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"When I was a child I learned about the Holocaust, became so distraught and upset at the cruelty, that it was probably the beginning of my loss of faith. After all, if there was a God, how could God permit such cruelty? From then on I basically tried to avoid the topic, doing no reading on it, avoiding anything about it because it was too upsetting." -- Carol Matas (author of twelve books about the Holocaust)
In her novel set in Seattle and Vancouver, Carol Matas recounts the severe prejudice against German Jewish refugees and immigrants in North America during World War II in The Whirlwind (Orca 2007), one of twelve Matas titles that deal specifically with the Holocaust.
Published by Orca Books in Victoria, The Whirlwind follows the plight of 15-year-old Benjamin Friedman and his family after they arrive legally in Seattle to escape from Nazi Germany in 1941. Aware of the perils of Kristalnacht, Ben is critical of his father for failing to secure visas for his grandparents who will doubtless be internees sent to the camps. Bullied at school for being from Germany, he worries about the fate of his Japanese-Canadian classmate, John, and he suggests their family ought to try to escape to Canada. After Pearl Harbour, John’s family is forcibly sent to an American internment camp and the Friedman’s home is attacked by racist Americans. Daringly, Ben successfully runs away to Canada only to encounter even worse prejudice and exclusion north of the 49th parallel. Beset by nightmares, Ben translates the Book of Job and worries that events in Germany could be replicated in the U.S. or Canada. His fearful existential situation leads him to adopt a much more sympathetic view of his father who has had the foresight and courage to save his life. One day Ben could ultimately thrive in far-from-perfect British Columbia, but has learned--as readers from Grade 6 and upwards will learn--that two societies he had presumed were tolerant of racial difference were much less superior than he had imagined.
Carol Matas' many books have been published all over the world in more than a dozen languages, and have been best-sellers in Japan, Germany and Spain. In one of her young adult novels concerning the Holocaust, Lisa's War, a young Jewish girl, age 12, fights back after the Germans have invaded Denmark in 1940. She and her brother Stefan join the Danish resistance when the Germans invade Copenhagen. While Lisa and her friend Susanne distribute pamphlets published by the resistance, Stefan participates in missions to sabotage German-run factories. Susanne's parents are killed by the Nazis. Lisa and Stefan risk their lives to help hundreds of Jews to Sweden. Lisa's War, also titled Lisa, has a sequel, Kris' War, also titled Code Name Kris. In After the War, a teenage girl risks her life helping immigrant children across Europe to Palestine.
Matas' novel Daniel's Story concerns Kristalnach and its aftermath. No longer able to practice their religion, vote, own property, or even work, Daniel's family is forced from their home in Frankfurt and sent on a long and dangerous journey, first to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and then to Auschwitz. It's the book that Matas says changed her life. "Once into the material I had to confront all the cruelty I had been avoiding all my life. It was then that I became so depressed I decided that the world, the human race, didn't deserve to exist as we were capable of too much evil. But in the middle of this terrible depression I suddenly realized something else. Who was I to make such a judgment? Wasn't it similar to the judgment the Nazis had made about the Jews — the Jews didn't deserve to exist? I had to accept that the world is. And as is, it is populated with human beings, each one of whom is capable of good or evil. I would have to accept that. The key scene of Daniel's Story is when Erika expresses this view to Daniel and Rosa. And then she tells them that they do have choices — the choice to choose love or hate. And I believe that to be true. No matter what, we can always choose — even during the Holocaust those who's free choice had been completely taken away, those who were brutally murdered, could chose whether to die in love or hate. And so many had love in their hearts (not for their enemies, that is not the Jewish way) but for their families. The Nazis could not destroy that. I suppose that was the beginning of my return to some kind of faith and to a belief in God — not an old man looking down on us God, but God as Creator, as One. I now read a lot of Jewish Spirituality, Rabbi David Cooper, Lawrence Kushner, and in a slightly different vein, the Dali Lama! So strange that writing about the worst of human kind could return my faith."
Although Carol Matas now has a track record for writing award-winning stories pertaining to Jews and the Holocaust, mainstream commercial publishers rejected her manuscript for a book inspired by the life and times of the first Jewish mayor of Tucson named Charles Strauss. That's when she turned to her long-time friend Morri Mostow to publish her young adult novel, Tucson Jo (Fictive Press, 2014), set in the Territory of Arizona in 1882. Mostow's fledgling imprint for e-books operates from Gabriola Island in B.C.
Tucson Jo was Matas' 45th book. It subsequently became the only Canadian author nominated in the category for Children's and Young Adult Literature for the 2014 National Jewish Book Awards in its 64th year of competitions. The National Jewish Book Awards are sponsored by the Jewish Book Council, based in New York City. It is touted as the longest-running program of its kind in North America. Loosely based on the life of Charles Stauss, the historical novel sees the world through eyes of a pioneering mayor's daughter, fourteen-year-old Josephine Fiedler. She resents her father for uprooting their family and taking them to the wilds of Arizona to preserve his health. It is only when her father's bid for the mayorality of Tucson results in anti-Semitic attacks that she begins to fully appreciate what it means to be a Jew. Her best friend's father is also running for mayor. She begins to understand her father, as both a man and a Jew, and realizes her own relatively peevish position as someone missing Boston is secondary to the maintenance of social ideals. "Without law, without order," her father tells her, "there is no freedom."
