A Family Secret

by Eric Heuvel, Lorraine T. Miller (Translator), Eric Heuvel (Illustrator)

Overview

While searching his grandmother's attic for likely items to sell at a yard sale, Jeroen finds a photo album that brings back hard memories for his grandmother, Helena. Helena tells Jeroen for the first time about her experiences during the German occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War, and mourns the loss of her Jewish best friend, Esther. Helena believes that her own father, a policeman and Nazi sympathizer, delivered Esther to the Nazis and that she died in a concentration camp. But after hearing her story, Jeroen makes a discovery and Helena realizes that her father kept an important secret from her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374422653
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	10/13/2009
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	437,714
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

ERIC HEUVEL is one of the top graphic artists in the Netherlands. He concentrates on writing and illustrating educational graphic novels—three of which, including A Family Secret and The Search, have won the Dutch Comics Association's category award. He lives in Zaandam.

Reading Group Guide

1. Helena's narrative begins with the meeting of her

new neighbor Esther, a Jewish girl from Germany

who gives a brief history of the Nazi rise to power.

What was Kristallnacht? How did it affect the average

German? How was it portrayed outside of Germany?

Find newspaper accounts of that time using

http://news.google.com/archivesearch

2. The Nazis needed collaborators to carry out their

goals. What would have influenced someone to become

a Nazi collaborator? What factors would have

encouraged someone to join the Resistance?

3. After the Nazi takeover of Holland, there were

deep divisions in Helena's family regarding resistance

and collaboration. What was Helena's father's

decision, as depicted on page 16? Would you have

been supportive of such a decision?

4. What actions did the Dutch people take to resist

the Nazi occupation? What was the price of resistance

during the war? Was it worth the risk? Imagine

your school principal has just established a new policy

that everyone must attend Saturday morning

classes. Discuss with your classmates the likelihood

of everyone going along with it. Break into groups

to determine the actions to take.

5. The Nazis abolished some human rights in every

place they conquered. Which rights would it be

hardest for you to lose? To which losses could you

readily adapt? Consider the right to go to school, to

see a doctor, to use public transportation, and to go

to the movies. List your most important human

rights.


6. Why did Helena prefer being at Esther's house to

being at her own (p. 21)?

7. Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor marked a turning

point in the war. How was this news received by

the Dutch? Were Europeans aware of the German

plan to exterminate the Jews? How do we know

what they knew and when they knew it? Create a

time line of World War II events.

8. The Nazis carefully organized razzias, in which

Jews were rounded up and taken away to concentration

camps. How would you react to seeing

neighbors suddenly taken away by government

agents? Could this happen today?

9. After the long and very cold Hunger Winter of

1944-45, Amsterdam was finally liberated, but the

transition back to normalcy wasn't completely

smooth. What do you think about the way collaborators

were dealt with? What happened to Helena's

father? What was the price of collaboration?

10. Were you surprised at Jeroen's interest in his

grandmother's history? Interview the oldest members

of your family to learn the stories of their past.

What about your own experiences do you hope to

pass on to your future children and grandchildren?

Editorial Reviews

Secrets are revealed right up to the present, and in all their complexity, they stay with readers forever. . . . this is a must for the Holocaust curriculum.” —Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher