Kanada. The name meant untold riches and promise to Jutka, a young Hungarian girl who was captivated by stories of a vast, majestic country where people were able to breathe free of hatred and prejudice. Freedom was in short supply, but hatred was everywhere in Hungary as hundreds of thousands of...
The Second World War was a time of terrible injustices. It was also a time of incredible bravery. My Canary Yellow Star is the remarkable story of one of the last century’s greatest heroes, Raoul Wallenberg, who was responsible for saving as many as 100,000 lives. Young Marta’s life in Budapest...
I sat up and listened. The noise seemed to be coming from outside, at the front of the prison. I lit a candle and pulled on my skirt and blouse as fast as I could. I padded down the dim halls with a flickering candle lighting my way. The stone floor was cold beneath my bare toes. Warden Henter wa...
Our Sunday school class was in the Catholic day school attached to our church. The large classroom, with its faded gray walls, scarred brown student desks, and battered teacher’s table in front of the blackboard, reminded me of my homeroom at Lord Selkirk High. The large crucifix hanging on the w...
Even so, the auditorium was filled to bursting, with men sitting on one side of the aisle and women on the other. My class marched in, all of us dressed in green robes, with mortarboards on our heads. I wore my Shabbos clothes underneath and tried not to think of the dress with the lace sleeves. ...
Ever since the well in the town square was poisoned, we’d had to fetch our water from the River Ill. I was pleased that Natan had fallen into the habit of accompanying me every day. These were the only times we were alone to discuss our problems. Natan was worried that we still hadn’t heard from ...
I was terrified that Santos and his henchmen would return. And there was nothing I could do to prevent this from happening. I was also so worried about Yonah. How could I help him? I was helpless. How could I live without seeing him ever again? One morning, after a particularly sleepless and fret...