Matas' literary awards include the 2014 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award in the youth category and a 2014 Sydney Taylor Honor Award for Older Readers (from the Association of Jewish Libraries), both for Pieces of the Past: The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz (Scholastic Canada). Rose has been living in Winnipeg for three years, traumatized by the Holocaust, when she begins a diary. Her new guardian, Saul, supports her as she recalls going into hiding in Poland with her mother, moving from place to place. They stumble onto a resistance cell and live in filthy conditions. Eventually her mother is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Born in Winnipeg in 1949, Carol Matas received her B.A. (English) from the University of Western Ontario and she is a graduate of the Actor's Lab in London, England. She has been a Creative Writing instructor for the Continuing Education Division of the University of Winnipeg. Her late father, Roy, was a judge on the Manitoba Court of Appeals. Her husband, former University of Winnipeg theatre professor Per Brask, is a Dane whose father was a member of the resistance when the Germans invaded Denmark.
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Matas has recalled the process that brought her to write about the Holocaust:
"In Montreal my husband worked at the Jewish community center running the theatre that was part of the center. At one point an exhibit about the Holocaust came through. He began to tell me stories of what had happened to his father when Germany invaded Denmark in 1940. My husband is from Denmark, and his mother and father were just twelve years old when Denmark was invaded. They had never told me anything about the war and neither had my husband until the exhibits jogged his memory. Then he began to tell the most amazing stories. My father-in-law had started out with small pranks against the Germans, such as filling the gas tanks of their trucks with sugar so they couldn't run. If caught, these small pranks could have got them killed. By the time he was fifteen years old my father-in-law was a full-fledged member of the resistance. In fact, one of the stories my husband told me concerned the time that my father-in-law was the most frightened. His mother had been making his bed one morning when she felt something lumpy under the mattress. She picked up the mattress only to find two handguns and a machine gun. Apparently she almost killed him. He was certainly more afraid of her than he was of the Germans. The funny thing was, his father was also in the resistance, but he did not know about his father and his father did not know about him. Every night after dinner they would listen to the BBC radio broadcasts. Birthday greetings and other messages would be code for the resistance groups telling them where to meet. He would make an excuse, saying for instance he was going to a friend's house to do homework, and he would leave. His father would do the same — except he would have a different excuse. It was important that neither of them knew about the other in case one of them got caught. All resistance cells were kept small in case someone was captured — should this happen they would be tortured and inevitably they would give away the other members of their cell. Therefore the fewer people in a cell the better. The rule once captured was to try to hold out under torture for twenty-four hours and then tell everything. If your cell were small enough it would be quickly noticed that you were missing. The others would then have time to go into hiding, or as they called it, to go underground.
"As my husband told the stories about his father and grandfather during the war I decided that I would like to write a book about a boy in the Danish resistance. Although I was still working on my science fiction books I began to read and think about Denmark in World War II. That was when a friend gave my husband a book called Rescue In Denmark. It was about the rescue of the Danish Jews. This was a story I had never heard before. It described how the Danish people had managed to rescue almost all of their Jewish population from the Nazis during the Second World War. I was shocked. How was it that I had never heard this story before? After all, I am Jewish, I went to Hebrew school, I went to university, and I thought I was educated. I had been taught about the Holocaust and about the six million who had been murdered. And yet nobody had taught me about this country that had managed to save its entire Jewish population. How could this be? I knew I had to write about it..... I began to research Lisa and did most of the research for that book in Winnipeg. The first thing I did was go to the Danish Club with my husband for a war memorial. Resistance fighters stood and one by one told their stories. It was a gold mine for an author. I introduced myself to many of them afterwards and made appointments for interviews. Many of the incidents Lisa and Jesper are based on stories I was told in these interviews, including the last scene of Lisa. I had so much material after a while that I simply couldn't write the book. I remember one day we were over at a good friend's apartment--Amatzia Huni, who was an Israeli living in Winnipeg with his wife, Etti. Amatzia had been a filmmaker in Israel. He suggested that I write from a first person perspective in order to narrow the material down--after all, that way I only had to include what my character experiences first hand.
"I tried it and I wrote that book in three weeks. It simply poured out of me, often surprising me along the way. For instance I had not planned for Lisa to throw up on the German soldiers in the streetcar. But I had established that she had a "funny" stomach, so when put under stress, throwing up simply appeared. As in my previous books I didn't begin with an outline. Basically, I had a rough idea of how it would begin and how it would end. Then when I wrote the first draft I would create the rest. Lisa's theme, of course, was that one person could make a difference. I ran into an interesting problem when I began to send the book out. It was taken almost immediately by one of the best publishers in Canada at that time, Lester and Orpen Dennys. Louise Dennys called me one day to say that one of the top writers in Canada had agreed to edit Lisa but only if I did a major rewrite. "No child will read a book like this," apparently was the writer's comment. What was wrong? Well, I had no texture in the book, no details of how things looked, or smelled, or tasted. Also, I didn't describe my character's thinking, I simply had dialogue and action to describe the character. Looking back on it now I think that my early theatre training has had a huge influence on all of my writing. I write with what is known as "subtext" in the theatre. In other words, the character may say one thing but is thinking another. Unlike many authors, though, I do not describe the character's thoughts. The readers must deduce their thoughts by their words and by their actions. For instance when Lisa kills a German soldier she doesn't think about it — but she does throw up, showing how horrible the act of killing is for her. And she wouldn't have had time to think about the act — that wouldn't be realistic. (Some adult readers are upset by this, but children never are.)
"So I had to decide — do I listen to one of the top writers in Canada and change my style? Perry Nodelman urged me not to. He was convinced the book worked very well as is and he encouraged me to stick to my guns and not to allow it to be changed in any major way. I told Louise and she acquiesced. In fact it took three more editors before she could find someone who basically agreed to simply copy edit the manuscript and leave it mostly intact. When it was published it came out to only fair reviews in Canada. And for all the reasons this editor had mentioned. However, it was then bought my Macmillan in the United States and one day I was told that the New York Times would be running a review. When I read it I remember literally jumping up and down. I had never hoped to be reviewed by the Times--but to get a rave review! The reviewer compared Lisa's War (Lisa) to Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and said Lisa's War was a far superior book."
