Number the Stars

For the past few weeks we have been reading a historical fiction book called Number the Stars. It is about a girl named Annemarie that has a sister named Kristi, an older sister that died, named Lise, and a friend named Ellen, and they discover that the soldiers are relocating all the Jewish people and any shops that are owned by Jews will be shut down. They know that Ellen and her family are Jewish so while Ellen's parents are away they must try to hide her from the soldiers at least til her parents get back... and then one night the soldiers come to Annemarie's house and start searching it and questioning them about who Ellen is. After that they knew it was not safe to stay there any longer.

They start staying out with Annemarie's uncle Henrik who really needs a wife because his house is always so dirty and messy! Then one day a casket comes to the house and uncle Henrik and mama tells Annemarie that her great aunt Bertie had died. And when Annemarie soon discovers that there is no real aunt Bertie, she is wondering why her uncle and mother would be lying to her. Then she understands that the less she knows the braver you can be!

Later that night the soldiers also came to that house and were wondering why lots of people were there, and mama told him that a loved one had died. Then the soldier asked why the casket had not been opened and mama told him that Aunt Bertie had died from a disease called typhus and the doctor said that you might still be able to catch the disease. So the soldiers told them to just open the casket after they left.

After the soldiers left they opened the casket and Annemarie noticed that there were just blankets in there. And they were going to be using those for when they were on the boat because sometimes it can be cold. Before Ellen's family left Annemarie saw Peter give Mr. Rosen a packet and told him that it was very important.

Well, after Ellen and her family was gone, and mama came back to the house, Annemarie noticed that Mr. Rosen dropped that important packet. So she told mama about it, and mama put it in a basket with some bread and cheese so if she ran into any soldiers it would just look like she was taking her lunch to her uncle Henrik.

But on her way there she did end up running into soldiers.... She kept thinking of how her small sister Kristi would act around soldiers because it seemed like she was never scared of them. They ended up taking out all the stuff in the bag including the important package and it ended up just being a handkerchief, and now she was wondering why this handkerchief was so important.

After she made it to Henrik and back home, it was 4:00 in the morning! A few hours later Peter was telling mama, Annemarie, and Kristi about how Ellen and her family were okay! He also said how if Annemarie had not brought the important package they probably would have gotten caught because there was a special drug on there that ruined the dogs smell so that they would not be able to tell that they were trying to hide people and help them escape.

After that Annemarie, Kristi, and mama were all back at their own home with papa. Peter had died:(! One day Annemarie was going through Lise's old stuff and she had found Ellen's Jewish necklace that she had ripped so the soldiers would not be able to tell if she was Jewish. And she said that she would wear it until Ellen came back!!!

THE TRUE STORY OF THE HOLOCAUST!

The holocaust was lead buy a man named Adolf Hitler. He did not just want to train people how to be Nazis but he also wanted to train children to be Nazis when they grow up too! The Nazis would take Jews for town and relocate them. They closed down any shops that were owned buy a Jew. When the Nazis took the Jews they wanted to make sure that no one was able to read, this was because they wanted to make sure that no one was setting up plans to escape! Finally on April, 22 Hitler died! If you want to learn more about the holocaust, and from people in it, go to http://delicious.com/denali.elem/number_the_stars