Under the Rubble: The Hidden Letters of the Warsaw Ghetto by Elisa Boxer

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland setting off WWII. The following year Nazis forced nearly 450,000 Polish Jews into a crowded ghetto in the capital city of Warsaw. By the end of the war, most of those imprisoned had been killed, either in concentration camps or on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. But miraculously, their stories survived. HOW? That’s a story in itself . . .

When the Jewish prisoners of Warsaw Ghetto realize that Nazi atrocities might go unanswered, they courageously risk their lives and resist with just pen and paper as their weapons. In an act of defiance, they write and bury deep underground a complete record of what they endured. After the war, Hersh Wasser, the only survivor who knows where the records are buried, leads the effort to recover them.

This true story of the Oneg Shabbat Archive was the subject of an award-winning adult book and documentary film.

Part mystery, part adventure, part tragedy, Under the Rubble tells this courageous, true story as an age-appropriate introduction to the Holocaust. The book includes notes from those who were part of the effort to recover the cannisters. Extensive backmatter includes a historical note, glossary, and a list of resources for further learning.

6 - 8 years