BOOKS
The D.N.A. Dimension. Toronto: Gage Publishing, 1982.
The Fusion Factor. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1986. Published in Danish as Den Sorte Varevogn, Copenhagen: Forum, 1988. French Publication, Paris: Pocket, 1997. Spanish Edition, Spain: Ediciones S.M., 1998. Reissued as It's Up to Us. Toronto: Stoddard, 1991.
Zanu. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1986. Reissued by Stoddard. Toronto, 1991. Pocket, Paris 1997. Edeciones S.M., Spain 1998.
Me, Myself and I. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1987. Reissued by Stoddard: Toronto, 1991. Paris: Pocket, 1997. Spain: Edeciones S.M., 1998.
Lisa. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987. Published in the U.S. as Lisa's War. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. Published in Spain by Ediciones B: Barcelona, 1989. Paris, France: Poshe/Jeunesse, Hachette, 1991. Stockholm, Sweden: Tidens, 1991. Mass market, New York and Toronto: Scholastic.
-The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young Readers, 1988.
-New York Times Book Review, Notable Book, Dec 1989.
-Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice", Memorable Books for young People.
-Young Adults' Choices for 1991, International Reading Association.
-Sydney Taylor Book Award, Notable 1989.
Jesper. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1989. Published in the U.S. as Code Name Kris, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons: 1990. Also, published in Spain by Edebe, 1991. Mass market, New York and Toronto: Scholastic.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1989.
-Manitoba Book of the Year Nominee, 1989.
-Honour list, Canadian Materials, 1989.
-Code Name Kris, Notable 1990 Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.
-Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice", Memorable Books for Young People.
Adventure in Legoland. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, book club 1991, trade 1992.
The Race. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1991.
-Canadian Library Association Notable book, 1992.
Sworn Enemies. New York: Bantam, 1993; Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993.
-New York Public Library, 1994 Book for the Teen Age.
-Canadian Library Association, Notable book, 1993.
-Sydney Taylor Award, 1993.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the field of Social Studies, 1994, by NCSS, U.S.
Safari Adventure in Legoland. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, 1993.
Daniel's Story. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, 1993. Commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
-Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, 1993.
-Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, 1993.
-Silver Birch Award, 1994, Ontario Readers' Choice award.
-Finalist 1993 Ruth Schwartz Award.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1993.
-Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award, 1996.
-New York Public Library, 1994 Book for the Teen Age.
The Lost Locket. Toronto: Scholastic, 1994.
The Burning Time. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell; Toronto: Harper Collins, 1994.
-Finalist, Governor General's Literary Award, 1994.
-New York Public Library, Book for the Teen Age, 1994.
-ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults List, 1994.
-Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, 1993.
-Moose Jaw Young Reader's Choice Award, 1998.
-Resource Links, best books of 2007.
Of Two Minds. With Perry Nodelman, Winnipeg: Bain & Cox, 1994; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Mass market, New York & Toronto: Scholastic, 1998. Japan, 1997. Republished by Starburst Digital Rights International, 2013.
-School Library Journal Best Book list, 1995.
-Voya, Books in the Middle, Best Book of the year list, 1995.
-Great Stone Face Children's Book Award Program, finalist for 1996-1997 Master Reading List.
The Primrose Path. Winnipeg: Bain & Cox, 1995.
-Finalist for Manitoba Book of the Year, 1995.
-Outstanding Book Of The Year, Children's Book Centre, 1996.
-Finalist Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award, 1997.
After the War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996; Scholastic Canada, 1996. Mass market, New York: Alladin, 1998; Scholastic Canada, 1998. Bulut Yay?nlar?, Turkey, 2001.
-New York Public Library, 1997 Book for the Teen Age.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1997, by National Council for Social Studies and the Children's Book Council.
-ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, 1996.
-ALA, Best Book of the Year for Young Adults, 1996.
-Finalist Best Book of the Year, McNally Robinson Book Award, 1996.
-Finalist Best Book of the Year for Children, McNally Robinson Book Award, 1996.
-Finalist Ruth Shwartz Award, 1996.
-Jewish Book Award, 1996.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1996.
-Junior Library Guild pick, 1996.
-Booklist, Editor's Choice, 1996.
-Resource Links, The Best Of List, 1997.
-South Carolina Junior Book Award nominee, 1998-1999.
-O.L.A. Red Maple Readers Choice Award, 1998.
-Finalist Utah Young Adult Book Award, CLAU, 1998-9
More Minds. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Mass market, New York & Toronto: Scholastic, 1998. Japan, 1998.
The Freak. Canada: Key Porter, 1997.
The Garden. Simon & Schuster, 1997, Scholastic Canada, 1997. Mass market, New York: Alladin, 1998; Scholastic Canada, 1998.
-Junior Library Guild pick, 1997.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1998, NCSS and Children's Book Council.
-New York Public Library, Books for the Teen Age, 1998.
-1998 Rachel Bessin/Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award for Y.A. Fiction (Jewish Book Award).
Telling. Canada: Key Porter, 1998. Denmark: Gyldendal, 1997.
Greater than Angels. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Scholastic Canada, 1998. Mon Bel Oranger, France 1999. Bulut Yay?nlar?, Turkey, 1999. Re-published by Scholastic Canada in 2013.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1999, NCSS and Children's Book Council.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, 1999.
