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Under and above ground views of the Holocaust

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/33803/full/33803/under-and-above-ground-views-of-the-holocaust/ Under and above ground views of the Holocaust Thursday, November 15, 2007 | by liz harris Two new children's books approach the Holocaust from vastly different directions, but both set out to inspire young readers. "The Secret of Priest's Grotto" chronicles an underground survival story, while "Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman" tells how a Jewish refugee returns to Germany bearing literary gifts for its war-ravaged children. Although both end on an inspiring note, it is questionable whether young readers will appreciate this since they may get bored along the way. That's a pity, especially in the case of "The Secret of Priest's Grotto," which has all the makings of a blockbuster film. Written by explorers Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola and filled with color photos they took underground, it relates how they plumbed the depths of a Ukrainian subterranean labyrinth and uncovered the saga of three Jewish families and friends who hid there for nearly a year during the Holocaust. Here are two intriguing tales in one. The first details the adventurers' trips during a 10-year period into Priest's Grotto, the ninth-largest cave in the world. The other unveils how Jews elaborately eluded the Nazis. Moving from one cave to another, sneaking above ground at night to retrieve food and other supplies, 38 people hid for nearly a year from May 1943 to April 1944. But the book swings wildly between the explorers' endeavors and the Holocaust cave dwellers. A third-person narrative of how the families went into hiding and eluded the ever-present Nazis, survivors' first-person accounts and a written memoir add further confusion. Fortunately, excellent photos help nudge the reader forward. Many of the pictures reveal the cave, while others capture the surprising beauty above ground. There are also vintage photos of Nazi storm troopers and their Jewish victims, fading family portraits and more recently composed gatherings of survivors. In comparison, "Books for Children of the World" is far less dramatic. It glosses over the Nazi years in a page. Rather than dwelling on treatment of the Jews, author Sydelle Pearl, a professional storyteller and children's librarian, relates that approved books written in German about German culture stayed put, while all the others were taken away and burned. Likewise, she writes, Jews who remained in Germany "were taken from their homes the way that unwanted books were removed from the shelves." Lepman and her two children were lucky enough to escape Germany to London, where she "wrote news stories for England and the United States." (She may have worked for the Allied troops, since it was the U.S. Army that sent her on a mission after the war " to find out what children needed in order to live better lives.") This is really where the "The Story of Jella Lepman" begins, as it recounts bittersweet visit to her homeland and her conclusion that, while children needed essentials such as food and shelter, they also were "hungry for books." She proposed to her commanding officer that an exhibit of children's books from around the world be brought to Germany. No money was available for such a project, of course, so Lepman had to pull it together herself. Her efforts culminate in the International Exhibition of Children's Books, which opened in Munich in July 1946 and then went to Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin, attracting 1 million visitors in all. Lepman went on to help found the International Youth Library, which opened in September 1949 in Munich. The color illustrations by artist Danlyn Iantorno add some much-needed vibrancy and emotional depth to this worthy story. "Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman" by Sydelle Pearl (32 pages, Pelican Publishing, $15.95) "The Secret of Priest's Grotto" by Peter Lane Taylor with Christos Nicola (64 pages, Kar-Ben Publishing, $8.95 softcover, $18.95 hardcover)

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