Say the Name - by Judith H Sherman (Paperback)

About the Book

The experiences of a fourteen-year-old girl imprisoned in the Ravensbruck concentration camp during World War II. Illustrated with drawings made secretly by other camp inhabitants.

Book Synopsis

Say the Name vividly describes in the voice of a fourteen-year-old the experiences of a Jewish girl who was imprisoned in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp during World War II. Miraculously, Judita Sternova of Kurima, Czechoslovakia, survives persecutions, hiding, flight, capture, deportation, and the Camp. Like the few other surviving Jews, she could not bear to remain in her village emptied of family and other Jews and emigrates to England and, eventually, the United States. After more than fifty years Sherman gets up from her years of memories, private resistance, and public silence to write this book. She is triggered to do so upon hearing a lecture by Professor Carrasco at Princeton on "Religion and the Terror of History."

The narrative is interspersed with Sherman's powerful poems that grab the reader's attention. Poignant original drawings made secretly by imprisoned women of Ravensbruck, at risk of their lives, illuminate the text. Sherman courageously bears witness to the terror of man and simultaneously challenges God for answers.

This book should "jolt us into remembrance, warning, and action."

Review Quotes

"[Sherman] is a master painter with words. The book contains selections in poetry and selections in prose, complementing one another to produce a powerfully impressive canvas. . . ["Say the Name"] is an indispensible read for fuller understanding of the Shoah period."

"ÝSherman¨ is a master painter with words. The book contains selections in poetry and selections in prose, complementing one another to produce a powerfully impressive canvas. . . Ý"Say the Name"¨ is an indispensible read for fuller understanding of the Shoah period."

"Sherman takes readers on a painful guided tour of the Holocaust. . . Valuable primary source material for studies on the Holocaust, this slim volume shouts the names of those who cannot speak for themselves."

"This is a beautifully written book. It touches the soul and tears at the heart. Read it. You will not forget it."

"This is an engrossing memoir of a Slovakian-born Jewish woman whose intertwined prose and poetry narration appeals to young and adult readers alike. . . As a useful and timely addition to the literature of Holocaust survivors, the book will certainly be appreciated on the shelves of public, school, special, and academic libraries."

"With an unflinching eye, Sherman sketches the devastating story of the nightmare that engulfed her when she was a young teen--a story of the slow stripping away of Jewish property, Jewish freedom, Jewish life."