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... care writing fiction about the Holocaust is impossible and immoral: The arguments about the immorality of creating fiction about the Holocaust are related to concerns about exploiting the victims and survivors, as well as the fear of being cooped by the act of describing evil. There are concerns that imaginative works about the Holocaust, as opposed to factual texts such as autobiographies or histories, will somehow subvert the truth of what actually happened (Walter 40). However, unlike first hand witnessing and history books, novels are the best way to relay information about something as complex as the Holocaust.
As discussed in Juvenile Picture Books About the Holocaust: Extending the Definitions of Childrens Literature Jeffrey Derevensky, professor of educational psychology, has a theory about the stages of childhood development and Holocaust literature: At the concrete operational stage, from ages seven to eleven, children can begin to comprehend the objective events of the Holocaust. They will be unable to understand the broader philosophical and psychological issues until they reach the stage of formal operation and thought, at approximately age eleven (Walter 41). Derevensky has concluded through his studies that children and adolescents do have special and different needs. Considering these factors he has determined that starting from the age of seven, children may be introduced to the Holocaust.
The child at that age will not be ready for all the information but as her or she ages more information may be introduced. The novel Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is an example of literature made for young adults that deals with the Holocaust. Within the story itself, the reader is confronted with the controversy of what children can handle hearing about the Holocaust. How much should children be told? And how should they be told? In Briar Rose, Gemma uses a fairy tale to explain her experiences to her grandchildren.
As discussed in the book Generations of the Holocaust parent survivors traumatize their children because of their experiences with the Holocaust. The novel succeeded in the ways that first hand witnessing and history books failed; the novel was not traumatic and the reader formed an emotional connection with the characters in the book adding to the understanding of real events. In Briar Rose, a family discovers only after the death of the matriarch that she was a Holocaust survivor. Gemma, mother of one and grandmother of three, hinted but never told her family members of her involvement with the Holocaust. Her family always assumed she immigrated to the United States before World War II. What she did tell them was the story of Briar Rose, in which she used a fairy tale of a sleeping beauty named Aurora to elude to her experiences under Nazi occupation.
In her story the bad fairy was described as the one in black with big black boots and silver eagles on her hat (Yolen 27). The spell cast by the bad fairy is described as a mist that covered the entire kingdom: Everyone in it- the good people an d the not-so-good, the young people and the not-so-young, and even Briar Roses mother and father fell asleep. Everyone slept. So fast asleep they were not able to wake up for a hundred years (Yolen 46). Using the ideas of M. P.
Machet, author of Authenticity in Holocaust Literature for Children one can analyze Briar Rose. The article discusses the way that Jewish people are represented in childrens books. This author agrees that books are a good way to teach children about the Holocaust. Machet says: Novels can help children become aware of the Holocaust by conveying some of the complexity of the historical situation and also by personifying the events through fictional characters with who children can identify (Machet 1).
Yolen's novel succeeds in teaching about the Holocaust while at the same time using characters the reader may identifies with. In Briar Rose Gemma tells her story using the fairy tale because she feels that her daughter and grandchildren will be able to comprehend the fairy tale. Gemma uses a princess to be the fictional character that her witnesses are to identify with. Although the listener is not royalty, a princess is something children (especially little girls) can identify with. However, this identification only happens when the child is very young. Eventually as the child grows and matures, this identification will not be sufficient.
Looking at the novel itself which teaches about the Holocaust, the fictional characters are family members that have to deal with the loss of an important member of the family. Gemma, the Holocaust survivor is given more than just a face, the reader of the novel forms a connection with the character as more of her secret past is disclosed. Since learning first hand witnessing causes trauma to the witness and that history books lack significant impact, children should be taught about the Holocaust through literature. The more our young know about why the Holocaust happened, and how it took place, the more they, as our future adults will be prepared to deal with the trends in society that endanger our humanity As the plot progresses more information is divulged, with age and time more and more can be taught. Well written literature about the Holocaust can provide children elements of the issue that parents and history books cannot give.
Not only can it cover a variety of complex issues at a level young adults can relate to, the characters, although emotionally provoking, are distanced enough that the young readers are not traumatized. Works Cited Eskenazi, Joe. Historians WWII Book Sanitizes History for Youth. Jewish Bulletin. 105. 50 (2001).
Hirsch, Marianne. "Projected Memory: Holocaust photographs in Personal and Public Fantasy" Machet, M. P. Authenticity in Holocaust Literature For Children. South African Journal of Library & Information Science. 66. 3 (1998): 114 - 22. Sherman, Ursula F.
Why Would A Child Want To Read About That? The Holocaust Period in Childrens Literature. How Much Truth Do We Tell the Children? . Ed. Betty Bacon. Minneapolis: MEP Publications, 1988. 173 - 184.
Walter, Virginia A. , and Susan F. March. Juvenile Picture Books About the Holocaust: Extending the Definitions of Childrens Literature. Publishing Research Quarterly. 9. 3 (1993): 36 - 52. Generations of the Holocaust. Ed.
Martin S. Bergmann and Milton E. Jucovy. New York: Basic Books, Inc. , Publishers, 1982.
The Holocaust In Fiction; Naming The Unnamable; Morality In Literature. Chronicle of Higher Education. 48. 19 (2002)
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Research essay sample on Childrens Literature And The Holocaust
