of the horrors of this part of history while trying to remain child friendly.
Would definitely recommend 💕

[Barbara Mallozzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I teach the novel, Number the Stars, to middle schoolers and they always have so many questions. This is an excellent book for that age group to read and understand how such a horrific event took place.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I read this together and had some wonderful discussions.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've paged through tons of the Who HQ books and this is the second one I've read. I was really impressed with how frankly it addressed the Holocaust but tailored to a younger reader. At several points it addresses Hitler's gradual rise to power, emphasizing that it wasn't sudden but calculated over a period of years. It also ends talking about the complacency of most of the German populace. Herman highlights some people who stood up against the Nazis, but talks about how most people didn't do that. They chose to watch the events happen and do nothing. It goes well with an ADL webinar I recently watched, Choices Matter: Complicity and Action during the Holocaust. I was definitely more impressed with this than I was the Stonewall one.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book for young readers gave a good explanation of Hitler's rise to power and the Holocaust, and explained what ghettos and concentration and death camps were.
It introduced well known people like Anne Frank and Schindler.

I learned..
The poem about I did not speak up because I was not a Jew/communist/list of other targeted groups, and when they came for me there was no one left to speak up for me--it was written by a guy who was actually sent to a concentration camp for 7 years.
12 million people died in the Holocaust, and half were Jews. There were only 500k Jews in Germany during Hitler's rise to power and half of them left when they could, so he targeted more people living all over Europe than I had thought.

This look back at history was also a timely reminder of the danger of world leaders overreaching their authority, enacting discriminatory policies, or spreading fear or hatred toward a group of people.

[Maren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good.very short read but they did put a LOT of information in a short book. You will like this book if you like the holocaust. This was made for littler kids but I think all ages will enjoy this book. *Warning* there are very sad and surprises. But very good. Some words are hard to pronounce so little kids may need help

[Sundee Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of different books on the Holocaust, but I've never read one that explained how it came about as easily and concisely as this one. Honestly, I learned so much from this book. I was really impressed with how the Holocaust was presented. This is a kid's book, afterall; they were able to oresent the horrors of the Holocaust without all of the disturbing details (there were still some, because no matter what, it's the Holocaust and we, as humans, should be disturbed by it).

[Monica Edinger]

My blog review here: https://medinger.wordpress.com/2018/0...

[Tomasz · Rating 1 out of 5]

History-wise not reliable at all. Mentions Polish people being happy to be invaded by Germans which is ridiculous!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sincerely appreciate the Who Was/What Was authors including the Holocaust in their series. The book starts with two letters to the readers stating the importance of remembering this time in history.

"After you finish reading this book, you will know who planned the Holocaust, where and when it took place, and how it was carried out. But one thing you won't learn is why it happened. ...For a long time we thought about whether or not to publish a book about the Holocaust. ...But we decided it was such an important event that not including the Holocaust in the series would be wrong. The few survivors of the Holocaust are very old now. When they are no longer alive, it will be up to books to tell the painful story of what happened" (Connor, editor).

I could not agree more. Even though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the Holocaust, I still learned some new items such as the word holocaust itself means "sacrifice by fire" in Greek (7). If I had learned that, I sadly did not remember it. I also think Gail Herman, the author, did a great job explaining the history of anti-Semitism and Germany's economy and attitude after World War I. This will help explain to kids, to a certain extent, how Hitler came to rise and was granted so much power. As always, there were real pictures included, timelines with important dates at the end, and side bars with additional information (such as about important Holocaust museums) and illustrations and maps (such as a map of all the major concentration camps in Poland and a map of Germany's invasions across Europe).

I particularly liked the full-scale map of Auschwitz Birkenau, and I feel it was important to include the illustration of the gas chambers. For whatever reason, this is the part conspiracy theorists like to target, and I have no tolerance for this nonsense whatsoever and was encouraged by seeing the author/illustrator speak plainly and show these atrocities. I understand it may be hard to think of these things actually happening, but I think the author says just enough and puts it plainly so this is still appropriate for young children/middle schoolers. I would argue it is not just appropriate- it is essential! (Yes, I am passionate about this point!)

I do have two small concerns about this book. I wish the author could have covered a few more details about the aftermath and given a little more background for some areas. I know it's a short chapter book for kids, but maybe there could be a part two or sequel one day? Also, while I understand we must cover Hitler in order to explore this topic, I think we could have shortened some of the autobiographical details of his life such as his upbringing to talk about some of the actual victims of the Holocaust and shed light to more of the great work the survivors are doing. This is just my personal opinion and preference. Overall, I would still recommend this book and argue this is probably the most important Who Was/What Was book for kids to read.

"For a time, survivors of the Holocaust kept silent. What they had gone through was too painful to talk about. But then they began to speak out. They didn't want people to forget the horror. If people didn't hear about the Holocaust, then history might repeat itself one day" (97).

