by Diane Ackerman
Norton, 2007
Summary in a Sentence:
Relates the story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, zookeepers at the Warsaw Zoo, who helped save the lives of approximately three hundred Polish Jews during World War II by housing and feeding them on zoo grounds and teaching them how to "pass" as Aryan.
My Thoughts:
Ackerman pulls from Antonina Zabinski's extensive memoirs of her experiences in World War II Poland and from her own research on the topic to tell the story of the hundreds of Jews that passed through this particular stop on the Polish Underground. Although this book is highly informative and at times extremely touching, I found it hard to feel fully engaged. I don't really know why this is; I'm extremely interested in the Holocaust and I'd read some great reviews on the book. Initially, I thought maybe I had hit some sort of wall and have read too many books on the subject, but then remembered that I had just recently read and loved a new book on one of the most famous figures in Holocaust history, Anne Frank. I felt that the book was slightly rambling and didn't really stay on topic as I expected it to. Ackerman's research certainly shines through, although at times her attention to detail is perhaps too great. I struggled to finish this one.
~ This book counts towards the Four Month Challenge and the Take Another Chance Challenge ~
You might also like:
- Schindler's List by John Keneally
- Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
- Witnesses at War: Children's Lives under the Nazis by Nicholas Stargardt
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