Short List of Recommended Readings for Ages 14 & Up
Bauer, Yehuda. A History of the Holocaust.
- One of the most commonly taught secondary history texts
Borowski, Tadeusz. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, translated by Barbara Vedder.
- Collection of short stories by a non-Jew who was imprisoned in Auschwitz
- Some stories are very short
- Two of the stories may be found in the ODLE
Browning, Christopher. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942.
- Very detailed secondary history text
Celan, Paul. Selected Poetry of Paul Celan, translated by Paul Felstiner.
- Poems by survivor
- Includes several of the most critically lauded Holocaust poems, such as “Death Fugue”
- Some poems may be found in the ODLE
Davidowicz, Lucy. The War Against the Jews.
- One of the first and most commonly taught secondary history texts
Delbo, Charlotte. None of Us Shall Return.
- Memoir by a non-Jew who was imprisoned in Auschwitz
- Can also be found published as a part of a much longer trilogy in one volume, Auschwitz and After
- Includes both prose and poetry
Frankl, Victor. Man’s Search for Meaning.
- Survivor memoir
Hiemer, Ernst. The Poisonous Mushroom, with illustrations by “Fipps”
- Children’s picture book
- Highly disturbing Nazi antisemitic propaganda designed for young children, originally published by Julius Streicher
- A first edition may be seen on exhibit at Holocaust Museum Houston
- Facsimile available here.
Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews.
- One of the first and most commonly taught secondary history texts
Hochstadt, Steve. Sources of the Holocaust.
- Anthology of short primary sources
Laqueur, Walter. The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day.
- Somewhat comprehensive examination of antisemitism, including Nazism
Leitner, Isabella. Fragments of Isabella.
- Survivor memoir
- New edition published in 2018
- Very short chapters and short overall length
Lengyel, Olga. Five Chimneys.
- Survivor memoir
- Especially graphic and horrifying descriptions, even compared to most other memoirs
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz.
- Survivor memoir
- One of the most famous and critically lauded memoirs
- All memoirs by Levi are recommended
- An excerpt from Levi’s The Reawakening is available in the ODLE.
Millu, Liana. Smoke Over Birkenau.
- Survivor memoir
Müller, Filip. Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers.
- Survivor memoir
- Describes work by Sonderkommando in the gas chambers
Nomberg-Przytyk, Sarah. Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land.
- Survivor memoir
Ozick, Cynthia. The Shawl.
- Novella
- Describes a mother’s horror at the brutal murder of her baby in a camp
- Short length
- Entire story may be found in the ODLE
Radnóti, Miklós. Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti, A Bilingual Edition, translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner.
- Poems by victim of the Holocaust
- Victim was shot into mass grave; some poems were found in his pocket when his corpse was exhumed
- Both translators are faculty at UT-Dallas, and Ozsváth is a survivor
UN Report on Antisemitism
- Released September 2019
- Read the report here.
Wiesel, Elie. Night.
- Survivor memoir
- Author was the most famous survivor in the world and the recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
- Comparatively short length
- Excerpts may be found in the ODLE
Short List of Recommended Readings for Ages 11-13
Gilbert, Martin. Atlas of the Holocaust.
- Illustrated secondary history text
Klein, Gerda Weissmann. All But My Life.
- Survivor memoir
- Describes concentration camps and death march
- Author and account are also the subject of Oscar-winning documentary, One Survivor Remembers
- Excerpts are available in the ODLE
Ozsváth, Zsuzsanna. When the Danube Ran Red.
- Survivor memoir
- Describes hiding, witnessing the mass shooting of Jews
- Texas connection: Author is an Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies at UT-Dallas
- A few chapters may be found in the ODLE.
Pagis, Dan. The Selected Poetry of Dan Pagis, translated by Stephen Mitchell.
- Poems by a survivor
- Includes famous Holocaust poems, including “Written in Pencil on the Sealed Railway Car”
- Several poems may be found in the ODLE
Richter, Hans Peter. Friedrich.
- Autobiographical novel by member of the Hitler Youth
- Describes systematic, gradual persecution and murder of one Jewish family that author knew
- Short length, comparatively simple language
- Several chapters may be found in the ODLE
Sachs, Nelly. Collected Poems 1944-1949.
- Poems by Jewish woman who fled to Sweden to survive
- Poet became first Jewish woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Includes famous poems, such as “O the Chimneys”
Senesh, Hannah. Her Life and Diary, The First Complete Edition.
- Biography, essays, and poetry
- Describes theme of Jewish resistance: a Jewish woman, as part of a small team of Jews that parachuted into Yugoslavia on a mission to save Hungary’s endangered Jews, is captured and executed
- Includes famous poems, such as “Blessed is the Match”
Siegal, Aranka. Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944.
- Survivor memoir
- Describes ghetto
- Narrative ends with deportation, so no camps are depicted for young readers
- Newbery Honor Book
- A few chapters may be found in the ODLE
Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness.
- Survivor memoir with symposia
- Has two parts: In the first, the survivor recounts his experience as a camp inmate who was asked for forgiveness by a dying SS officer; in the second, people from a variety of backgrounds provide brief responses offering thoughts on whether forgiveness should have been given.
- While this is a highly engaging text to use with students, educators should take care never to frame the Holocaust or the survivor experience only in terms of forgiveness.
- Several excerpts are available in the ODLE
Zapruder, Alexandra. Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust.
- Anthology of firsthand accounts