[Snehitha Chavakula · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Holocaust was a hard time for the Jews. About 6 million Jews were killed during this period of time. And when I say a hard time, it was a point where most of them thought they would just rather die. The Germans first made it really hard for the Jews to live. They made their needs extremely expensive so they would not be able to purchase the items. "Soon there were many German dollars marks-they became almost worthless. Prices went up day by day"(10). The Germans made the life for the Jews a living hell.
The author, Gail Herman, did a good job of explaining and listing all the problems the Jews went through. He also made it clear on the important points. For example, when Hitler got into power, life got even worse for the Jews. "And they blamed Jews for all the country's problems"(18). However, Hitler only disliked the Jews that much because he thought "the Jews of Germany were not real Jews"(18). It started with dislike and then turned into hatred because he started believing that they were the only reasons for his failures. This is when the real story began.
"As Nazi leader, Hitler saw two main problems: Germany needed to be bigger and stronger. And something had to be done about the Jews" (20). In 1923, Hitler began his grab for his power and he went to the Munich Beer hall on November 8th. He brought along stormtroopers who are armed Nazis known for violence. After some time passed by, Hitler decided to fire a pistol at the ceiling. Then after things started to fall apart and there were many gunshots at the scene. Hitler then got arrested. This was such a big deal at the time. "Hitler lashed out at the Jews"(22). But the worst part about this whole things was, this incident drew even more people to Hitler's part and Hitler himself. While Hitler was in Jail, he wrote a book called "Mein Kampf." In this book, he talked about how he thinks the Jews are plotting on taking over the world.
When Hitler Got out of jail, he made many many more rules for the Jews to follow. He wanted then to wear tags on their chests like an ID that said "Jude." He did this so that the others would know that this particular person is Jewish and not to respect them because of that.
Overall, the first thing I really like about this book is how the author separated the plot into fourteen different chapters. I think that is a really good idea because all these chapters talk about completely different things that happened during the Holocaust. And separating them makes the mook way more organized. Another thing I really liked about the book was how the author basically made the book very simple. He made the book very easy to read. That is because this book has very easy English and young children and adults would easily be able to understand what is going on in the scene. All these positive things about the book made me rate the book with five stars.

[Hazel Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very tasteful yet honest way on how to inform children about the Holocaust. As non-biased as they usually are, they made sure to keep the same non-biased tone while not giving a trace of doubt that Hitler was any sort of decent man. You could tell the author was so badly wanting to throw vulgarity after vulgarity at him, just being shy of calling him a loser.

I thought this might have been a coincidence, but seeing as this book was published in 2017, the "Could Germany be great again? Yes!" line was a bit... on the nose. Don't get me wrong, I hate Trump as much as the next socialist, but this might keep some parents from letting their children from reading this book, and I feel that every child should, and then allow themselves to find their own parallels between the Hitler's Nazi Party and any other current political party and its leader.

This book went very into detail, showing how gradual the switch was from a mere strict leadership to utter racist totalitarianism. I also appreciated how they called Romanis "Roma people" rather than the g-word, and they didn't shy away from talking about homosexuals, which often get left out of the Holocaust conversation. They even went as far as to include two triangle-sporting men on the cover of the book.

After reading this book, I'd love to see books about topics that don't often get talked about in elementary and middle schools, such as the Stonewall Riots, Harvey Milk, the AIDS crisis, or other LGBT historical issues. I feel that WhoHQ would tastefully detail these stories. I am so thankful for this series.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book a 5-star review because the book was well formatted and had interesting details/information that you probably haven't seen. For example I never knew that the Nazis shaved prisoners' hair so they can make thread for their uniforms and other items. There are many astonishing facts in this book that might surprise you even if you already think you know about the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to anyone. This gives you more knowledge about the Holocaust and information about survivors from the book. If you take a look you will read about Gerda Weissmann Klein, her life and what she achieved later on. This book even gives you pictures of Mrs. Klein, the arrival of Jews in the camps and even the trial of the Nazis. Although this book may be small it contains a numerous amount of information that you wouldn't typically learn. A very cool attachment is they even have a timeline in the back of the book. I wouldn't change this book because it has so much information about the Holocaust but instead of it being a big book they have condensed it and it even comes with special attachments like a timeline pictures, drawings, and other background information about the war.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Holocaust was a historical event. The Nazis, instead of devoting their effort to winning World War 2, wasted time trying to kill all the Jews in Europe. It was a terrible atrocity that is described pretty blandly in this book. I saw one of my acquaintances, a blonde girl with a German last name, reading this in class, and was glad that she was reading about the Holocaust and sad that this was her source.

