Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust

by Milton Meltzer

While the narrative exposes the roots of German anti-Semitism, Hitler's rise to power, and the workings of the Nazi death-machine, the author connects us to individual Jews' experiences recorded in private letters and diaries, memoirs, poems, and songs. These moving personal accounts reveal everyday life in the Nazi ghettos and the labor and death camps, and they detail the many ways Jews resisted Hitler-in ghetto and camp uprisings, underground partisan actions, and in individual decisions to 'live and die with dignity.'

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, World War II, Jewish, War

236 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 18, 1976

About the author

Milton Meltzer wrote 110 books, five of which were nominated for the National Book Award. With Langston Hughes, he co-authored A Pictorial History of Black Americans, now in its sixth edition. He received the 2001 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to children's literature, the 1986 Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award, and the 2000 Regina Medal. He died in New York City of esophageal cancer at age 94.

Reviews

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate waiting days before reviewing a book but this week was hectic. Milton Meltzer did a great job with this book in my opinion. There was a near perfect blend of personal accounts and background information. A reader knowing next to nothing about the Holocaust could not only read this and follow along but also, by the end, have a good grasp on that period in time. At the same time a person well read on the subject can read Never to Forget and also take much away with them. The bibliography is outstanding and a great source for findign new books and authors, fiction and non. Meltzer even whittled the groups down a little for those targeting a certain aspect of the Holocaust. Two maps are included at the very back of the book, the first showing Europe and how far the Nazi's reached, the second showing death and concentration camps. Most of the camps in the latter map are fairly well known, with only a few of the lesser known camps being shown. A chronology is also listed which I'm sure can be a great help to many people. Interspersed throughout the book are not only songs sang in the ghettos and camps but a few charts and graphs showing different aspects, depending on the subject being targeted in that part of the book.
I learned a few things during the course of the book. I had never known that, in Frankfurt, where I've been many times, the Paul Ehrlich Strasse was turned into the Heinrich Himmler Strasse. When Bella Fromm wrote that "The man who saved humanity from by his cure for syphilis has been replaced by a sadistic butcher."
I'd read about the lack of help for the Jewish from other countried of course but I hadn't known that between 1933 and 1943 there were over 400,000 unfilled places in the immigartion quota for the U.S. alone. Like Meltzer writes, "Each place unfilled was a dentence of death for a European Jew." This, like much of what happened, makes you think long and hard.
Part of Rivka Yosselevscka's court testimony is included and her story is gripping to say the least. I haven't heard many personal accounts of Nazi treatment that weren't horrendous and this doesn't fail to shake a persons belief in humanity.
There is a fair amount written about the lack of understanding of the Jewish people's "lack of resistance". What is written here makes it very plain and easy to understand that "resistance" can not only be defined in different ways by different people, but that given different circumstances resistance can take many different forms. This is something that I haven't yet seen touched on to this degree in my reading.
It is also brought up that no other group but the Jewish people, for the most part, have been accused of "going like sheep to slaughter" and, from what I've read, this is correct. I've never heard this about any other Nazi targeted group. I can't imagine being a Jewish man or woman, surviving the Holocaust and then having to deal with this, among the dozens and dozens of other atrocities they still had to accept.
Meltzer quoted Elie Wiesel when he said that "The right question to ask is not 'Why didn't all the Jews fight?' but 'How did so many of them?". I don't think it can be any better articulated that that.
Never to Forget is a book I'd recomment to just about anyone wanting to read about the Holocaust. The reader has the "best of both worlds" in that there are personal accounts (while not many they are perfectly fit in) and basic information along with all of the extras. It's "easy" enough for a beginning reader of Holocaust material and still very much for anyone who has been reading the subject for years.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a powerful and affecting Holocaust history due to the use of several primary sources from diaries from both sides of the death camp fence, to Judenrat meeting minutes to songs presented in the original Yiddish and English translation. The scope of the book is from pre-WW II anti-semitism to the concentration camp system to desperate uprisings.

