Wednesday, March 02, 2005
No Pretty Pictures by Anita Lobel
Anita Lobel is a well known author and illustrator. No Pretty Pictures is her story of being a Jewish child in Poland during World War 2.
Anita's father went into hiding first, leaving his family to keep them safe. Her mother used false papers to pass as non-Jewish and later sent Anita and her younger brother into hiding with their Nanny. Nanny pretended than Anita and her disguised brother were Nanny's two young daughters and they moved from place to place seeking anonymity. Anita and her brother were captured by Nazis and sent to Plaszow and then to Auschwitz. At the end of the war Anita and her brother were rescued and sent to Sweden where they recovered from Tuberculosis in a sanitorium and then were reunited with both their parents.
I read this book and then discussed it with a 12 year old who had also read it. Our minds were caught by totally different things.
As a parent I saw the adult Lobel's actions as attempts to keep their family alive even if they were separated. I could see the logic in separation giving some of them a chance even if one was caught. I found Anita's emotional separation from her parents to be most distressing. They survived as human beings but not as a family with solid parent/child relationships. Anita felt abandoned by her parents, especially her mother who came and saw them periodically. Anita came to look to her Nanny for the protection and stability that one usually finds in parents. This dependence was hampered by Nanny's dislike of Jews (in general) and outbursts of frustration and fear linked to trying to save two children. As the war went on, Anita stopped trusting Nanny and gave up expecting to be saved but could not let herself release the thought of trusting Nanny because it was her last thread of hope. Anita took on parts of Nanny's Roman Catholic faith; her Jewish faith was such a small and powerless part of her life and her main remembrance was her first and only pre-war participation in a Seder. Nanny and then the Lutheran nurses at the sanitorium gave Anita other places to look for god and angels to hope for protection from.
A heart rending look at the subtle devastation done by war and concentration camps.
Anita's father went into hiding first, leaving his family to keep them safe. Her mother used false papers to pass as non-Jewish and later sent Anita and her younger brother into hiding with their Nanny. Nanny pretended than Anita and her disguised brother were Nanny's two young daughters and they moved from place to place seeking anonymity. Anita and her brother were captured by Nazis and sent to Plaszow and then to Auschwitz. At the end of the war Anita and her brother were rescued and sent to Sweden where they recovered from Tuberculosis in a sanitorium and then were reunited with both their parents.
I read this book and then discussed it with a 12 year old who had also read it. Our minds were caught by totally different things.
As a parent I saw the adult Lobel's actions as attempts to keep their family alive even if they were separated. I could see the logic in separation giving some of them a chance even if one was caught. I found Anita's emotional separation from her parents to be most distressing. They survived as human beings but not as a family with solid parent/child relationships. Anita felt abandoned by her parents, especially her mother who came and saw them periodically. Anita came to look to her Nanny for the protection and stability that one usually finds in parents. This dependence was hampered by Nanny's dislike of Jews (in general) and outbursts of frustration and fear linked to trying to save two children. As the war went on, Anita stopped trusting Nanny and gave up expecting to be saved but could not let herself release the thought of trusting Nanny because it was her last thread of hope. Anita took on parts of Nanny's Roman Catholic faith; her Jewish faith was such a small and powerless part of her life and her main remembrance was her first and only pre-war participation in a Seder. Nanny and then the Lutheran nurses at the sanitorium gave Anita other places to look for god and angels to hope for protection from.
A heart rending look at the subtle devastation done by war and concentration camps.
# posted by JJ @ 5:26 PM 
