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We All Wore Stars: Memories of Anne Frank from Her Classmates by Theo Coster, Marjolijn De Jager
librarygurl's review
4.0
Growing up Jewish meant I never escaped the Holocaust. We hear about it early in our lives and Anne Frank's story quickly enters our education. I think her diary was the first book I actually read about the holocaust, but I have only read it once. I have had many copies through the years, but never read it more than that first time. There were so many other books to read; fiction and non fiction alike. In the past year I have found more Holocaust memoirs coming past me. I suspect it has a lot to do with aging of survivors and the Jewish communities emphasis on remembering what happened. This is the second translated memoir I have read in the past 12 months as well.
The struggle with translating a memoir is to make sure it translates well, but also keeps the spirit of the original work. This was originally written in Dutch and translated by Marjolijn de Jager. I think de Jager was very successful with her translation. This book was easy to understand, the translation made sense and most ideas translated well. My struggle with the narration was more from the nature of the narrative. The emphasis was more on recounting what happened, predominantly to Coster, rather than weaving a story. There are times Coster jumps around in time, following a train of though, and then may come back to his original point. For example, when he talks about going to Israel he explains how he met his wife Ora. It seems she only showed interest in him when she learned he had ridden a moped from Amsterdam to Israel. From there he jumps to telling us that story and then never tells us any more about how they fell in love.
What I enjoyed most was hearing the stories of Frank and Coster's classmates who survived the war. They all had such different experiences. Some were deep in hiding while others were fortunate enough to be spared leaving a home. One thing they all had in common was their terror. It didn't matter if you were deep in hiding, in a camp, or living in the open. They all shared the fear that they would be sent to their death. Some more than others, but that fear remained and all of them were able to talk about it openly.
"We could show how bad luck and good fortune are often intertwined, especially in difficult times (p.9)". This is probably the quote I liked the best and probably sums up the entire book. Each of them had different fortune. For Coster his luck had to do with his father's possible mistake with some paperwork. Had his father correctly filed paperwork Coster's fortune would not have been the same. For Anne, had someone not reported them she may have survived. Their stories all show how one choice, often outside of your control, can keep you alive or lead you to death.
In the end, this message is what I was meant to take away.
I also took away a better sense of what the Dutch did and didn't do to support their Jewish neighbors. Coster's make a point of reminding readers that 80% of Dutch Jews died during the war. There are hints that it was because there was no resistance. This was a country that surrendered quickly. I think this is wrong. I think the Dutch helped in very small ways. There was also so much denial about what was happening and what could happen. Not just from the Jews, but from everyone. Even the German Jews who came to Amsterdam after the Nazis came to power lived in denial about what was happening. I think that denial resulted in more deaths than any lack of resistance from the Dutch.
Should you read it? YES! Especially if you have read other books about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.
The struggle with translating a memoir is to make sure it translates well, but also keeps the spirit of the original work. This was originally written in Dutch and translated by Marjolijn de Jager. I think de Jager was very successful with her translation. This book was easy to understand, the translation made sense and most ideas translated well. My struggle with the narration was more from the nature of the narrative. The emphasis was more on recounting what happened, predominantly to Coster, rather than weaving a story. There are times Coster jumps around in time, following a train of though, and then may come back to his original point. For example, when he talks about going to Israel he explains how he met his wife Ora. It seems she only showed interest in him when she learned he had ridden a moped from Amsterdam to Israel. From there he jumps to telling us that story and then never tells us any more about how they fell in love.
What I enjoyed most was hearing the stories of Frank and Coster's classmates who survived the war. They all had such different experiences. Some were deep in hiding while others were fortunate enough to be spared leaving a home. One thing they all had in common was their terror. It didn't matter if you were deep in hiding, in a camp, or living in the open. They all shared the fear that they would be sent to their death. Some more than others, but that fear remained and all of them were able to talk about it openly.
"We could show how bad luck and good fortune are often intertwined, especially in difficult times (p.9)". This is probably the quote I liked the best and probably sums up the entire book. Each of them had different fortune. For Coster his luck had to do with his father's possible mistake with some paperwork. Had his father correctly filed paperwork Coster's fortune would not have been the same. For Anne, had someone not reported them she may have survived. Their stories all show how one choice, often outside of your control, can keep you alive or lead you to death.
In the end, this message is what I was meant to take away.
I also took away a better sense of what the Dutch did and didn't do to support their Jewish neighbors. Coster's make a point of reminding readers that 80% of Dutch Jews died during the war. There are hints that it was because there was no resistance. This was a country that surrendered quickly. I think this is wrong. I think the Dutch helped in very small ways. There was also so much denial about what was happening and what could happen. Not just from the Jews, but from everyone. Even the German Jews who came to Amsterdam after the Nazis came to power lived in denial about what was happening. I think that denial resulted in more deaths than any lack of resistance from the Dutch.