The Holocaust was a crime against the Jews (and Romani, and homosexuals, and Slavs, and many others). This book, like much Holocaust education and media aimed at Gentiles, treats it as a crime against humanity, talking about man’s inhumanity to man, but mostly mentions the Jews. Of course a kids book wouldn’t mention the homosexuals, but the Nazis hated almost everyone.

The Holocaust was terrible. This book tries to show how terrible it was, but tones it down for the kids. The writing is also a bit too simple and boring, but it is stark. There are much better books about the Holocaust for kids, but this one, while being mid, isn’t actively harmful to the Jews. But it could easily be passively harmful, and should be supplemented with other “Who was?” books like “Who was Anne Frank?” and other Holocaust narratives and such.

[Klinton Saha · Rating 4 out of 5]

হাজার বছর আগে যীশুকে হত্যার পিছনে ইহুদিদের হাত আছে এই সন্দেহে যুগ যুগ ধরে ইহুদি বিদ্বেষ চলে আসছে। জার্মানির ক্ষমতায় আসার পর হিটলার জারি করে নতুন নিয়ম। জার্মানিতে থাকা ইহুদিদের প্রতি নির্যাতন শুরু করে। সামর্থবান ইহুদিরা দেশ ছেড়ে পালায়,অন্যরা সুদিনের অপেক্ষায় দেশে থাকে। শাস্তি হিসেবে প্রথমত তাদেরকে আলাদা অঞ্চল ঘেটোতে পাঠানো হয়। বর্হিবিশ্ব ও অন্যান্য স্বদেশীদের সাথে তাদের যোগাযোগ বন্ধ করা হয়। এখানে তারা মানবেতর জীবন কাটাতে থাকে। তাদের স্টার খচিত হলুদ পতাকা দিয়ে অন্যান্যদের থেকে আলাদা করা হয়। হিটলার যখন পোল্যান্ড আক্রমণ করে তখন সেখানে থাকা ইহুদিদের সংখ্যা ছিল অনেক, তাদেরকে কনসেনট্রেশন ক্যাম্পে পাঠানোর উদ্দ্যেশে দীর্ঘ যাত্রায় গবাদি পশুর ট্রেনে গাদাগাদি করে নিয়ে আসা হয়। এরপর বয়স্ক , তরুণ ও শিশুদের আলাদা করা হয়। পরিবার থেকে আলাদা করে সবলদের কাজ করার উদ্দেশ্যে রাখা হয়, বাকিদের shower room বা মৃত্যুকঠুরীতে পাঠানো হয়। এখানে zyklon B নামক বিষাক্ত গ্যাস দিয়ে মেরে ফেলার পর মৃতদের পোড়ানো হয়। বাছাই করা যুবক-যুবতীদের একটি সংখ্যা ট্যাটু করে কাজ করার উদ্দেশ্যে রাখা হয়।এই বর্বরতার কথা পৃথিবীকে জানিয়েছিল বলে আনা ফ্রাঙ্ককেও গ্যাস চেম্বারে যেতে হয়। তারপরও কিছু মানুষ ছিল সত্যিকারের হৃদয়ের ,তারা চোখের সামনে ঘটা অপরাধকে বর্বরতা হিসেবে দেখে সাহায্য করতে এগিয়ে আসেন। Oskar Schindler তাদের মতো একজন।

[Kiacarter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate this book :) I am glad that they changed their minds and continued/decided to go through with writing this book for young readers! I thought that it was a great introduction to The Holocaust. I feel like I've always had an understanding of this horrible time in history but reading this book gave me even more insight. out of all of the books that I've read in the series, this one felt more....I don't want to say personal but I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for at this particular moment either. It has so many detailed facts in it that I couldn't believe, that I wanted the book to hurry up and be over with. In a good way. Therefore, I could not imagine being there and having to suffer through it. The years seemed to drag on and on. The time that it took for people to actually get involved makes me wonder?? All we can do is hope and pray that history doesn't repeat itself! Congrats to the lovely Gerda Weissmann on being awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2011. Im glad that survivors were able to tell their stories and speak out about The Holocaust. I want to say Rest in peace to all of those that have passed. Youll always be remembered... Gone but never forgotten!

[Jessica Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I even learnt something from this book, and I’ve written and read about the holocaust on and off in school for 11 years. I chose to read this book because I simply wanted to know what was in a book about the holocaust aimed at a middle school audience. This book did not disappoint.
Although this book is great for first learning about the holocaust. I do want to put out a few suggestions for parents.
1. Suggest your child read lighter books about the topic first. (Number the Stars by Lois Lowery, night by Eli Wiesel, and the diary of Anne frank, or The Who was Anne frank in the same series as this book)
2. Have a conversation with your child before, during and after reading this book. Tell your child what they are going to expect, be available to talk about it, and ask them if they have any questions at the end.
3. DONT skip the editors note at the beginning, as they explain why they included this book in the series and tell the child what to expect.

