Resources
Non-Fiction
Abella, Irving and Harold Troper. None is Too Many.Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1983.
Examines why Canada was closed to the Jews of Europe between 1933 and 1945. An anonymous senior Canadian official's response to the question of how many Jews should be allowed into Canada, provides the title for this book. Grades 10-12
Barkai, Avraham. From Boycott to Annihilation: The Economic Struggle of German Jews, 1933-1943.
Hanover: University Press of New England, 1989.
Definitive account of Jewish economic life under the Nazis. Author argues that the economic destruction of the Jews was a Nazi objective from the onset. Grade 12
Boas, Jacob and Joel Neuberg. "Kristallnacht": The Night of Shattered Glass.
San Francisco: Holocaust Center of Northern California, 1988.
Short booklet aimed at young readers. Provides an overview of Kristallnacht and Nazi anti-Semitism. Grades 5-9
Dawidowicz, Lucy S. A Holocaust Reader.
New York: Behrman House, 1976.
Both German and Jewish documents are provided, including reports, letters, and diaries. Large section on anti¥Jewish legislation. Grades 11-12
Engelmann, Bernt. Germany Without Jews.
New York: Bantam, 1984.
Examines the consequence of Hitler's expulsion and murder of German Jews. Provides an account of the staggering losses Germany suffered in politics, science, and the arts. Germany did not just lose the war. It lost one of its richest cultural resources. Grade 12
Friedrich, Otto. Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920's.
New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
A comprehensive historical portrait of the political, social, and cultural life of Berlin. A look at what life was like in this cosmopolitan centre, before the Nazis assumed power. Grade 12
Friedlander, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews: Volume 1: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939.
New York: Harper Collins, 1997.
Describes and interprets the mounting anti-Jewish persecution in Germany after the 1933 Nazi accession to power. Scholarly yet highly readable work by one of the eminent historians of the Holocaust. Grade 12
Gay, Ruth. The Jews of Germany: A Historical Portrait.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Provides an excellent overview of the 1500-year history of the Jews in Germany. Texts, pictures, and contemporary accounts are used to trace Jews from their first settlements on the Rhine in the fourth century to the destruction of the community in World War II. Grades 9-12
Hilberg, Raul. Documents of Destruction: Germany and Jewry 1933-1945.
Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971.
A compilation of Nazi and Jewish documents, which offers insight into the destructive process. Includes one of the Nuremberg Laws and a letter permitting the delivery of Zyklon B to Auschwitz. Grades 11-12
Kallen, Stuart A. The Holocaust: The Nazis Seize Power, 1933-1939.
Minneapolis: Adbo & Daughters, 1994.
A simple and clear summary of the first seven years of Nazi rule. Includes a chapter on Kristallnacht. Grades 4-7
Marrus, Michael R. The Holocaust in History.
Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987.
Probes into the scholarship of the Holocaust to provide a critical analysis of how historians have handled the troubling and often controversial issues of the Holocaust. Marrus is one of Canada's foremost Holocaust historians. Grades 11-12
Read, Anthony and David Fisher. Kristallnacht: 'Me Nazi Night of Terror.
New York: Random House, 1989.
Excellent account of the "Night of Broken Glass," the events leading up to it, and its immediate aftermath. Grades 10-12
Schleunes, Karl A. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz: Nazi Policy Toward German Jews, 1933-1939.
Urbana: University of Illinois, 1990.
A classic of Holocaust historiography. Examination of the erosion of the status of German Jews prior to the deportations. The "Final Solution" is seen as an unplanned evolution rather than a premeditated plan. Sparked decades of debate over functionalism vs intentionalism. Grade 12
Thalmann, Rita and Emmanuel Feinermann. Crystal Night: 9-10 November 1938.
New York: Holocaust Library, 1974.
Recreates the night of November 9-10, 1938, when the Nazi-sanctioned riot was unleashed against the Jews. Grades 10-12
Youth Fiction - Germany and Austria
Orgel, Doris. The Devil in Vienna.
