Hiding Edith

Kathy Kacer (author)

Allen&Unwin, Feb 2011; 170pp

ISBN: 9781742375298

Genres: biography, war

Issues: family, fear, friendship, racism, trauma, war

Edith Schwalb and her family were orced to leave their home in Vienna when the Nazis invaded Austria. Travelling a night, walking long distances, sleeping in the woods or ditches, they escape to Belgium and later to France. But it seems that wherever they go, Hitler and his armies soon follow.

Edith's father is sent to a concentration camp and in an effort to protect them, her mother sends her two younger children to Mossaic, a very special home for the children of Jews in hiding. Despite the apparent security, better food and schooling, Edith finds it difficult to believe that she is safe. But when an entire town is working to protect them, surely it must be possible to survive?

A true story, Hiding Edith looks at the emotional and psychological trauma endured by Jewish children during the Nazi regime. Separated from parents and siblings, no place to call 'home', every day filled with fear and uncertainty – even if their bodies survived, how could they ever truly recover? Heart-rending but inspirational, Hiding Edith reminds readers that there were good people who chose to put their own lives and families at risk in order to protect the persecuted. Kacer writes with
great empathy and compassion, creating a very readable biography that would make excellent parallel study with The Diary of Anne Frank and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.

Highly recommended.