While Other Children Played: A Hidden Child Remembers the Holocaust

by Erna Blitzer Gorman

One of the Holocaust's "hidden children," Erna Blitzer Gorman never spoke to anyone about her traumatic experiences during World War II and its aftermath for nearly 40 years. But a stranger's vicious words of hate compelled her to sort through her memories and come to terms with her past. Mrs. Gorman's story of family, fear, and survival is both harrowing and inspiring.

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a few short hours. I had the privilege of hearing the author Erna Gorman speak at our local library. Her story is so heartbreaking. What I loved about this story was it didn't end with liberation but kept going to the present day. Erna looks like someone that you would smile to at the grocery store or see in the library. You would never know about her past. She manages to smile a lot and that has helped her to heal.
When I think of a hidden child, I think of someone who was placed with a non Jewish family and given a new identity. This is a completely different story. It opened my eyes to a new dimension of the Holocaust.
Erna said that she didn't want to print more copies of her book that when the last ones were gone, it was all done. She wants to put everything behind her. It is a shame but she is tired and needs to move on.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Most people will do whatever it takes in order to survive.”

Some people might think that just because she wasn’t at the camps, she isn’t a survivor. “Hidden children” saw incredible horrors and were indelibly etched by them too.

Incredibly frank memoir of her experience, from the big heart-stopping moments such as seeing her mother die and not being able to shed a tear, to the small recollections such as the constant fight against lice.

What makes this book different to me is discussing the wild swing of mental challenges following the war. She goes through being ostracized in France to being a young woman with suitors in Detroit. To having anger at her father, constantly putting on a smile, and also having a loving family of her own. Her long struggle with depression is understandable, and makes her willingness to speak to school groups and at the holocaust museum all the more remarkable.

It seems she might still be making sense of all her various life experiences, but wants to stop thinking and talking about it. So the reader must take it from here to speak up if and when they see and hear prejudice and hatred.

[Emma Blatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Erna speak at my synagogue when I was only seven. This book offers a poignant and moving account of her experience surviving the Holocaust, as well as how she dealt with the trauma that came along with it. I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking to deepen their understanding of what Jews experienced during and post World War II.

[Michaela Cooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

My school actually brought the author in to speak to us. Her story was shocking and heartbreaking but it also reminded us that just because she didn’t go to a concentration camp doesn’t mean that she didn’t have a difficult time. She was also very honest about her mental health and how the events of her youth affected her for the rest of her life and I really appreciate it that.