Should you read it? YES! Especially if you have read other books about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
4.0
4/5
I was very surprised by this book and I loved hearing other people’s stories.
I was very surprised by this book and I loved hearing other people’s stories.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
3.0
This slim volume lays out the stories of several of Anne Frank's classmates at the Jewish Lyceum, including the author. Their stories are quite varied, from the author who managed to hide in plain sight, to a girl who ended up in the concentration camps before Anne's family and reunited with her briefly at Bergen-Belsen. A good supplement to any unit on the Holocaust and teaching Anne Frank's famous diary, this volume fills in the gap of what happens after a hiding family is discovered, or what happens after the war, when state-sanctioned racism is no longer the law of the land, when so many of your friends and family have been killed, and your home doesn't look like it did before the War. It also brings up the important point that survivors of the Holocaust are growing old and will soon be only read about in history books, so Coster hopes that putting down his story and those of his classmates will prove to the world that this terrible atrocity really did happen, so that it will never happen again.
sarah1984's review against another edition
3.0
Really interesting story, but the dialogue was quite awkward and stilted. It was interesting to hear what Anne Frank's classmates thought of her, to find out that a lot of what she wrote about herself and her classmates was considerably exaggerated. Definitely read The Diary of Anne Frank before you read this, this book is meant as a sequel, not a stand alone story.
mullinstreetzoo's review against another edition
3.0
First book of the month that I didn't love. It was okay. It was, for me, a good reminder that people who don't know Christ see the world through a different filter. Coster thinks his deliverance was a matter of sheer luck. For that reason, he betrays more bitterness for his suffering (and the many Dutch who, in his view, cooperated with the Nazis) than thankfulness for his survival (and the few Dutch who risked everything to procure it). And, to be honest, the book suffers from more prosaic problems--its structure is painful, organization almost completely lacking. Having said that, I'm not sorry I read it.
radioactiv's review
3.5
We All Wore Stars is a collection of Holocaust stories from the classmates of Anne Frank at the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam. It's remarkable how vastly different the stories are from one another. Each person has a completely different tale to tell about their survival. Yet each story also highlights Coster's ending remarks about good fortune and luck - each person recalls close calls while in hiding, mismarked paperwork, or connections that helped protect them, at least for a little while.
While Anne Frank is the connecting point for these stories, the book is clearly more about the experiences of her classmates than their memories of her. I prefer hearing about their tales, honestly, rather than their memories of her. It's somewhat frustrating that each tale seems to require a connection to Anne Frank - a snippet about Anne's birthday party or bike riding added in because of the name recognition. Hearing about Anne is interesting, but it seems unnecessary at times; each of these survivors has a tale to tell that deserves to be heard, not because they knew Anne but because they survived the Holocaust.
The book is good overall - certainly interesting and generally well-written, though there are times when you can tell it's a translated book. Some words are just a little formal and a some sentences flow strangely. Additionally, I feel the book would have been more effective had it been organized differently. Rather than being a collection of separate stories about knowing Anne Frank at the lyceum and surviving the Holocaust, the book follows Theo Coster, the main author, as he contacts his former classmates to create a documentary about Anne Frank's former classmates and their memories of her. Coster relays their stories as he hears them, so that the reader learns the history of each individual bit-by-bit. I would have preferred to have each individual's story told at once, with a chapter or two devoted to each person involved with the documentary. It's a personal preference, and possibly one that will change when I see the documentary, as I plan on watching it.
I flip-flopped back and forth regarding the rating for this book, as it could be a 3 or 4 star book.
While Anne Frank is the connecting point for these stories, the book is clearly more about the experiences of her classmates than their memories of her. I prefer hearing about their tales, honestly, rather than their memories of her. It's somewhat frustrating that each tale seems to require a connection to Anne Frank - a snippet about Anne's birthday party or bike riding added in because of the name recognition. Hearing about Anne is interesting, but it seems unnecessary at times; each of these survivors has a tale to tell that deserves to be heard, not because they knew Anne but because they survived the Holocaust.
The book is good overall - certainly interesting and generally well-written, though there are times when you can tell it's a translated book. Some words are just a little formal and a some sentences flow strangely. Additionally, I feel the book would have been more effective had it been organized differently. Rather than being a collection of separate stories about knowing Anne Frank at the lyceum and surviving the Holocaust, the book follows Theo Coster, the main author, as he contacts his former classmates to create a documentary about Anne Frank's former classmates and their memories of her. Coster relays their stories as he hears them, so that the reader learns the history of each individual bit-by-bit. I would have preferred to have each individual's story told at once, with a chapter or two devoted to each person involved with the documentary. It's a personal preference, and possibly one that will change when I see the documentary, as I plan on watching it.
I flip-flopped back and forth regarding the rating for this book, as it could be a 3 or 4 star book.
marcia_94's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
An interesting look on different people's lives during the Holocaust.
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