The Children’s Train

Literature & Fiction

synopsis

Synopsis

In November 1938 on The Night of the Broken Glass, the Jewish people of Germany are terrified as Hitler's men shatter their store windows, steal and destroy their belongings, and arrest many Jewish fathers and brothers. Parents fear for their own lives but their focus is on protecting their children. When England arranges to take the children out of Germany by train, the Kindertransport is organized and parents scramble to get places on the trains for their young family members, worried about what the future will hold. Soon, trains filled with Jewish children escaping the Nazis chug over the border into Holland, where they are ferried across the English Channel to England and to freedom. But for Peter, the shy violin player, his sister Becca, and his friends Stephen and Hans, life in England holds challenges as well. Peter’s friend Eva, who did not get a seat on the Kindertransport, is left to the evil plans of Hitler. Peter, working his musician’s hands raw at a farm in Coventry, wonders if they should have stayed and fought back instead of escaping. When the Coventry farm is bombed and Nazis have reached England, Peter feels he has nothing left. He decides it’s time to stand and fight Hitler. Peter returns to Germany to join the Jewish underground resistance, search for the mother and sister he left behind in Berlin, and rescue his childhood friend Eva.

bio

Author Biography

As Jana tells it, the remarkable story of the Kindertransport children in Nazi Germany touched her heart and would not let go: “Since the moment I heard their incredible, historic tale, they have not left my mind. The Kindertransport children came to live in my conscience and would not leave until I told their story.” Jana hopes readers will find the courage to stand up to the injustices that affect us all. Jana Zinser is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire School of Law and received her masters in Journalism from the University of Iowa. Her past work in politics, public policy, and the media, coupled with her determined focus on children and social justice, have uniquely placed her to tell this story. It’s a story as timeless and essential as ever, a story that will capture the hearts of the world. Jana lives in Colorado with her children.

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Author Insight

Hilter's Death Camps

May 1943- The horrors of Hitler's death camps were almost too much for humans to comprehend. But the reality for some was too close to ignore.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

The next day, Eddie, with his head shaved and wearing baggy striped pants and a shirt, walked up to Eric and Borg outside the crematorium. Eddie pointed. “Where is my mother? She’s been taking a shower for a long time. She should be clean by now.”

“I don’t know, boy. Move on,” Borg said.

Eric pointed to the smoke. “Say Auf Wiedersehen. She is smoke by now,” he said, laughing and showing his yellow teeth.

Eddie didn’t understand, but he stared at the strange smoky sky. “The sky is smoking.” He walked on as he twisted his head to continue looking up at the sky. “That is not good.”

“How is that one still alive?” Borg asked.

Eric laughed and shrugged as the sky puffed foul death-smoke. The one thing the Nazis hadn’t counted on was the smell of burning human flesh. The stench seeped over the camp like a foul fog, a constant reminder that souls had been sacrificed.

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Jana Zinser

The Children’s Train

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Hilter's Death Camps

May 1943- The horrors of Hitler's death camps were almost too much for humans to comprehend. But the reality for some was too close to ignore.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

Comment on this Bubble