New York: Puffin Books, 1987. A Jewish girl and the daughter of a Nazi have been best friends since they started school, but in 1937 the thirteenyearolds find their close relationship difficult to maintain. Grades 5-7
Richter, Hans. Peter Friedrich.
New York: Puffin Books, 1987. A young German boy recounts the fate of his best friend, a Jew, during the Nazi regime. The Nazi program of dehumanizing and segregating Jews is seen through the eyes of a child. Grades 5-7
Watts, Irene N. Goodbye Marianne.
Toronto: Tundra Books (McClelland and Stewart Young Readers), 1998. A heartbreaking story of Marianne Kohn's life in Germany and her escape. Based on factual events of the Kindertransports which saved thousands of Jewish children before the outbreak of the war. Grades 5-8
Videos
The Boat is Full
In 1942 the Swiss government, alarmed at the vast numbers of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, established stringent immigration policies and declared the country's "lifeboat" full. Nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film, this suspenseful drama tells the story of a group of refugees forced back to the border by ordinary citizens too frightened or indifferent to take them in. German with English subtitles. Grades 812 64 min. / colour
Bound For Nowhere
Archival film footage is used to tell the story of the historic voyage of the S.S. St. Louis which set sail from Hamburg, Germany for Cuba on May 13, 1939, with 937 Jewish refugees aboard. Denied entry into Cuba, refused landing in the U.S. and Canada, the ship sailed for 5 weeks, until forced to return to Europe. 9 min. / bw
Daniel's Story
Documents the events of the Holocaust from the perspective of a Jewish child growing up in Nazi Germany. The fictional characters of Daniel and his family are based on the experiences of actual German Jewish families. Makes use of archival photographs and film footage. Includes a teachers' guide. Grades 517 14 min. / bw
Memories of Berlin
Details the cultural richness of preHolocaust Germany, that ended with the accession to power of the Nazis. Makes use of archival film footage. 72 min. colour / bw
Nothing To Be Written Here
Mixing personal narrative and historical documentary, the film traces the film maker's discovery of her father's wartime experiences. Exiled from Austria in 1938, interned in Britain and transferred to Canada in 1940, he was one of 2200 Jewish refugees, held behind barbed wire in Canada, alongside Nazi POWs. 47min. / colour
Our Time in the Garden
Tells the true story of a young Jewish woman, growing up in Berlin during Hitler's rise to power. Begins as a detailed chronicle of her charmed and secure life, which has its center in the family's walled garden. Outside, antiSemitism becomes a shattering force as the Nazis take control and her family decides to abandon Germany forever. 15 min. / bw
The Wave
Based on a classroom experiment, conducted in California in 1967, in which a highschool teacher formed his own "Reich" to show his students how the German people were able to embrace Nazism. Raises critical questions about individualism, conformity, power, discipline, and racial superiority. Grades 812 46 min. / colour
Posters
1933: German Jewish Life Before the Nazis
Wiesenthal Poster Set (#3/40) The paradoxical situation of the Jews in Germany, as both members of, and outsiders in, a society.
The Nightmare Begins: Hider and the Nazis
Wiesenthal Poster Set (#5/40) Early antiJewish measures, including book burning and the economic boycott.
Concentration Camps: 19331938
Wiesenthal Poster Set (#8/40) Early opponents of the Nazi regime were sent to camps like Dachau. Many of the first prisoners were political (liberals, socialists and communists); the percentage of Jewish prisoners rose drastically after Kristallnacht.
In Flight: 19331938
Wiesenthal Poster Set (#9/40) Due to antiJewish actions and legislation, thousands of Jews fled Germany. For those who stayed in Europe, the reprieve was only temporary.
1938: The Reich Expands
Wiesenthal Poster Set (#10/40) When the Nazis annexed Austria, their antiJewish measures came with them. The isolation and persecution of the Austrian Jewish community took only a few months.
KristalInacht: The Night of Broken Glass
Wiesenthal Poster Set (# 11/40) Kristallnacht marked a turning point in Nazi antiJewish action: it was the first organized pogrom of violence orchestrated by the highest authorities.