Out Of Their Minds. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1998. Distican Canada, 1998. Japan, 2000.
Cloning Miranda Scholastic Canada, 1999. Denmark, 2001, Germany, 2001, Indonesia, 2003, Russia, 2004, Bulgaria, 2005; Sweden, Finland, Norway, 2012.
In My Enemy's House. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1999. Scholastic Canada ,1999 & 2013. Aladdin, 2001.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award for young people.
-Book for the Teen Age, New York Public Library.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2000.
-Geoffrey Bilson Honour Book, Historical Fiction, 2000.
-Sydney Taylor Honour Book, 1999.
Meeting Of Minds, Simon & Schuster: New York, 1999. Distican Canada, 1999. Japan, 2001.
Rebecca, Scholastic Canada, Fall 2000.
-Finalist, Manitoba Book for Young Readers, 2001.
-Finalist, Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical society.
-Finalist, Hackmatack, Children's Choice Award.
-Finalist, Manitoba Readers Choice Award.
Sparks Fly Upwards. Clarion, New York, Spring 2001.
-Judy Lopez Award, honour book, California library award.
The War Within. Simon & Schuster: New York, 2001, Scholastic Canada.
-Books For the Teen Age , New York Public Library, 2001.
-Sydney Taylor Honour Book, 2001.
-Geoffrey Bilson Honour Book, 2001.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young People, 2001.
-The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, 2002.
-Finalist, Lamplighter Award, 2003/2004.
The Second Clone. Scholastic, Canada, Fall 2001.
-Our Choice, The Canadian Children's Book Centre, 03.
Footsteps in the Snow, Dear Canada, Scholastic, Canada, Spring 2001.
-Finalist, Silver Birch Award.
-The Canadian Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, starred for outstanding merit, 03.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young Readers.
-Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical Society.
Gotcha! Rosie In New York City. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Spring 2003.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For Young People.
Play Ball! Rosie in Chicago. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Fall 2003.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For young People.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award.
Action! Rosie in L.A. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Spring, 2004.
-Notable Children's Books Of Jewish Content by the Association of Jewish Libraries, 2004.
-Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award, finalist, 2005.
The Dark Clone. Scholastic Canada, Spring 2005.
Turned Away, The World War 11 Diary of Devorah Bernstein, Dear Canada. Scholastic Canada, Fall 2005.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young Readers Award.
-Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical Society.
-Manitoba Young Readers Award, short list.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award, 2006.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice, starred for outstanding merit.
-Resource links, best of the year, 2006.
-Frances and Samuel Stein Memorial Prize in Youth Literature, 07.
Past Crimes. fall 2006, Key Porter.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice pick.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award),2008.
The Whirlwind. spring 2007, Orca Book Canada. 978-1551437033
-Sydney Taylor Notable Book, for older readers, 2007.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For Young People, 2008.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award), 2009
Reissued: The Freak (Book 1 of The Freak Series), fall 2007 Key Porter Books.
-Sydney Taylor Notable Book, 2008
The Freak: Visions (Book 2 of The Freak Series), fall 2007, Key Porter Books.
-MRCA nominee, Manitoba Reader's Choice Award, 2008.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award), 2009.
The Ghosthunters 1: The Proof That Ghosts Exist (Book 1 of The Ghosthunters trilogy) spring 2008, Key Porter Books, with Perry Nodelman.
The Freak: Far (Book 3 of The Freak Series), fall 2008, Key Porter Books.
The Ghosthunters 2: The Curse of the Evening Eye (Book 2 of The Ghosthunters trilogy) spring 2009, Key Porter Books, with Perry Nodelman.
Tales of a Reluctant Psychic, fall 2009, Key Porter Books.
The Ghosthunters 3: The Hunt For The Haunted Elephant (Book 3 of The Ghosthunters trilogy), spring, 2010, Key Porter BooksTwith Perry Nodelman.
The Edge of When, fall 2011, Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
Behind Enemy Lines, World War II, Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944, I Am Canada, February 2012, Scholastic Canada.
-Chosen as a "best book" in Junior and Intermediate Fiction for Tweens Ages 8 -14, in the Best Books for Kids & Teens: Fall Edition 2012, Canadian Children's Book Centre
-Nominated for.ca the 2013 Ontario Library Association Golden Oak Award
-Shortlisted for the 2014 Rocky Mountain Book Award (An Alberta Children's Choice Book Awards)
Pieces of the Past: The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Dear Canada, February 2013, Scholastic Canada.
- 2014 Helen & Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Boook Award for Young People
-A Sydney Taylor Honor Book Selection for 2014
-"Highly recommended" by CM Magazine.
-A "BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS AND TEENS" pick for the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Fall 2013 edition of Best Books For Kids and Teens
When I Die: A meditation on death for children & their families (Photography by Bonnie Brask), 2013, Fictive Press.
Tucson Jo, 2014, Fictive Press.
-"Recommended" by CM: Canadian Review of Materials
-2014 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS FINALIST in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category
PLAYS
Lisa. Adapted from the novel with Per Brask. Produced by Prairie Theatre Exchange, 1991. Geordie Productions, Montreal, 1994. Golden Horse Shoe, Toronto, 1994.
The Escape. Commissioned by the Winnipeg Jewish Theater. Produced April 1993. Sworn Enemies, adapted from the novel, reading at the Jewish Repertory Theater, New York, 1994.
Sworn Enemies. Adapted from the novel, reading at the Jewish Repertory Theater, New York, 1994.
Telling. Adapted for radio. Broadcast by CBC Manitoba, October, 1994,
Jesper. Co-written with Per Brask.