[수지 박 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, what was the Holocaust had a lot of great information, and it was easy, and short to read. Although it wasn't my favorite book, it was still good. That's why I rated it four stars, and this is my third favorite history book. I think this history book had lots of history and bravery, and it was a bit fun.

Hitler was a boy in a poor family, but Hitler when his parents died, he suddenly got the job his father wanted him to have, working in the government. Hiler hated the Jewish and blamed them for everything. Then began Holocaust. He put them in prison, separated them from the rest of the society, took away rights from the Jews, attacked Jews on the streets, made them feel less human, and so on. The Jewish didn't like it, so they began to fight back with the help of kind, and brave non-Jewish. And finally, Hitler was dead.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the What Was books and I was pleased to see that the Holocaust has been included in this series. While the black and white illustrations and photos may be disturbing to younger readers, I feel that the author’s explanations/handling of this intense subject matter would be appropriate for most middle school students. As painful as these stories may be, it is important to educate the younger generation regarding these horrors.

I would also recommend the following books (for older middle/high school students):

The Diary of Anne Frank (by Anne Frank)
Night (by Elie Wiesel)
Irena’s Children by Tilar J. Mazzeo
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot more happened in the holocaust, but not suitable to share with elementary children. This was bad enough. Don’t remember hearing about Corrie Ten Boom and her family talked about in this book. Corrie, in particular, held a vast place in this historical event and for many years traveled, telling the truth of what she had experienced. Her family also hid and cared for Jews that went into hiding. This should have been included. I didn’t spell her name right . It is Corrie ten Boom. She lost members of her family in the holocaust. She was a devout Christian and after the holocaust ended, she became a world wide evangelist for Jesus and shared her experiences of the holocaust and won many to the Lord in her Christian testimony. Great lady. CathyR

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Was the Holocaust was written by Gail Herman. This book was written to help upper elementary students begin to understand the complexity of the topics of World War Ii and the Holocaust. It covers the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler, the ghettos, the concentration camps, resistance, and heroes. It is written at about a third grade reading level. It does not contain graphic images, either written nor photographs. It briefly includes part of the story of Gerda Weissman’ liberation by Kurt Klein as well as parts of her story. It makes a great introduction to the Holocaust for lower readers.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I have read quite a few memoirs and non-fiction accounts of the Holocaust, I was interested in this one because it provided a short overview from the time leading up to the start of war until the surrender and freeing of the survivors in the concentration and death camps. Because of the overview nature of What Was the Holocaust, it does not contain the kind of detail you can get from more focused personal accounts of those who survived or, in the case of Anne Frank, left something behind telling of their experiences. For a short book it packs a lot of information and sometimes that is good to put all of the personal accounts in perspective.

[Alison LaMarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't always read and then review the kid books...but this was well done. My twelve year old son has expressed interest in WWII and so I wanted him to have good info to begin learning about the Holocaust more than just bits he picks up on in movies and stuff and he hasn't yet had a unit on this in school. This book is tactful but informative and definitely does not skirt around what happened. My twelve year old looked a little overwhelmed after he was finished but I think that is OK. My seven year old became interested and I steered him away from reading it because I don't think he is ready to process this kind of stuff. Anyways, I was impressed and learned some things myself.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The letters at the front share that this is a difficult topic, especially to explain for upper elementary and middle school students but they thought it wise in their series quest to do justice to this topic rather than avoid it. I agree. A job well done, it showcases the changes politically for Germany and how Hitler, at one point sleeping on park benches, became the head of a party that wanted to follow his lead in killing mass amounts of people simply for their religion, politics, or sexuality.

[David Rough · Rating 4 out of 5]

The outrageous horrors of genocide during World War 2 is the topic of this book in the What Is….? Series for young readers. It is a well-researched book and provides appropriate information for the target audience.

It is impossible to relate the killing of twelve million people in Nazi death camps without communicating the sobering realities of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi army. On the other hand, when children are ready to face these atrocities, this book does a good job of tactfully communicating the nightmares of these dark days.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it would have liked this book more if I hadn’t listened to it. Audiobooks aren’t my first choice & this reader was so slow paced that she added an extra level for boredom to what is an already difficult topic.

Please do not take my rating to mean that this is a bad book. It is not. I actually find the topic interesting & I think it is well written. And I agree with the publisher that books on the Holocaust need to be available for children. (The publisher actually has a notation at the beginning of the book that explains why.)

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books is the greatest way to get a succinct, complete look at an event or a person of historical note. I started reading this book back in October on one of my library shifts and then couldn't find it again for weeks (pesky knowledge-hungry library kids!). It's hard to say one enjoys a book about the Holocaust so I'll simply say that it was a short, comprehensive look at one of the most significant events in recent history.