The Upstairs Room (Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Biography Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Johanna Reiss
- First Published: 1972
- Time of Work: 1938–1945
- Setting: Winterswijk and Usselo, Holland
- Principal Characters: Annie de Leeuw, Ies de Leeuw, Sophie de Leeuw, Rachel de Leeuw, Sini de Leeuw, Gerrit Hannink, Johan Oosterveld, Dientje Oosterveld, Opoe Oosterveld
- Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Children’s literature
- Subjects: Family or family life, Adolescence, Autobiography, World War II, Jews or Jewish life, Nazism or Nazis, Netherlands or Dutch people, Holocaust, Jewish, Jews and Gentiles, Persecution
- Locales: Holland
Form and Content
Johanna Reiss’s story serves as both a history of the German occupation of The Netherlands, which lasted from 1940 to 1945, and a portrait of the writer as a young girl who survived the Holocaust. During this tragic time, Nazis slaughtered six million European Jews and millions of other victims. A short foreword states Reiss’s desire to write a simple, human book about this part of her childhood; a brief introduction then sets the scene, giving the historical context for World War II in Europe.
In twelve chapters, Reiss chronicles her experiences...
[The entire page is 1378 words long]
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