[BCBW 2020] Alan Twigg / HolocaustLit
In her novel set in Seattle and Vancouver, Carol Matas recounts the severe prejudice against German Jewish refugees and immigrants in North America during World War II in The Whirlwind (Orca 2007), one of twelve Matas titles that deal specifically with the Holocaust.
Published by Orca Books in Victoria, The Whirlwind follows the plight of 15-year-old Benjamin Friedman and his family after they arrive legally in Seattle to escape from Nazi Germany in 1941. Aware of the perils of Kristalnacht, Ben is critical of his father for failing to secure visas for his grandparents who will doubtless be internees sent to the camps. Bullied at school for being from Germany, he worries about the fate of his Japanese-Canadian classmate, John, and he suggests their family ought to try to escape to Canada. After Pearl Harbour, John’s family is forcibly sent to an American internment camp and the Friedman’s home is attacked by racist Americans. Daringly, Ben successfully runs away to Canada only to encounter even worse prejudice and exclusion north of the 49th parallel. Beset by nightmares, Ben translates the Book of Job and worries that events in Germany could be replicated in the U.S. or Canada. His fearful existential situation leads him to adopt a much more sympathetic view of his father who has had the foresight and courage to save his life. One day Ben could ultimately thrive in far-from-perfect British Columbia, but has learned--as readers from Grade 6 and upwards will learn--that two societies he had presumed were tolerant of racial difference were much less superior than he had imagined.
Carol Matas' many books have been published all over the world in more than a dozen languages, and have been best-sellers in Japan, Germany and Spain. In one of her young adult novels concerning the Holocaust, Lisa's War, a young Jewish girl, age 12, fights back after the Germans have invaded Denmark in 1940. She and her brother Stefan join the Danish resistance when the Germans invade Copenhagen. While Lisa and her friend Susanne distribute pamphlets published by the resistance, Stefan participates in missions to sabotage German-run factories. Susanne's parents are killed by the Nazis. Lisa and Stefan risk their lives to help hundreds of Jews to Sweden. Lisa's War, also titled Lisa, has a sequel, Kris' War, also titled Code Name Kris. In After the War, a teenage girl risks her life helping immigrant children across Europe to Palestine.
Matas' novel Daniel's Story concerns Kristalnach and its aftermath. No longer able to practice their religion, vote, own property, or even work, Daniel's family is forced from their home in Frankfurt and sent on a long and dangerous journey, first to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and then to Auschwitz. It's the book that Matas says changed her life. "Once into the material I had to confront all the cruelty I had been avoiding all my life. It was then that I became so depressed I decided that the world, the human race, didn't deserve to exist as we were capable of too much evil. But in the middle of this terrible depression I suddenly realized something else. Who was I to make such a judgment? Wasn't it similar to the judgment the Nazis had made about the Jews — the Jews didn't deserve to exist? I had to accept that the world is. And as is, it is populated with human beings, each one of whom is capable of good or evil. I would have to accept that. The key scene of Daniel's Story is when Erika expresses this view to Daniel and Rosa. And then she tells them that they do have choices — the choice to choose love or hate. And I believe that to be true. No matter what, we can always choose — even during the Holocaust those who's free choice had been completely taken away, those who were brutally murdered, could chose whether to die in love or hate. And so many had love in their hearts (not for their enemies, that is not the Jewish way) but for their families. The Nazis could not destroy that. I suppose that was the beginning of my return to some kind of faith and to a belief in God — not an old man looking down on us God, but God as Creator, as One. I now read a lot of Jewish Spirituality, Rabbi David Cooper, Lawrence Kushner, and in a slightly different vein, the Dali Lama! So strange that writing about the worst of human kind could return my faith."
Although Carol Matas now has a track record for writing award-winning stories pertaining to Jews and the Holocaust, mainstream commercial publishers rejected her manuscript for a book inspired by the life and times of the first Jewish mayor of Tucson named Charles Strauss. That's when she turned to her long-time friend Morri Mostow to publish her young adult novel, Tucson Jo (Fictive Press, 2014), set in the Territory of Arizona in 1882. Mostow's fledgling imprint for e-books operates from Gabriola Island in B.C.
Tucson Jo was Matas' 45th book. It subsequently became the only Canadian author nominated in the category for Children's and Young Adult Literature for the 2014 National Jewish Book Awards in its 64th year of competitions. The National Jewish Book Awards are sponsored by the Jewish Book Council, based in New York City. It is touted as the longest-running program of its kind in North America. Loosely based on the life of Charles Stauss, the historical novel sees the world through eyes of a pioneering mayor's daughter, fourteen-year-old Josephine Fiedler. She resents her father for uprooting their family and taking them to the wilds of Arizona to preserve his health. It is only when her father's bid for the mayorality of Tucson results in anti-Semitic attacks that she begins to fully appreciate what it means to be a Jew. Her best friend's father is also running for mayor. She begins to understand her father, as both a man and a Jew, and realizes her own relatively peevish position as someone missing Boston is secondary to the maintenance of social ideals. "Without law, without order," her father tells her, "there is no freedom."
Matas' literary awards include the 2014 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award in the youth category and a 2014 Sydney Taylor Honor Award for Older Readers (from the Association of Jewish Libraries), both for Pieces of the Past: The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz (Scholastic Canada). Rose has been living in Winnipeg for three years, traumatized by the Holocaust, when she begins a diary. Her new guardian, Saul, supports her as she recalls going into hiding in Poland with her mother, moving from place to place. They stumble onto a resistance cell and live in filthy conditions. Eventually her mother is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Born in Winnipeg in 1949, Carol Matas received her B.A. (English) from the University of Western Ontario and she is a graduate of the Actor's Lab in London, England. She has been a Creative Writing instructor for the Continuing Education Division of the University of Winnipeg. Her late father, Roy, was a judge on the Manitoba Court of Appeals. Her husband, former University of Winnipeg theatre professor Per Brask, is a Dane whose father was a member of the resistance when the Germans invaded Denmark.
