THE GIRLS OF ROOM 28 Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt

Theresienstadt internment camp in Czechoslovakia served as a stopping point for tens of thousands of Jews on their way to the horrors of Auschwitz in the early 1940s. The children were housed in dormitory-style quarters, dozens to a room, and counseled by Jewish youth leaders who hoped that some would survive. Fifty years later, author Hannelore Brenner interviewed 10 women who, as children, lived together in Room 28 at Theresienstadt. Suzanne Toren narrates Brenner's poignant account with deference to the survivors' simultaneous angry grief and warm reminiscences. With melodic respect for the European names and descriptions of Jewish customs, Toren portrays the girls' astonishing exposure to world-class musicians alongside their meager meals and the omnipresent threat of another departure of friends on the mysterious trains. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2009]