[Debra Baddorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable history of the Holocaust. It even starts two millenia back, with the beginnings of anti-Semitism, and shows much more of that than we are aware of today, with our political correctness. I didn't know that marking garments to indicate a person was a Jew did not originate with Hitler, but many centuries earlier.
The book contains a concise overview of how Hitler came to power and how the Germans, and then the surrounding nations allowed his actions.
Subsequent sections then include diaries and journals and tell of personal stories of heroism and of woe. A section also tells of Jewish armed (and un-armed) resistance, which told stories that the Germans had suppressed about Jews actually resisting them.
Good book. Useful as a history text, or as a book just to teach yourself about the Holocaust, so that we never forget.

[Dana Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read lots of book on the Holocaust. In my opinion, this book does the best job of explaining the events leading up to the Holocaust and then using eye-witness accounts to tell about the atrocities that occurred. The accounts are terrifying. When you hear that millions of Jews were killed it is horrible, it is something more personal to read the eye-witness accounts. It makes it so much more personal.

[Sharon H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Individual Jews’ experiences in death camps and ghettos are mingled with the author’s narrative describing Hitler’s rise, Nazi brutality and murder, and the anti-Semitism that empowered Hitler and Nazi Germany.

I would use this book to help build students background understanding of the Holocaust.

[Rhonda Coale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very simply-written book about the Holocaust. Lots of personal stories and accounts as well as historical background. Didn't just cover Hitler, but included the persecution of Jews in Europe prior to Hitler's rise. Tough parts to read, but like the title suggests, we should never forget.

[Jill B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book about the history of persecution of the Jews, and later the Holocaust.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful tribute to all who perished at the hands of the narrow-minded & ignorant. The ending provides a stark warning to us today. It happened once, so it can happen again.

[Cindy Francey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book for $0.50 at a library sale. I’m glad I didn’t waste more money on it. The author is clearly biased against Christians. I would suggest he read the entire Bible to see there were many people groups who tried to and/or wished to wipe out the Jews long before Jesus came to Earth. As a result of his bias he makes incorrect analysis in several chapters. The parts where he uses direct quotes from holocaust survivors are the most useful parts of the book.

[Hunter Higashionna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of information about people's experiences and the events leading up to the Holocaust. Some of the stories and facts shared can be somewhat alarming for young readers but the topic of the Holocaust, but this book is a great informational book regarding what happened before and during.

[Eli Susman]

An overview of the Holocaust like none I’ve read. Both primary testimony sources, historical sources, and a truthful, raw portrayal of the Holocaust that doesn’t shy away from the difficult conversations. It’s called Never To Forget, and I believe it accomplishes the titles goals to perfection. After reading this book, you never can forget what happened.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute must read when reading books on WW2 or the Holocaust. A broad yet personal vivid account of the holocaust from a range of views and aspects.

[Dena Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! I did have to take a break from it for a few days due to the hard-to-bear subject. (See Eva-Marie’s review for more comprehensive coverage.) I especially liked the last few chapters on Jewish resistance, both armed and passive. I found this book in the juvenile section of my local library, and it is written at an 8th grade level, but I think it is excellent for adults as well.

[Jasmine Aparicio · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far this book is pretty good just a few parts i dont really understand as well as some sad parts... Really good book... very sad though!!! Still cant believe on 2,323,000 Jews survived out of 8,301,000!!!! Thats alot..... Cant believe it could happen again!

[Dawn]

Words like blitzkrieg, Holocaust, and Hitler's escalation are well-defined in this book. Also tells why Crystal Night happened...

[Matthew Gerardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gets many points of the war and what happed on the Nazi side and how the Jews got treated. It has journals from many of the people who had gone through the hatred of the Nazi war machine.

[Rhodesia Douglas]

Chilling account of this horrific moment in history that every human being needs to deeply understand.

[Tiffany Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disorganized in my opinion, but not too bad overall.

[Alexis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was really long and had really small words but, in the end was VERY factional.