*
Matas has recalled the process that brought her to write about the Holocaust:
"In Montreal my husband worked at the Jewish community center running the theatre that was part of the center. At one point an exhibit about the Holocaust came through. He began to tell me stories of what had happened to his father when Germany invaded Denmark in 1940. My husband is from Denmark, and his mother and father were just twelve years old when Denmark was invaded. They had never told me anything about the war and neither had my husband until the exhibits jogged his memory. Then he began to tell the most amazing stories. My father-in-law had started out with small pranks against the Germans, such as filling the gas tanks of their trucks with sugar so they couldn't run. If caught, these small pranks could have got them killed. By the time he was fifteen years old my father-in-law was a full-fledged member of the resistance. In fact, one of the stories my husband told me concerned the time that my father-in-law was the most frightened. His mother had been making his bed one morning when she felt something lumpy under the mattress. She picked up the mattress only to find two handguns and a machine gun. Apparently she almost killed him. He was certainly more afraid of her than he was of the Germans. The funny thing was, his father was also in the resistance, but he did not know about his father and his father did not know about him. Every night after dinner they would listen to the BBC radio broadcasts. Birthday greetings and other messages would be code for the resistance groups telling them where to meet. He would make an excuse, saying for instance he was going to a friend's house to do homework, and he would leave. His father would do the same — except he would have a different excuse. It was important that neither of them knew about the other in case one of them got caught. All resistance cells were kept small in case someone was captured — should this happen they would be tortured and inevitably they would give away the other members of their cell. Therefore the fewer people in a cell the better. The rule once captured was to try to hold out under torture for twenty-four hours and then tell everything. If your cell were small enough it would be quickly noticed that you were missing. The others would then have time to go into hiding, or as they called it, to go underground.
"As my husband told the stories about his father and grandfather during the war I decided that I would like to write a book about a boy in the Danish resistance. Although I was still working on my science fiction books I began to read and think about Denmark in World War II. That was when a friend gave my husband a book called Rescue In Denmark. It was about the rescue of the Danish Jews. This was a story I had never heard before. It described how the Danish people had managed to rescue almost all of their Jewish population from the Nazis during the Second World War. I was shocked. How was it that I had never heard this story before? After all, I am Jewish, I went to Hebrew school, I went to university, and I thought I was educated. I had been taught about the Holocaust and about the six million who had been murdered. And yet nobody had taught me about this country that had managed to save its entire Jewish population. How could this be? I knew I had to write about it..... I began to research Lisa and did most of the research for that book in Winnipeg. The first thing I did was go to the Danish Club with my husband for a war memorial. Resistance fighters stood and one by one told their stories. It was a gold mine for an author. I introduced myself to many of them afterwards and made appointments for interviews. Many of the incidents Lisa and Jesper are based on stories I was told in these interviews, including the last scene of Lisa. I had so much material after a while that I simply couldn't write the book. I remember one day we were over at a good friend's apartment--Amatzia Huni, who was an Israeli living in Winnipeg with his wife, Etti. Amatzia had been a filmmaker in Israel. He suggested that I write from a first person perspective in order to narrow the material down--after all, that way I only had to include what my character experiences first hand.
"I tried it and I wrote that book in three weeks. It simply poured out of me, often surprising me along the way. For instance I had not planned for Lisa to throw up on the German soldiers in the streetcar. But I had established that she had a "funny" stomach, so when put under stress, throwing up simply appeared. As in my previous books I didn't begin with an outline. Basically, I had a rough idea of how it would begin and how it would end. Then when I wrote the first draft I would create the rest. Lisa's theme, of course, was that one person could make a difference. I ran into an interesting problem when I began to send the book out. It was taken almost immediately by one of the best publishers in Canada at that time, Lester and Orpen Dennys. Louise Dennys called me one day to say that one of the top writers in Canada had agreed to edit Lisa but only if I did a major rewrite. "No child will read a book like this," apparently was the writer's comment. What was wrong? Well, I had no texture in the book, no details of how things looked, or smelled, or tasted. Also, I didn't describe my character's thinking, I simply had dialogue and action to describe the character. Looking back on it now I think that my early theatre training has had a huge influence on all of my writing. I write with what is known as "subtext" in the theatre. In other words, the character may say one thing but is thinking another. Unlike many authors, though, I do not describe the character's thoughts. The readers must deduce their thoughts by their words and by their actions. For instance when Lisa kills a German soldier she doesn't think about it — but she does throw up, showing how horrible the act of killing is for her. And she wouldn't have had time to think about the act — that wouldn't be realistic. (Some adult readers are upset by this, but children never are.)
"So I had to decide — do I listen to one of the top writers in Canada and change my style? Perry Nodelman urged me not to. He was convinced the book worked very well as is and he encouraged me to stick to my guns and not to allow it to be changed in any major way. I told Louise and she acquiesced. In fact it took three more editors before she could find someone who basically agreed to simply copy edit the manuscript and leave it mostly intact. When it was published it came out to only fair reviews in Canada. And for all the reasons this editor had mentioned. However, it was then bought my Macmillan in the United States and one day I was told that the New York Times would be running a review. When I read it I remember literally jumping up and down. I had never hoped to be reviewed by the Times--but to get a rave review! The reviewer compared Lisa's War (Lisa) to Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and said Lisa's War was a far superior book."
BOOKS
The D.N.A. Dimension. Toronto: Gage Publishing, 1982.
