The Cat with the Yellow Star (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Cat with the Yellow Star Elizabeth Bush Rubin, Susan Goldman The Cat with the Yellow Star; by Susan Goldman Rubin and Ela Weissberger. Holiday House, 2006 [40p] ISBN 0-8234-1831-6$16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-6 At the culmination of Kristallnacht, Marketa Stein was ordered to Nazi headquarters; upon her return, she hustled herself and her two daughters, Ela (co-author Weissberger) and Ilona, out of Sudetenland to the relative security of Prague. Within a few years, that haven crumbled and the tiny family (Ela's father had disappeared at Nazi hands) was removed to Terezin, where, for most of the next four years, Ela would grow up in Room 28 of building L410 with an ever-rotating roster of roommates, [End Page 32] many of whom were eventually "invited" onto transports to the East. Although Weissberger's earliest memories pass by in slightly choppy flashes, the clarity with which she and Rubin describe life in Terezin makes the account riveting. Here a picture emerges not just of child victims who were necessarily fearful and confused by the lack of reliable nourishment, inconsistently enforced rules, and sudden disappearances, but also of strong-willed people who created a thriving culture within a system of brutal confinement. Teachers, artists, and musicians bent and broke every rule to keep minds and spirits vigorous. The highlight of this cooperative effort was the series of performances of the opera Brundibar, in which Ela and many of her friends participated, and which was deceptively touted by Nazi camp officials as "proof" to the Red Cross of their humane treatment of the Jews. Young readers will certainly be relieved to learn that Ela not only survives her ordeal but leaves Terezin with her immediate family and even reunites with several old friends years later in the United States. The superficially rosy outcome is tempered, however, by Rubin's clear reminder in an epilogue that of the 10,632 children sent to Terezin fewer than half survived, and of the many girls resident in Room 28, a mere fifteen survived. Source notes, and index, and an extensive list of resources (many noted as suitable for children) round out this gripping memoir. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois