In our Books by Survivors section, we have many outstanding memoirs from Holocaust Survivors. Yet we have never run into one written as a children’s book, by a survivor…this one is shared with children to give them a story written in a way they can relate to, and The Story of Granny Girl is shared in both Hebrew and English here. In the words of the author:
“My name is Susanne Ruth Raweh and I am a child survivor from the concentration camps in Ukraine. I have written a children’s book in Hebrew called “HaSipur shel Savta Ialda” or in English” The story of Granny-Girl.” It has appeared in Israel in 2004 and on two sites on the web: www.Istoreto.it in Italian and one of its illustrations was the logo for the International Memory Day in 2007 www.ehpes.com the site of the Czernowitzer in both Hebrew and English.
The book entered the list of reccomended books in Katzenelenson’s and Ravid’s book on modern israeli grandparenthood.
Maybe you would be interested in this small book as I have used it as a basis for my lectures in the the schools of Piedmont Italy since 2004:”
We are honored to share this, including the first stanza….
“When Granny Susan will arrive at the Heavenly Gates
To the entrance of Paradise
Or some other garden
More interesting and joyful
She will look back and smile
And quietly say: “Bye children, bye
Be Well
I did not leave you
Houses and cars
Rich jewels and stuff
But stories
Some of them full of fun
Some others sad
True stories
Taken from life.
There is an important story I remember
That I will leave you as a token.”