The Fusion Factor. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1986. Published in Danish as Den Sorte Varevogn, Copenhagen: Forum, 1988. French Publication, Paris: Pocket, 1997. Spanish Edition, Spain: Ediciones S.M., 1998. Reissued as It's Up to Us. Toronto: Stoddard, 1991.
Zanu. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1986. Reissued by Stoddard. Toronto, 1991. Pocket, Paris 1997. Edeciones S.M., Spain 1998.
Me, Myself and I. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1987. Reissued by Stoddard: Toronto, 1991. Paris: Pocket, 1997. Spain: Edeciones S.M., 1998.
Lisa. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987. Published in the U.S. as Lisa's War. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. Published in Spain by Ediciones B: Barcelona, 1989. Paris, France: Poshe/Jeunesse, Hachette, 1991. Stockholm, Sweden: Tidens, 1991. Mass market, New York and Toronto: Scholastic.
-The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young Readers, 1988.
-New York Times Book Review, Notable Book, Dec 1989.
-Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice", Memorable Books for young People.
-Young Adults' Choices for 1991, International Reading Association.
-Sydney Taylor Book Award, Notable 1989.
Jesper. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1989. Published in the U.S. as Code Name Kris, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons: 1990. Also, published in Spain by Edebe, 1991. Mass market, New York and Toronto: Scholastic.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1989.
-Manitoba Book of the Year Nominee, 1989.
-Honour list, Canadian Materials, 1989.
-Code Name Kris, Notable 1990 Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.
-Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice", Memorable Books for Young People.
Adventure in Legoland. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, book club 1991, trade 1992.
The Race. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1991.
-Canadian Library Association Notable book, 1992.
Sworn Enemies. New York: Bantam, 1993; Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993.
-New York Public Library, 1994 Book for the Teen Age.
-Canadian Library Association, Notable book, 1993.
-Sydney Taylor Award, 1993.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the field of Social Studies, 1994, by NCSS, U.S.
Safari Adventure in Legoland. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, 1993.
Daniel's Story. New York and Toronto: Scholastic, 1993. Commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
-Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, 1993.
-Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, 1993.
-Silver Birch Award, 1994, Ontario Readers' Choice award.
-Finalist 1993 Ruth Schwartz Award.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1993.
-Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award, 1996.
-New York Public Library, 1994 Book for the Teen Age.
The Lost Locket. Toronto: Scholastic, 1994.
The Burning Time. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell; Toronto: Harper Collins, 1994.
-Finalist, Governor General's Literary Award, 1994.
-New York Public Library, Book for the Teen Age, 1994.
-ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults List, 1994.
-Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, 1993.
-Moose Jaw Young Reader's Choice Award, 1998.
-Resource Links, best books of 2007.
Of Two Minds. With Perry Nodelman, Winnipeg: Bain & Cox, 1994; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Mass market, New York & Toronto: Scholastic, 1998. Japan, 1997. Republished by Starburst Digital Rights International, 2013.
-School Library Journal Best Book list, 1995.
-Voya, Books in the Middle, Best Book of the year list, 1995.
-Great Stone Face Children's Book Award Program, finalist for 1996-1997 Master Reading List.
The Primrose Path. Winnipeg: Bain & Cox, 1995.
-Finalist for Manitoba Book of the Year, 1995.
-Outstanding Book Of The Year, Children's Book Centre, 1996.
-Finalist Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award, 1997.
After the War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996; Scholastic Canada, 1996. Mass market, New York: Alladin, 1998; Scholastic Canada, 1998. Bulut Yay?nlar?, Turkey, 2001.
-New York Public Library, 1997 Book for the Teen Age.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1997, by National Council for Social Studies and the Children's Book Council.
-ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, 1996.
-ALA, Best Book of the Year for Young Adults, 1996.
-Finalist Best Book of the Year, McNally Robinson Book Award, 1996.
-Finalist Best Book of the Year for Children, McNally Robinson Book Award, 1996.
-Finalist Ruth Shwartz Award, 1996.
-Jewish Book Award, 1996.
-Mr. Christie Honour Book, 1996.
-Junior Library Guild pick, 1996.
-Booklist, Editor's Choice, 1996.
-Resource Links, The Best Of List, 1997.
-South Carolina Junior Book Award nominee, 1998-1999.
-O.L.A. Red Maple Readers Choice Award, 1998.
-Finalist Utah Young Adult Book Award, CLAU, 1998-9
More Minds. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Mass market, New York & Toronto: Scholastic, 1998. Japan, 1998.
The Freak. Canada: Key Porter, 1997.
The Garden. Simon & Schuster, 1997, Scholastic Canada, 1997. Mass market, New York: Alladin, 1998; Scholastic Canada, 1998.
-Junior Library Guild pick, 1997.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1998, NCSS and Children's Book Council.
-New York Public Library, Books for the Teen Age, 1998.
-1998 Rachel Bessin/Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award for Y.A. Fiction (Jewish Book Award).
Telling. Canada: Key Porter, 1998. Denmark: Gyldendal, 1997.
Greater than Angels. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Scholastic Canada, 1998. Mon Bel Oranger, France 1999. Bulut Yay?nlar?, Turkey, 1999. Re-published by Scholastic Canada in 2013.
-Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1999, NCSS and Children's Book Council.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, 1999.
Out Of Their Minds. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1998. Distican Canada, 1998. Japan, 2000.
Cloning Miranda Scholastic Canada, 1999. Denmark, 2001, Germany, 2001, Indonesia, 2003, Russia, 2004, Bulgaria, 2005; Sweden, Finland, Norway, 2012.
