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A review by look_whos_reading
The Good Doctor of Warsaw by Elisabeth Gifford
5.0
Alright, so this is yet another story of the Nazi occupation. And, it's SO NOT just another story of the Nazi occupation!
This is an ode to the brave and selfless acts of humanity during the terrible holocaust. The story spans a timeline from 1937 - 1943 and covers everything from the stirrings of the Reich's evil plan to its culmination.
The story is set in Warsaw, Poland where the famous Dr. Janusz Korczak set up a children's home to care for orphans and other children whose families couldn't afford to look after them. As the segregation of Jews from Poles started becoming more apparent in education, jobs, the military and in every walk of society, troubles began for Warsaw and it's people. This story is also of a young couple (the doctor's students) Misha and Sophia, who fall in love and face many trials along the way to marriage and beyond. They survived and their descendants were able to recount the terrible days, from journals, letters and other memorabilia.
As the story progresses, we see these main characters evolve with and react to the changing times - the walls go up and Warsaw becomes a ghetto, curfews are put in place, unprovoked violence starts erupting, slow starvation sets in, people (especially children) turn to smuggling rations from outside the wall, the führer tightens the noose with "shoot at sight" instructions, the Reich orders around ten thousand (per day) Jews to be put onto trains to take them to "work camps". These people are never seen again.
Misha and Sophia, like many others, flee at the risk of life to neighboring Ukraine where the Soviet is now doing Germany's bidding. Jews are hunted and killed there too. So they are forced to return to the Warsaw ghetto. Amidst all this, the good doctor continues to maintain that children should be protected from war at all costs. He goes to great lengths to stand by them and provide for them. One black morning, eventually, the guards come for the orphanage. Tens of thousands of children, led by Dr. Korczak, Stefa the housekeeper and all the teachers are marched down towards the trains to Treblinka. Among all the unmarked graves, his is the only one with a name that reads "Janusz Korczak and Children". He said, "you never leave a child alone" and so chose to die with them.
This is a harrowing tale, as are all stories of the war/holocaust. However, it is told with the children as the focal point. How does a child see war? What does it do to a young mind? The good doctor is celebrated as a ray of light in the black history of Poland - for keeping his children unscathed - through humour, love and faith.
If you're interested in first hand accounts of war, political history and human interest stories, I highly recommend this book. The writing is not graphic but there is definitely a subtext of pain and horror.
This is an ode to the brave and selfless acts of humanity during the terrible holocaust. The story spans a timeline from 1937 - 1943 and covers everything from the stirrings of the Reich's evil plan to its culmination.
The story is set in Warsaw, Poland where the famous Dr. Janusz Korczak set up a children's home to care for orphans and other children whose families couldn't afford to look after them. As the segregation of Jews from Poles started becoming more apparent in education, jobs, the military and in every walk of society, troubles began for Warsaw and it's people. This story is also of a young couple (the doctor's students) Misha and Sophia, who fall in love and face many trials along the way to marriage and beyond. They survived and their descendants were able to recount the terrible days, from journals, letters and other memorabilia.
As the story progresses, we see these main characters evolve with and react to the changing times - the walls go up and Warsaw becomes a ghetto, curfews are put in place, unprovoked violence starts erupting, slow starvation sets in, people (especially children) turn to smuggling rations from outside the wall, the führer tightens the noose with "shoot at sight" instructions, the Reich orders around ten thousand (per day) Jews to be put onto trains to take them to "work camps". These people are never seen again.
Misha and Sophia, like many others, flee at the risk of life to neighboring Ukraine where the Soviet is now doing Germany's bidding. Jews are hunted and killed there too. So they are forced to return to the Warsaw ghetto. Amidst all this, the good doctor continues to maintain that children should be protected from war at all costs. He goes to great lengths to stand by them and provide for them. One black morning, eventually, the guards come for the orphanage. Tens of thousands of children, led by Dr. Korczak, Stefa the housekeeper and all the teachers are marched down towards the trains to Treblinka. Among all the unmarked graves, his is the only one with a name that reads "Janusz Korczak and Children". He said, "you never leave a child alone" and so chose to die with them.
This is a harrowing tale, as are all stories of the war/holocaust. However, it is told with the children as the focal point. How does a child see war? What does it do to a young mind? The good doctor is celebrated as a ray of light in the black history of Poland - for keeping his children unscathed - through humour, love and faith.
If you're interested in first hand accounts of war, political history and human interest stories, I highly recommend this book. The writing is not graphic but there is definitely a subtext of pain and horror.