In My Enemy's House. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1999. Scholastic Canada ,1999 & 2013. Aladdin, 2001.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award for young people.
-Book for the Teen Age, New York Public Library.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2000.
-Geoffrey Bilson Honour Book, Historical Fiction, 2000.
-Sydney Taylor Honour Book, 1999.
Meeting Of Minds, Simon & Schuster: New York, 1999. Distican Canada, 1999. Japan, 2001.
Rebecca, Scholastic Canada, Fall 2000.
-Finalist, Manitoba Book for Young Readers, 2001.
-Finalist, Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical society.
-Finalist, Hackmatack, Children's Choice Award.
-Finalist, Manitoba Readers Choice Award.
Sparks Fly Upwards. Clarion, New York, Spring 2001.
-Judy Lopez Award, honour book, California library award.
The War Within. Simon & Schuster: New York, 2001, Scholastic Canada.
-Books For the Teen Age , New York Public Library, 2001.
-Sydney Taylor Honour Book, 2001.
-Geoffrey Bilson Honour Book, 2001.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young People, 2001.
-The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, 2002.
-Finalist, Lamplighter Award, 2003/2004.
The Second Clone. Scholastic, Canada, Fall 2001.
-Our Choice, The Canadian Children's Book Centre, 03.
Footsteps in the Snow, Dear Canada, Scholastic, Canada, Spring 2001.
-Finalist, Silver Birch Award.
-The Canadian Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, starred for outstanding merit, 03.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young Readers.
-Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical Society.
Gotcha! Rosie In New York City. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Spring 2003.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For Young People.
Play Ball! Rosie in Chicago. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Fall 2003.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For young People.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award.
Action! Rosie in L.A. Simon & Schuster, Aladdin, NY, Key Porter, Toronto, Spring, 2004.
-Notable Children's Books Of Jewish Content by the Association of Jewish Libraries, 2004.
-Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award, finalist, 2005.
The Dark Clone. Scholastic Canada, Spring 2005.
Turned Away, The World War 11 Diary of Devorah Bernstein, Dear Canada. Scholastic Canada, Fall 2005.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book for Young Readers Award.
-Margaret McWilliams Award, Manitoba Historical Society.
-Manitoba Young Readers Award, short list.
-Finalist, Geoffrey Bilson Award, 2006.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice, starred for outstanding merit.
-Resource links, best of the year, 2006.
-Frances and Samuel Stein Memorial Prize in Youth Literature, 07.
Past Crimes. fall 2006, Key Porter.
-Children's Book Centre Our Choice pick.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award),2008.
The Whirlwind. spring 2007, Orca Book Canada. 978-1551437033
-Sydney Taylor Notable Book, for older readers, 2007.
-Finalist, McNally Robinson Book For Young People, 2008.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award), 2009
Reissued: The Freak (Book 1 of The Freak Series), fall 2007 Key Porter Books.
-Sydney Taylor Notable Book, 2008
The Freak: Visions (Book 2 of The Freak Series), fall 2007, Key Porter Books.
-MRCA nominee, Manitoba Reader's Choice Award, 2008.
-Finalist, Stellar Award (B.C. Teen Reader's Choice Award), 2009.
The Ghosthunters 1: The Proof That Ghosts Exist (Book 1 of The Ghosthunters trilogy) spring 2008, Key Porter Books, with Perry Nodelman.
The Freak: Far (Book 3 of The Freak Series), fall 2008, Key Porter Books.
The Ghosthunters 2: The Curse of the Evening Eye (Book 2 of The Ghosthunters trilogy) spring 2009, Key Porter Books, with Perry Nodelman.
Tales of a Reluctant Psychic, fall 2009, Key Porter Books.
The Ghosthunters 3: The Hunt For The Haunted Elephant (Book 3 of The Ghosthunters trilogy), spring, 2010, Key Porter BooksTwith Perry Nodelman.
The Edge of When, fall 2011, Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
Behind Enemy Lines, World War II, Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944, I Am Canada, February 2012, Scholastic Canada.
-Chosen as a "best book" in Junior and Intermediate Fiction for Tweens Ages 8 -14, in the Best Books for Kids & Teens: Fall Edition 2012, Canadian Children's Book Centre
-Nominated for.ca the 2013 Ontario Library Association Golden Oak Award
-Shortlisted for the 2014 Rocky Mountain Book Award (An Alberta Children's Choice Book Awards)
Pieces of the Past: The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Dear Canada, February 2013, Scholastic Canada.
- 2014 Helen & Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Boook Award for Young People
-A Sydney Taylor Honor Book Selection for 2014
-"Highly recommended" by CM Magazine.
-A "BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS AND TEENS" pick for the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Fall 2013 edition of Best Books For Kids and Teens
When I Die: A meditation on death for children & their families (Photography by Bonnie Brask), 2013, Fictive Press.
Tucson Jo, 2014, Fictive Press.
-"Recommended" by CM: Canadian Review of Materials
-2014 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS FINALIST in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category
PLAYS
Lisa. Adapted from the novel with Per Brask. Produced by Prairie Theatre Exchange, 1991. Geordie Productions, Montreal, 1994. Golden Horse Shoe, Toronto, 1994.
The Escape. Commissioned by the Winnipeg Jewish Theater. Produced April 1993. Sworn Enemies, adapted from the novel, reading at the Jewish Repertory Theater, New York, 1994.
Sworn Enemies. Adapted from the novel, reading at the Jewish Repertory Theater, New York, 1994.
Telling. Adapted for radio. Broadcast by CBC Manitoba, October, 1994,
Jesper. Co-written with Per Brask.
[BCBW 2020] Alan Twigg / HolocaustLit
